Sociodemographic and occupational profiles of organizational commitment in federal universities

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

Based on the three-dimensional model of Meyer and Allen (1991), this study outlined organizational commitment profiles (OCP) for public service workers working at two federal universities, as well as sociodemographic and occupational characteristics associated with these profiles.

Originality/value:

OCP emerged as part of the Brazilian research scenario on organizational commitment (OC), as well as discussions that approached the implications of such profiles, in the public sector and public higher education institutions (HEIs).

Design/methodology/approach:

The research methodology included quantitative, descriptive, and field-based approaches. In the study, 470 respondents worked in administrative areas of two federal universities in Northeast Brazil in three occupational categories: technical servants, managers, and outsourced workers. The techniques used were exploratory factor analysis and latent profile analysis.

Findings:

As a basis for modeling the factorial structure of the OC scale (affective, normative, and continuance dimensions), four OCP were identified: uncommitted, affective-continuance commitment, moderate, and affectively committed. The uncommitted were primarily men and workers with less job tenure. The majority of the affective-continuance commitment and affectively committed were occupied by technical public servants and outsourced workers, while managers concentrated on the affective-continuance commitments.

KEYWORDS:
organizational commitment profiles; federal universities; public sector; survey; quantitative research