ORGANIZATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT IN PROFESSIONAL AND NONPROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

This study of lawyers examines the degree to which professionals in ge neral and lawyers in particular are committed to their profession and the organizations that employ them. I examine how the different struct ural arrangements of professional and nonprofessional organizations re late to lawyers' organizational and professional commitment. Results s how that organizational commitment is highly dependent on perceived op portunities for career advancements and the criteria used in the distr ibution of rewards. Few of the structural characteristics are importan t in explaining professional commitment, and lawyers working in nonpro fessional organizations are significantly less committed to the legal profession than those working in professional organizations. The resul ts of this study suggest that future research must look beyond the str uctural characteristics of professionals' work settings if we want to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting profe ssional commitment.