The Commitment of Japanese Workers and U.S. Workers: A Reassessment of the Literature

Abstract

I review research comparing the commitment to work of American and Japanese workers. Because Japanese workers demonstrate high levels of commited behaviors (e.g., low absenteeism and turnover), this research concludes that Japanese workers are more committed than are American workers. However, this research dismisses the finding that American workers express a commitment to work that is greater than (or at least similar to) Japanese workers. I argue that this incongruity between expressed commitment and committed behaviors has several explanations: Greater duality exists in the Japanese labor market. Differences in cultural contexts make behavioral indicators dubious measures of commitment. Japanese organizations may elicit committed behaviors from their workers without producing personal feelings of commitment. The relationship between attitudes and behavior may be less direct than is often assumed. Continuing to distrust the validity of survey results regarding the commitment of Japanese workers avoids confronting these alternative explanations.