Immigrant Status as a Potential Correlate of Organizational Commitment

Abstract

Propositions for the relationship between immigrant status and organizational commitment are developed. A limited test of part of the conceptual framework is tested to examine the influence of immigrant status on continuance and affective commitment. Based on a sample of 506 nurses working in Israeli hospitals who completed self-report surveys, it was found that age and immigrant status (or `years in Israel') were significant correlates of affective and continuance commitment. However, whereas the relationship between `years in Israel' and affective commitment was not significant when age was controlled, additional variance in continuance commitment could be accounted for by `years in Israel' after controlling for age. Furthermore, nurses born in Israel had significantly lower continuance commitment than those who had immigrated to the country. These results suggest that the number of years after immigration has an impact on an individual's attachment to his/her organization. Immigrant status and years living in host country are important factors to consider when assessing organizational commitment, especially in multicultural organizations composed of immigrant workers.