An empirical examination of the construct validity of goal commitment in the persistence process

This study represents the first published investigation into the construct validity of goal commitment as it affects the persistence process. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that goal commitment could be decomposed into multiple indicators of the same latent construct: a special factor called goal commitment that groups items related to goal importance, specificity of goals, and situational influence; a second factor represented by items indicating certainty of purpose; and a third factor consisting of items related to goals in general. The predictive validity of each subcomponent on different outcomes related to student persistence was established. While goal commitment was found to have a significant direct effect on both students' intents to persist and actual persistence behavior, neither of the other two factors were as equally predictive as measures of student retention.