Organizational Commitment Questionnaire [OCQ-15]

Description

The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ-15) was developed by Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979) and consists of 15 items. It assesses employees’ overall attitude toward and psychological attachment to the organization in which they work.

Organizational commitment is reflected in the acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, willingness to exert substantial effort on its behalf, and desire to maintain organizational membership. Although it incorporates these three conceptual aspects, the OCQ-15 is generally treated as a unidimensional instrument.

The OCQ-15 should not be confused with Meyer and Allen’s three-component scales, which separately assess affective, continuance, and normative commitment.

Aim

The questionnaire evaluates employees’ identification with, loyalty to, and intention to remain in an organization. It can be used to investigate associations between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, performance, absenteeism, turnover intention, and actual employee turnover.

The results may also support the development of organizational interventions. However, the OCQ-15 is not a diagnostic instrument and should not be used alone to make employment decisions concerning individual workers.

Data Analysis and Use

After reverse-scoring the negatively worded items, either a total score or the mean of the 15 responses is calculated. Analysis may include descriptive statistics, internal consistency assessment using Cronbach’s alpha or McDonald’s omega, correlations, and comparisons among occupational or demographic groups.

The instrument’s proposed unidimensional structure may be examined through exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis, particularly when using a translated or culturally adapted version.

Scoring

Responses are 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

In the original version, items 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 15 are reverse-scored. The total score ranges from 15 to 105, while the mean score ranges from 1 to 7. Higher scores indicate stronger organizational commitment.

No universally accepted diagnostic cut-off scores have been established. Interpretation should be based on the characteristics of the sample, appropriate reference data, and the official version of the instrument administered.

References

Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), 224–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1

Porter, L. W., Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Boulian, P. V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59(5), 603–609. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037335

Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W., & Steers, R. M. (1982). Employee–organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic Press.