Organizational and career-oriented commitment and employee development behaviors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contrast the foundations of (affective) organizational and career-oriented commitment. Using social exchange theory as a background, organizational commitment is proposed as a mediator between perceived organizational support (POS) and competence development activities and feedback-seeking behavior. Career-oriented commitment, defined as a self-interested orientation toward one’s career, is proposed to mediate a positive relationship between proactive personality and competence development but a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 126 employees using one-year time-lagged study in which POS and proactive personality were measured at Time 1, commitment variables at Time 2, and competence development and feedback-seeking at Time 3. Findings – Organizational commitment mediated a positive relationship between POS and competence development but not feedback-seeking. Career-oriented commitment mediated a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking but did not mediate the relationship to competence development. Proactive personality exerted direct and positive effects on competence development and feedback-seeking, but had a negative effect on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment. Practical implications – An implication of these findings is that organizations need to reduce the detrimental effects that the proactivity trait exerts on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment. One way to do this is to increase the fit between organizational career opportunities and the career expectations of employees with high career-oriented commitment. Originality/value – This study indicates that social exchange and self-interest motives act as distinct drivers of organizational and career-oriented commitment, respectively, and that these motives have implications for how individuals learn and socialize in the workplace.