The Two 'Faces' of Continuance Commitment

Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)
International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM)
IAOBM
Editor in Chief
Dr. Mohammad Ali Sarlak
Associate Editors
Alan Smith, Robert Morris University, United StatesAndrew Creed, Deakin University, Australia Anna Maria Gil Lafuente, University of Barcelona, Spain Anthony Libertella, Adelphi University, United States Chunhui Liu, University of Winnipeg, Canada Constantin Bratianu, Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, Romania Eric Otenyo, Northern Arizona University, United States Farley Nobre, Federal University of Parana, Brazil Flora Bernardel, University of Padova, Italy Irina Purcarea, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Jaime Rivera-Camino, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid , Spain Jan Kratzer, Technical University Berlin ,Germany Joo Ferreira, University of Beira Interior, Portugal Jonathan Matusitz ,University of Central Florida, United States Jose M. Merigo ,University of Barcelona, Spain LILIANA FARIA ,ISLA CAMPUS LISBOA - LAUREATE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES, Portugal Luiz Sakuda , Centro Universitrio da FEI, Brazil Mahmud Akhter Shareef, McMaster University, Canada Maria Rosita Cagnina, University of Udine, Italy Matthew Irvin, Eastern Kentucky University, United States Patrizia Garengo, University of Padua, Italy Ruppa Thulasiram, University of Manitoba, Canada Simon Samwel Msanjila , Mzumbe University, Tanzania Susan Kruml, Millikin University, United States Theodor Valentin Purcarea, Romanian-American University, Romania Thierry Rakotobe-Joel , Ramapo College of New Jersey , United States Tomislav Hernaus, University of Zagreb, Croatia Tsan-Ming Choi , The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong VCTOR JESS GARCA MORALES, UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, Spain Vitor Braga, Porto Polytechnic - School of Technology and Management of Felgueiras, Portugal Xi Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China YANNIS MARKOVITS, National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government, Greece
Editorial Review Board
Adebimpe Lincoln, Cardiff Metropolitan University, USA Aminu Mamman, University of Manchester, USA Ana Aleksic, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, Croatia Angilberto Freitas, Unigranrio University, Brazil Antonia Mercedes Garca-Cabrera , Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain Arto Ojala, University of Jyvskyl, Finland Carla Marques, University of Trs-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal CRISTINA ESTEVO, School of Management of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal Daniel Pittino, Italy CRISTINA Raluca POPESCU,University of Bucharest, Romania Dario Miocevic, University of Split/Faculty of Economics, Croatia David Rooney, The University of Queensland, Australia Davood Askarany, University of Auckland, Bahrain Fernanda Nogueira, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal Helga Rippen, Westat ,USA Irena Jindrichovska, Prague University of Economics and Management, Czech Republic Jen-te YANG ,National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism ,Taiwan Joseph Sungau, Mzumbe University, Tanzania Jlio Abrantes, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal Jrgen Donhauser, Comenius University Bratislava ,Germany Justine Mbukwa, Mzumbe University, Tanzania K. vg akmak-Otluolu, Istanbul University, Turkey Maria Nieves Perez Arostegui, University of Granada, Spain Mara Teresa Bolvar-Ramos, University of Granada, Spain Mayumi tabat, National Dong Hwa University, Japan Olli-Pekka Viinamki , University of Vaasa, Finland Pilar Pieiro Garca, University of Vigo, Spain Prasenjit Chatterjee, MCKV Institute of Engineering, India Priscila Alfaro-Barrantes, Florida State University, United States RAMANJEET SINGH, India Roberta Cuel, University of Trento, Italy Rodrigo Martin-Rojas, Leon University, Spain Rupsa Chatterjee, calcutta University, India Ryh-song Yeh , Yuan Ze University, Taiwan Sara Nunes, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal Shrimatee Dowd-Koniecki, USA Sonia M. Surez-Ortega, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain Timothy Kellison, The Florida State University, USA Tracy Cooper, University of South Florida, USA Viktoriia Potishuk, Technische Universitt Berlin, Germany Wen-Chung Shih ,Asia University, Taiwan Yong Liu , Tianjin University, China
International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM) IAOBM Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)
Table of Contents
THE IMPACT OF TEAM AUTONOMY ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT OF JAPANESE CARE WORKERS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON MEDIATING ROLE OF PERCEIVED PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IKUSHI YAMAGUCHI, Meiji University, Japan MAI YAMAGUCHI, Japan Lutheran College and Graduate school, japan EXPLORING THE BEHAVIORAL NATURE OF CSR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF COMPANY RESPONSES TO HIV AND AIDS IN MALAWI RHODA BAKUWA , University of Malawi, Malawi ERIC SANKHULANI, University of Malawi, Malawi THE TWO FACES OF CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT: THE MODERATING ROLE OF JOB SATISFACTION ON THE CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP YANNIS MARKOVITS , 1 Regional Institute of Education of Thessaloniki , Greece GAINING BEHAVIOR KNOWLEDGE IN THE ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY MICHELLE L. ROSSER, University of Oklahoma, USA ROBERT M. NELSON , University of Central Oklahoma, USA INFLUENCE OF SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND PERSONALITY ON CAREER EXPLORATION: STUDY WITH PORTUGUESE STUDENTS LILIANA FARIA, Laureate International Universities , Portugal MARIA DO CU TAVEIRA, University of Minho, Portugal THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE ON POLITICAL BEHAVIORS MOHAMMAD ALI SARLAK, PNU, IRAN HOSEIN SAFARZADEH, Islamic Azad University, IRAN MAHDI SAADAT FARD, Islamic Azad University, IRAN
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This is one paper of International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM) Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)
International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM), 3(2012) 62-82
The two faces of continuance commitment:

The moderating role of job satisfaction on the continuance commitment organizational citizenship behavior relationship Yannis Markovits 1, 2
1
Regional Institute of Education of Thessaloniki, National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government, Greece
Department of Accounting, School of Business and Economics, Alexanders Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece, Nik. PLastira 66B, Thessaloniki, GR-542 50 markovii@cyta.gr
Abstract
Problem statement: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of job satisfaction to the continuance commitment organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) relationship. In particular to examine satisfactions mediating role by pointing out that the two faces of continuance commitment make very specific predictions: those with the happy face (the highly satisfied) will show more OCBs the more they realize that they have a lot to lose if the leave the organization; and those with the unhappy face (the less satisfied) will show less OCB the more they realize how stuck to the organization they are. Methodology: A structured questionnaire was delivered to employees measuring continuance commitment, job satisfaction, OCB, positive/negative affectivity and demographics to 392 public sector and 323 private sector employees in Greece. Results: The hierarchical regression analyses show that there is a significant interactive effect among continuance commitment job satisfaction OCB for both sectors (private and public). Also, employees with low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency on continuance commitment are significantly different from zero, and for employees with high job satisfaction the regression slopes indicate significant differences from zero both for continuance commitment. Conclusions: These results explain the effect of a satisfied or dissatisfied worker on the relationship between the more calculative forms of commitment on the intended behavior at work, especially the extra-role behavior. The Good Soldier syndrome seems to be evident when a worker is happy with the job, even if the decision to stay with the organization is due to the need for the particular job (either due to lack of alternatives or due to high sacrifices). If management wants employees with OCBs, then job satisfaction is essential for this occurrence.
Keywords:
Continuance commitment, Job satisfaction, Organizational citizenship behaviors, Moderating effect
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1927-565X (Print) - ISSN 1927-5668 (Online) -, Copyright IAOBM 2013
Introduction
Job satisfaction is an attitudinal variable [and] can be considered as a global feeling about the job or as a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job [Spector, 1997, p. 2]. It could be considered as an affective reaction to a job that results from the incumbents comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired [Cranny et al., 1992, p. 1], or as an affective response by individuals resulting from an appraisal of their work roles in the job that they presently hold [Graham & Messner, 1998]. In general, job satisfaction has been seen in the relevant literature, as an affective or emotional attitude of an individual towards his or her job [James & Jones, 1980] or as a general attitude towards a job and some particular aspects of it, e.g., nature of work, relations with co-workers, etc [Knoop, 1995]. The position taken in the present paper is that job satisfaction is composed of two facets relating to the extrinsic and intrinsic features of a job [Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005]. Extrinsic satisfaction is the satisfaction derived from extrinsic circumstances, for example, remuneration, management policies, physical conditions, or job security. Intrinsic satisfaction is the individually felt satisfaction arising out of opportunities for achievement, creativity, personal advancement, etc. Organizational commitment is a multi-component construct which describes individuals feelings of attachment to their organization. For the needs of this research we have used one of the components conceptualized by Allen and Meyers [1990]: continuance commitment. Continuance commitment is more of a calculative form derived from the individuals ongoing investment in the organization and the availability of alternative employment of similar value [Dunham et al., 1994]; the employee needs to be to the organization. Recently, continuance commitment has been further divided into two distinguishable categories: one is called high sacrifices (i.e., the perceived sacrifices associated with leaving from an organization) and the other low alternatives (i.e., the lack of alternative employment opportunities) [McGee & Ford, 1987; Meyer et al., 1990; Dunham et al., 1994; Meyer et al., 2002; Powell & Meyer, 2004; Bentein et al., 2005]. The concept of Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is firstly introduced in the mid 1980s by Organ [1988] and is the individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the
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effective functioning of the organization. Later, Van Dyne et al. [1994] proposed the extra-role behavior as the behavior which benefits the organization and is intended to benefit the organization; a behavior which is discretionary and which goes beyond existing role expectations. Also, OCB defined as behavior that goes beyond the basic requirements of the job; is to a large extent discretionary; and is of benefit to the organization [Lambert, 2006]. Thus, organizational citizenship is the functional, extra-role, pro-social organizational behavior directed at individual, groups and/or an organization. These are helping behaviors not formally prescribed by the organization and for which there are no direct rewards or punishments. From the above argument, there should be excluded those pro-social behaviors that are prescribed by the organization as performance requirements, and dysfunctional or non-compliant behaviors [Chien, 2004].
1. Review of literature and hypothesis

1.1 Antecedents and correlates of organizational citizenship behaviors
Bolon [1997] conducted a field study in a large tertiary hospital in the US and 202 mainly nursing personnel participated in the study. He found that job satisfaction and organizational commitment were significantly correlated to the OCBI construct - these behaviors are directed toward individuals and comprising of altruism and courtesy as suggested by Williams and Anderson [1991]. As far as the forms of commitment are concerned, continuance commitment was unrelated to this part of the construct that the citizenship behavior is aimed towards coworker. Another study conducted on government employees in Kuwait [Alotaibi, 2001] found that neither job satisfaction nor organizational commitment could be considered as antecedents or as predictors of OCBs. The researcher explained this finding on cultural specificity, since almost all previous studies were conducted in a Western or American cultural context, whereas, this study was in a Near Eastern, Arabic cultural environment. However, another non-Western study, this time conducted in the Sultanate of Oman [Kuehn & Al-Busaidi, 2002] on data collected from 153 employees working in the private and public sector, reached the conclusion that job satisfaction and normative commitment were significant predictors of OCB. It seems, that even though both previous studies conducted in an Arabic cultural environment, their
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contradictory conclusions reached, make them more culturally specific and less generalizable. Furthermore, LePine et al. [2002] conducted a meta-analysis on OCB literature and research, and found strong support for the predictor relationship of job satisfaction and organizational commitment to various OCB measures and constructs. Similar conclusions reached by Herscovitch and Meyer [2002] found that OCB is a consequence of the existence of organizational commitment. As it could be seen, results on the relationship between job-related attitudes and contextual performance are mixed; however, recent meta-analyses have shown that, by and large, job satisfaction and organizational commitment could be regarded as predictors of the OCBs, irrespective of the measurement scales adopted. More specifically, although various different measures and constructs are used for the measurement of OCBs, different studies found that organizational commitment predicts or correlates with OCBs [cf. Williams & Anderson, 1991; McFarlane Shore & Wayne, 1993; Schappe, 1998]. As far as the predictive relationship of continuance commitment to OCB, it has been observed that the individual self-concept moderates the relationship between continuance commitment and individually based OCBs. According to Johnson and Chang [2006, p. 564] employees with strong individual self-concepts pay more attention to person-level information, such as investments and potential economic losses. These employees would likely cultivate continuance commitment based on compliance, which involves maintaining membership so long as it prevents the loss of valued investments and no alternative employment opportunities exist that are more favorable.
1.2 The moderating relationship

The above argument, leads to a general proposition that there is a moderating relationship between continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, i.e., job satisfaction works as moderator of the predictive relationship between continuance commitment and OCB. Summarizing, the insofar theorizing, continuance commitment predicts extra-role performance since an individual who feels committed towards the organization, feels identified with the goals, norms, and values of this organization, is loyal to management directives and policies pursued and express a tendency to remain in the organization. By expressing these positive feelings to the organization, the job performance is not only the expected one, the focal performance, but even more, performance exceeds what is required by management and is showed through altruism, sportsmanship, courtesy,
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boosterism, etc. In other words, OCBs are exposed by the individual. However, continuance commitment is a driving force that leads to positive feelings towards ones job, i.e., the expression of job satisfaction. The individual perceives the job as part of his or her broad organizational membership and acts accordingly, i.e., performs well at work and even more, behaves as a good soldier. The proposition made in this study is that continuance commitment explains OCBs, but this relationship is moderated by job satisfaction. Following, the above argument, the major question is: which forms of continuance commitment manage to predict extra-role behaviors? Continuance commitment is the calculative form derived from the individuals ongoing investment in the organization and the availability of alternative employment of similar value. Thus, this form of commitment implies that the employee makes a rational evaluation or choice of his/her stay in the organization; the individual measures the side bets of the decision. Employees, according to the theory of Perceived Organizational Support (POS), tend to personify the conditions faced during employment and reciprocate this with respect to felt commitment. In fact, POS would create a felt obligation to care about the organization and employees will fulfill this type of indebtedness by increasing their commitment and efforts [Rhoades et al., 2001, p. 825]. This reciprocity norm is also evident on job satisfaction, since employees by being satisfied with their job, they exhibit positive performance at work [Haar & Spell, 2004]. Moreover, the Social Exchange Theory (SET) has the ability to predict positive HRM initiatives, including employee commitment, employee motivation and a desire to remain with the organization. Gould-Williams and Davies [2005] found in the UK public sector, specifically in seven local government departments that 58% of the variation in employee commitment is predicted, 53% variation in motivation and 41% of the variance in the desire to remain with the organization. In fact, according to the SET, the stronger the relationship of the individual with the organization, the more the identification, attachment and involvement felt [Van Knippenberg et al., 2007].
1.3 Hypothesis
As it could be seen from the aforementioned literature review continuance commitment seems to have weak correlations with positive outcomes such as OCB. However, this finding might
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depend on the nature of continuance commitment, i.e., whether commitment is due to low alternatives and or due to high sacrifices. The one face of continuance commitment shows that people are happy where they are, although they have low alternatives and sacrifice many things if they would leave their organization. These employees are not stuck to the organization, but they are happy workers who also realize that their organization provides benefits to them - those ones that they would sacrifice if they decide to leave the organization. On the other hand, the other face of continuance commitment would be that people are unhappy but they have no alternatives and would sacrifice a lot. Those are the ones that are really stuck with their organization. These two faces of continuance commitment would allow making very specific predictions about the relationships between continuance commitment and OCB: those with the happy face, i.e., the highly satisfied would show the more OCB the more they realize that they have a lot to lose; whereas those with the unhappy face would show even less OCB the more they realize how stuck they are. The main purpose of our research, therefore, is to collect more empirical evidence for the importance and nature of interactive attitudinal effects to explain organizational citizenship behaviors in organizations. More specifically, our research was designed to extend this basic approach by analyzing a combination of work attitudes that differs from the attitudes prior research has focused on, namely job satisfaction and continuance commitment. Job satisfaction represents the situational variable and continuance commitment represents personality in our reasoning. Accordingly, it can be expected that both variables interact. If job satisfaction is low (representing a weak situation), then ones continuance commitment should have a significant negative impact on OCB. However, if job satisfaction is high such a strong situation will overwhelm any continuance commitment impact on OCB. More specifically, continuance commitment has a strong negative relation to OCB when job satisfaction is low but continuance commitment will be unrelated to OCB when job satisfaction is high. This leads to the following hypothesis (Figure 1 presents the heuristic framework of the analysis): Hypothesis: Job satisfaction moderates the relationship between continuance commitment and OCB.
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Control Variables Positive/Negative Affectivity
CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIORS
JOB SATISFACTION
Figure 1: Heuristic framework for the analysis
3. Methods
3.1 Sampling and subjects
The present field research is a two-study one, and the data collected from two independent samples drawn from the public and the private sector in Greece. The public sector sample is from ten regional and local government organizations located in the geographical area of Thessaloniki (overall six organizations are approached) and in total, 392 employees successfully responded to the research. The response rate is 61% and the demographic characteristics of the sample are: 42.7% males and 57.3% females; mean age is 35 years; mean organizational tenure is 9 years; 82% of the sample is non-supervisory employees, and the remaining are heads of departments; educational level is: 20.1% completed Secondary Education; 18.3% graduated from a Technological Educational Institute; 41.8% are University graduates; 19.8% have a Postgraduate diploma. The respondents answered anonymously and at their own convenience. As far as the private sector sample is concerned, 323 employees returned to us completed and usable questionnaires from 12 service sector companies. All companies have premises and operations in the geographical area of Thessaloniki. The overall response rate is 59%. The demographic characteristics of the sample are: 42.4% males and 57.6% females; mean age is 32 years; mean organizational tenure is 5 years; 77.4% of the sample is nonsupervisory employees, and the remaining are heads of departments; educational level is: 41.8% completed Secondary Education; 19.5% graduated from a Technological Educational Institute;
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26.3% are University graduates; 12.4% have a Postgraduate diploma. The respondents answered anonymously and at their own convenience.
3.2 Measures
Job satisfaction is measured through a structured self-report questionnaire based on Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) [Weiss et al., 1967] with twenty three items: twelve measuring extrinsic satisfaction and eleven measuring intrinsic satisfaction. Continuance commitment is based on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) [Powell & Meyer, 2004] and has nine items. For the measurement of OCB, the four dimensional scale of Moorman and Blakely [1995] is used. This scale has the following dimensions [Fields, 2002, p. 238]: Interpersonal helping: five items (altruistic behaviors - response to personal needs of coworkers when they deal with job-related tasks and problems). Individual initiative: five items (employee efforts to improve individual and group/team task performance, challenge groupthink, and encourage participation). Personal industry: four items (adherence to organizational and management rules and instructions, the unusual attention to quality, and the performance of tasks above and beyond the call of duty). Loyal boosterism: five items (uncritical faithfulness to the organization, the defense of its interests, and the contribution to the good reputation of the organization and its general welfare the promotion of the organizations image to outsiders; it includes employees actions with others external to the organization). As control variable the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS) is used, [Watson et al., 1988] comprising of twenty items ten for positive affectivity and ten for negative affectivity. This scale measures general positive and negative affect, a personality characteristic identifying general feelings of positive or negative mood and relating them to the organizational and job conditions and circumstances. The measurement scale is the 7-point Likert, having as endpoints 1 = Complete disagreement, and 7 = Complete agreement. All scales employed in this study are translated into Greek.
4. Results
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4.1 Preliminary analyses

Tables 1 and 2 provide descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, and intercorrelations for the components of job satisfaction, continuance commitment, OCB, and the two affectivity states for e public sector and private sector samples, respectively. Variables 1. Job satisfaction 2. Continuance commitment 3. OCB 4. Positive affectivity 5. Negative affectivity Mean 4.61 4.55 5.45 4.94 2.63 SD .89 1.15 .77 .94 .78 .90 .86 .86 .90 .87 .23** .31** .34** .12* .15** .41** 1 2 3 4
-.40** -.14** -.12** -.32**
Note. N = 392, ** p < .01 (two-tailed), * p < .05 (two-tailed) Table 1: Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, Cronbachs alpha coefficients), Pearson correlations (public sector)
Variables 1. Job satisfaction 2. Continuance commitment 3. OCB 4. Positive affectivity 5. Negative affectivity
Mean 4.72 4.05 5.10 4.86 2.62
SD 1.01 1.13 .86 .99 .86
.93 .85 .91 .91 .88
.19** .46** .38** -.03 .13* -.05 .60**
-.15** -.12** -.23**
Note. N = 323, ** p < .01 (two-tailed), * p < .05 (two-tailed) Table 2: Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, Cronbachs alpha coefficients), Pearson correlations (private sector)
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The variables used for both studies have, by and large, strong inter-correlations and their internal reliabilities are high, exemplifying significant psychometric properties. As anticipated, the control variables of positive and negative affect are significantly correlated with all variables entered into the regression analyses, except in two instances for the private sector sample.
4.2 Public sector sample

The results from the hierarchical regression analysis show that there is a significant interactive effect among continuance commitment job satisfaction OCB: b = 1.10 (p < .01) and the explained variance of the interaction is 56% (see Table 3). Furthermore, it can be seen that job satisfaction and continuance commitment exert quite similar interactive influences on OCB: for employees with low job satisfaction the impact of continuance commitment on OCB is much more pronounced than for employees with high job satisfaction. Moreover, both interactions are disordinal in nature as the regression lines of the relationship between continuance commitment and OCB cross over within the range of satisfaction values [see: Aiken & West, 1991, p. 22f]. To answer the question of whether the regression of OCB on continuance commitment are different from zero for high and low values of job satisfaction, in addition, simple slope analyses are performed. The results of these analyses reveal that for employees with low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency on continuance commitment are significantly different from zero (b = -1.85, t = 5.43, p < .01). On the other hand, for employees with high job satisfaction the corresponding regression slopes indicate significant differences from zero both for continuance commitment (b = 0.23, t = 4.46, p < .01) (see Figure 2).
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Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) Step 1 B Job satisfaction (JS) Continuance commitment (CC) Positive affectivity (PA) Negative affectivity (NA) JS * CC R2 Adjusted R2 Note: ** p < .01, * p < .05, N = 392 Table 3: Hierarchical regression analysis for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (public sector) .52 .27 .16** .04 .28** .11** SE b .04 .04 .04 .04 Step 2 B -.44** -.74** .28** .10 1.10** .56 .32 SE b .12 .15 .04 .04 .21
9 8 7
OCB
6 5 4 3 Low continuance commitment CC High continuance commitment Low job satisfaction High job satisfaction
Figure 2: Regression lines for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (public sector)
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4.3 Private sector sample

The results from the hierarchical regression analysis show that there is a significant interactive effect among continuance commitment job satisfaction OCB: b = 1.14 (p < .01) and the explained variance of the interaction is 48% (Table 4). Furthermore, the results reveal that for employees with low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency on continuance commitment are significantly different from zero (b = -1.84, t = 4.68, p < .01). On the other hand, for employees with high job satisfaction the corresponding regression slopes indicate significant differences for continuance commitment (b = 0.18, t = 3.35, p < .01) (See Figure 3).
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) Step 1 B Job satisfaction (JS) Continuance commitment (CC) Positive affectivity (PA) Negative affectivity (NA) JS * CC R2 Adjusted R2 Note: ** p < .01, N = 323 Table 4: Hierarchical regression analysis for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (private sector) .42 .18 .18** .09* .48** -.01 SE b .04 .04 .04 .04 Step 2 B .14 .05 .45** .05 1.14** .48 .23 SE b .13 .18 .04 .04 .24
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9 8 7
OCB
6 5 4 3 Low continuance commitment CC High continuance commitment Low job satisfaction High job satisfaction
Figure 3: Regression lines for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (private sector) Thus, increasing levels of continuance commitment are, by and large, associated with decreasing levels of OCB only when job satisfaction is low.
5. Discussion
The present field study explored the moderating role of job satisfaction on the relationship between continuance commitment and OCB. It has been found that this relationship is evident and that the role of job satisfaction is to explain when this relationship is strong and to what direction. In other words, when job satisfaction is low, increasing levels of continuance commitment lead to decreasing levels of OCBs; whereas, when job satisfaction is high, increasing levels of continuance commitment lead to an increase on OCB. This outcome explains the effect of a satisfied or dissatisfied worker on the structural relationship between the more calculative forms of commitment on the intended behavior at work, especially the extra-role behavior. The Good Soldier syndrome seems to be more evident and pronounced when a worker is happy with his/her job, even if the decision to stay with the organization is not because he or she wants it, or ought to, but because he or she needs the particular job (either due to lack of alternatives or due to high sacrifices).
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This study provides useful information for managers and HR practitioners, since it stresses the importance of developing workplace environments and employment relationships that will make people feel at least happy with their job and the organization they work for. If they expose such positive feelings, even if they feel that their commitment to the organization is more calculative than affective, or normative, i.e., the side-bets of their decision to stay are stronger that their affective feelings or their obligation commitments, then the extra-role and pro-social behaviors of these workers at work will be exhibited and performed. In other words, if management wants employees to have OCBs, then job satisfaction is essential for this occurrence.
5.1 Limitations
An important limitation of this study is the problem with the common-variance method that arises from self-report and mono-source methodological tools adopted. This method biases are attributable to the measurement method, rather than to the construct of interest [Bagozzi & Yi, 1991]. This might account for some inflation of the relationships between the variables used for the research, but apparently cannot be responsible for finding links. However, there are relatively few alternatives to this type of field studies. This deficiency is exhibited in all field studies using selfreported quantitative-type questionnaires. It is difficult to envisage a way in which individual attitudes such as job satisfaction can be assessed other than through self report. This is less of a problem, however, for the hypothesized interaction effects. The problem of common method variance cannot account for interactions among variables but leads to an underestimation of these statistical interactions [McClelland & Judd, 1993]. Despite the mono-source design, there should be confidence in the interactions obtained. Moreover, the instruments developed for this research have well proven psychometric properties, suggesting that they are likely to be resistant to common method variance [Spector, 1987]. One alternative to overcome this limitation might be to focus on a more qualitative approach, although personal interviews with a small number of respondents would limit generalizability. Longitudinal studies incorporating behavioral data from third party informants are strongly advocated in the literature. However such an approach was not possible here and third party informants would be unable to comment on individual attitudes. Third party reports of satisfaction or behavioral assessment of commitment are clearly avenues to be pursued in future. However, given that the main contribution of this research was the development
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and examination of a conceptual framework incorporating attitudes, self-regulations, and economic sectors, these further lines of research remain to be developed. Another limitation is the Greek translation of items, initially constructed in English or of an English-speaking audience. Thus, interpretation problems could be arise, thus, some statements were further explained when written in Greek This research decided to direct translate the items assuming to be etic, instead of adopting the belief that quantitative researches should use culturally appropriate emic measures [see: Markovits et al., 2010; Vandenberghe, 2003]. Finally, the samples are convenient ones, thus, this may limit the generalizability of the findings, although the relatively large sample sizes mediate this shortcoming. The sample sizes are large enough, providing acceptable statistical power to the results. However, the inclusion of a selection of relevant control variables (e.g., positive and negative affectivity), seeks to limit the extent to which individual experience might confound the outcomes.
6. Recommendations for Future Research

The moderating role of job satisfaction to the continuance commitment - OCB relationship needs to be further tested on the stability and generalizability of its conceptual framework. In particular, the present empirical study needs further replication in other cultural contexts, either as part of a longitudinal study in the same cultural context, or as a cross-cultural and a cross-national study. Qualitative study of the more personalized and specific areas of OCBs and job attitudes may also prove illuminating. This can be further connected to qualitative material selected by managerial assessments of employees OCBs and attitudes towards their job and organization.
7. References
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Authors biography
Yannis Markovits teaches organizational behavior and human resource management in Greece. He received his PhD in Management (work/organizational psychology) from Aston Business School, Birmingham. He has worked both in public administration and private sector organizations for more than twenty years in management and HR positions, and teaches at the Institute of Education, National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government and at the Alexanders Technological Educational Institute. His research interests centre on organizational commitment, job satisfaction, employee motivation, and employees training. Dr. Markovits has authored articles, books, and book chapters, and presented his work in various international scientific conferences. He serves as reviewer on academic journals, and he is associate editor of the International Journal of the Academy of Organizational Behavior Management and member of the editorial review board of the International Journal of Management Science and Information Technology. He has also participated and supervised various research projects and worked as national expert on missions and projects in Greece and in the EU.
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The Two 'Faces' of Continuance Commitment

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Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)

International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM)

Dr. Mohammad Ali Sarlak

Editorial Review Board