People Management Practices, Managerial Innovation, and Organizational Commitment Profiles

Abstract

Purpose – This study aimed to investigate whether managerial innovation and people management practices focused on innovation act as antecedents of organizational commitment profiles. Theoretical framework – For the investigation of organizational commitment, we used the three-component model (TCM) (Meyer & Allen, 1991) and the commitment profiles approach (Meyer, Stanley, & Parfyonova, 2012). For the investigation of managerial innovation and people management practices focused on innovation, we considered the contributions of Laursen and Foss (2011) and Lopes (2017), as well as other studies from the national and international literature. Design/methodology/approach – This is quantitative, explanatory field research, using a sociodemographic questionnaire and Likert scales, with a sample of 470 workers. The research field was composed of two federal universities, on 10 campuses, located in the Brazilian northeast. For the data analysis, we used descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, latent profile analysis, and binary logistic regressions. Findings – We identified four organizational commitment profiles: strongly uncommitted; moderately committed; committed; and uncommitted. Only the delegation and tangible and intangible incentives practices acted as antecedents for certain profiles. Practical & social implications of research – The main theoretical contributions were the outlining of organizational commitment profiles and highlighting of people management practices focused on innovation with predictive power in relation to such profiles, which may suggest, for management, the strengthening of practices focused on innovation that promote workers’ commitment at public universities. Originality/value – The originality of the research lies in it addressing organizational commitment profiles, connecting them with managerial innovation and people management practices focused on innovation, which seeks to contribute to overcoming the research gaps at a national level.