Organizational and Professional Identification

This study examined organizational and professional identification among a group of professional employees-the journalists at one daily metropolitan newspaper. It used two kinds of data to compare identification with these two targets and, further, to examine the relationships between identifications, autonomy, and job satisfaction. Survey results revealed significantly higher identification with the profession of journalism than with the journalists' employing newspaper. Journalists' accounts in individual interviews and the researcher's observation of on-the-job talk provided the context for interpreting the quantitative results. Accounts and observations contributed explanations for the blurred boundaries between the targets found in the survey results. In addition, the qualitative data demonstrated the role of anticipatory and vocational socialization and work group demographics in the identifications of this group.