Exploring the relationship between commitment profiles and work attitudes,employee withdrawal, and job performance

Four commitment profiles, based on levels of commitment to the organization and the career, were used to explore the relationship between distinct pat terns of commitment and work-related outcomes with a sample of professional hospital employees. As two distinct forms of organizational commitment hav e been identified affective and continuance commitment separate profiles we re constructed for each type of organizational commitment in conjunction wi th career commitment. Results for profiles based on affective commitment we re consistent with prior research findings, in that employees committed to both their organization and their career exhibited the most positive work a ttitudes and the strongest intention to remain with the organization. Unexp ectedly, the dually committed also had the strongest intensity of job searc h behavior, but these efforts did not translate into higher incidences of t urnover. No differences were observed across commitment profiles with respe ct to job performance. The synergistic effect between affective and career commitment was not observed for profiles based on continuance commitment to the organization. Employees committed only to their careers exhibited more positive work outcomes than did those committed only to their organization s. The implications of these findings for management practice were discusse d.