An assessment of Meyer and Allen's (1991) three-component model of organizational commitment and turnover intentions

Propositions about the relationship between Meyer and Alien's (1991) model of organizational commitment and turnover intentions were tested via field research. Specifically, we assessed concurrent and longitudinal effects of affective, continuance, and normative commitment on turnover intentions. We tested main and interaction effects and also assessed the effects of two continuance commitment sub-dimensions - CC-hisac and CC-loalt - on turnover intentions. Two studies were conducted to test these relationships. Data were collected from a sample of engineering personnel working at an aerospace firm, and from university students employed full time in a variety of organizations. The results revealed that, (1) contrary to expectations, the three components of commitment differed in the significance of their effects on turnover intentions, and (2) the CC subdimensions differed in their effects on turnover intentions. The discussion of these results focuses on their implications for theoretical and practical issues in commitment research. (C) 1997 Academic Press.