The identity-based explanation of affective commitment

Purpose – Drawing on social identity and self-categorization theories and building on Meyer and Herscovitch's (2001) work on affective commitment, this study aimed to examine the relationship between organizational identification and affective commitment, and the relationships between these two variables and employees' attitude and behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected on-site from 158 automobile dealership employees in central China. Regression analysis and hierarchical linear modeling were used to analyze the survey data. Findings – Organizational identification was positively related to affective commitment. Affective commitment was negatively related to turnover intention and positively related to job performance. Affective commitment mediated the relationship between organizational identification and turnover intention, but did not mediate the relationship between organizational identification and job performance. Research limitations/implications – This study contributes to the...

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