Person-organization (P-O) fit, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are all antecedents of turnover intent and actual turnover. The issue of turnover is of particular interest to the field of rehabilitation counseling, especially as national mandates have been issued by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to Technical Assistance and Continuing Education (TACE) Centers to develop ways to recruit and retain qualified rehabilitation counselors.

While the issue of rehabilitation counseling recruitment and retention is field-related, state vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors serve as the population of interest. According to the National Rehabilitation Association (NRA), approximately 1 million individuals with disabilities apply for VR services annually, in which more than 220,000 are successfully rehabilitated. Additionally, present-day sources report a void in filling VR counseling positions with the employment need of VR counselors expected to grow by 22% through the year 2016.

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relationships between P-O fit, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intent among state VR counselors as a way of obtaining information that would be useful in addressing present-day rehabilitation recruitment and retention efforts.

The study sample was obtained from a diverse state VR agency located in the Midwest region of the United States. The sample size for the present investigation was 73 participants with an overall response rate of 32%. The majority of the respondents were female, Caucasian, possessed their Master's degree in rehabilitation counseling, were between the ages of 31-45 years, and earned more than $58,000 a year. Approximately, 20% of participants were licensed, while 30% reported being certified rehabilitation counselors. Roughly 37% of the study participants reported being on the job for 6-10 years, while 31% reported having less than 5 years job tenure. The average caseload size was 122 individuals.

The primary research question was examined using correlation and multiple linear regression. Other data analyses also included independent sample t-tests and ANOVA's to investigate the relationship between the primary variables of interest and demographic variables.

Results of the main regression model suggested that pay (p = .011) and continuance commitment (p = .020) were significant predictors of turnover intent. Model-building techniques were used to yield other significant predictors, in which P-0 fit (p = .017), general job satisfaction (p = .004), pay (p = .004), and continuance commitment (p = .019) resulted in significant results and accounted for approximately 40% of the variance in the criterion variable.

Relationship of findings to the theoretical framework used to guide the present investigation, practical implications of study findings to state VR agencies, and suggestions for future research are provided.