1. Commitment to Supervisors and Organizations and Turnover Christian Vandenberghe HEC Montreal, Montreal, Qc, Canada Kathleen Bentein UQAM, Montreal, Qc, Canada

2. Introduction The interest of researchers and practitioners in employee commitment derives from its established links to desirable work outcomes, particularly turnover (Allen & Meyer, 1996; Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Tett & Meyer, 1993).

3. However, work in the multiple commitments area has suggested that different constituencies exist within organizations (e.g., Becker, 1992; Reichers, 1985; Siders, George, & Dharwadkar, 2001; Vandenberghe, Bentein, & Stinglhamber, 2004).

4. Researchers have generally neglected the fact that commitment to internal foci may have implications for intended and actual turnover. Among foci that might be of relevance for predicting withdrawal behavior, the supervisor appears particularly important.

5. Supervisors are formally responsible for monitoring the performance of employees on behalf of the organization, and as such have direct contact with employees in both day-to-day operations and during human resource events such as performance appraisals and promotion decisions.

6. Throughout these activities, supervisors often come to develop specific exchanges with employees, as is evidenced by research in the leader-member exchange (LMX) literature (e.g., Graen & Ulh-Bien, 1995; Liden, Sparrowe, & Wayne, 1997).

7. Both employee-supervisor and employee- organization relationships develop through social exchange processes and may thus have consequences for turnover decisions. However, affective commitment to the organization and to the supervisor have rarely been assessed as joint predictors of turnover.

8. Based on past research that has demonstrated a negative relationship between affective organizational commitment and intended and actual turnover (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Tett & Meyer, 1993), we expect this relationship to hold in this study while we control for employees’ level of affective commitment to their supervisors.

9. Hypothesis 1a: Controlling for affective commitment to the supervisor, affective organizational commitment will be negatively related to turnover intentions. Hypothesis 1b: Controlling for affective commitment to the supervisor, affective organizational commitment will be negatively related to actual turnover.

10. Because the supervisor is an agent of the organization and is often the only representative of the organization with whom employees interact on an ongoing basis (Levinson, 1965; Tangirala, Green, & Ramanujam, 2007), s/he may be perceived by employees as particularly important.

11. Hypothesis 2a: Controlling for affective organizational commitment, affective commitment to the supervisor will be negatively related to turnover intentions. Hypothesis 2b: Controlling for affective organizational commitment, affective commitment to the supervisor will be negatively related to actual turnover.

12. By the very fact that they act on behalf of the organization, supervisors may become substitutes for it in cases where exchanges between employees and the organization are difficult to establish. In these cases, it will be difficult for employees to develop a commitment to their organization, but they could very well compensate for this by developing a commitment to their supervisor.

13. One can reasonably hypothesize that when exchanges between employees and organizations are not well established (i.e., affective organizational commitment is low), affective commitment to supervisors will be more strongly related to intended and actual turnover.

14. Hypothesis 3a: When affective organizational commitment is low, affective commitment to the supervisor will be more strongly (and negatively) related to turnover intentions. Hypothesis 3b: When affective organizational commitment is low, affective commitment to the supervisor will be more strongly (and negatively) related to actual turnover.

15. Method Sample 1: –N = 172 (pharmaceutical company) –Measures: affective organizational commitment (Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993); turnover intentions (2 items); age, sex, organizational tenure, and tenure with one’s supervisor

16. Sample 2: –N = 186 (hospital nurses) –Measures: affective organizational commitment (Meyer et al., 1993); turnover intentions (3 items); age, sex, and organizational tenure Sample 3: –N = 442 (university alumni) –Measures: affective organizational commitment (Meyer et al., 1993); actual turnover (6 months); age, sex, organizational tenure, tenure with one’s supervisor, organization size

17. Results: Correlations for Samples 1 and 2

18. Results: Moderated Linear Regressions for Samples 1 and 2

19. Results: Interaction for Sample 1

20. Results: Interaction for Sample 2

21. Results: Correlations for Sample 3

22. Results: Moderated Logistic Regression for Sample 3

23. Results: Interaction for Sample 3

24. Hypothesis testing results H1a: Controlling for affective commitment to the supervisor, affective organizational commitment will be negatively related to turnover intentions: SUPPORTED H1b: Controlling for affective commitment to the supervisor, affective organizational commitment will be negatively related to actual turnover: REJECTED

25. H2a: Controlling for affective organizational commitment, affective commitment to the supervisor will be negatively related to turnover intentions: SUPPORTED H2b: Controlling for affective organizational commitment, affective commitment to the supervisor will be negatively related to actual turnover: SUPPORTED

26. H3a: When affective organizational commitment is low, affective commitment to the supervisor will be more strongly (and negatively) related to turnover intentions: SUPPORTED H3b: When affective organizational commitment is low, affective commitment to the supervisor will be more strongly (and negatively) related to actual turnover: SUPPORTED

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