While the concept of commitment has a long history within the organizational literature
(Becker, 1960) as frequently noted (e.g., Meyer & Allen, 1991; Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982;
Reichers, 1985; Stebbins, 1970), commitment is inconsistently defined both within and across
the various workplace commitments. This can be traced to several factors such as the different
perspectives (e.g., economic, behavioral, psychological) from which researchers have studied
commitment and the fact that several early writers defined commitment in multiple ways, as
having multiple bases, or as being characterized by multiple indicators. For instance, Porter,
Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974) defined organizational commitment as the strength of an
individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular organization but then further stated
that commitment is characterized by three factors (a) a belief in and acceptance of goals and
values, (b) a willingness to exert effort, and (c) a strong desire to maintain membership.