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The development and validation of a Multitarget Affective Commitment Scale

Kristina Schoemmel (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)
Thomas Skriver Jønsson (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)
Hans-Jeppe Jeppesen (Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 2 March 2015

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Abstract

Purpose

In order to contribute to the understanding of affective commitment towards distinct workplace targets, the purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a Multitarget Affective Commitment Scale (MACS) through two data collections. The MACS uses similarly worded items for distinct targets and reflects the most recent theoretical development of affective commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

In the first data collection, items from previous commitment scales were tested through the social network service Facebook (n=305). The second data collection was conducted in the healthcare system of Denmark (n=496) using survey questionnaires.

Findings

In Study 1, exploratory factor analyses were conducted to reduce the items based on the Facebook data. In Study 2, the authors confirm the findings of Study 1 and further reduce the items based on the healthcare sample. The healthcare sample is also used in Study 3, where the authors validate the MACS by investigating its relationship with predictors, correlates, and outcomes.

Originality/value

The results suggest that the MACS are a reliable and valid measure of affective commitment compatible with the diverse targets to which affective commitment often occurs. Consequently, the MACS is applicable for research investigating multiply affective commitments, thereby advancing the understanding of interactions between affective commitments and diverse targets, among other applications.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewer and to Associate Editor Professor Thomas N. Garavan for their helpful and critical comments that have formed and improved the paper.

Citation

Schoemmel, K., Jønsson, T.S. and Jeppesen, H.-J. (2015), "The development and validation of a Multitarget Affective Commitment Scale", Personnel Review, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 286-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-06-2013-0099

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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