THE COMMITMENT OF JAPANESE WORKERS AND UNITED-STATES WORKERS - A REASSESSMENT OF THE LITERATURE

I review research comparing the commitment to work of American and Jap anese workers. Because Japanese workers demonstrate high levels of com mited behaviors (eg., low absenteeism and turnover), this research con cludes that Japanese workers are more committed than are American work ers. However, this research dismisses the finding that American worker s express a commitment to work that is greater than (or at least simil ar to) Japanese workers. I argue that this incongruity between express ed commitment and committed behaviors has several explanations: Greate r duality exists in the Japanese labor market. Differences in cultural contexts make behavioral indicators dubious measures of commitment. J apanese organizations may elicit committed behaviors from their worker s without producing personal feelings of commitment. The relationship between attitudes and behavior may be less direct than is often assume d. Continuing to distrust the validity of survey results regarding the commitment of Japanese workers avoids confronting these alternative e xplanations.