Employees form commitments to multiple targets and the coordination of those multiple commitments has become a ubiquitous part of the contemporary workplace. However, commitments are still largely studied in isolation or in one-off combinations and current commitment theory does not account for the dynamic interrelationships among multiple commitments. To address this deficiency, we propose commitment system theory (CST). We draw upon general systems theory to depict commitment systems as malleable and interconnected structures. We present the defining elements by which commitment systems can be described and studied, develop theory regarding when commitment systems will diverge or converge over time, and discuss how taking a systems perspective resolves discrepant findings in the literature. Specifically, CST advances the commitment literature by offering an alternative perspective to explain how commitments behave as parts of larger systems. Specifically, CST accounts for (a) why and when commitments have synergistic, neutral, or conflicting inter-relationships and (b) the temporal dynamics of those inter-relationships as commitments develop, change, and dissipate. CST thus offers a new vocabulary and conceptual “toolkit” for understanding the evolving structure of commitments to multiple targets.

中文翻译：

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承诺系统理论：多目标承诺的演化结构

员工对多个目标形成承诺，而这些多重承诺的协调已成为当代工作场所无处不在的一部分。然而，承诺的研究仍然主要是孤立的或一次性的组合，当前的承诺理论没有解释多个承诺之间的动态相互关系。为了解决这一缺陷，我们提出了承诺系统理论（CST）。我们利用一般系统理论将承诺系统描述为可塑性和相互关联的结构。我们提出了可以描述和研究承诺系统的定义要素，开发关于承诺系统何时会随着时间发散或收敛的理论，并讨论如何从系统角度解决文献中的不一致发现。具体来说，CST 通过提供另一种视角来解释承诺作为更大系统的一部分如何表现，从而推进了承诺文献。具体而言，CST 解释了 (a) 为什么以及何时承诺具有协同、中立或冲突的相互关系，以及 (b) 随着承诺的发展、变化和消散，这些相互关系的时间动态。因此，CST 提供了一个新的词汇和概念“工具包”，用于理解对多个目标的承诺不断演变的结构。