The relationships among career experiences, perceptions of company employment practices, and psychological commitment to the firm are explored in this paper. Psychological commitment is defined as non-instrumental attraction to and identification with the goals and values of the organization, excluding propensity to stay in the organization. Results show that employee perceptions of the organization's adherence to career-oriented employment practices, including internal mobility, employment security, and training and development, are more strongly related to psychological commitment than other characteristics of the work context, including participation, supervisory relations, and instrumental communication. Results are discussed in terms of internal labor market employment practices.

Managers' interpretation of and reactions to large-scale organizational change that resulted in a new business unit strategy are examined in one firm. We find differences in the configuration of attitudes that predict support for the strategy, depending upon whether the employees gained or lost power and opportunity as a result of the change. Among “winners,” the strongest predictor of support for the new strategy was positive career expectations and current career satisfaction. Among “losers,” the strongest predictor was belief that people had been treated fairly during the change process.

We propose a typology of turnover intentions that uses desire to stay and intent to stay with the firm. The typology has four categories, leavers, stayers, locked-ins, and jilteds. Two questions are addressed. First, does the typology discriminate among executives empirically? Second, how do executives in one category differ from those in other categories? Using surveys from a sample of executives, we find empirical support for the typology. Results from three-category discriminant analysis indicate stayers are line employees characterized by high job satisfaction, integration into the management team, and perception that the company provides employment security. Leavers are more likely to be staff employees and have the opposite opinions of stayers about their jobs. Jilted executives are distinguished by moderate seniority, high outside career opportunity, and somewhat low inside career opportunity. The results suggest development of a non-linear model of unplanned turnover.

This study uses original survey and archival data from factory and office employees in one firm to relate differences among individual employees' performance to differences in their skill and attitudes about work, and to test the association between employees' earnings and their performance, skill, and attitudes. We suggest that the way in which skill and attitudes affect performance will depend on the type of work that is done. The main results show that among factory employees, those who have on‐the‐job training and longer experience receive better performance ratings than those without training and with less experience. Factory employees' earnings depend on their performance, following the human capital model of wage determination. Among office workers, training and experience do not significantly affect performance ratings; instead, higher‐rated employees have more positive attitudes about work. Office employees' earnings depend on their classroom training, experience, and attitudes, but not on their rated performance.

A new system of performance appraisal based on written standards and merit-based pay for supervisors and managers in the federal government is examined in five sites. The merit-based pay aspects of these systems are not perceived as equitable, nor are they perceived to contribute to agency effectiveness. The performance appraisal and performance standards aspects appear to be contributing positively to work planning and supervisor-subordinate communications. Developmental, forward-looking appraisals are seen to have the most positive impact on attitudes toward these systems, though appraisals have become less developmental under the new system. Results are discussed as they relate to the effectiveness of government operations.