Relationships between Organizational Commitment, Core Job Characteristics, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in United States Air Force Organizations

Organizational commitment is an area of concern for Air Force leaders, so much so that commitment is a subject of interest on the annual Air Force Climate Assessment Survey. The Air Force has consistently failed to meet retention goals and designates millions of dollars toward reenlistment bonuses to improve retention every year. A more economical approach to increasing commitment may be to improve the characteristics of the jobs Air Force members perform. In addition to the relationship between commitment and job characteristics, there also is a relationship between commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between core job characteristics, organizational commitment, and the presence of OCBs in an Air Force setting. The research found that there was a positive correlation between organizational commitment and core job characteristics, and there was a positive correlation between organizational commitment and OCBs. Commitment, however, was not found to mediate the relationship between core job characteristics and OCBs