Organizational commitment, psychometric qualities and invariance of the Meyer and Allen Questionnaire for Portuguese Nurses

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the psychometric qualities of the Portuguese version of the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire for the nursing context, through confirmatory analysis and invariance, aiming to evaluate the reliability, internal consistency, construct validity and external validity of the instrument. METHOD: confirmatory factor analysis of the Portuguese version of the questionnaire was carried out with a sample of 850 nurses, in hospital context. The analysis was complemented using specification search. Goodness of fit was evaluated through different indices. Reliability, internal consistency and construct validity were estimated. The invariance of the model was evaluated in two subsamples of the same sample, in order to confirm the external validity of the factorial solution. RESULTS: the refined model demonstrated good overall fit (χ(2)/df=6.37; CFI=0.91; GFI=0.92; RMSEA=0.08; MECVI=0.62). The factorial structure was stable (λ:Δχ(2)(14)=18.31; p=0;193; Intercepts: Δχ(2)(14)=22.29; p=0.073; Covariance: Δχ(2)(3)=6.01; p=0.111; Residuals: Δχ(2)(15)=22.44; p=0.097). CONCLUSION: the simplified model of the questionnaire demonstrated adequate goodness of fit, representing a stable factorial solution. The instrument was fit to monitor and evaluate the organizational commitment of Portuguese nurses.