Qualidade de vida no trabalho, entrincheiramento organizacional e comprometimento no serviço público: estudos transversais e longitudinais

Abstract

The quality of life at work has been an interesting strategy within the field of people management, including in the Brazilian public service, although still in an incipient way. Likewise, organizational bonds are an important determinant of results in organizations. Therefore, understanding the relationship between these three constructs also implies understanding their antecedents and factors that generate them. Research indicates that the quality of work life has a positive influence on organizational commitment, but there are no aspects clarifying this influence on entrenchment. In addition, an even more significant gap is constituted by the small number of longitudinal studies dealing with organizational commitment and the absence of this type of study regarding the other constructs in isolation or from the possible relationships between the three. There are many reasons why people bond organizations. Therefore, investment in studies and practices that favor organizations to have and maintain a committed workforce with good productivity is necessary. And, one way to help with this is by identifying how management practices that are perceived positively, through the quality of life at work, can influence the bond and what the nature or type of bond is. In order to better understand the dynamics of the relationship between quality of work life, organizational entrenchment and organizational commitment, the objective of this research was determined to investigate, in a longitudinal perspective, the influence of quality of work life on organizational commitment and organizational entrenchment, specifically in the context of the federal public service. The public service was delimited due to studies that indicate incipience regarding the applicability of constructs such as those studied in practical reality, largely due to the importation of management models built in the private area. In addition to a longitudinal approach, this study opted for a person-centered approach, avoiding the usual in the field, where the vast majority of research invests in variable-centered analysis. Thus, the focus on the movement of the formed subgroups brought new perspectives of analysis, expanding the contributions of this study. In view of these gaps, the present thesis carried out quantitative research with a longitudinal approach with teaching and technical-administrative employees of public federal educational institutions in northeastern Brazil. Three data collections were carried out with an interval of six months between each one, through an online questionnaire, containing assessment scales of the constructs validated in the national territory and sociodemographic data. Multiple statistical techniques were used and the results were presented through three articles. The first, a cross-sectional article, sought to describe the levels of each bond and the quality of work life among civil servants, and to analyze the influence of the quality of work life on the bonds. The results indicated committed and poorly entrenched servers with good levels of quality of life at work. A positive influence of quality of work life on commitment was found, but it can influence either bond, suggesting the importance of other aspects as mediators of this relationship. The second article carried out an analysis of entrenchment over time and its result indicated that entrenchment is a stable link. The third and final article responds to the main objective of the research and the results identified a positive influence of quality of life at work on commitment over time and that the greater the perception of development and use of skills at work, the lower the entrenchment. Overall, the longitudinal results regarding the influence of quality of work life on commitment reinforce cross-sectional studies and confirm the arguments of researchers that investing in quality of work life can be a good investment to promote organizational commitment. Regarding to entrenchment, the influence proved to be more variable and less direct over time, with external and internal factors intervening in this relationship of influence.