A Psychometric Assessment of the Malay Version of Meyer and Allen's
Malaysian Management Review,June 1999
A PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF THE MALAY VERSION OF MEYER AND ALLEN'S ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT MEASURE
DR ALI YUSOB MD ZAIN School of Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia
DR
ROGER
GILL
The
Leadership
Trust,
Hereford
shire,
UK
ABSTRACT
Meyer
and
Allen's
(1991) model of organizational commitment conceptualizes it in terms of three distinct dimensions: affective, continuance, and normative. The purpose of this study was to examine its generalizability in
Malaysia.
Meyer and Allen's research instrument was translated into Malaysian language and distributed to non-supervisory employees in 61 organizations in the government, semi- government and private sectors. Data from 672 respondents were analyzed using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results generally support the cross-cultural generalizability of Meyer and Allen's model and utility of their questionnaire. The results also support McGee and Ford's (1987) proposal that continuance commitment may be better represented by two sub-dimensions: one associated with the costs of leaving and the other associated with the availability of alternatives.
INTRODUCTION
Culture plays a dominant role in organizational studies. The importance of cross-cultural study in management was recognized by many researchers. Gill (1983) emphasized that "understanding cross-cultural personality differences can help management and government to achieve more harmonious adjustment of expectations where managers are transferred from one country to another". Triandis (1980) suggested that "for a complete science of behavior we need to tie the characteristics of the ecology with the characteristics of humans". Moreover, Bass and Barrett (1976) asserted that "generalizations about management and supervision in the cross-cultural context are limited ... concepts and constructs tend to shift in meaning as
A PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF THE MALAY VERSION OF MEYER AND ALLEN'S ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT MEASURE
DR ALI YUSOB MD ZAIN School of Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia
DR
ROGER
GILL
The
Leadership
Trust,
Hereford
shire,
UK
ABSTRACT
Meyer
and
Allen's
(1991) model of organizational commitment conceptualizes it in terms of three distinct dimensions: affective, continuance, and normative. The purpose of this study was to examine its generalizability in
Malaysia.
Meyer and Allen's research instrument was translated into Malaysian language and distributed to non-supervisory employees in 61 organizations in the government, semi- government and private sectors. Data from 672 respondents were analyzed using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The results generally support the cross-cultural generalizability of Meyer and Allen's model and utility of their questionnaire. The results also support McGee and Ford's (1987) proposal that continuance commitment may be better represented by two sub-dimensions: one associated with the costs of leaving and the other associated with the availability of alternatives.
INTRODUCTION
Culture plays a dominant role in organizational studies. The importance of cross-cultural study in management was recognized by many researchers. Gill (1983) emphasized that "understanding cross-cultural personality differences can help management and government to achieve more harmonious adjustment of expectations where managers are transferred from one country to another". Triandis (1980) suggested that "for a complete science of behavior we need to tie the characteristics of the ecology with the characteristics of humans". Moreover, Bass and Barrett (1976) asserted that "generalizations about management and supervision in the cross-cultural context are limited ... concepts and constructs tend to shift in meaning as