Career Commitment as a Predictor of Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract

Few researchers have examined career commitment in a systematic fashion. The present longitudinal study used Rusbult and Farrell's (1983) commitment scale in two ways: (a) as an independent variable for predicting (after an interval of one week) several behavioral outcomes and (b) as a dependent variable predicted by various demographic measures. Data collected from 73 university students in Israel showed that none of the demographics correlated with career commitment, but the latter predicted several future behaviors including the number of times respondents met with their instructors and hours spent in written work. The limitations of a short time interval as well as some of the unique aspects of the Israeli educational system are discussed.