The application of social exchange to commitment bonds of pro-union employees: cognitive calculations of reciprocity

• Provides an application of the construct of commitment bonds proposed by Klein, Molloy and Brinfield (2012).
• Explores the ramifications of a dual reporting relationship (union and organization) when right-to-work legislation is passed, a union is decertified, or employees are unsuccessful in winning union representation.
• Suggests the mediating role of exchange ideology between felt obligation and commitment bond in determining formerly unionized employees' reactions to decertification or passage of right-to-work legislation.

Relying on the concept of commitment bonds proposed by Klein, Molloy, and Brinfield (2012), the model presented herein suggests that, due to changes in the union's power status, pro-union employees will have to re-calculate their cognitive equations of reciprocity with the union and organization when the union is decertified, or right-to-work legislation is passed, or pro-union employees are unsuccessful in winning a union certification election. The norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960) provides the basis for understanding social exchange in the workplace, suggesting that with a diminution or absence of union power, the union's ability to provide support is reduced, resulting in a lowering of felt obligation to the union. The model suggests that exchange ideology will mediate the relationship between felt obligation and commitment bond to explain how employees' relationships to the union and organization change as a union's power status declines.