2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

affective (or attitudinal) component of organizational commitment involves positive
emotional attachment to the organization, while continuance commitment is based on the
potential losses associated with leaving the organization, and normative commitment
involves a commitment to the organization based on a feeling of obligation (Allen &
Meyer, 1990). Commonalities across all affective, normative, and continuance forms of
commitment indicate that each component should affect employee’s intentions and final
decision to continue as a member of the organization (Jaros, 1997). The accuracy of these
proposed relationships have implications for turnover reduction because “turnover
intentions is the strongest, most direct precursor of turnover behavior, and mediates the
relationship between attitudes like job satisfaction and organizational commitment and
turnover behavior,” (Jaros, 1997, p. 321). This paper primarily addresses affective
commitment, since it has a significantly stronger correlation with turnover intentions than
either continuance or normative commitment (Jaros, 1997).
Career Intentions
Career intentions represent an individual’s intended course of action with respect
to continuation in their current employment. While a person’s intentions are not always
the same as their actual behavior, an important assumption is that these intentions
represent the basic motivational force or direction of the individual’s behavior (Jaros,
1997). In general, Jaros (1997) suggests that the combination of organizational
commitment and career intentions appears to be a good approximation of what is likely to
occur in future career behavioral decisions (i.e., to stay or leave the organization).
Purpose
This paper looks at job satisfaction, organizational commitment, career intentions,
and continuation behavior using structural equation modeling. It was hypothesized that
increased job satisfaction would be associated with increased organizational commitment,
which in turn would be positively related to career intentions and increased continuation
behavior (i.e., retention) in the Navy. A direct relationship was also hypothesized to exist
between career intentions and continuation behavior.
METHODS
Participants
The sample used in this study was drawn from a larger Navy quality of work life
study using the Navy-wide Personnel Survey (NPS) from the year 2000. The NPS 2000
was mailed to a stratified random sample of 20,000 active-duty officers and enlisted
Sailors in October 2000. A total of 6,111 useable surveys were returned to the Navy
Personnel Research, Studies, & Technology (NPRST) department of Navy Personnel
Command, a return rate of 33 percent. The current sample consists of a sub-sample of
700 Sailors who provided social security numbers for tracking purposes. Sailors whose
employee records contained a loss code 12 months after the survey were flagged as
having left the Navy (10.4%). Those Sailors who still remained in active-duty in the
Navy (i.e., those who could be tracked with social security number and did not have a
loss code in their records) were coded as still being present in the Navy (87.8%). Sailors
whose status was not clear from their employment records (i.e., those who could not be
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45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003