Value-Semantic Measurement of Commitment: an Empirical Study

 The article considers the value-semantic dimension of commitment using the case of students’ involvement in classroom activities. Commitment is a state that appears if the person and the environment match each other. Commitment has several levels: as a current state, as motivation and values, and as an integral characteristic of human life. Meanings and values are responsible for the relations between the person and the environment, which are expressed as emotions, e.g., life satisfaction, psychological well-being, etc. The research objective was to determine the nature of the relationship between the current state of students' involvement in educational and professional activities and their motives, life orientations, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) was used to diagnose commitment as a current state (W. Schaufeli, A. Bakker). The value-semantic aspects of commitment were measured using the Academic Motivation Scale (T. O. Gordeeva, O. A. Sychev, E. N. Osin), the Test of Life-Purpose Orientations (D. А. Leontiev), the Questionnaire of Life Orientations (E. Yu. Korzhova), the Scale of Psychological Well-Being (C. Ryff, in N. N. Lepeshinsky’s modification), and Life Satisfaction Index (A. O. Neugarten et al., adapted by N. V. Panina). The data were analyzed separately  for secondand third-year students of Amur State University with high,  moderate, and low commitment. The comparative analysis was based on ANOVA. Commitment as a current state appeared to correlate more with academic motivation, life-purpose orientations, and life satisfaction than with life subject-object orientations and psychological well-being. The results obtained can help psychological counselors to organize events aimed at increasing students’ commitment. 

1. Astin A. W. Student involvement: a developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 1999, 40(5): 518–529.

2. Kiuru K. V., Popova E. E. Problem of student involvement in the training process under the conditions of online-education. Problemy sovremennogo pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniia, 2018, (59-3): 380–384. (In Russ.)

3. Maloshonok N. G. Student’s commitment: why is it important to study the learning process, and not just its result? Monitoring universiteta, 2011, (6): 11–21. (In Russ.)

4. Tinto V. Classrooms as communities: exploring the educational character of student persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 1997, 68(6): 599–623.

5. Litvinova E. Y., Kiseleva N. V. Structural model of involvement of students in ongoing education. Sotsial'naia psikhologiia i obshchestvo, 2016, 7(3): 5–17. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2016070301

6. Lekhtsier V. L. Digital lifestyle and academic communication in the classrooms: the problem of involvement. Vestnik Samarskoi gumanitarnoi akademii. Seriia: Filosofiia. Filologiia, 2015, (2): 38–54. (In Russ.)

7. Kiseleva N. V. Involvement of students in continuous education at different stages of learning process. Psychology and Psychotechnics, 2017, (4): 74–81. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.7256/2454-0722.2017.4.24659

8. Maloshonok N. G. Student engagement in learning in Russian universities. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii, 2014, (1): 37–44. (In Russ.)

9. Tokareva A. A., Baronene S. G. University employee engagement study methodology. University Management: Practice and Analysis, 2019, 23(1-2): 11–32. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15826/umpa.2019.01-2.001

10. Cheglakova L. M., Kabalina V. I. Employee engagement: theoretical approaches, empirical results. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N. I. Lobachevskogo. Seriia: Sotsialnye nauki, 2016, (1): 121–128. (In Russ.)

11. Klochko V. E., Galazhinsky E. V., Krasnoryadtseva O. M., Lukyanov O. V. System anthropological psychology: framework of categories. Sibirskiy Psikhologicheskiy Zhurnal, 2015, (56): 9–20. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/56/2

12. Klochko V. E. Self-organization in psychological systems: problems of emergence of the mental space of a person (introduction into the transspective analysis). Tomsk: TGU, 2005, 174. (In Russ.)

13. Lukyanov O. V., Broner V. I., Vasiliev A. V. Categories of the psychology of involvement (authentication). Sibirskiy Psikhologicheskiy Zhurnal, 2020, (75): 39–52. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/75/3

14. Bozhovich L. I. Personality and its formation in childhood. St. Petersburg: Piter, 2009, 400. (In Russ.)

15. Savinova S. Yu. Engagement of students in the educational process: estimation of positive effects. Chelovek i obrazovanie, 2015, (4): 143–147. (In Russ.)

16. Yanitskiy M. S. System of value orientations of personality and social communities: structural and dynamic model and its application in psychological research and psychological practice. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2020, 22(1): 194–206. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2020-22-1-194-206

17. Yanitskiy M. S., Seryy A. V., Braun O. A., Pelekh Yu. V., Maslova O. V., Sokolskaya M. V., Sanzhaeva R. D., Monsonova A. R., Dagbaeva S. B., Neyaskina Yu. Yu., Kadyrov R. V., Kapustina T. V. The value orientations system of Generation Z: social, cultural and demographic determinants. Sibirskiy Psikhologicheskiy Zhurnal, 2019, (72): 46–67. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/17267080/72/3

18. Kustubaeva A. M., Kamzanova A. T. Effect of thinking style on commitment and performance of experimental task. Teoreticheskaya i eksperimental'naya psikhologiya, 2013, 6(2): 6–13. (In Russ.)

19. Smirnov P. S. Employee engagement: types, levels of realization and links with human resource management practice. Organizational Psychology, 2019, 9(1): 81–95. (In Russ.)

20. Lukyanov O. V., Volynets K. V. Initiative and involvement in existential consulting. Analysis of a case. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2015, (400): 277–281. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/400/44

21. Schaufeli W., Bakker A. UWES – Utrecht work engagement scale. Preliminary Manual. Version 1.1, 2004, 60.

22. Gordeeva T. O., Sychev O. A. Osin E. N. "Academic motivation scales" questionnaire. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal, 2014, 35(4): 98–107. (In Russ.)

23. Yanitskiy M. S., Seryy A. V. The basic methodological approaches to the study of the personal value-semantic sphere. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv, 2012, (19-1): 82–97. (In Russ.)

24. Korzhova E. Yu. Spiritual and moral aspects of the study of a person's life path. Vestnik RKhGA, 2010, 11(2): 252–262. (In Russ.)

25. Leontiev D. A. Test the meaning of life orientations. Moscow: Smysl, 2000, 18. (In Russ.)

26. Lepeshinski N. N. Adaptation of C. Ryff ’s questionnaire of Scale of Psychological Well-Being. Psychological journal (Minsk), 2007, (3): 24–37. (In Russ.)

27. Shamionov R. M. On some transformations of personality's subjective well-being structure in different of conditions of professional socialization. Mir psixologii, 2010, (1): 237–249. (In Russ.)

28. Dubrovina I. V. The phenomena of "psychological well-being" in the context of the social situation of development. Vestnik prakticheskoi psikhologii obrazovaniya, 2020, 17(3): 9–21. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17759/bppe.2020170301

29. Grishina N. V. Existential approach to well-being: empirical characteristics. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya, 2016, 9(48). Available at: http://psystudy.ru/index.php/num/2016v9n48/1312-grishina48.html (accessed 13 Jul 2021). (In Russ.)