A Critical Examination of the Internalization, Identification, and Compliance Commitment Measures

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to examine O'Reilly and Chatman's ( 1986) compliance, identification, and internalization scales, and to compare the latter measures to the OCQ. Two studies were completed. Findings from Study 1 indicated that: ( 1) Although reliable, the identification measure was redundant with the OCQ; ( 2) the internalization measure was reliable and valid in that most items strongly loaded upon a different factor than did items of all other measures; and ( 3) the compliance measure obtained some validity only after the removal of two of its items, but possessed weak reliability throughout the analysis. Study 2 examined the applicability of the reconstituted ( based upon findings from Study 1) OCQ, internaliza tion and compliance measures in a longitudinal model of the turnover process. Of the three measures, only the OCQ had a significant causal effect within the model. Implications of these findings are examined.