MEN, WOMEN, AND ATTITUDINAL COMMITMENT - THE EFFECTS OF WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES AND SOCIALIZATION

Women's underrepresentation in higher organizational ranks is often at tributed to low attitudinal commitment. This study examines attitudina l commitment to determine its origins and whether it differs for men a nd women. Previous research indicates that men and women have differen t levels of attitudinal commitment. Two explanations of attitudinal co mmitment differences are the gender model and the job model. The gende r model contends that socialization shapes attitudinal commitment; in contrast, the job model suggests that workplace experiences determine attitudinal commitment. This study tests these models using 328 accoun tants as subjects; controlling for subjects' professional and educatio nal background minimizes the confounding of extraneous factors found i n previous research. Attitudinal commitment and workplace experiences were measured using subjects' evaluation of organizational involvement and job satisfaction. Stepwise regression models predicted significan t amounts of variation and identified the antecedents of both concepts . The results replicate previous findings that women are less committe d to their organizations than men. Men and women reported lower organi zational involvement but higher job satisfaction. Regression models ov erwhelmingly supported the job model to describe men and women's attit udinal commitment. The results suggest that women's underrepresentatio n in upper management ranks can likely be decreased, while increasing their organizational involvement and job satisfaction, by altering fac tors within the organization's control, factors that shape the job exp erience.