Commitment to the union: A comparison of United States and Canadian workers

Abstract

AbstractThe generalizability (to a Canadian sample) of the four‐factor commitment to the union scale developed by Gordon, Philpot, Burt, Thompson and Spiller, (1980) was assessed. Four groups of subjects were utilized, two from Canada (white and blue‐collar workers) and two from the United States (white and blue‐collar workers). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the four factor solution of Gordon et al., (1980) generalized to the sample of Canadian workers. Differences between mean levels on these four factors (union loyalty, responsibility to the union, willingness to work for the union, and belief in unionism) for Canadian and United States workers were then investigated. The results identified as many intra country differences between white and blue‐collar workers as inter country differences. Differences in economic base, labor relations climate etc., between the two countries did not seem to influence the levels of commitment to the union. Explanations for the differences in means which did occur are postulated and further research is suggested.