Homogeneity, social interaction, and consensus: Their impact on organizational commitment

The goal of this research was to demonstrate that organizational commitment is affected by homogeneity, social interaction, and consensus within organizations. A Durkheimian theoretical perspective is combined with Blau\u27s theory of social structure to explain the importance of social solidarity in maintaining commitment to the collective. The theory asserts that society is differentiated along two axes: hierarchical and horizontal. The hierarchical axis consists of characteristics by which people are ranked hierarchically, such as race, income, education, occupation, and gender. The horizontal axis consists of factors which represent differences among people which cannot be ranked (e.g., marital status, age, political views, and beliefs about poverty). Homogeneity in the communities surrounding organizations was hypothesized to foster homogeneity within organizations. Homogeneity within organizations was expected to increase social interaction among members. The theory proposed that a high level of social interaction among members would bring about a high level of consensus regarding the priorities of the organization. A high level of consensus was expected to increase organizational commitment. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of 62 congregations in Central Illinois, Chicago, Northern Indiana, and Indianapolis. Data for communities was drawn from the 1980 United States Census. As expected, congregations with a high level of social interaction among members had a high degree of organizational commitment. Hierarchically homogeneous congregations had greater social interaction among their members. Hierarchically homogeneous communities tended to have hierarchically homogeneous congregations. Priority consensus was not as important as expected. Overall, this study suggests that social interaction among organization members is an extremely important factor in maintaining commitment. It also suggests that hierarchical homogeneity fosters greater social interaction and commitment within organizations