ASSESSING NEWCOMERS CHANGING COMMITMENTS TO THE ORGANIZATION DURING THE 1ST 6 MONTHS OF WORK

The authors examined changes in the level of 4 organizationally relevant constructs and their reconstitution by newcomers to a work organization using J. Schaubroeck and & G. Green's (1989) confirmatory factor analytic procedure. Results support a general decline in levels (alpha changes) of organizationally relevant attitudes over 3 time periods (1st day, and the 3rd- and 6th-month employment anniversaries). The pattern of decline, though, varied after accounting for gamma and beta changes. Indeed, for 2 of the variables (affective and continuance commitment; N. J. Allen & J. P. Meyer, 1990), the presence of gamma changes (changes in the underlying construct) were so dramatic as to render the pattern of mean differences uninterpretable. Implications of the method and findings to organizational entry research are discussed.