Testing the generalizability of a career commitment measure and its impact on employee turnover

Using a longitudinally tracked sample of 133 full-time bank tellers from a large bank, this study tested the generalizability of a career commitment measure and its impact on emplyee turnover. The results indicated that career commitment could be reliably operationalized and was distinct from job involvement and organizational commitment. Additional evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of career commitment was also found. Career commitment was found to be significantly negatively related to turnover; however, this relationship was mediated by career withdrawal cognitions. Findings are discussed in terms of identifying the threshold level for operationalizing career commitment and the need for future research on career change.