The effect of managerial power and affective organizational commitment (Case of Consulting Engineering Firms)

This studyaims to investigate the influence of managerial power on employees’ affective commitment using social exchange theory.Data were collected using a questionnaire including managerial power and affective commitment measures. A sample of 185 employees from Consulting Engineering Firms operating in the Tehran was used. Multiple regressionswere used to test the relationship between managerial power dimensions (coercive, expert, legitimate, referent, and reward) and affective commitment.There are two major findings in this research. First, the relationships among legitimate power, expert power, referent power,reward power, and affective commitment are positive and significant. Second, coercive power was negatively associated with employees’ affective commitment.The findings suggest that managerial power relates with a social exchange relationship where employees exchange positive outcomes including strong affective commitment.