Profiles of ideological and instrumental union bonds: a test in the U.S. and Ghana contexts

Abstract

Configuration or profile of commitments, a person-centered approach, is one of the approaches that have gained a foothold in the commitment research. The importance of this approach to commitment research is the identification of groups that share similarities on a set of commitment constructs. However, profile research on bonds (attachments) to the union is rare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the typology of union profiles based on the ideological and instrumental bonds and to determine if different national settings will lead to discernible patterns of union profiles in the different contexts. The study also seeks to validate the emerged profiles by their association patterns with culture, economic and citizenship behaviors in the union. A field investigation of unionized employees in multiple unions revealed a four-cluster solution in both US and Ghana settings. Profiles explained meaningful variation in psychological collectivism and citizenship in both settings. However, profile differences were only observed for economic dependency for the Ghana sample but not that of the U.S. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.