Organizational Commitment Scales [TOCS-22]

Description

The Organizational Commitment Scales (TOCS-22) are self-report measures designed to assess employees’ psychological attachment to their organization. Based on Meyer and Allen’s Three-Component Model, the instrument examines three distinct but related forms of organizational commitment.

Affective Commitment refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization. Continuance Commitment concerns remaining because of the perceived costs of leaving or the absence of suitable alternatives. Normative Commitment reflects a sense of moral obligation or responsibility to remain with the organization.

The TOCS-22 designation appears to refer to an adapted 22-item version. The original and revised Meyer and Allen scales contain different numbers of items. Therefore, the origin and composition of the particular version should be confirmed before administration.

Aim

The instrument assesses the different reasons employees remain with an organization: because they want to, because they need to, or because they feel they ought to.

The results can be used to investigate associations between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, performance, perceived organizational support, occupational burnout, and turnover intention. They may also support the development of human-resource management and employee-retention strategies.

Data Analysis and Use

The three dimensions should be analyzed separately and should not automatically be combined into a single overall score. After reverse-scoring the relevant items, either a sum or, more commonly, a mean score is calculated for each subscale.

Analysis may include descriptive statistics, internal consistency assessment using Cronbach’s alpha or McDonald’s omega, correlations, and comparisons among occupational or demographic groups. Confirmatory factor analysis may be used to examine the proposed three-component structure.

Scoring

Responses are generally recorded on a seven-point Likert scale:

1 = Strongly disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Slightly disagree
4 = Neither agree nor disagree
5 = Slightly agree
6 = Agree
7 = Strongly agree

Negatively worded items are reverse-scored as follows: 1→7, 2→6, 3→5, 4→4, 5→3, 6→2, and 7→1. Reverse-scored items should be identified using the instructions for the specific version rather than solely from their wording.

High Affective Commitment indicates that employees want to remain. High Continuance Commitment suggests that they perceive leaving as costly. High Normative Commitment indicates that they feel an obligation to remain. No universal diagnostic cut-off scores have been established, and interpretation should be based on the sample characteristics and the separate subscale scores.

References

Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00506.x

Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1(1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/1053-4822(91)90011-Z

Meyer, J. P., Allen, N. J., & Smith, C. A. (1993). Commitment to organizations and occupations: Extension and test of a three-component conceptualization. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(4), 538–551. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.78.4.538