COMPANY PROSPECTS AND EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT - AN ANALYSIS OF THE DIMENSIONALITY OF THE BOCS AND THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL EVENTS ON THOSE DIMENSIONS

The study described in this paper addressed two key objectives. Using structural equation modelling, the study examined first the dimensiona lity of the British Organizational Commitment Scale (BOGS) and second, how employee perceptions of their company's prospects and their perce ptions of their own career opportunities might affect each commitment dimension. Analysis of the data (from an oil company) suggests that th e BOGS has three principal dimensions but that there is a fourth (meas urement artefact) factor, consisting of the negatively phrased items. Analysis also reveals that improved company prospects are positively r elated to the 'loyalty' dimension of the BOGS but are inversely relate d to the 'involvement' dimension. The paper considers explanations for this phenomenon.