Professional Commitment and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis of the Chinese Judicial Reforms from the Perspective of the Criminal Defense

Job satisfaction has long been argued as an important indicator of both the quality of an individual’s working life and organizational efficiency. Using the person-environment fit theory as an interpretive framework, this study explores the extent of job satisfaction among Chinese criminal defense lawyers and its key determinants. Contrary to findings in Western studies claiming that overall job satisfaction is more likely to be affected by “job-content” than “job-context” variables, the results of our survey data suggest that in China job satisfaction is primarily driven by “job-context,” not by “job-content,” variables. In addition, professional commitment significantly impacts overall job satisfaction. An in-depth analysis of the context vs. content variables sheds light on both the progress and the limitations of the judicial reforms in China.