OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT FROM A LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE Occupational Commitment From a Life Span Perspective: An Integrative Review and a Research Outlook

Purpose – The purpose of this review was to integrate and organize past research findings on affective, normative, and continuance occupational commitment (OC) within an integrative framework based on central life span concepts. Design/methodology/approach – We identified and systematically analyzed 125 empirical articles (including 138 cases) that examined OC with a content valid measure to the here applied definition of OC. These articles provided information on the relationship between OC and four distinct life span concepts: chronological age, career stages, occupational and other life events, and occupational and other life roles. Furthermore, developmental characteristics of OC in terms of construct stability and malleability were reviewed. Findings – The reviewed literature allowed us to draw conclusions about the mentioned life span concepts as antecedents and outcomes of OC. For example, age and tenure is more strongly positively related to continuance OC than to affective and normative OC, nonlinear and moderating influences seem to be relevant in the case of the latter OC types. We describe several other findings within the results sections. Originality/value – OC represents a developmental construct that is influenced by employees’ workand life-related progress, associated roles, as well as opportunities and demands over their career. Analyzing OC from such a life span perspective provides a new angle on the research topic, explaining inconsistencies in past research and giving recommendation for future studies in terms of dynamic career developmental thinking. OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT FROM A LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE 1 Occupational Commitment From a Life Span Perspective: An Integrative Review and a Research Outlook Occupational commitment (OC), which is broadly defined as the psychological link between a person and her or his occupation (Lee et al., 2000), represents a core concept for understanding an individual’s career development and associated attitudes, behaviors, and choices (Blau, 1989, CooperHakim and Viswesvaran, 2005). Past research has shown that OC is related to, for instance, turnover intentions (Blau, 1989), job performance (Lee et al., 2000), and other commitment foci, such as work commitment (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005), career satisfaction (Aryee et al., 1994), and work–nonwork issues (Okurame, 2012). Hence, OC affects an individual’s work and life-related development, and can be a guiding mechanism for meaningful, identity-building career and life planning (Meyer et al., 2008). Drawing upon a developmental perspective, some studies have analyzed OC or related constructs from a life span perspective, for instance, by using the concept of career stages (Aryee et al., 1994, Ng and Feldman, 2007), or by occasionally analyzing OC developments (Vandenberg and Scarpello, 1994). Taking a life span perspective involves focusing on the ways that different workand nonwork-related roles, opportunities, and demands—which are experienced throughout one’s entire (working) life span—influence, and are influenced by, OC. Such a life span developmental perspective on OC is relevant and timely because fundamental changes in the workplace, such as increasingly aging workforces or ongoing labor market (de)regulations, have shaped an environment with high demands for organizational and occupational mobility and lifelong learning (Hall, 2002, Ng and Feldman, 2007, Zacher, 2015), where OC plays a central role. Moreover, individual role constellations and expectations (from oneself and others) within one’s occupational and private life domain have become more individualized, dynamic, and complex (Carstensen, 2006, Greenhaus and Kossek, 2014), showing the relevance of applying a more dynamic life span perspective on OC development, as well as on its predictors and outcomes. However, we are missing a systematic review that integrates research on OC from a life span perspective, and thus have yet to understand how OC influences, and is influenced by, changing OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT FROM A LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE 2 patterns of roles, opportunities, and demands throughout one’s life span. Instead, past meta-analytic work on OC has focused on conceptual issues, such as how different dimensions of OC are related to other work commitment foci (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005). Consequently, life spanrelevant correlates (e.g., chronological age, career stages, and life events) were not analyzed. Another meta-analysis (Lee et al., 2000) analyzed only affective OC in relation to sociodemographic and work-related variables. Although some of the investigated correlates can be linked to a life span perspective (e.g., chronological age, tenure, or turnover), the meta-analysis did not integrate the results from the lens of a life span perspective. Moreover, since the meta-analysis (Lee et al., 2000) was conducted 19 years ago, recent research on OC has not been considered. In sum, past metaanalytical review work applied either a conceptual or more static perspective to OC, and did not aim to understand OC from a life span perspective. Against this background, the aims of the current review were threefold. First, we provide a comprehensive overview of scholarly research on OC from a developmental life span perspective. We draw upon knowledge provided within theoretical and empirical work, and apply a systematic procedure for reporting central characteristics of relevant, published quantitative empirical studies (e.g., applied measurement of OC, study design, and study sample). Specifically, we integrate research results within an organizing framework based on theoretical approaches from life span (career) development (e.g., Lent and Brown, 2013, Baltes et al., 2014, Super et al., 1990). This framework focuses on how central life span concepts (i.e., chronological age, career stages, occupational and other life events, and occupational and other life roles) can be seen as drivers or outcomes (or both) of OC. Second, because a developmental perspective on OC optimally investigates effects on and of OC changes, we examine past longitudinal quantitative studies (e.g., Vandenberg and Scarpello, 1994) with regard to absolute mean changes and relative rank-order change in OC over time. Third, we develop a state-of-the-art agenda for future research on life spanrelated OC research, considering both theoretical and methodological aspects. Such a future research agenda focusing on developmental aspects of OC is specifically important for OC research because it OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT FROM A LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE 3 aims to foster more dynamic research on OC, considering both life span-related concepts and the passage of time. The Concept of Occupational Commitment We conceptualize OC as a psychological link between a person and her or his occupation (Lee et al., 2000). Thus, someone with higher occupational commitment strongly identifies with and has positive feelings about their occupation (Blau, 1985). Although such an affective OC dimension described as a person’s emotional attachment to their occupation (Blau, 2003) or as desire to remain in the occupation (Meyer et al., 1993) was predominant in past OC research, other important dimensions of OC do exist: normative OC is defined as an obligation to remain in the occupation, whereas continuance OC can be seen as a perceived cost associated with leaving the occupation (Meyer et al., 1993). Frequently applied measures for either one or all three OC dimensions include the OC scales from the Blau (2003), or modified versions of organizational commitment measures (e.g., Meyer et al., 1993). Usually, among the three OC dimensions, studies have shown the strongest, but moderately positive relationship between affective and normative OC, followed by a weaker, positive relationship between normative and continuance OC (Meyer et al., 1993). Affective and continuance OC are occasionally negative, or not related (Meyer et al., 1993), although the latest meta-analysis on this topic shows, on average, a positive correlation, with a high variability between studies (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005). This overall picture points toward the importance of differentiating between the three OC dimensions within this review. Past research used the terms occupation, profession, and career somewhat interchangeably in the commitment literature. We avoided using the term career commitment (Carson and Bedeian, 1994, Blau, 1985) because of ambiguity in the meaning of the term career. Career can be defined as a desired or planned pattern of work from career entry to retirement, or as involvement in a particular job, organization, or occupation (Meyer et al., 1993). Because we were interested in reviewing commitment as a psychological link between a person and her or his occupation (in the sense of conducting a particular line of work), we felt that the term occupation was more appropriate than the term career. Moreover, the Carson and Bedeian’s (1994) Career Commitment Measure includes OCCUPATIONAL COMMITMENT FROM A LIFE SPAN PERSPECTIVE 4 dimensions that are different form the meaning of OC understood here: career identity, career planning, and career resilience. We chose to use the term occupation rather than profession (Adler and Aranya, 1984) because both professionals and nonprofessionals can experience commitment to the work they do. Hence, in our opinion, occupation is more inclusive than profession, and therefore more in line with the conceptualization of commitment targeted here. A Life Span Perspective of Occupational Commitment Life span theories (e.g., Baltes, 1987, Baltes et al., 2014, Carstensen, 2006) provide a useful theoretical lens for understanding OC because they acknowledge the construct’s developmental component. Accordingly, OC and an individual’s work and life-related progress are interrelated, such that career and life planning affects OC. Its developments, in turn, can g