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Resource Management
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Effects of personal characteristics on

organizational commitment: evidence
from Brazil's oil and gas industry
a

Mnica Cavalcanti S Abreu , Maria Cristiane Cunha & Silvia

Maria Pedro Rebouas

Business Department, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza,

CearBrazil
b

Petrobras, Fortaleza, Cear, Brazil

Published online: 07 May 2013.

To cite this article: Mnica Cavalcanti S Abreu, Maria Cristiane Cunha & Silvia Maria Pedro
Rebouas (2013): Effects of personal characteristics on organizational commitment: evidence
from Brazil's oil and gas industry, The International Journal of Human Resource Management,
DOI:10.1080/09585192.2013.781527
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The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.781527

Effects of personal characteristics on organizational commitment:

evidence from Brazils oil and gas industry
Monica Cavalcanti Sa Abreua*, Maria Cristiane Cunhab and Silvia Maria Pedro Reboucasa
a

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Business Department, Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

b
Petrobras, Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil

In 1997, Brazils major energy company faced a loss of its monopoly as part of the
countrys structural reform. Many of its employees were recruited by new entrants to the
oil and gas industry. In order to retain employees, the company initiated a multiyear
planning process which included a redesigned human resource management model
oriented to organizational commitment. This study examines the long-term influence of
five employee personal characteristics (type of employment, job level, gender, education
level and service time) on the affective, normative and continuance components of
organizational commitment. The research was conducted in one of the company refinery
and involved a questionnaire survey of all employees and interviews with senior
managers. It was found that type of employment (company staff or contractor) had the
greatest impact on affective and normative commitment, while service time and
education level are the most significant contributors to continuance commitment.
Gender and job level were found to have limited implication for commitment. The results
demonstrate that the company response to structural reform had the long-term positive
effect of binding employees to the organization.
Keywords: emerging country; human resource management; oil and gas industry;
organizational commitment; structural reforms

Introduction
Since the 1990s, a new development strategy, named competitive integration, started to
emerge in Brazil. A macroeconomic plan called the Plano Real was introduced in 1994
as the main vehicle for the new strategy. It involved trade liberalization, industrial
restructuring and deregulations (Ferraz, Kupfer and Serrano 1999). Trade liberalization
was aimed at increasing both imports and exports which exposed the local industry to
international competition. The industrial structure, in turn, was modified by privatization
of state-owned companies and increased foreign direct investment. Deregulation meant
decreasing direct government intervention in the economy and creating independent
regulatory agencies.
An important feature of the changes associated with the structural reform is the way in
which the major Brazilian government energy company (Petrobras) responded to the new
external environment and became increasingly reliant on a committed workforce. In 1997,
Petrobras lost its monopoly on oil and gas activities. The sector moved from a rigid system
of government control to a neoliberal approach where private corporations were allowed
to participate in exploration, production, refining and distribution through concessions or
authorizations.
The new National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency assumed responsibility
for authorization and regulation of all petroleum companies, including Petrobras. In order

*Corresponding author. Email: mabreu@ufc.br

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

to participate in the oil and gas industry, companies are required to have corporate
headquarters and administration in Brazil. As a result of these changes, foreign direct
investment in Brazil has increased substantially (OKeefe and OKeefe 2004).
This structural reform has modified human resource requirements in Brazil in line with
a global mind-set to increase competitiveness (Kuchinke and Cornachione 2010). In the oil
and gas industry, there has been a dramatic shift in employment patterns from stable,
orderly career progression in a single company to shifting and diverse job opportunities in
multiple settings and a variety of roles.
There were huge oil and gas reserves to be explored in Brazil but not enough human
resources to meet the needs of new companies. These changes created a new competitive
environment where many firms needed human resources and looked to Petrobras as the
logical source. The government directly intervened in this situation by creating early
retirement incentives, prevented Petrobras from hiring new permanent employees and
other measures aimed at reducing workforce levels.
Petrobras workforce declined from 50,295 employees in 1994 to 32,809 in 2001. The
company was forced to meet new workload requirement by hiring contractors who
eventually made up 30% of the overall workforce. This led to distortion of Petrobras
human resource management process. The company responded to this new organizational
setting by initiating a strategic planning processes aiming at making human and
technological resources more efficient and innovative.
A new management and organizational model emphasized proactive decision-making,
a harmonious organizational environment, and the implementation of quality management
and performance indicator systems. The human resource policies were completely shifted
to support a continuing role of Petrobras as a major Brazilian company. Petrobras decided
to re-prioritize projects in support of cultural evolution aimed at market competitiveness,
organizational commitment and retention of capable employees.
At the time of this research (in 2009), Petrobras had regained its workforce to 55,802
employees, which was similar to 1990 (55,569). However, during the same period, oil
production had increased from 653,628 barrels per day to 1,970,811. In relation to this
performance, it is interesting to note that annual investment in staff training in 2009 totaled
US$ 56,788,671.66. The efforts were recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
where Petrobras obtained a score of 100 points (the maximum) in the human capital
development area.
The change brought about by structural reform together with the responses of
Petrobras through its strategy planning process provide an interesting backdrop on which
to examine the influence of employee personal characteristics on the components of
organizational commitment. Authors such as Armenakis and Bedeian (1999) and Meyer,
Srinivas, Lal and Topolnytsky (2007), for example, have pointed out that commitment is
one of the most important factor involved in employees support for change initiatives.
Mowday (1998) recognized that organizational commitment may have multiple forms
and suggests alternative management strategies leading to desired behaviors in the
workplace. Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) identified behavioral differences for employees
with different commitment profiles. In turn, demographic characteristics of employees are
important factors often used as control variables to rule out alternative explanations of the
organizational commitment (Rhoades and Eisenberger 2002).
The current study extends past research in three ways. First, we explore the effect of
the type of employment, job level, gender, education level and service time on the
affective, normative and continuance components using the Classification and Regression
Trees (CART) method proposed by Breiman, Freidman, Olshen and Stone (1984). Second,

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we examine commitment among Brazilian professionals whereas most previous work has
involved employees in Anglo countries (e.g. Gellatly, Meyer and Luchak 2006; Meyer
et al. 2007; McInnis, Meyer and Feldman 2009; Casper, Harris, Taylor-Bianco and Wayne
2011). Finally, we deemed that Petrobras, as one of the largest oil and gas company in the
world, could provide relevant insights on organizational commitment to change.
The following section of this paper reviews the antecedents associated with affective,
continuance and normative commitment. Then, the methodology used to understand the
human resource policy at Petrobras and to measure the influence of employees personal
characteristics on the three types of commitment is explained. We continue with a
description of the results of the empirical study. Finally, we use the Petrobras case to
develop insights on how personal employee characteristic need to be considered in
developing HR policies in order to retain talented employees facing industry restructuring.
Antecedents associated with affective, continuance and normative commitment
A great deal of attention has been given to the study of antecedents and outcomes of
commitment to the organization. This interest derives from evidence that a motivated and
committed workforce provides benefits to the organization (Meyer, Vandenberghe and
Becker 2004). Meyer and Allen (1991) pointed out that the essential core of organizational
commitment is the feeling of being tied to the company goals and targets.
Allen and Meyer (1996) proposed a three-component model of commitment because a
unidimensional model did not capture the diverse nature of organizational commitment
between individual employees. The three components of the model reflect emotional
desire to work in the company (affective commitment), perceived cost of changing jobs
(continuance commitment) and moral obligation to stay (normative commitment).
Meyer and Allen (1991) argued that one of the most important reasons for
distinguishing among the different forms of organizational commitment was that they
have different implications for behavior. In the case of the affective component of
commitment, the employee is bound to the company by a desire or a belief related to the
significance of his/her activity in relation to the companys goals.
Allen and Meyer (1990) considered affective commitment as an emotional attachment
to the organization such that the strongly committed individual identities with, is involved
in and enjoys membership in, the organization. Affective commitment deals with having a
sense of belongingness, feeling emotionally attached and feeling a part of the company
(Bloemer and Odekerken-Schroder 2003). Carpiano and Hystad (2011) established that
the sense of belonging means sharing a sense of personal relatedness.
Cohen (2007) explained that before an employee joins the organization, he/she has a
propensity toward both instrumental and normative commitment. Instrumental
commitment propensity is derived from a general expectation about the quality of
exchange with the organization in terms of expected benefit and rewards in return for job
performance. The normative commitment propensity is a general moral obligation toward
the organization. After entry into the organization, the instrumental commitment is
confirmed and the employee develops affective commitment demonstrated by
identification with it, emotional involvement and a sense of belonging.
Antecedent variables associated with affective commitment can be categorized as:
organizational characteristics, personal characteristics and work experience. Meyer and
Allen (1997) found that a significant positive correlation exists between perceptions of the
fairness of policy and affective commitment. The manner in which an organizational
policy is communicated has also been linked to affective commitment (Konovsky and

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

Cropanzano 1991). Mathieu and Zajac (1990) pointed out that the link between
decentralization and affective commitment is neither strong nor consistent.
Marsden, Kalleberg and Cook (1993) pointed out that gender can have an impact on
affective commitment depending on work characteristics and previous experience.
McColl-Kennedy and Anderson (2005) stated that female focus is on participating in
connection, mutuality, interdependence and collectively, rather than the traditionally
masculine focus on self-gratification, autonomy, competition and independence.
Mathieu and Zajac (1990) suggested that there is a significant but weak relationship
between age and affective commitment. Meyer and Allen (1997) added that older employees
are more likely to have a positive work experience than younger employees. Unlike age,
educational level appears not to be significantly related to affective commitment.
Meyer and Maltin (2010) provided some evidence that affective commitment to ones
career or occupation can have positive implications for employee health and well-being. A
strong relationship between performance and health benefits can be achieved by fostering
employee commitment to company goals. Meyer, Hecht, Gill and Toplonytsky (2010)
pointed out that affective commitment was greater when the perceived culture of the
organization was similar to the preferred culture of the individual.
McInnis et al. (2009) pointed out that long-term affective employee commitment
requires that the company is willing to abide by a clear set of terms and to treat employees
as equal. Luchak, Pohler and Gellatly (2008) found that employees who experience
stronger rather than weaker levels of affective commitment are more likely to favor later
retirement. Powell and Meyer (2004) argued that satisfying the conditions of the job is
positively related to affective commitment. Allen and Meyer (1996) pointed out that
affective commitment is positively correlated with work experiences and characteristics of
the organization.
Lievens and Corte (2008) found that perceived share values were significantly related
to affective commitment. This is particularly true, when the employee feels psychological
comfortable (e.g. approachable managers, equitable treatment of employees) and his or
her sense of competence is enhanced through challenging tasks and feedbacks. The abovediscussed literature review suggests the following proposition:
PROPOSITION 1:

Affective commitment is positively influenced by a sense of

belonging to the organization and the significance of his/her activity
in relation to the companys goals.

In the case of continuance component, a fear of change induces employees to perform

the basic requirements of their job. The employee is committed to remaining in the
organization in order to avoid the costs that might be associated with leaving it. Meyer and
Allen (1997) pointed out that antecedent variables associated with the continuance
component included: investments, alternatives and time-based factors (e.g. age, tenure).
Hinkin and Tracey (2000) pointed out that employees are encouraged to stay at a
company if the organizational environment provides them opportunities to increase their
capabilities. Regarding investments, employees concerned about the limited transferability of their skills and their education to others firms have a stronger continuance
commitment to their current organization (Lee, Ashford, Walsh and Mowday 1992).
Alternative job opportunities reduce employee reluctance to leave the job and thus
negatively correlate with continuance commitment (Whitener and Walz 1993). Perryer,
Jordan, Firns and Travaglione (2010) confirmed that continuance organizational
commitment is negatively related to turnover intentions. For a given education, age and
job level, continuance commitment can significantly predict turnover intention.

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Cohen and Lowenberg (1990) pointed out that as employees get older and have greater
organizational tenure, they perceive greater costs associated with leaving an organization.
Depending on the economic environment, however, the perceived cost of leaving might
actually decrease, as employee experience and skills increase and the employees value to
other organizations is greater. For this reason, age and tenure are not considered direct
predictors of continuance commitment.
Powell and Meyer (2004) stated that continuance commitment has been shown to
increase over time as people accumulate personal investments or side bets (e.g. seniority
rights, attractive benefits, organization-specific training) that would be at risk if the
relationship was terminated. Years spent in an organization are likely to yield greater side
bets, such as pension plan, and develop a continuance commitment.
Using structural equation models, the authors found a strong zero-order correlation
with bureaucratic arrangement. Side bets reflecting social cost (expectations of others and
self-presentation concerns) had a stronger correlation with normative commitment. In
summary, this discussion leads to the following proposition:
PROPOSITION 2:

Continuance commitment is influenced by benefits and rewards

received in exchange for his/her contribution with the organization.

The third component, normative commitment, involves a sense of obligation by the

employee to do the job in a satisfactory manner because that is what he/she is expected to
do. The extent to which the employee is committed to company goals will depend on
whether the individual sees his job as relevant. Powell and Meyer (2004) stated that
normative commitment involves a moral obligation to stay in an organization in response
to social pressure.
The normative approach is based on the Wiener (1982) hypothesis that people exhibit
certain behavior because they believe it is the right thing to do. It is based on a companys
culture related to what is considered a typical and correct behavior pattern. Meyer and
Parfyonova (2010) argued that normative commitment has a dual nature and it manifests
itself differently depending on the strength of other components in an employees
commitment profile. Thus, normative commitment can be experienced either as a moral
duty or as a sense of indebtedness, each of which has different implications for work
behavior.
Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch and Topolnytsky (2002) added that a positive work
experience contributes to a feeling of obligation to the company as well as a desire to
achieve the companys goal. Thus such an environment creates both normative and
affective commitment. This might explain why most work experience variables that
correlate positively with affective commitment also correlate positively, albeit less
strongly, with normative commitment. Therefore, the following proposition is stated:
PROPOSITION 3:

Normative commitment is related to organizational clarity about

what is expected from an employee and the consequences of his/her
performance and behavior.

Allen and Meyer (1990) pointed out that there is some overlap between affective and
normative commitment, both are relatively independent of continuance commitment.
Meyer et al. (2002) conducted meta-analyses to assess the relationships between the
affective, continuance and normative components of commitment, and to identify causes
(antecedent variables) and effects (consequences) of the three components. They found
that the components are related yet distinguishable from one to another and have different
consequences (i.e. job satisfaction, job involvement and occupational commitment).

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The authors pointed out that all three forms of commitment related negatively to
withdrawal cognition and turnover. Affective commitment had the strongest positive
correlation with organizational-relevant activity (attendance, performance and organizational
citizenship behavior) and employee-relevant (stress and workfamily conflict) outcomes.
Normative commitment was also associated with desirable outcomes, albeit not as strongly.
Continuance commitment was unrelated or related negatively to these outcomes.
Gellatly et al. (2006) explored the propositions established by Meyer and Herscovitch
(2001) concerning the interactive effect of the three component of commitment on staying
intentions and citizenship behavior. Study measures were gathered from a sample of 545
hospital employees. An employees commitment profile provides a context that can
influence how a particular component of commitment is experienced.
Methodology
The first part of this research consisted of interviews with the refinerys CEO, the planning
and controller manager and the human resource manager about human resource
management policy and processes at Petrobras. Initially, they were asked how the
company overcame difficulties associated with the lack of trained petroleum engineers in
the Brazilian marketplace and how human resource management policy was adjusted to
reflect the breakup of the state-owned company monopoly.
They were then asked to explain the extent to which their human resource policy
and plans are oriented to enhancing employee commitment and the extent to which
employees engage in achievement of goals established in the strategy plan. Petrobras
documents and reports were also analyzed as an additional source of information on these
matters.
Following the interviews, a general employee survey was undertaken to identify the
relative importance of each of the three components of commitment (affective, continuance
or normative) using the scale developed by Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993), and the influence
of personal employee characteristics on these components of commitment. The survey
involved a questionnaire divided into two parts.
The first part included employee characteristics variables and the second part included
the commitment scale (Meyer et al. 1993). The personal characteristics and work
experience analyzed included questions related to type of employment (Petrobras staff or
contracted personnel), service time (more or less than 10 years of service), gender,
education (university degree or not) and job level (managerial or operational).
The second part of the questionnaire consisted of 18 questions divided equally among
affective, continuance and normative dimensions. The questionnaire used a five-point
Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Each type of response
was assigned a value from 1 to 5 with a value of 5 meaning a strong commitment to the
item being measured.
The survey was distributed to all employees, involving 389 people working in three
shifts, of which 242 were Petrobras employees and 147 were contractors. A total of 233
questionnaire forms were returned. The return rates were equal for company employees
and contracted staff as seen in Table 1. The sample size of 233 respondents gives a 4%
margin of error with 95% confidence.
An exploratory factor analysis using the principal component method was used to
validate the three-component model proposed by Meyer and Allen (1991), combining data
from the questions within each component of commitment. According to Field (2005),
factor analysis achieves parsimony by explaining the maximum amount of common

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

Table 1. Petrobras refinery workforce profile and survey participants.

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Organizational unit
CEO and secretary
Environment, health and safety
Marketing
Infrastructure
Human resources
Planning and accounting
Quality control
Production
Logistic
Maintenance
Engineering
Equipment inspection
Information technology
Total
Respondents
Percentage responding (%)

Petrobras employee

Contracted

Total

2
16
16
17
6
8
18
61
26
31
19
8
14
242
141
58.3

0
10
14
9
1
0
9
0
3
73
25
3
0
147
92
62.6

2
26
25
26
7
8
27
61
29
104
44
11
14
389
233
59.9

variance in a correlation matrix using the smallest number of explanatory concepts.

Cronbachs a measure was used to evaluate the reliability of the survey results.
Then a confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken for each component to determine
the coefficient score for each question. The three new dependent variables were calculated as
weighted means of the coefficient scores of the questions related to each component. These
variables represent the affective, continuance and normative components of commitment.
The t-test for independent samples was used to conduct a bivariate analysis of the three
components commitment. This inferential statistical analysis method identified means
score differences between Petrobras staff and contractors, between managers and nonmanagerial employees, between males and females, between university graduates and
employees with lower levels of educations and between employees with more than 10
years of service and those with less.
The multivariate analysis relating personal and professional characteristics to each
organizational commitment component was performed by applying factorial analysis of
variance (ANOVA) and developing regression tree models. According to Field (2005),
factorial ANOVA is used when several independent variables or predictors have been
determined for each of the survey participants. This technique allows us to test hypotheses
about means of groups defined by each independent variable and by the interaction of two
or more independent variables. This allowed the definition of significant interactions
among independent variables.
The Levenes test was used to verify the validity of the assumption of equal variances
(homogeneity of variance). According to Field (2005), Levenes test looks at whether
there are any significant differences between group variance and so a non-significant result
is an indication that the assumption equal variance is met.
Regression trees were developed using the CART method proposed by Breiman et al.
(1984). This method splits the data into segments (nodes) that are as homogeneous as
possible with respect to the dependent variable. The CART method can produce a
classification tree when the dependent variable is discreetly categorized or a regression tree
when the dependent variable is continuous (i.e. component of commitment variable). One
advantage of such method is that it automatically handles non-linearity and interactions.

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

The CART method attempts to maximize within-node homogeneity. Impurity was

calculated to determine the extent to which a node did not represent a homogenous subset of
cases and therefore needed to be split. Impurity was measured using least-squared deviation
and the minimum decrease in impurity required to split a node was defined as 0.0001.
The validation of the models was done by tenfold cross-validation. This method
divides the sample into 10 groups. Tree models are developed, using nine groups as a
training sample and one group as a validation sample. The procedure is repeated 10 times
with each group being used as the validation sample once. The cross-validated risk
estimate for the final tree is calculated as the average of the risks for all of the previous
trees. For the dependent variables, the risk is the estimated within-node variance.
The CART method ranks each independent variable according to its importance to the
model. The measure of importance of a variable is the weighted sum across all splits in the
tree of the improvements that the variable has when it is used as a primary or surrogate
splitter. For cases in which the value for the variable responsible for splitting the data is
missing, other independent variables having high associations with the original variable
are used. These alternative predictors are called surrogates. The importance of the models
indicates the personal characteristics that are most influential in relation to each
component of commitment.
Results
Understanding Petrobras human resource policy
In 1953, when Petrobras started its operational activity there was no infrastructure,
technology or human resources available in Brazil to develop the oil and gas industry.
Because of this, Petrobras established its own technology and training center to develop
human resource capability in petroleum exploration, production and refining. From the
1950s to the mid-1990s, human resource policy at Petrobras was aiming towards
increasing employees technological qualification. High salary levels were used to attract
and retain skilled employees.
Beginning in mid-1990s, Petrobras introduced a modern management process linked
to technology innovation. It was one of the first Brazilian companies to apply such
approaches. The company completed an integrated management system certified by ISO
9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and SA 8000. The integrated management system
involves clearly defined processes, procedures and goals. An information management
system is used to monitor actions plans, deadlines and performance of all employees.
Petrobras also approved an ethics code and disseminated it to all employees.
At the same time, a strategic planning process (based on balanced scorecard) involving
in-depth participation of employees was introduced and is still in use. Managers allocate
responsibilities and resources, and define schedules. The input used to formulate the
strategic plan includes policy, marketing plans, financial results, planning scenarios,
human resource availability, stakeholder demands, code of ethics, environmental, health
and safety issues and audit reports.
As part of these management changes, Petrobras redesigned its human resource
management model by introducing new processes and controls related to workforce
commitment and employee retention. The company initiated the career development plans
linked to strategic objectives. This was of fundamental importance to the repositioning of
the company as a response to the challenges imposed by the structural reform.
Petrobras human resource policy based salary ranges and promotion decisions on
individual achievement and recognition of each employees contribution to the companys

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The International Journal of Human Resource Management

results. A new career classification and evaluation systems was introduced based on
experience, skills and knowledge. The new system increased salary ranges and eliminated
pay inequalities between employees hired before the government ban on recruitment
(1990) and those recruited after the ban was removed (2002).
The current human resource value chain of Petrobras is presented in Figure 1. It is
structured into four macro-processes: human resources strategy; human resources
relations; human resources processes and human resources functions. The macroprocess human resources strategy provides the overall orientation of human resource
plans, goals and practices aligned with Petrobras strategic planning.
Workforce engagement in this strategic planning process is crucial to achieve business
results. Over the years, communication processes and workforce participation have been
substantially improved. A major event in the strategic planning process is a meeting with
employees (contractors do not participate in this meeting) of each business unit where the
general manager reviews the approved version of objectives and targets.
The second macro-process human resources relations includes managing the
organizational climate and engaging with the labor union, workers, in general, and external
stakeholders. These relationships are guided by ethics code, principles, values and
organizational culture. For example, in recent years, Petrobras has reinforced gender equality
and nondiscrimination through a series of agreements. These agreements are related to the
Brazilian Pro-Gender Equity Program of the Special Secretariat for Policies related to
Women, the Global Compact of the United Nations and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Human resource processes involve three areas: provide workforce (select people and
move employees), employee development (manage performance, careers and technology
education) and employee remuneration (manage pay, heath care and others benefits).
Petrobras hires its own employees through national competitions. Successful candidates

Human resources strategy

Develop strategy

Implement strategy

Human resources relations

Manage organizational
climate

Manage union
relations

Manage labor
relations

Manage stakeholder
relations

Human resources processes

Labor force deployment

Provide workforce
Select people

Define capabilities

Career sctruturing

Employee development

Employee remuneration

Manage performance

Manage pay

Manage careers

Manage benefits

Manage technology
education

Manage health care

Move employees

Human resources functions

Manage change

HR communication

Figure 1. Petrobras human resource value chain.

Collect and analyses employee data

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10

M.C.S. Abreu et al.

expend considerable time and effort preparing for these competitions. For example, in
2009, 1,308 new employees were hired through a national competition process involving
249,044 candidates. This builds commitment to the company even before they are hired. In
addition, once they are hired there is a low risk of being fired.
New employees participate in extensive training programs and receive salaries lower
than competing firms. As soon as they finish the Petrobras operational course (lasting for
about 1 year) and get some experience, they are frequently offered jobs elsewhere.
Petrobras has reduced this to some extent by offering substantial increase in salary when
the training course is completed. However, Petrobras flexibility to match the offers of
other firms is limited by the fact that it remains under government control.
More senior employees receive competitive salaries and other benefits, such as profit
sharing bonuses which engender commitment to the company. Petrobras staff has an
extensive program of benefits that are not available to contractors. For example, the
company offers comprehensive medical and educational assistance (from daycare to
university) for employees and their dependents, supplementary retirement insurance and
profit-sharing bonuses.
Managing at Petrobras is challenging. Managers are forced to deal with a diversity of
people with different behaviors, religious believes, cultures and ideologies. They are
appointed to their positions after a long period of faithful service to Petrobras and are
selected on the basis of their skills in committee work.
The fourth macro-process (human resources function) refers to managing changes,
communicating, and collecting and analyzing employee data. Petrobras collects and
analyses substantial employee data. Since 2002, the company has undertaken an annual
organizational climate survey and from this survey, two indicators are calculated. One is
the employee satisfaction index and the other is employee commitment level. Both
indicators are used in developing Petrobras balanced scorecard strategy map.
Employee participation in this survey is voluntary. However, there is a strong
campaign to provide incentives for employees participation. The survey is structured in
three dimensions: organizational climate, organizational commitment and social
responsibility. The organizational climate dimension is based on the degree of
satisfaction with benefits (health, education and complementary retirement fund);
communication; leadership; recognitions (time service, retirement and performance) and
career development; workforce motivation; remuneration; environment, health and safety;
and training and development.
The organizational commitment dimension measures the degree of agreement that
Petrobras success is part of the employee success, that they feel part of the company, that
they identify opportunities to keep working at the company and that they contribute to the
Brazilian society development. All these factors are combined to measure the overall level of
commitment to the company. Finally, the corporate social responsibility dimension measures
employee commitment to social and environmental projects developed by Petrobras.
The final results are presented to all members of the workforce. Reports are prepared
on the two indicators (employee satisfaction index and employee commitment level)
focusing on the reasons for the results and then managers must elaborate plans of remedial
actions where required or to improve it.
Influence of personal characteristics on organizational commitment
The profile of survey respondents is shown in Table 2. Typical characteristics of the
respondents are male (78.1%), Petrobras employee (60.5%), university degree (54.5%),

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The International Journal of Human Resource Management

11

non-managerial position (90.9%) and less than 10 years working at the company (56.2%).
This survey profile is representative of the refinerys entire workforce consisting of 62.2%
Petrobras staff, 87.5% male, 21.3% with university degrees, 93.1% operational jobs and
59.6% with less than 10 years at the company.
An exploratory factor analysis using the principal component method grouped
questionnaire items under three factors as defined by Meyer and Allen (1991). The factor
analysis showed a Kaiser Meyer Olkin adequacy measure value of 0.795 which is a
significant value according to Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black (2005). The
Kolmogorov Smirnov test performed for the three components of commitment confirms
that the data followed a normal distribution (in three cases p . 0.05). The t-student
distribution test for independent populations was used to compare means of groups defined
by the independent variables.
Table 3 shows the statistical results of the survey related to the affective component of
commitment and the score coefficients obtained by confirmatory factorial analysis. The
affective commitment factor explains 40.76% of the variance of the questions and
Cronbachs a is 0.692 indicating a good internal consistency.
The values observed for statistic t-test and corresponding p-values for affective
commitment are presented in Table 4. It was found that significant mean differences in the
affective component of commitment were found only related to type of employment and
Table 2. Respondents personal characteristics profile.
Characteristics
Type of employment
Gender
Educational level
Service time
Job level

Variables

Quantity

Petrobras staff
Contractor
Male
Female
High school degree
University degree
No information
Less than 10 years of service
More than 10 years of service
No information
Managerial
Operational

141
92
182
51
102
127
4
131
93
9
21
212

60.5
39.5
78.1
21.9
43.7
54.5
1.7
56.2
39.9
3.9
9.01
90.9

Table 3. Descriptive statistics and component score coefficients for affective commitment.
Affective commitments questions

Mean

Standard
deviation

Component score
coefficient

I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career

in this organization
I really feel as if this organizations problems are my
own
I do feel like part of the family at my organization
I do feel emotionally attached to this organization
I do feel of strong sense of belonging to this
organization
This organization has a great deal of personal
meaning for me

3.53

1.253

0.227

3.58

1.206

0.180

3.62
3.75
3.63

1.138
1.038
1.096

0.285
0.320
0.313

3.89

1.127

0.208

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

Table 4. The t-test results for affective commitment.

Personal
characteristics
Type of
employment
Gender
Educational level
Service time

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Job level

Variables

Mean

Standard
deviation

Petrobras staff

3.823

0.698

Contractor
Male
Female
University degree
No University degree
10 or more years of service
Less than 10 years of service
Managerial
Operational

3.409
3.577
3.655
3.655
3.669
3.832
3.552
3.849
3.658

0.721
0.749
0.666
0.738
0.719
0.749
0.701
0.771
0.731

df

4.229

221

0.000

2 0.666

191

0.506

2 0.138

216

0.891

2.853

222

0.005

0.844

222

0.400

service time. In general, affective commitment is greater for Petrobras staff (3.823) than
for contractors (3.409). Employees with 10 or more years of service have greater affective
commitment (3.823) than employees with less than 10 years of service (3.552).
Factorial ANOVA showed evidences of interactions between all employee personal
characteristics. Significant interactions were found between: gender and type of
employment ( p 0.006), gender and educational level ( p 0.005), gender and service
time ( p 0.008) and type of employment and educational level ( p 0.018). Levenes
test shows a p-value of 0.485.
These results indicate the necessity of evaluating how these interactions are manifested
in homogeneous groups and a CART method was used for this purpose. These interactions
are showed in the regression tree (Figure 2). Re-substitution risk estimate (risk for training
samples) is 0.480 and cross-validation risk estimate (risk for validation samples) is 0.518
suggesting that the potential problem of over-fitting did not occur. The principal features
of terminal nodes were obtained and the regression tree was developed using affective
commitment as the dependent variable and all employee personal characteristics as
independent variables.
The highest mean level of affective commitment is observed at terminal node 7 (3.934)
which include Petrobras staff, males with no university degree. The lowest mean level of
affective commitment is registered at terminal node 10 (3.177) which include contracted
employees, males with a university degree.
Although service time does not appear in the tree, it is important in the model as a
surrogate. This is the case where the variable responsible for splitting the data is missing
and other independent variables that have high associations with the original variable
assumed its role.
The CART analysis provides information on which employee personal characteristics
have the most important influence on commitment. Type of employment, with a normalized
importance of 100%, is the personal characteristic that has the greatest influence on the
affective component of commitment at Petrobras. Type of employment is much more
important than service time (47.3%), educational level (26.4%) and gender (12.1%).
The type of analyses used to evaluate affective commitment above was also used for the
components of continuance and normative commitments. The values for continuance
commitment are shown in Table 5. The continuance commitment factor explains 44.5% of
the variance of the six questions and a good internal consistency was indicated by a
Cronbachs a of 0.746.

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

13

Affective commitment
Node 0
3.667
Mean
0.732
Std. Dev.
224
n
100.0
%
Predicted
3.667

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Employee relationship
Improvement=0.040
Staff

Contracted

Node 1
Mean
3.823
Std. Dev.
0.698
n
140
%
62.5
3.823
Predicted

Node 2
Mean
3.406
Std. Dev.
0.717
n
84
%
37.5
3.406
Predicted

Gender
Improvement=0.003

Gender
Improvement=0.002

Male

Female

Male

Female

Node 3

Node 4

Node 5

Node 6
Mean
3.456
Std. Dev.
0.606
n
30
%
13.4
Predicted
3.456

Mean
Std. Dev.
n
%
Predicted

Mean
3.805
Std. Dev.
0.706
n
117
%
52.2
Predicted
3.805

Educational level
Improvement=0.006

3.915
0.665
23
10.3
3.915

Mean
3.379
Std. Dev.
0.778
n
54
%
24.1
Predicted
3.379

Educational level
Improvement=0.005

No superior international level

Superior international level

No superior international level

Superior international level

Node 7

Node 8

Node 9

Node 10
Mean
3.177
Std. Dev.
0.801
n
20
%
8.9
Predicted
3.177

Mean
Std. Dev.
n
%
Predicted

3.934
0.642
46
20.5
3.934

Mean
Std. Dev.
n
%
Predicted

3.722
0.737
71
31.7
3.722

Mean
Std. Dev.
n
%
Predicted

3.497
0.747
34
15.2
3.497

Figure 2. CART regression tree for affective commitment.

The values observed for statistic t-test and corresponding p-values for continuance
commitment are presented in Table 6. There were significant differences between the means
of personal characteristic measured within the educational level and service time factors.
The mean level for employee with no university degree (3.146) is greater than that for
employee with university degrees (2.934).

Table 5. Descriptive statistics and component score coefficients for continuance commitment.
Continuance commitments questions

Mean

Standard
deviation

Component score
coefficients

Right now, staying with my organization is a matter

of necessity as much as desire
It would be very hard for me leave my organization,
even if I wanted to
Too much of my life would be disrupted if I decided I
wanted to leave my organization right now
I believe that I have few options to consider leaving
this organization
If I had not already put so much of myself into this
organization, I might consider working elsewhere
One of the few negative consequences of leaving this
organization would be the scarcity of available
alternatives

3.64

1.042

0.219

3.44

1.302

0.281

3.22

1.340

0.281

2.62

1.097

0.279

2.58

1.165

0.192

2.61

1.086

0.232

14

M.C.S. Abreu et al.

Table 6. The t-test results for continuance commitment.

Personal
characteristics
Type of
Employment
Gender
Educational level
Service time
Job level

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Mean

Standard
deviation

Petrobras staff

3.052

0.753

Contractor
Male
Female
University degree
No University degree
10 or more years of service
Less than 10 years of service
Managerial
Operational

2.995
3.028
2.959
2.934
3.146
3.173
2.932
2.969
3.035

0.886
0.784
0.837
0.873
0.686
0.729
0.838
0.577
0.812

Variables

df

0.520

230

0.603

0.542

197

0.588

2 2.053

225

0.041

2.279

231

0.024

2 0.264

231

0.792

Employees with 10 or more years of service have a greater mean level (3.173) than
employees with less than 10 years of service (2.932). Factorial ANOVA showed
significant interactions between educational level and service time ( p 0.015). Levenes
test shows a nonsignificant result ( p 0.101).
Continuance commitment
Node 0
Mean
3.032
Std. Dev.
0.802
n
233
%
100.0
Predicted
3.032

Service time
Improvement=0.014

Ten or more years

Less than ten years

Node 1
3.173
Mean
0.729
Std. Dev.
96
n
41.2
%
Predicted
3.173

Educational level
Improvement=0.003

Node 2
2.932
Mean
0.729
Std. Dev.
137
n
58.8
%
Predicted
2.932

Educational level
Improvement=0.010

No superior educational level

Superior educational level

No superior educational level

Superior educational level

Node 3
3.293
Mean
0.632
Std. Dev.
40
n
17.2
%
Predicted
3.293

Node 4
3.088
Mean
0.785
Std. Dev.
56
n
24.0
%
3.088
Predicted

Node 5
3.060
Mean
0.712
Std. Dev.
62
n
26.6
%
3.060
Predicted

Node 6
2.827
Mean
0.920
Std. Dev.
75
n
32.2
%
Predicted
2.827

Gender
Improvement=0.002

Figure 3. CART regression tree for continuance commitment.

Male

Female

Node 7
2.887
Mean
0.898
Std. Dev.
53
n
22.7
%
2.887
Predicted

Node 8
2.682
Mean
0.977
Std. Dev.
22
n
9.4
%
2.682
Predicted

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The International Journal of Human Resource Management

15

These interactions observed in the regression tree (shown in Figure 3) are based on
data using continuance commitment as the dependent variable and employee personal
characteristics as independent variables. The re-substitution risk estimate (risk for training
samples) is 0.611 and the cross-validation risk estimate (risk for validation samples) is
0.653. The proximity of these values suggests that over-fitting did not occur.
Regression tree demonstrate that node 3 represents employees with the highest level of
continuance commitment (3.293). They have 10 or more years of service at Petrobras and
do not have university degrees. The lowest level of continuance commitment (2.682) at
node 8 represents female employees with less than 10 years of service at Petrobras and a
university degree.
According to the CART analysis, it is possible to establish the relative importance of
the personal characteristics on continuance commitment. Service time at Petrobras has the
most significant influence (with a normalized importance of 100%), followed by educational
level (89.5%), type of employment (14.9%), gender (12.9%) and job level (1.4%). Note that
service time and educational level are by far the most influential characteristic.
The values for the normative commitment variable are shown in Table 7. The
normative commitment factor explains 47.4% of the variance of its questions. The six
questions present a good internal consistency showed by a Cronbachs a of 0.760. The
values for statistic t-test and corresponding p-values for normative commitment are
presented in Table 8. There were no significant differences between the means of any of
the personal characteristics analyzed.
Table 7. Descriptive statistics and component score coefficients for normative commitment.
Normative commitments questions

Mean

Standard
deviation

Component score
coefficients

I do feel obligation to remain with my current

employee
Even if it were to my advantage, I do not feel it would
be right to leave my organization now
I would feel guilt if I left my organization now
My organization deserves my loyalty
I would not leave my organization right now because
I have a sense of obligation to people in it
I owe to great deal to my organization

3.09

1.098

0.128

2.87

1.241

0.291

2.52
3.89
2.94

1.160
1.323
1.131

0.274
0.215
0.291

3.46

1.182

0.211

Table 8. The t-test results for normative commitment.

Personal
characteristics
Type of
employment
Gender
Educational level
Service time
Job level

Variables

Mean

Standard
deviation

df

Petrobras staff

3.057

0.772

2 0.477

149

0.634

Contracted
Male
Female
University degree
No University degree
10 or more years of service
Less than 10 years of service
Managerial
Operational

3.115
3.068
2.965
3.107
3.038
3.068
3.090
3.034
3.083

0.966
0.826
0.912
0.852
0.854
0.844
0.851
0.491
0.861

0.745

195

0.457

0.601

223

0.548

2 0.201

229

0.841

2 0.188

229

0.851

16

M.C.S. Abreu et al.

On the other hand, factorial ANOVA showed evidence of significant interactions

between type of employment, gender and service time ( p 0.005), and also between
educational level, gender and service time ( p 0.019). Levenes test presented a p-value
of 0.041, which can be considered nonsignificant at a 0.01 level.
The interactions between personal characteristics are illustrated more clearly in the
regression tree in Figure 4. Using normative commitment as a dependent variable yields a
re-substitution risk estimate of 0.698 and a cross-validation risk estimate of 0.771,
suggesting some over-fitting.

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Normative commitment
Node 0
3.081
Mean
0.847
Std. Dev.
231
n
100.0
%
3.081
Predicted

Gender
Improvement=0.002

Male

Female

Node 1
3.114
Mean
0.827
Std. Dev.
180
n
77.9
%
3.114
Predicted

Educational level
Improvement=0.003

Node 2
2.965
Mean
0.912
Std. Dev.
51
n
22.1
%
2.965
Predicted

Employee relationship
Improvement=0.006

No superior educational level

Superior educational level

Staff

Contracted

Node 3
Mean
3.067
Std. Dev.
0.860
n
84
%
36.4
3.067
Predicted

Service time
Improvement=0.001

Node 4
Mean
3.155
Std. Dev.
0.799
n
96
%
41.6
Predicted 3.155

Employee relationship
Improvement=0.003

Node 5
Mean
2.765
Std. Dev.
0.673
n
21
%
9.1
2.765
Predicted

Node 6
Mean
3.104
Std. Dev.
1.036
n
30
%
13.0
3.104
Predicted

Ten or more years

Less than ten years

Staff

Contracted

Node 7
3.122
Mean
0.885
Std. Dev.
38
n
16.5
%
3.122
Predicted

Node 8
3.021
Mean
0.846
Std. Dev.
46
n
19.9
%
3.021
Predicted

Node 9
3.111
Mean
0.787
Std. Dev.
74
n
32.0
%
3.111
Predicted

Service time
Improvement=0.000

Node 10
3.305
Mean
0.842
Std. Dev.
22
n
9.5
%
3.305
Predicted

Ten or more years

Less than ten years

Node 11
3.138
Mean
0.803
Std. Dev.
42
n
18.2
%
3.138
Predicted

Node 12
3.075
Mean
0.776
Std. Dev.
32
n
13.9
%
3.075
Predicted

Figure 4. CART regression tree for normative commitment.

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

17

Table 9. Summary of CART regression tree results for the three components of commitment.
Determinant variables

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Component of
commitment

Personal
characteristics

Normalized
importance (%)

Affective

Type of employment
Service time
Educational level
Gender

100
47.3
26.4
12.1

Continuance

Service time
Educational level
Type of employment
Gender
Job level
Type of employment
Service time
Educational level
Job level
Gender

100
89.5
14.9
12.9
1.4
100
44
32.6
20.4
19.4

Normative

Highest
commitment
nodes

Lowest
commitment
nodes

Male,
Petrobras staff
with no
university
degree
10 or more years
of service at
Petrobras with
no university
degrees
Male,
contracted
employees
with university
degree

Male, Contractor
with university
degree
Female with less
than 10 years of
service at
Petrobras with
university degree.
Female Petrobras
staff

Node 10 represents the highest mean level of normative commitment (3.305)

characterized by male, contracted employees with university education. The lowest
normative commitment (2.765) is found at node 5 representing female Petrobras staff. This
node has the smallest variability in the regression tree.
The CART analysis shows that the personal characteristic having the greatest impact
on normative commitment is type of employment with a normalized importance of 100%,
followed by service time (44%), educational level (32.6%), job level (20.4%) and gender
(19.4%). These results seem similar with the affective commitment, except for the
influence of position that does not appear at affective commitment.
Discussion
The results of the CART analysis show the relative influence of personal characteristics on
commitment at Petrobras (Table 9). The same three characteristics (type of employment,
service time and education level) are the most significant contributors to each components
of commitment.
The relative importance of these three characteristics is almost identical for the
affective and normative components of commitment. Meyer et al. (2002) agreed that the
correlation between the affective commitment and normative is often quite strong. Allen
and Meyer (1990) explained that although the desire to remain with an organization is not
synonymous with the feeling of obligations to do so, there is a tendency for these feelings
to co-occur. Allen and Meyer (1996) also suggested that affective and normative
commitment are clearly distinguishable constructs but may have inherent psychological
overlap.
Type of employment is by far the most significant antecedent variable for both
these components of commitment but their influence is different. Petrobras staff has the
highest level of affective commitment and contractors have the highest level of
normative component. Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) pointed out that the nature of the

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

employer employee relationship has important implications for organizational

commitment.
McInnis et al. (2009) found that affective and normative commitments are typically
highly related. Affective commitment was stronger when the employer employee
relationship was trust-based, negotiated, collective, broad, equal and long-term. This is the
case in relation to Petrobras staff. On the other hand, normative commitment is higher
when an employer provides an individually negotiated, short-term and imposed contract.
In the latter case, the employee feels obligated to the organization, but may not necessarily
feel attached to the organization.
The stronger affective commitment among Petrobras staff can be attributed to the HR
practices in place, such as employment security, selective hiring, self-management teams,
high compensation tied to organizational performance, extensive training and information
sharing. McElroy (2001) and Pfeffer (1998) confirmed that these practices foster affective
commitment.
Lievens and Corte (2008) pointed out that contractors could develop an affective
commitment when they have a shared vision where their goals are cooperatively related. In
such case, contractors do not feel threatened by opportunistic behavior and attach
importance to cultural fit. However, Petrobras contracts can be characterized as
organizationally centered, imposed and short-term. By dictating the terms of the contract
and limiting its duration, Petrobras can ensure that important but clearly defined jobs get
done without creating long-term commitments.
As Petrobras increases its standardization process, it defines and communicates the
negative consequences of not complying with the goals, rules or standards. These practices
lead to normative commitment. Meyer and Maltin (2010) explained that under conditions
where the need for autonomy is not fully satisfied, normative commitment might be
experienced more as indebted obligation (e.g. the need to reciprocate or satisfy the
expectations of others).
McElroy (2001) argued that HR policies aimed at increasing affective commitment
can also spillover into continuance commitment. This is more heavily and
disproportionately felt by senior employees. Meyer et al. (2002) found that organizational
tenure has a higher correlation with continuance commitment than with affective or
normative commitment.
As shown in Table 9, service time is the most importance factor in fostering
continuance commitment in Petrobras. Years spent in an organization are likely to yield
greater side bets, such as pension plans, and develop greater continuance commitment
(Mathieu and Zajac 1990). Meyer and Allen (1984) pointed out that some costs associated
with leaving will increase over time (for example, non-vested pension plan contributions,
seniority privileges, organization-specific training). Others nevertheless may actually
decrease.
Cohen (1993) pointed out that an individual in his or her early career stage attempts to
become established in a job that interests him or her, but if this job proves inappropriate,
she or he does not hesitate to choose another. This pattern seems to be the case at Petrobras
for employees with less than 10 years of services.
However, employees with more than 10 years of services perceived that the benefits are
sufficient for them to continue working in the company with employment security. Cohen
(1993) also found that organizational commitment and tenure relation was strongest for
employees with nine or more years of service. It is affected more by job and organizational
factors.

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19

The survey demonstrated that educational level has a stronger influence on continuance
commitment than on normative or affective commitment. The influence is negative for
continuance and affective commitment. Consistent with our results, Mathieu and Zajac (1990)
explained that education exhibited a small negative correlation with commitment and Meyer
et al. (2002) found a negative correlation between education and continuance commitment.
Employees with university degrees have higher expectations and the company seems
unable to meet it. These employees receive salaries and benefits comparable to those in
other companies and have more mobility. On the other hand, employees without university
degrees receive higher salaries, benefits and training possibilities at Petrobras than their
counterparts in other companies in Brazil.
Gender has no bearing on the level of organization commitment at Petrobras. This may
reflect the pro-gender equity efforts of the company. It is interesting to note that the lack of
a consistent relationship between gender and organizational commitment was noted by
Mathieu and Zajac (1990). Meyer et al. (2002) also demonstrated that gender plays a
relatively minor role in development of organizational commitment.
Finally, the results show that job level (e.g. managerial position) does not significantly
influence affective commitment at Petrobras and has only a weak influence on the
continuance dimension. It seems to have a limited influence on normative commitment.
These results are probably because of the limited scope for managerial actions and
individual initiatives at Petrobras. For example, employees are hired through national
competition and therefore managers cannot choose their own teams based on individual
style or leadership characteristics.
Conclusion
This study contributes to an understanding of the effects of Brazilian structural changes on the
nature of organizational commitment in the oil and gas industry. The traditional career in
Brazil has been characterized by high security and low mobility. The structural change in the
Brazilian oil industry offered less job security but greater mobility opportunities.
Petrobras attempted to adapt to the new environment changing the human resource
model by offering employment challenges as well as job security, extensive training and
career developing programs. This is line with the suggestion by Gong and Chang (2008)
that firms confronting a changing environment need to invest more in practices such as
career planning, job rotations and cross-functional training. These measures increase
employee commitment and retention.
Our results show that organizational commitment at Petrobras reflects the nature of human
resource policy and practices that the company has adopted. The nature of the commitment,
however, depends on personal characteristics of the employees. Type of employment, service
time and education level are shown to have the greatest impact on commitment at Petrobras.
On the other hand, gender and job level seem to have no significant influence.
Three propositions were developed to guide the study. They were built to reflect human
resource policy and practices and used demographic variables to predict employees behavior
in the workplace. Our first proposition stated that affective commitment is positively
influenced by a sense of belonging to the organization and the significance of his/her activity in
relation to the companys goals. This influence is greatest for Petrobras staff and weakest for
contracted employees as would be expected because the human resource management policy
is mainly focused on company employees.
Petrobras attracts a large pool of applicants from which to selectively recruit. Through
this process, selected employees enhanced their self-worth and allegiance to the company.

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M.C.S. Abreu et al.

Large investments in training also lead employees to develop a closer psychological

attachment to Petrobras and its goals. The reputation for valuing and developing
employees in turn provides an incentive to join the company.
The company also links compensation to performance of the organization through a
profit-sharing program. This encourages the employee to exert more effort in support of
Petrobras strategic plan. Tying compensation to organizational performance creates a
climate of equity and fairness within the organization enhancing affective commitment.
The second proposition stated that continuance commitment is influenced by benefits
and rewards received in exchange for his/her contribution to the organization. This
influence is positive for employees with long service and negative for employee with
higher educational levels. The company has devoted a lot of effort on employee training
and as result senior staff has skills and knowledge that are mainly attractive to the
company itself, thus encouraging them to stay.
Newcomers to Petrobras pose a particular problem within the companys staff
development process. Younger employees with higher level of education appear attractive
to other companies and thus such employee is more mobile. Currently, Petrobras focuses
on retaining recently hired and trained staff by providing side bets.
The third propositions stated that normative commitment is related to organizational
clarity about what is expected from an employee and the consequences of his/her performance
and behavior. The study showed that contractors have a high level of normative commitment.
Since 1994, Petrobras has reinforced its management system by strengthening the rule-based
approach and introducing performance indicators. It appears that these measures have been
successful in improving normative commitment of Petrobras contractors.
This study is exploratory and not without limitations. We are dealing with crosssectional data collected from a particular refinery and it may not be possible to generalize
our findings to all Petrobras business units. Another limitation relates to the static nature of
this study which precludes capturing changes in organizational commitment over time.
In spite of this limitation, our study offers managers insights on how to structure HR
policies and programs to create organization commitment among particular types of
employees. Three employee characteristics (i.e. type of employment, service time and
education level) were found to have important implication on the nature of organization
commitment most likely to be successfully created.
These three characteristics can be used as indices on which to base decisions on specific
programs focusing on organizational commitment. For example, contracted employees most
readily adopt a normative commitment but not affective commitment. Efforts to instill
affective commitment among contractors would demand a lot of resources and likely not
succeed. It would be much more cost-effective to establish a rule-based environment. A more
thorough understanding about causes and consequences of organizational commitment will
better enable us to target interventions to achieve desired employees behavior.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the earlier version of the
manuscript and the financial support provided by CNPq (National Counsel of Technological and
Scientific Development).

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