ADVANTAGES AND LIMITS OF DUAL COMMITMENT IN FRENCH ORGANIZATIONS

Résumé

Using a profile approach, the commitment scores of
the employees simultaneously committed to their
unions and their employing organizations (duallycommitted employees) are compared to those of
unilaterally-committed employees. Our aim is to
test some of the qualities attached to dual
commitment. Two independent samples of
employees working in private organizations,
respectively consisting of 396 non-union employees
and 1,100 union employees, are statistically
analyzed. The results show that dual commitment
attitude is found in French collective relationships,
although traditionally considered as conflicting
ones. Besides, they indicate among union
employees that commitment scores both in
organizations and unions are higher among duallycommitted than unilaterally-committed employees.
Conversely, the results show no significant
difference in organizational commitment when the
sample of union employees is globally compared to
that of non-union employees or when duallycommitted employees are compared to non-union,
organizationally committed employees. The results
encourage us to 1) revise the comparative studies
about different collective relationship systems so as
to better characterize them, 2) reassess the
prerequisite role of social environment quality in
dual commitment, and 3) qualify the positive effects
of dual commitment