Description of the Questionnaire

The Organizational Commitment Measure (OCM) was developed for use in the 1991 General Social Survey. It evaluates the degree of employees’ commitment to their organization based on only six items, making it suitable for large-scale surveys where brevity is essential. The items were derived from the study of Lincoln and Kalleberg (1990) on work commitment in the United States and Japan.

Data Analysis and Use

The internal consistency of the tool has been confirmed with a Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of 0.78 (Marsden et al., 1993). It has been found that organizational commitment correlates positively with higher positions of authority, greater job autonomy, and better quality of workplace relationships. Conversely, it correlates negatively with the use of non-merit-based reward criteria, larger organizational size, and frequent work-family conflicts.

Objective

The purpose of the questionnaire is to measure employees’ commitment to their organization, which is associated with willingness to contribute, alignment of values, and intention to remain in the organization.

Calibration

Responses are given on a 4-point Likert scale where 1 means Strongly Disagree, 2 means Disagree, 3 means Agree, and 4 means Strongly Agree. The items are as follows: I am willing to work harder than I have to in order to help this organization succeed. I feel very little loyalty to this organization (reverse scored). I would take almost any job to keep working for this organization. I find that my values and the organization’s values are very similar. I am proud to be working for this organization. I would turn down another job with higher pay in order to stay with this organization. Items noted as reverse scored are rated in the opposite direction of the scale.

References

Marsden, P. V., Kalleberg, A. L., & Cook, C.R. (1993). Gender differences in organizational commitment: Influences of work positions and family roles. Work and Occupations, 20(3), 368-390. Lincoln, J. R., & Kalleberg, A. L. (1990). Culture, control and commitment: A study of work organization and work attitudes in the United States and Japan. Cambridge University Press.