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Purpose – We build a theoretical lens that draws on an emerging theory of positive work relationships to examine whether constructive emotional expressions in work relationships influence changes in individuals' affective commitment to their organization.

Design/methodology/approach – Using longitudinal data collected from full-time employees, we employed a latent-difference-score (LDS) approach to examine whether changes in emotional carrying capacity could account for changes in organizational commitment.

Findings – The findings support this hypothesis and suggest a new perspective on the ways in which a change in relationship capacity may create changes in people's commitment to an organization.

Research limitations – The main limitation concerns the use of self-report, albeit time-lagged, data.

Practical implications – Developing higher levels of employee affective commitment is a key challenge for many organizations. Our study can help managers in recognizing the importance of building a relational space in which employees are able to express emotions frequently and openly, as well as engaging with other employees in listening to their emotional experiences and responding in a constructive manner.

Originality/value – This study contributes to an emergent body of literature that adopts a positive psychology lens to the study of employee experiences at work, by investigating the capacity to express emotions in general and its influence on people's affective commitment to the organization.

Although the proliferation of research in emotional intelligence (EI) in the last 25 years has largely focused on the individual level, some researchers have proposed theories and measurement models for EI at the organizational level. Drawing from earlier work which conceptualizes organizational emotional intelligence (OEI) as a climate-level construct involving shared norms and practices this chapter sets out to investigate the relationship between perceptions of organizational emotional intelligence (OEI) and turnover intentions amongst employees. Since turnover intentions are a reliable indicator of actual turnover they are deemed to be a critical indicator for organizational performance. This chapter also builds on previous research which found that the relationship between OEI as a climate-level construct and intention to leave was mediated by organizational emotional appeal (i.e., overall reputation) and trust in senior management to explore the mediating role of other employee attitudes which have been traditionally linked to climate and individual-level outcomes in organizations, namely job satisfaction and affective commitment. By surveying employees in a UK-based charity organization (n = 173), the study finds that both job satisfaction and affective commitment mediate the impact of OEI on intention to leave and explain a moderate amount of variance in the focal construct. However, the majority of the mediation occurs through job satisfaction with a reduced mediation effect for affective commitment. Potential reasons for these results in the charity context are discussed. The chapter contributes to a wider understanding of the way in which perceptions of OEI impact on employee attitudes toward the organization and the job; and, in turn, how these attitudes impact on turnover intentions.

Introduction: The current study examines the relationship of reciprocity and the knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) with the mediating role of organizational commitment.

Aim: The purpose of this chapter is to examine linkages between reciprocity and KSB in Pakistani Pharmaceutical industry basing on social exchange theory (SET) (Blau, 1964). Employees’ affective and normative organizational commitments were proposed as mediator to explain these relationships.

Method: Data were collected using Survey Questionnaires from a sample of 287 managers and staff of sales department of different pharmaceutical firms in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. This is an explanatory study with a quantitative approach. KSB model was developed and tested using a two-stage analysis. Initially, path analysis using AMOS was carried out followed by mediation through process analysis.

Findings: Affective and normative commitment was found to be mediating between reciprocity and KSB using SET.

Originality of the Study: Few empirical studies have analyzed the effects of reciprocity on KSB, especially in context of pharmaceutical industry. Mediation of employee’s commitment could provide new insights to management practitioners in fostering KSB.

Implications: The finding will allow organizations in general and pharmaceutical firms in particular, to focus more on commitment toward their employee as a reciprocal benefit for improving knowledge sharing culture in their organizations.

Theory suggests that affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior are positively correlated. Previous studies, however, report weak relationships between affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. The present study provides an interactive perspective in which we propose that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between affective commitment and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) – altruism and compliance. We found significant interaction between emotional intelligence and affective commitment in predicting altruistic behavior. In other words, the positive relationship between affective commitment and OCB-altruism was stronger for high emotional intelligence individuals. Our prediction for compliance behavior was not supported.

When a firm implements certain HR practices, different employees attribute different motives and intentions to the firm with regard to those HR practices. Research on HR attributions has made progress toward understanding the relationship between HR practices and employee outcomes from a process perspective. However, this research is still fragmented and lacks a systematic typology of the different types of HR attributions and a compelling organizing research framework. Furthermore, a number of research gaps and opportunities have emerged regarding the nomological net of employee HR attributions. To address the gaps and capitalize on the opportunities, the authors propose an overarching theory-driven multi-level framework that guides the choice of the antecedents and outcomes of employee HR attributions and explains their relationships along with both mediating and moderating mechanisms. Drawing on signaling theory embedded in the proposed framework, the authors identify and categorize various antecedents of employee HR attributions to explain their relationships. The authors also use several additional theories such as social exchange and the job demands–resources model included in their review to identify and categorize various outcomes of employee HR attributions across levels of analysis (i.e., individual, collective [team/group/unit], organization) and explain their relationships. In addition, the proposed framework explains how individual-level employee HR attributions emerge at the collective level and influence collective processes and outcomes. The authors end their review by pinpointing future research needs and discussing related future research directions.

Turnover of highly educated employees in the hospitality industry is growing rapidly. A predictor of turnover in the hospitality industry recently put forward, but not yet fully researched, is psychological strain. This chapter investigates the role of psychological strain and organizational support in relation to affective commitment and turnover intentions. The results show that both psychological strain and organizational support were found to be significant predictors of turnover intentions. The effect of organizational support was partly mediated by psychological strain and fully by affective commitment. No significant interaction effects with gender were found. As organizational support is a precursor of both psychological strain and intention to leave and is in the scope of influence of a hospitality company, it could be a starting point for reducing turnover.

To date, research focus has been on overt forms of abusive supervision, like aggressive behavior and physical violence. Less clear is the effect of implicit abusive supervisory behaviors such as gaslighting, a form of psychological manipulation whereby a “gaslighter” seeks to confuse, disorientate, and cast doubt in the mind of a victim. In this study, we aim to examine the effects of supervisory gaslighting on employee's affective organizational commitment (AOC). We also investigate the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) on this relationship and whether employee emotional intelligence (EI) buffers the negative effects of supervisory abuse.

Two hundred and sixty-six participants were allocated to one of three conditions (high, medium, and none) where they read workplace scenarios varying in the level of supervisory gaslighting. Afterward, participants responded to AOC, LMX, and EI scales.

Results showed supervisory gaslighting decreases employee AOC and that this relationship is partly explained by the employee's relationship with their supervisor. Contrary to expectations, higher employee EI strengthened the effect of gaslighting on AOC.

Supervisory gaslighting remains largely unexplored and this chapter contributes to this topic by testing a model to understand the effects of gaslighting on AOC. These findings provide a solid foundation for further research in this area.

This study examined the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee organizational commitment (EOC) within the gaming industry. It was predicted that a company's CSR would strengthen the relationship of EOC and thus improve employee loyalty to the organization. Gender, tenure, and position of employees within the company were considered as variables moderating the relationship between CSR and EOC. To investigate these relationships, this study analyzed data from a gaming organization using a proprietary employee survey and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results determined that as employee attitudes toward CSR becomes positive, employees will have a positive affective commitment (AC)and continuance commitment (CC) toward the company. Further, as employees' affective and CC toward the company becomes positive, it strengthens organizational loyalty (OL). Results of this study support that a gaming organization's efforts to develop CSR could have a positive effect on EOC, and thus loyalty to the organization.

Transformational leadership has been found to positively influence employee attitudes and behaviors. However, research also has shown that a variety of task and motivational factors lead to similar outcomes. Yet, little research has explored the potential interaction of transformational leadership with these other factors. We utilize fuzzy-set/qualitative comparative analysis to explore the ways these factors may interact to produce positive employee outcomes. Specifically, we found that high levels of employee commitment and performance can be achieved in the absence of a transformational leader through various “bundles” of enriched jobs, challenging goals, and high quality leader–follower relationships.

With higher female labor force participation and the greater prevalence of dual-career families, family responsibilities ever more overlap work responsibilities. Companies have begun to respond to the changing nature of the workforce by offering family-friendly policies that are intended to help employees manage family responsibilities while remaining productive workers. Examples of family-friendly policies include child and dependent care, flexible leave polices, and time off for family emergencies (Daley, 1998; Folsom & Botsch, 1993; Greenfield, 1997; Ezra & Deckman, 1996). Some benefits frequently offered by employers are not considered family-friendly policies because they are not primarily directed toward the management of family responsibilities. Examples of those benefits are educational assistance for the employee, mortgage assistance, holidays, and employee wellness programs.