NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT Effect of Economy, Product of Personality, or Consequence of Culture?

This article examines organizational commitment in a sample of 49 countries. Affective commitment (AC) varies significantly by country and is strongly related to dimensions of personality. AC is high in countries where the population is extravert and low in countries where the population is neurotic. Consistent with the notion that high extraversion and low neuroticism are indicative of positive affect, AC is also found to be high in countries where the population is happy. Socioeconomic conditions have a statistically significant but marginal influence on AC. AC tends to be slightly higher in countries with low levels of unemployment and high economic activity rates but is unrelated to per capita national income. There are significant relationships between AC and some aspects of national culture. AC is negatively related to societal cynicism and positively to egalitarian commitment. In general, however, most cultural dimensions are unrelated to AC.