Originally found at Ohio State News, by Howard Klein

COLUMBUS, Ohio – You can quit work commitments if you want – but some of them never really leave you, new research suggests.

In a study of 420 employees representing a wide variety of occupations and work settings at three organizations, researchers found that commitments that workers no longer had were still lingering in their minds.

It was clear to us that past commitments were still affecting employees,” said Howard Klein, lead author of the study and professor of management and human resources at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

While these effects could be positive or negative, the study revealed that many employees harbor negative feelings about long-gone obligations that their supervisors may not realize.

We need to find out what managers can do to mitigate the negative effects of these prior commitments that may be holding people back in their jobs,” Klein said.

The study appears online in the journal Academy of Management Discoveries.

While there has been a lot of research on commitment in the workplace, Klein said he believes this is the first to examine the impact of past commitments.

Continue reading original article at Ohio State News.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Howard J. Klein, The Ohio State University
• Chad T. Brinsfield, University of St. Thomas
• Joseph T. Cooper, University of Toledo
• Janice C. Molloy, University of Michigan – Dearborn