Toward a Further Clarification of Becker's Side-Bet Hypothesis as Applied to Organizational and Occupational Commitment

Measures of organizational and occupational commitment, as operationalized by Ritzer and Trice, and Alutto et al. were obtained from 120 park and forest rangers working in state and federal organizations in Virginia. Findings yield partial support for Becker's original side-bet hypothesis, especially with respect to organizational commitment. Stronger support, however, is found for an alternative social psychological explanation of commitment, offered by Ritzer and Trice. Since neither explanation of organizational or occupational commitment is totally supported by the data, future research should take into account the various fields and levels of those surveyed.