1 ASAC 2004 Kathleen Bentein Quebec (Quebec) School of Business Administration University of Quebec at Montreal John Meyer Department of Psychology University of Western Ontario EVOLUTION OF COMMITMENT DURING ORGANIZATIONAL ENTRY: A LATENT GROWTH MODELING APPROACH Using a latent growth modeling approach to longitudinal data collected from a sample of 159 newcomers, we examined (a) the degree of change in commitment dimensions to the organization during the period of organizational entry, (b) the interplay among commitment dimensions over time, and (c) their relationships with the trajectory of change in turnover intention. Without a doubt, organizational commitment has become a variable of central interest over the past two decades, due in large part to the demonstrated link between commitment and turnover (Allen & Meyer, 1996; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Tett & Meyer, 1993). Over the years, research has demonstrated that commitment is a multidimensional construct (e.g., Allen & Meyer, 1990; Mayer & Schoorman, 1992; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986). The various dimensions are characterized by different mindsets (Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001), develop in different ways, and have different implications for job behavior (e.g., Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, & Topolnytsky, 2002). Thus, there has been a strong desire on the parts of researchers and practitioners to understand how commitment dimensions develop and evolve over time. The period of organizational entry has been identified as one of the most important phases in the development of work attitudes, including organizational commitment (Buchanan, 1974; Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003; Mowday, Porter, & Steers,, 1982; Schaubroeck & Green, 1989; Wanous, 1980). The early months of employment correspond to the beginning of the relationship between the new employee and the organization, and, during this time, the newcomer defines his or her relationship to the organization and reinterprets the concept of himself/herself as “a functioning member of that organization” (Vandenberg & Self, 1993). Although the commitment process might actually begin even before the employee formally starts work in the organization, the first several months provide the first direct and concrete experience (Louis, 1980; Mowday et al., 1982) and, as such, appear crucial to the development of lasting commitment. Evidence that recently hired workers are the most likely to turn over (e.g. Farber, 1994; Jovanovic, 1979) confirms the importance of this early period of organizational entry in the development of commitment. Operationalizing Longitudinal Change in Commitment Until recently, only a few studies have explicitly tried to operationalize change in commitment. Some studies have examined the change through cross-sectional designs, by comparing the mean commitment levels of groups of employees of different ages or different career stages, (e.g. Allen & Meyer, 1993; Gregersen, 1993; Morrow & McElroy, 1987). The main idea was that by choosing groups of employees that fall along the age or career stage continuum, description of a developmental trend could be established. However, although change was a compelling explanation of the differences in commitment between groups, cross-sectional data can never confirm this possibility because equally valid competing explanations abound: any observed differences in levels of commitment between age/career groups may be due to cohort effects and not to systematic individual change. Other studies have analyzed changes in commitment during the first year of employment by using longitudinal data (repeated measures within groups) and by comparing