Negative Affect as a Moderator of Role Stressor-Commitment Relationships

Abstract

The present study addressed the following question: What is the source of the variance in organizational commitment accounted for by role ambiguity and role conflict - perceptions of the situation, dispositional negative affect (NA), or both? Data collected from personnel in two military staff organizations confirmed the hypothesis of an interaction between dispositional NA and role conflict in predicting organizational commitment. Role conflict was more strongly related to individuals at the high-NA level than at the average- and low-NA levels. The data, however, indicated no interaction between role ambiguity and NA in predicting organizational commitment.