THE CONSTRUCT-VALIDITY OF INSTITUTIONAL COMMITMENT - A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR-ANALYSIS

The present study examined the underlying structure of the variable In stitutional Commitment by testing for the convergence, or lack thereof , among different indicators of the construct as represented by three theoretical frameworks (Tinto, 1975, 1987; Bean, 1985; Huselid and Day , 1991). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that Institutional Comm itment could be decomposed into two multiple indicators of the same la tent construct: a general factor that groups items related to institut ional quality, practical value of an education, utility of an educatio n, fit between student and institution, and loyalty to the institution and another factor represented by items indicating similarity of valu es (Affinity of Values). Moreover, the study established the predictiv e validity of each subcomponent on different outcomes related to stude nt persistence. While Institutional Commitment was found to have a sig nificant direct effect on both students' intents to persist and actual persistence behavior, Affinity of Values was not as equally predictiv e of measures of student retention.