The aim of this study is to understand the vision that managers have about worker commitment with the organization exploring the relevance of treating affective and instrumental dimensions in the same construct, as proposed Meyer and Allen (1991). A description was made of the elements that make up the schematic concept of employee commitment and the burden of affective and instrumental elements that constitute it. The schematic elements were identified by assigning a verbal label to two different profiles of committed worker, the spontaneous response to questioning about what commitment is and its main characteristics and the choice of features available in the literature on the issue of commitment. Eight managers working for two companies in a medium to large metropolitan region of Salvador-BA participated in the study (four from each organization). The data underwent content analysis and the results were reported with the use of cognitive mapping techniques. It was concluded that the managers surveyed associate the concept of affective commitment to their affective base and consider tinstrumental commitment as the antithesis of commitment. Extra effort and additional contribution are considered important for the worker to be regarded as committed.
Organizational commitment; Cognitive schema; Managerial cognition
