Abstract:
This study was undertaken to investigate the attitudes of chartered accountancy (CA) students
toward professional commitment and organizational commitment. The focus of the study was to
discover if a relationship between these two constructs existed and determine which situational and
individual characteristics facilitate or impede commitment. The sample included those CA
students who wrote the 1995 UFE (n=423). Four instruments were used for data collection: Job
Diagnostic Survey, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, Career Commitment
Questionnaire, Career Facilitation Survey, and individual demographic inquiry. The study found a
significant relationship between professional commitment and organizational commitment.
Situational characteristics tended to influence organizational commitment, while individual
characteristics more often governed professional commitment. Specific satisfactions, general
satisfaction, growth satisfaction, and satisfaction with compensation, co-workers, and supervision
were found to facilitate organizational commitment. Organizational commitment was also
influenced by supplemental job characteristics, internal work motivation, career facilitation, and
autonomy. Implications for practice involved the cooperation and collaboration of the governing
body for the CA profession and the CA firms in activities addressing pertinent issues that influence
commitment. Implications for future research were also discussed.
