IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v29y2014i8p795-809.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Small, local, and loyal: How firm attributes affect workers’ organizational commitment

Author

Listed:
  • Katie L Halbesleben
  • Charles M Tolbert

Abstract

We explore how firm size and local ownership influence employees’ organizational commitment. Using a civic community perspective, we hypothesize that small and locally owned businesses engender more employee loyalty in a representative national sample of workers. That hypothesis is supported for all workers and is most clearly evident in a subsample of rural workers. Our results show that working at small businesses and locally owned businesses significantly increases an employee’s organizational commitment. Furthermore, individuals who work at small businesses that are also locally owned are found to have the highest level of organizational commitment. Our study provides insight into how structural elements of an organization, such as small businesses and locally owned businesses, are associated with an improved quality of life and a more robust civil society. Moreover, this paper highlights the need for further research on how structural attributes of businesses affect the attitudes and opinions of workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Katie L Halbesleben & Charles M Tolbert, 2014. "Small, local, and loyal: How firm attributes affect workers’ organizational commitment," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(8), pages 795-809, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:8:p:795-809
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094214556980
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094214556980
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094214556980?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. F. Carson Mencken & Hristopher Bader & Edward Clay Polson, 2006. "Integrating Civil Society and Economic Growth in Appalachia," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 107-127, March.
    2. Louis Amato & Christie Amato, 2007. "The Effects of Firm Size and Industry on Corporate Giving," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 229-241, May.
    3. repec:cai:poeine:pope_405_0567 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Mellow, Wesley, 1982. "Employer Size and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 495-501, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rybaczewska, Maria & Sparks, Leigh, 2020. "Locally-owned convenience stores and the local economy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xueyan Dong & Jingyu Gao & Sunny Li Sun & Kangtao Ye, 2021. "Doing extreme by doing good," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 291-315, March.
    2. Chen, Ni-Yun & Liu, Chi-Chun, 2021. "The effect of repurchase regulations on actual share reacquisitions and cost of debt," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Brown, Charles & Medoff, James, 1989. "The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1027-1059, October.
    4. Feng, Shuaizhang, 2009. "Return to Training and Establishment Size: A Reexamination of the Size-Wage Puzzle," IZA Discussion Papers 4143, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Mark Wooden, 2001. "Union Wage Effects in the Presence of Enterprise Bargaining," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 77(236), pages 1-18, March.
    6. Müller, Bettina, 2008. "Matching of Individuals for Start-Ups: A Test of the O-Ring Theory," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-112, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Rebitzer, James B & Robinson, Michael D, 1991. "Employer Size and Dual Labor Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 710-715, November.
    8. Grougiou, Vassiliki & Leventis, Stergios & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Owusu-Ansah, Stephen, 2014. "Corporate social responsibility and earnings management in U.S. banks," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 155-169.
    9. Jun Chen & Wang Dong & Jamie Tong & Feida Zhang, 2018. "Corporate Philanthropy and Tunneling: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 135-157, June.
    10. Stewart, Mark B, 1990. "Union Wage Differentials, Product Market Influences and the Division of Rents," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(403), pages 1122-1137, December.
    11. Binnur Balkan & Semih Tumen, 2016. "Firm-Size Wage Gaps along the Formal-Informal Divide: Theory and Evidence," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 235-266, April.
    12. McGuckin, Robert H. & Nguyen, Sang V., 2001. "The impact of ownership changes: a view from labor markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 739-762, April.
    13. Yongqiang Gao & Ya Lisa Lin & Haibin Yang, 2017. "What’s the value in it? Corporate giving under uncertainty," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 215-240, March.
    14. Cindy Zoghi, 2010. "Measuring Labor Composition: A Comparison of Alternate Methodologies," NBER Chapters, in: Labor in the New Economy, pages 457-485, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Uzma Bashir, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Philanthropy: A Case of Karachi Stock Exchange," International Econometric Review (IER), Econometric Research Association, vol. 9(1), pages 19-36, April.
    16. Uzma Bashir, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Philanthropy: A Case of Karachi Stock Exchange," International Econometric Review (IER), Econometric Research Association, vol. 9(1), pages 21-38, April.
    17. Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2009. "Wage Structure and Firm Productivity in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: The Structure of Wages: An International Comparison, pages 179-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Cheryl C. Asher & Martin A. Asher, 1990. "The Wage Rate Effects of Occupational Labor Market Tightness," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 21-32, Jan-Mar.
    19. Comincioli, Nicola & Poddi, Laura & Vergalli, Sergio, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firms’ Performance: A Stratigraphical Analysis," Economy and Society 139488, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    20. Won-Yong Oh & Young Kyun Chang & Gyeonghwan Lee & Jeongil Seo, 2018. "Intragroup Transactions, Corporate Governance, and Corporate Philanthropy in Korean Business Groups," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1031-1049, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:29:y:2014:i:8:p:795-809. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.