Dual Commitment in the Australian Construction Industry

The rapid growth in the size and nature of ‘non-standard’ work arrangements (such as co-employment) has raised questions about their effect on the commitment and loyalty of the workers concerned. While maintaining and encouraging employee commitment is a core human resource management function in standard work arrangements, there is far less guidance available for equivalent practice within a non-standard context. Additionally, it remains unclear as to whether organisational behaviour theories used to explain commitment in the standard work context are generalisable to less traditional work settings. The study described here measured the commitment and perceived support (organisational and social) of labour-hire workers in the Australian construction industry to their employing agency and their current host firm. Also investigated was the relationship between these forms of support and affective commitment to both entities. The results indicate that the workers were committed to both entities although the...