Abstract
The concept of nostalgia has been investigated in various disciplines; however, conceptualization and operationalization of nostalgia at the organizational level remain nascent in the literature. Besides, there is a lack of empirical studies examining the role of organizational nostalgia on specific organizational behavior-related variables, such as affective commitment, with the contingent position of moderators, such as organizational discontinuity. To fill this gap, we performed four studies using a mixed methodology. In the first study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 firms. We found that organizational nostalgia is a multidimensional construct with seven configural properties/dimensions: the organization’s allegiance to employees, social events, management support, bonding between employees, the excitement of employees, work conditions, and physical work environment-related sentimental experiences/memories of the organization. In the second study, including 210 firms, and the third study involving 225 different firms, we tested the reliability and validity of the configural organizational nostalgia scale. Finally, in the fourth study, we tested the impacts of organizational nostalgia on affective commitment by investigating 101 other firms. Using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we found that the organization’s allegiance to employees-related experiences/memories is a core condition of affective commitment. We also found that when there is less organizational discontinuity, the organization’s allegiance to employees, management support, working conditions, and physical work environment-related experiences/memories are core conditions of affective commitment.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current studies are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
The concept of nostalgia has been extensively discussed in the marketing literature (Holak & Havlena, 1998; Wildschut et al., 2006). Nostalgia captures the target customers by reminding them of the past’s familiar product or brand trends in the marketing literature (Rana, Raut, Prashar & Quttainah, 2020a, 2020b). Specifically, from the marketing perspective, researchers focus on consumer nostalgia dealing with the consumers’ feeling of nostalgia against momentous events (e.g., graduation ceremonies, the birth of a child), people (e.g., friends, loved ones), places, objects (antiques, toys, cars), or things (e.g., music, movies) (Rana, Raut, Prashar & Quttainah, 2020a, 2020b). In addition, researchers focus on nostalgia marketing, emphasizing the strategies for generating nostalgic consumption via product and brand promotion, advertising and communication, esthetics, co-creation and crowdsourcing, and places and spaces (Rana, Raut, Prashar & Hamid, 2020a, 2020b). Here, organizations aim to develop marketing strategies to elicit memories, experiences, and events for enhancing buying decisions in marketing practices (Rana, Raut, Prashar & Quttainah, 2020a, 2020b; Rana, Raut, Prashar & Quttainah, 2020a, 2020b). Unlike to marketing literature, interestingly, there has been relatively little interest in nostalgia in the management literature and at the organizational level of analysis.
This number of 25 respondents is adequate as researchers suggest a sample size ranging from 10 to 40. According to Patton (2002, p. 244), “there are no rules for sample size in qualitative inquiry.” The sample size of a qualitative investigation is decided not by the number of interviewers but by data saturation, which occurs when no new information about the research phenomena is uncovered. Bertaux (1981) argued that 15 is the smallest acceptable sample size in qualitative research. Kuzel (1992) recommended 12 to 20 data sources to achieve maximum variation. According to Green and Thorogood (2018), most qualitative researchers interact with 20 or more respondents, and they find little new knowledge and have hit the saturation threshold. For an extensive qualitative study, Sandelowski (1995) recommended a sample size of 50 respondents.
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Appendix– Dimensions and scale items for organizational nostalgia
Appendix– Dimensions and scale items for organizational nostalgia
Note: * denotes dropped items.
Organization’s allegiance-related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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CE1: the common achievements in our organization.
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CE2: the support in training and similar matters provided by our organization.
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CE3: how our organization gave us a sense of family.
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CE4: the importance of employees’ ideas in our organization.
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CE5: how cooperation among all employees was a common value.
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CE6: the importance of equality and justice in our organization.
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CE7: the awareness of social responsibility in our organization.
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CE8: the importance of transparency in our organization. *
Social events- related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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EE1: how the corporate successes were celebrated.
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EE2: how dining events were organized. *
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EE3: how Christmas celebrations were held.
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EE4: how birthday celebrations were held.
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EE5: how educational, social, or cultural trips were organized.
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EE6: how sports events were organized.
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EE7: how celebrations on special days (anniversary of the establishment of the organization, professional days, etc.) were held.
Management support- related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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ME1: how our managers shared their knowledge and experience with us.
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ME2: how our managers supported us when we needed them.
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ME3: how our managers and all of us had a trust-based relationship.
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ME4: how our managers contributed to our professional development.
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ME5: how our managers became such successful leaders.
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ME6: some of our departed managers.*
Bonds regarding employee-related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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COE1: how our colleagues and we had a relationship based on trust.
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COE2: how cooperation was considered in our work.
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COE3: how our colleagues and we had a strong bond of friendship.
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COE4: how we supported our colleagues in our work.
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COE5: Some of our departed colleagues. *
Excitement for employee-related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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SE1: how our desire and determination to do our work were high.
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SE2: how our self-confidence was high for subjects related to our jobs.
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SE3: how we had a strong passion for our jobs. *
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SE4: how we had a strong passion for our goals.
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SE5: how we were excited about our jobs when we first started.*
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SE6: how we developed ourselves personally and professionally.
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SE7: how we gained intrinsic satisfaction from our jobs.*
Working condition-related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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JE1: the start date of our employment.
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JE2: our higher workload periods.
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JE3: the specific authority and responsibilities are given to us.
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JE4: the important promotions we received. *
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JE5: the limited technological opportunities in our workplace. *
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JE6: the jobs we completed successfully. *
Physical work environment- related nostalgia
We had a sentimental longing for past experiences and memories about:
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PE1: the physical building of the organization.
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PE2: the location of the organization.
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PE3: our work environment.
Organizational discontinuity
Our organization does not have much in common with its past situations.
We feel our organization is different than it used to be in the past.
When we recall our memories, we think that our organization is not where we used to work in the past.
Affective commitment
We would be happy to spend the rest of our careers with this organization.
We enjoy discussing our organization with people outside it.*
We feel as if this organization’s problems are ours.
We think we could easily become as attached to another organization as we are to this one. (R)*
We do not feel like a part of the family at our organization. (R).
We do not feel emotionally attached to this organization. (R)*
This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for us.
We do not feel a strong sense of belonging to our organization. (R).
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Akgün, A.E., Tatar, B., Erdil, O. et al. Development and validation of the organizational nostalgia scale and its relationship with affective commitment and organizational discontinuity. Curr Psychol 42, 28060–28085 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03898-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03898-y