The concept of organisational commitment continues to interest academics and practitioners despite evidence of low commitment in British companies. Explanations concentrate on why employees fail to respond to management policies or, more radically, on efforts to realign ‘corporate culture’. In this article the focus is changed by John Coopey to enable the effect of managerial culture on organisational commitment to be examined. the conceptual framework is of culture influencing individual attitudes via psychological processes (mediated through relationships). These themes are developed in a two‐fold argument: first managers are seen as entrapped in a culture that protects prerogatives through processes of accountability and hence, second, managers find difficulty in acting as exemplars of organisational commitment for potential foll