Company Prospects and Employee Commitment: an Analysis of the Dimensionality of the BOCS and the Influence of External Events on Those Dimensions

The study described in this paper addressed two key objectives. Using structural equation modelling, the study examined first the dimensionality of the British Organizational Commitment Scale (BOCS) and second, how employee perceptions of their company’s prospects and their perceptions of their own career opportunities might affect each commitment dimension. Analysis of the data (from an oil company) suggests that the BOCS has three principal dimensions but that there is a fourth (measurement artefact) factor, consisting of the negatively phrased items. Analysis also reveals that improved company prospects are positively related to the ‘loyalty’ dimension of the BOCS but are inversely related to the ‘involvement’ dimension. The paper considers explanations for this phenomenon