Employees' nonwork obligation and organizational commitments: A new way tolook at the relationships

The authors' adopted a family resource view of nonwork obligations and exam ined these obligations' relationships to dimensions of employees' organizat ional commitment. Complex interactions were found between employees' marita l status, number of children, and having relatives nearby as related to the continuance dimension, but not the affective dimension, of commitment. In particular, results were strongest when the focus was on employees' percept ions of whether they would experience a high personal sacrifice if they wer e to leave their organizations. These findings are discussed in the context of developing family-friendly human resource programs that may help employ ees feel less "trapped" in organizations. (C) 2001 John Wily & Sons, Inc.