Organizational commitment is characterized by a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization's goal and values ; a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization ; a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization. The purpose of this study was to identify the variables which influence the organizational commitment and to test the relationship between the clinical nurses' organizational commitment and turnover intention. The subjects were 412 nurses who were working on general wards at three General Hospitals in Chounbuk. The data were collected by self-reporting questionnaire from Sept. 20 to Sept. 31, 1995. The instruments used in this study were Likert-type scale which were Organizational Commitment Scale by Mowday et al, and Turnover Intention Scale by Mobley et al. The questionnaire of organizational characteristics was made through reviewing literature. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression with $SPSS-PC^+$ program. Major findings are as follows : 1. Mean scores for organizational commitment were 3.008 and turnover intention 3.167 on a 5 point scale. 2. Age and clinical experience were positively related to organizational commitment(r=.4806, p=.000; r=.4792, p=.000). 3. In the personal variables, hospital type(F=21.374, p=.000), education level(F=5.481, p=.001), position(F=30.867, P=.000), and marital status(t=-5.63, p=.000) of the nurses showed significant differences in organizational commitment. 4. The variables to the organizational characteristic were statistically significant in organizational commitment : formalization(r=.3458, p=.000), human-centered organizational characteristic(r=.4302, p=.000), performance- centered organizational characteristic(r=-.1502, p=.000), payment(r=.2234, p=.000), promotion(r=.2710, p=.000), benefit & service(r=.2325, p=.000), and resource inadequacy(r=-.2172, p=.000). 5. For the purpose of identifying the predicting variables in organizational commitment, stepwise multiple regression is conducted. The results show that age, human-centered organizational characteristic, formalization, hospital type, resource inadequacy, promotion, and benefit & service were significant variables and explained 46% of the variance. 6. Organizational commitment was significantly negatively correlated with turnover intention(r=-.6442, p=.000). As a result of stepwise multiple regression analysis, organizational commitment is the most powerful variable predicting turnover intention and explained 41.5% of the variance. In conclusion, this study shows that the higher the organizational commitment level, the lower the turnover intention. Therefore, for effective turnover management, it is important to improve the organizational commitment among clinical nurses. In order to enhance the organizational commitment by the clinical nurses, it will be useful to consider significant organizational characteristics variables identified in this study.