The study examined the relationship between the affective and normative commitment levels of coordinators and their volunteer team members in a U.S. nonprofit organization responsible for training service dogs. Both employee and volunteer coordinators were included. It sought to determine whether there was a relationship between coordinators' level of commitment and the stated retention and recruitment intentions of their team members. It also sought to determine whether there was a relationship between the coordinator's level of commitment and the historical rates of turnover and recruitment within the team. Contrary to expectations, no correlation was found between coordinator commitment and any of the selected outcome variables, regardless of whether the coordinator was an employee or a volunteer.

A correlation was found between volunteer affective commitment and intention to recruit new organizational volunteers, and with short and long-term intentions to remain with the organization. There was a slight positive correlation between the coordinator's status as a volunteer and volunteer intentions to remain in the long-term. Limitations of the study and future directions for research are discussed.