The impact of work group cooperative climate on affective commitment and turnover intention of professional employees

We investigate the impact of work group cooperative climate on affective commitment and turnover intentions of professional employees, in interaction with climate strength (referring to the level of agreement among group members on what constitute important norms, values and goals within the group) and the individual’s social value orientation (referring to self- versus other-regarding preferences). In a sample of 209 academic employees of a Belgian university, we find that, independent of the content of a group’s climate, climate strength is an important determinant shaping employees’ attitudes toward the organization. In addition, in support of the goal transformation hypothesis, we find that a cooperative work group climate increases (decreases) affective commitment (turnover intention), but especially so for proselfs. Finally,our results also indicate that climate strength is more important in determining prosocials’affective commitment as compared to proselfs’.