When does commitment backfire: Linking employee continuance commitment to silence behavior

Introduction: Extant studies on organizational commitment emphasize affective organizational commitment and consequently ignore the unique role of continuance organizational commitment. To determine whether high continuance commitment is beneficial, we employed conservation of resources theory to explore how continuance commitment leads to emotional exhaustion and silent behavior. Objective: This study examines the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between continuance commitment and silence behavior, and the moderating role of age. Method: We recruited 157 employees in China to complete a three-wave survey measuring continuance commitment, emotional exhaustion and silence behavior, respectively. Results: Our results show that continuance commitment is positively related to emotional exhaustion and, in turn, triggers more silent behavior, especially for those old employees; the indirect effect is more significant. Conclusion: Although employers intend to keep human resources, this study indicates that continuance commitment may bring negative consequences. Moreover, old age will magnify the effect of continuance commitment on emotional exhaustion and further strengthen silence behavior.