Work–Family Balance and Tenure Reasonableness: Gender Differences in Faculty Assessment

Abstract

Perceptions of work–family balance and of the reasonableness of tenure expectations are key faculty retention factors. Using a national job satisfaction survey with 2438 tenure-track assistant professors, we explore whether faculty assessment of departmental and institutional support for family–work balance and their satisfaction with family-friendly policies influence their perceptions of the reasonableness of tenure expectations. We pay attention to the importance of gender in our models. Results reveal that women are less likely than men to report tenure expectations as scholars are reasonable and that departments and institutions are supportive of family–work balance. Departmental support for family–work balance, caring for an ill family member, satisfaction with family-friendly policies, and workload have the strongest association with reasonableness. Satisfaction with family-friendly policies has a significant relationship with reasonableness of tenure expectations only for faculty with family care responsibilities. Implications for family-friendly policies and practices in academia are discussed.     

CAREER JOBS, SURVIVAL JOBS, AND EMPLOYEE DEVIANCE: A Social Investment Model of Workplace Misconduct

We examine the relationship between career stakes, or the fit between workers' current jobs and their long-term career plans, and employee deviance. Most prior research has focused on the link between job satisfaction and deviance, but career stakes may be a more salient and theoretically relevant measure of workers' investments in their present positions, particularly in young adulthood. We hypothesize that people whose current jobs match their long-term career goals have made a social investment with their employers that inhibits deviant behavior. We analyze data from the Youth Development Study (YDS), a longitudinal community sample of individuals now in their mid-twenties. Our results show that career stakes and job satisfaction exert independent effects on worker misconduct even when prior levels of general deviance and workplace deviance are statistically controlled.     

Demography or respect?: work group demography versus organizational dynamics as determinants of meaning and satisfaction at work*

This article tests two competing models of meaning and satisfaction at work. First, meaning and satisfaction at work can be influenced by the demographic composition of work groups, especially their racial and gender compositions. Second, meaning and satisfaction can be influenced by management behaviour, especially by leadership in maintaining a productive environment and by respect for workers' rights. We evaluate these determinants, along with more traditional determinants that focus on socio-technical characteristics, using a unique data set derived from content analysing the reports provided by book-length organizational ethnographies (N = 108). Work group composition is found to have only a minor and selective influence on meaning at work. In contrast, management leadership and respect for workers' rights are found to have much stronger and more widespread effects. The well established role of socio-technical factors such as job autonomy as foundations for meaning and satisfaction in work is also replicated in the analysis. When contrasted with both work group demography and traditional job and organizational characteristics, a well run organization is found to be the single most important underpinning for a meaningful and satisfying work life. In the concluding section we develop the implication of these findings for organizational analysis.     

Making people feel good: Workers' constructions of meaning in interactive service jobs

This paper analyses the experiences of women who work in residential real estate sales, to identify the factors that lead women to choose and keep this occupation. In-depth interviews provide the data for a case study of the importance of various job traits in determining job satisfaction for a specific category of workers. The more general question concerns workers' constructions of the emotional labor involved in interactive service work. Within a general queueing model, this paper focuses on job queues. Specifically, I examine workers' preferences for jobs and the factors that contribute to positive ranking of the job after workers' initial experiences with it. Findings show that although the women's experiences on the job have disappointed their expectations, most remain satisfied with their work and plan to stay in the field. The reasons for this high level of satisfaction are related to characteristics of the workers—the women's educational and skill levels, and the limited alternatives that they perceive for themselves, and characteristics of the job—its autonomous nature and the emotional labor it entails.     

Types of Workplace Social Support in the Prediction of Job Satisfaction

Research on social support and job satisfaction has yielded mixed results, partly because studies have rarely examined different types of workplace social support, such as collegial support, task support, coaching, and career mentoring. This study identified the relative contributions of different types of social support to job satisfaction and explored the relationship between social support and job tenure. Overall, social support accounted for approximately 17% of the variance in job satisfaction and 9% of the variance in job tenure. Career mentoring and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job satisfaction. Coaching and task support were the types of social support most predictive of job tenure.     

The Impact of the Worker: How Social Capital and Human Capital Influence the Job Tenure of Formerly Undocumented Mexican Immigrants

Using the 1992 Legalized Population Survey, I focus on employment matching processes of formerly undocumented Mexican immigrant workers in the United States. As in earlier studies, I show that employment characteristics are related to the job tenures of immigrant workers. However, my contribution is that I specifically analyze how formerly undocumented Mexican immigrant workers' attributes and social networks influence their job tenures. In general, increases in human capital are associated with shorter job tenure, apparently in an effort to improve employment conditions, while the use of social capital is positively related with job tenure. It appears that acquiring employment is a social process, and those using personal networks find longer lasting jobs. Although prior studies have minimized the role of supply-side characteristics such as employees' skill level and social networks in influencing job tenure, my research confirms the significance of workers and the resources they bring to the labor market.     

Career prospects and tenure–job satisfaction profiles: Evidence from panel data

This paper investigates the relationship between job tenure and job satisfaction and evaluates whether tenure–job satisfaction profiles are contingent on career advancement opportunities. It uses the British Household Panel Survey Dataset (BHPS). Career status is modelled as an endogenous variable, subject to an initial job choice. The paper concludes that the job satisfaction of individuals employed in jobs with career prospects is not only higher compared with those who are not, but also that their returns to tenure in terms of job satisfaction are significantly higher.     

The Comparative Contributions of Congruence and Social Support in Career Outcomes

The authors assessed the relative contributions of social support and interest‐occupation congruence in job satisfaction and tenure. Congruence predicted 13% of the variance in job satisfaction for men, but it was not a significant predictor of job satisfaction for women. Social support accounted for 10% of the variance in job satisfaction for women but was not a significant predictor for men. Neither congruence nor social support predicted tenure. Implications for vocational counseling are discussed.     

Organisational Factors,Job Satisfaction and Intention to Leave Among Newly Qualified Social Workers in England

Satisfaction with different organisational elements and aspects of work contributes markedly to overall levels of job satisfaction and intention to leave. For newly qualified social workers (NQSWs), especially immediately after graduation, self-perceived competence and their confidence in their educational preparation are also important. This article reports on a longitudinal study following 280 social work students into social work employment in England using data collected as students and six months after graduation. We focus on their experiences as NQSWs, thus only including those working in social work jobs, reporting the relative importance of their satisfaction with different work elements, such as supervision and job engagement. These are used to construct a model of NQSWs' overall satisfaction and intentions of leaving their social work jobs. The model incorporates NQSWs' perceptions of how well their degree courses prepared them for their current social work jobs in addition to personal, organisational and specific role characteristics. Using statistical techniques of factor analysis and regression modelling we highlight the complexities of how job satisfaction is constructed and we argue that the data reveal the importance of team support and self-efficacy in relation to whether social workers are thinking about leaving their current social work jobs.     

Working Unusual Hours and Its Relationship to Job Satisfaction: A Study of European Maritime Pilots

Our study focuses on maritime pilotage in seven European countries and analyzes the level of job satisfaction and its predictors. Like most existing studies in the field of job satisfaction, we show that job satisfaction is an outcome of the work of maritime pilots. Stressful working conditions, such as working unsocial hours and irregular working patterns, create strains that together with intervening factors related to work, family, or the work environment ultimately reduce job satisfaction. However, our results indicate that although negative physical and social consequences are important, they are neither the strongest nor the only variables determining job satisfaction. Another effect seems more important in European maritime pilotage: Job satisfaction is instead a predictor of how much pressure and stress pilots can handle. Despite health problems and a reduction in their quality of life due to working unusual hours, most maritime pilots do not regret their choice of profession. Factors to ameliorate the working conditions are also identified. The most important parameters include alterations in working time systems, working conditions which minimize physical strain, fairness regarding payment, flexibility within the compensation system, an intensification of the possibilities for involvement and participation, an extended degree of co-determination, and the distribution of the ownership of the pilot stations.     

JOB VALUES, REWARDS, AND WORK CONDITIONS AS FACTORS IN JOB SATISFACTION AMONG MEN AND WOMEN

Sex differences in job satisfaction are explored utilizing data from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Surveys, 1974–1982. Theoretically, differences in job satisfaction are accounted for by job rewards, job values, work conditions, and individual attributes. This study confirms that women receive significantly fewer job rewards than men, have significantly different job conditions, and possess slightly different work values. However, there is no difference in job satisfaction between women and men. As a consequence, these factors may not affect levels of job satisfaction, or men's and women's job satisfaction may be determined by different determinants. Alternatively, the relative level of these factors compared to one's past or expected levels may be more important than absolute levels. The multiple regression analyses reveal that similar determinants influence women's and men's job satisfaction, but that the determinants operate differently. Age and occupational prestige were significant predictors in both full models. Moreover, for both men and women a sense that one's personal situation is improving is more important than concrete rewards.     

Goal specific social capital and job satisfaction: Effects of different types of networks on instrumental and social aspects of work

This paper addresses the question “To what extent can job satisfaction be explained as the revenue of social capital?” By conceiving someone’s social network as social capital we specify conditions under which social ties do lead to job satisfaction. We inquire into the idea of goal specificity of social capital, which implies that a network with a given structure and content will have different impacts on various aspects of job satisfaction. If the content of the ties and the structure of the network at the job engender material well-being or produce social approval, satisfaction with the corresponding job aspects increases. Data were collected in 1993 using written questionnaires in two Dutch governmental agencies, one with 32 and the other with 44 employees. These workers’ networks were charted using nine name-generating questions.Social capital, it turns out, is not an all-purpose good but one that is goal specific, even within a single domain of life such as work. Three effects stand out: First, the structure of the network and the content of the ties do matter. Networks of strategic, work-related ties promote an employee’s satisfaction with instrumental aspects of the job, like income, security, and career opportunities. Second, closed networks of identity-based solidarity ties improve an employee’s satisfaction with social aspects of the job, like the general social climate at work and cooperation with management and colleagues. Third, a network with a bow–tie structure (i.e., where a focal actor is the link between two or more mutually exclusive cliques) generally has strong negative effects on satisfaction with the social side of the job; although a bow–tie type network of trusting ties does increase satisfaction with the social side. This implies that Krackhardt’s hypothesis on the unpleasant feelings produced by bow–tie type networks has to be specified for the content of the ties that constitute such a network. The most important conclusion of our analysis is that goal specificity of social capital has implications for both structure and content of social networks. Achievement of a particular goal, such as satisfaction at work, requires not only networks of a certain structure or ties with a particular content, but specifically structured networks of ties with a particular content.     

Is Social Innovation Fostering Satisfaction and Well-Being at Work? Insights from Employment in Social Enterprises Providing Long-Term Eldercare Services

Considering insights from socio-economics, work psychology, and occupational health, this study focuses on the job satisfaction and well-being of employees working in nonprofit social enterprises (SE). We question the idea suggested by the recent literature that working for a SE brings employees a high level of job satisfaction and well-being. We also investigate whether being involved in social innovation is associated with even higher job satisfaction and well-being. Indeed, understood as a manifestation of positive social change, social innovation is expected to improve outcomes such as the quality of life at work. However, because social innovation is an umbrella concept, it embraces different innovation-related concepts. Here we explore the distinction between service innovation and workplace innovation. This article applies a multivariate analysis to an original dataset covering 1134 employees working in the field of elder homecare in Wallonia. Its implications for social entrepreneurs and scholars are also examined.     

Work–family conflict and job insecurity: are workers from different generations experiencing true differences?

This paper explores the question whether workers of different generations significantly diverge in their perceptions of work–family conflict and job insecurity and implications of such differences on affective commitment and job satisfaction. Given the explorative nature of this study, we use a multi-method approach which relies on a focus group with Italian graduated students and on a field study with workers from an Italian food processing company respectively grouped in three generational cohorts: Baby Boomers, gen Xers, and Millennials. Overall, our findings demonstrate that workers belonging to different generational cohorts display divergent perceptions of work–family conflict and job insecurity. However, the effects of such perceptions on work attitudes are not directly correlated with the experienced levels of job insecurity and work–family conflict. That is, although Millennials tend to perceive a higher level of job insecurity than Baby Boomers and gen Xers, job insecurity is more likely to produce negative consequences on work attitudes among Baby Boomers and gen Xers rather than among Millennials. Notably, our findings indicate that there are no significant differences with regard to the effects of work–family conflict on affective commitment and job satisfaction among the three generational cohorts considered.     

Individual and environmental factors related to job satisfaction in people with severe mental illness employed in social enterprises

Objective: The purpose of this study was to enhance understanding of the impact of individual and environmental variables on job satisfaction among people with severe mental illness employed in social enterprises.Participants: A total of 248 individuals with severe mental illness employed by social enterprises agreed to take part in the study. Methods: We used logistic regression to analyse job satisfaction. A model with job satisfaction as the dependent variable, and both individual (occupational self-efficacy and severity of symptoms perceived) and environmental (workplace) factors (provision of workplace accommodations, social support from co-workers, organizational constraints) as well as external factors (family support) as predictors, was tested on the entire sample. Results: All findings across the study suggest a significant positive impact of both individual and environmental factors on job satisfaction. People with higher occupational self-efficacy who were provided with workplace accommodations and received greater social support were more likely to experience greater job satisfaction.Conclusions: These results suggest that certain features of social enterprises, such as workplace accommodations, are important in promoting job satisfaction in people with severe mental illness. Further studies are warranted to expand knowledge of the workplace features that support employees with severe mental illness in their work integration process.     

Job burnout and affective wellbeing: A longitudinal study of burnout and job satisfaction among public child welfare workers

Workplace experiences that threaten the affective well-being of child welfare workers pose a hazard to child protection organizations as a whole. This study tests a series of proposed interrelationships of workplace demands and resources as predictors of burnout development and the subsequent impact of burnout on affective worker well-being (e.g. job satisfaction) using longitudinal data collected from a sample of public child welfare workers. This study uses multi-group path models to test hypotheses about the temporal order of the relationships between work demands and resources, burnout, and job satisfaction. The hypothesized models were tested individually by social support in the workplace and specialized child welfare training. The overall theory-driven conceptual model tested performed as was hypothesized with some noteworthy exceptions. Findings from the multi-group path models suggest that the type and level of job resource moderate the relationship between job demands, burnout and job satisfaction. Job demands had diverging effects on several relationships in the model with the exception of two relationships. The relationships between emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction were consistent across all groups and models. This finding suggests that regardless of social support and specialized training, emotional exhaustion is positively related to depersonalization and negatively related to job satisfaction. All models demonstrated good model fit. This article describes the implications of study findings on future research and workforce management practices in child welfare organizations.     

The status of race in public sector work: Implications for emotion management and job satisfaction

ABSTRACT

African Americans consistently report lower levels of job satisfaction relative to whites. Using survey data from 1,456 public service employees, we examine whether racial disparities in job satisfaction are related to how African Americans and whites manage their emotions while at work. We contend that race acts as a master status within the workplace that locates African Americans in a subordinate social position to whites and may contribute to greater emotion management effort and greater work-related consequences. The results indicate that, together with traditional indicators of job satisfaction, extensive emotion management efforts of African Americans explain their lower levels of job satisfaction relative to whites.     

Study on Work and the Workplace: Implications of the Psychological Aspects for Health Education and an Occupational Health and Safety Program on a University Campus

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine social and psychological factors accounting for satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work and to relate levels of job satisfaction to physical and psychological well-being. Eight hundred eighty-seven male and female employees at all job levels at a large mid-Atlantic university completed the questionnaire, responding to questions on job satisfaction, health characteristics (chronic conditions and physical symptoms) and psychological well-being. Job satisfaction was a function of those variables associated with occupational status, particularly the intrinsic dimension of challenge. Overall satisfaction was highest among the occupational group with highest status — faculty/administration — and lowest among the secretarial/clerical group. Health status appeared also to be related to occupational group; secretarial/clerical, the group with the lowest job satisfaction, also reported significantly more physical symptoms than faculty/administration. Faculty/administration reported highest levels of overall psychological well-being, significantly higher than associate staff and secretarial/clerical. A major implication to be drawn from these data is that the relationship between job satisfaction and physical and psychological well-being indicates the need for modification of certain job characteristics to minimize or eliminate unnecessary stressors. Health professionals from different disciplines all play a role in promoting a healthful and safe work environment.     

Gender differences in the roles and functions of inpatient psychiatric nurses

This study explored the difference between male and female psychiatric nurses' job performance and job satisfaction levels on an acute care inpatient unit. The amount of time male (n = 28) and female (n = 45) nurses spent on 10 specific functions and roles during a shift were observed and recorded. The nurses also self-rated the amount of time they spent on these specific functions and roles. The observed and self-rated functions were then correlated with job satisfaction. Female nurses were observed and self-rated as spending significantly more time on patient care activities, and these activities were significantly correlated with higher job satisfaction levels. Male nurses who self-rated spending more time on patient care activities had significantly lower job satisfaction scores. Findings confirm the concepts from social role theory that gender identity and expectations influence job performance in psychiatric nursing. The results offer insight for increasing job satisfaction and recruitment/retention efforts.     

Attitudes,Perceptions and Concerns of Student Social Workers: First Two Years of a Longitudinal Study

A longitudinal study was initiated by the authors in September 2001 to monitor the changing attitudes, perceptions, concerns and experiences of 32 social work students during their two‐year MSW training at University College Dublin, subsequently following the students into their first three years of practice. This paper reports on the findings from the first two years of the study, exploring how much the attitudes of the respondents changed towards different areas of social work practice while they were full‐time students. Both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected by means of mixed method questionnaires, taken at four points over a two‐year period, and a focus group. Issues examined included the students' changing perceptions of stress, job satisfaction and levels of expertise in different areas of social work practice. The study also monitored their willingness to work in specific areas of social work after graduation. Statistical analysis revealed that students consistently rated social work in the areas of child protection and welfare as requiring high levels of expertise, but they associated the area with higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of job satisfaction. These attitudes remain relatively stable throughout their two‐year professional training. However, the study revealed greater changes in the students' willingness to work in different areas. For example, specialist family services such as fostering and child/adolescent became more popular choices for future work settings. This change was noted to have occurred between the start and end of the course. Also noteworthy was that general medical, probation and welfare showed the most negative change.