PERSONAL BENEFITS OF STRONG ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMMUNITY TIES: HEALTH, ENGAGEMENT AND RETENTION

Abstract

This study extended past research on organizational commitment by proposing a new construct of community commitment. The authors drew from past organizational research to theorize distinct effects of affective and continuance community commitment in relation to nurses' health, retention, and engagement. These effects were investigated in a prospective study in which nurses' (N = 330) organizational and community commitment were assessed at one time point and measures of health, retention, and engagement were captured nine months later. Affective community commitment predicted health and retention outcomes after controlling for both types of organizational commitment, but continuance commitment did not. Mediation analyses suggested that continuance community commitment had indirect effects on outcomes through its relationship with continuance organizational commitment. Neither form of community commitment was associated with professional or organizational turnover intentions. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research in both community and organizational psychology.