The Determinants of Family Business Members' affective family firm commitment

According to Buchanan (1974), organizational commitment of employees is essential for the survival and effectiveness of organizations. Indeed, studies highlight the important consequences of organizational commitment that are lower turnover and absenteeism, higher attendance, participation, effort, organizational citizenship, and performance (Solinger, Van Olffen & Roe, 2008; Steers, 1977). Affective organizational commitment emerges as the most consistent predictor of turnover and absenteeism and with the strongest and most favorable correlations with attendance, performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (Somers, 1995; Rhoades, Eisenberger & Armeli, 2001). This underlying emphasis on the retention of employees and their willingness to contribute to organizational goals makes affective organizational commitment particularly important for family firms as they rely on family members in transgenerational succession, survival, and success (Miller & Le Breton-Miller, 2005; Sharma, Chrisman & Chua, 1997).