Research on organizational commitment is characterized by an excessive fragmentationand pulverization of measurement. It urges the need for a conceptual analysis that allowsthe stablishment, in a more consensual manner, of boundaries of the very concept ofcommitment, by contrasting it with other concepts common to organizational research.Therefore, this study has aimed to analyse the concept of commitment itself, as it isexpressed by workers, taking this as a starting point for a revision of the standardinstruments currently available. The research was conducted among workers from fourpublic universities (UnB, UFBa, UFMG, UFU). Its first step was the applyance of anopen questionnaire to 240 workers, followed by a second phase of interviews with asubsample of 40 workers. Answers were analysed qualitatively, by creating a system ofcategories for their content. Indicators thus devised have allowed the identification of the main foci and basis of the concept of commitment expressed by the participants. Results are then confronted with the concepts of commitment currently in use inorganizational research.
concept of commitment; multiple commitments; foci and basis of commitment; organizational commitment
