Value of engagement: Factors influencing how students perceive their community contribution to public relations internships

The purpose of this 3-year study is to assess how using what students (n = 203) learn in the classroom during internships influences their attitudes toward certain civic engagement issues. Results demonstrate that having more opportunities to use what they learn while on the job significantly predicts who the students believe benefit most (themselves, supervisor, the organization, the community, target public/s), how valued they believe their contributions are to their employers as well as to them personally, and career choices. Recommendations for public relations educators are suggested.     

Evaluation of job satisfaction in a sample of Spanish social workers through the ‘Job Satisfaction Survey’ scale

The objective of this study is to determine the level of job satisfaction experienced by social workers and to establish whether there are significant differences between the various levels of job satisfaction and a series of personal features and job characteristics. The participants were 947 social workers (861 women and 86 men) belonging to 35 of the 36 Professional Associations existing in Spain. The measurement tool used is the Job Satisfaction Survey scale, designed by Spector [2002. Psicología Industrial y Organizacional: Investigación y Práctica [Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice]. México: Manual Moderno]. The results show that the social workers surveyed experience moderate levels of job satisfaction (M?=?115.8; SD?=?21.4). The intrinsic factor that seems to have the greatest positive influence on job satisfaction is the nature of the job, while the extrinsic factors of pay, fringe benefits, and operating conditions are the ones that contribute most to job dissatisfaction, and social workers have no control over any of them.     

Job Satisfaction,Leisure Satisfaction,and Psychological Health

Job satisfaction, leisure satisfaction, and psychological health were measured for 189 adult men who were employed full time. Job satisfaction and leisure satisfaction were found to be significant positive predictors of psychological health. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that job satisfaction was the better predictor of psychological health, but leisure satisfaction added significantly to the prediction. Although job satisfaction was significantly higher for white-collar (professional) workers than for blue-collar workers, the prediction of psychological health by the independent variables was not affected by occupational status. Theoretical and counseling implications are discussed.     

The relationship between problematic internet use and interpersonal cognitive distortions and life satisfaction in university students

Objective

The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between problematic internet use by college students and interpersonal cognitive distortions and life satisfaction.

Methods

A total of 418 students, 260 females and 158 males, studying in different departments of the Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University, participated. The Online Cognition Scale, Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale and Personal Information Form were used as instruments.

Results

A significant positive correlation was determined between problematic internet use and interpersonal cognitive distortions (r = .33, p < .01), and a negative one with life satisfaction (r = − .21, p < .01). Interpersonal cognitive distortions, life satisfaction and gender account for 21% of total variance (F₍₃₄₁₃₎ = 37.30, p < .05). Findings revealed that males exhibit more problematic internet use than females, which subjects with a pessimistic perception of events have a higher level of problematic internet use than those with an optimistic perception and that subjects who always feel lonely exhibit greater problematic internet use than those who never or only sometimes experience feelings of loneliness.

Conclusions

Interpersonal cognitive distortions, life satisfaction and gender were significant predictors of problematic internet use. Problematic internet use exhibits significant variations according to gender, perception of events and feelings of loneliness.     

Field Instructors' Commitment to Student Supervision: Testing the Investment Model

The aim of the study was to examine field instructors' commitment to student supervision, using an adapted form of the Investment Model, which consists of six components related to supervision: rewards (positive aspects of the job), costs (negative aspects of the job), degree of investment in the job, quality of alternative jobs, satisfaction of the job, and commitment to the job. A non‐purposive sample of 178 field instructors of bachelor‐level social work students completed mailed questionnaires. The findings show that the greater the rewards, the greater the field instructors' commitment, investment, and satisfaction. On the other hand, higher job cost was inversely related to commitment, satisfaction, and investment. Job satisfaction mediated between rewards, cost, investment and job commitment. The article helps to illuminate some of the factors associated with field instructors' commitment to undergraduate student supervision and suggests ways of increasing it.     

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.     

Internal Marketing,Negative Experiences,and Volunteers'Commitment to Providing High-Quality Services in a UK Helping and Caring Charitable Organization

Abstact This empirical study examined the effects of “negative' contact experiences with beneficiaries on charity volunteers' job satisfaction and organizational commitment within a helping and caring charitable organization that for 3.5 years had operated an internal marketing program. It was hypothesized that negative experiences downwardly moderated (i) the impact of the charity's internal market activities on satisfaction and commitment, and (ii) the influences of certain job attributes (autonomy, teamworking, and supervisory support) on these variables. Three personal characteristics (affect intensity, vulnerability to stress, and a person's reasons for having become a volunteer) were also posited to moderate the effects of negative experiences on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Linkages between the last two variables and a volunteer's desire to provide high-quality client services were explored. The results indicated strong connections between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and a volunteer's personal commitment to providing high-quality services. Levels of organizational commitment were influenced positively and significantly by the charity's internal marketing activities and negatively by the number of unpleasant client-contact experiences that a volunteer had to endure.     

Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction

The aim of this paper is to analyze the levels and determinants of job satisfaction in a cross-national setting. This aim is accomplished using the latest Work Orientations data set from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The survey was conducted in 1997 and, in this paper, data for 21 countries are used. The main results are: (i) workers in all countries are quite satisfied; this result also applies to the five Eastern European countries analyzed here. (ii) Denmark is the country with the highest job-satisfaction level. The United States is ranked seventh, Great Britain fifteenth, Japan nineteenth, and Russia twentieth. (iii) A comparison with the 1989 ISSP data set reveals that job satisfaction has declined in Germany and the United States in the 1990s. (iv) Using a bottom-up psychological model, in which we compare work-role inputs (e.g., effort) with work-role outputs (e.g., pay), we try to explain cross-national differences. Countries with high work-role outputs, in general, have a high job-satisfaction ranking, and vice versa. (v) Having an interesting job and having good relations with management are the two most important work-role outputs, and having an exhausting job is the most important work-role input. (vi) Workers in Eastern European countries tend to value high income.     

Reactions to Job Content Plateaus: Examining Role Ambiguity and Hierarchical Plateaus as Moderators

Plateauing research often reveals a negative relationship between job content plateauing (i.e., lacking challenge in one's job) and work attitudes. This study explores situations where job content plateauing is associated with fewer negative work attitudes, revealing role ambiguity (i.e., being unclear about job duties and responsibilities) and hierarchical plateauing (i.e., low likelihood of promotions) as moderators of the job content plateau‐work attitude relationship. Specifically, job content plateaued employees reported greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment if they were not also experiencing a hierarchical plateau. Job content plateaued employees also reported greater job satisfaction when role ambiguity was low.     

Factors impacting intention to leave in social workers and child care workers employed at voluntary agencies

Introduction

To ameliorate high turnover in child welfare, researchers have attempted to identify factors that lead to undesirable turnover. While this has been studied extensively, little attention has been paid to turnover based upon job roles. Like social workers in child welfare, the field of child care also experiences high turnover. Child care workers employed in child welfare settings are no exception. The current study seeks to understand differential factors that impact intent to leave for preventive and child care workers employed in child welfare agencies.

Materials and methods

Data for prevention workers (n = 538) were obtained from all preventive service programs under contract with the City. Data for child care workers (n = 222) were obtained from three voluntary agencies located elsewhere in the State. The instrument was a modified version of a survey developed to examine job satisfaction and potential turnover among public child welfare workers. Domains measured included job satisfaction, intention to leave, career commitment, and agency investment. Data were analyzed using bivariate analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

Results

Child care workers had more positive perceptions of child welfare and planned to stay in child welfare longer. Despite this, prevention workers felt more invested in their work. Child care and prevention workers had different levels of satisfaction with their jobs although overall job satisfaction did not differ nor did their intention to leave. Tenure at the agency was predictive of career investment. Investment, perceptions of child welfare, satisfaction with nature of work, and contingent rewards were associated with career commitment. Commitment and satisfaction with supervision were the greatest predictors of intention to leave.

Discussion

There is a gap in literature addressing child care workers in child welfare, and future study of this group is needed. Child care workers are just as likely to intend to leave their jobs as prevention workers. For both groups, it appears that investment in their jobs increases commitment to the field which reduces intention to leave.     

Intention to leave in social workers and educators employed in voluntary child welfare agencies

Introduction

Individuals employed in child welfare settings can have a profound impact on children in care. Research shows that direct care staff can have an effect on emotional and physical outcomes for children with whom they work. This paper seeks to expand knowledge of the child welfare workforce by studying educators employed in child welfare settings and comparing their job satisfaction and intent to leave with that of prevention workers employed in similar settings.

Materials and methods

Data for prevention workers (n = 538) were obtained from workers employed at all preventive service programs under contract with a large municipality. Data for educators were obtained from voluntary agencies located elsewhere in the state (n = 139). The instrument was a modified version of a survey developed to examine job satisfaction and potential turnover among public child welfare workers. Domains measured included various aspects of job satisfaction, intention to leave, and whether workers regretted taking their jobs. Data were analyzed using bivariate analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM).

Results

While both educators and prevention workers varied on different domains of job satisfaction, their overall satisfaction did not differ nor did their intention to leave their jobs. Satisfaction with contingent rewards, the nature of the work and opportunities for promotion along with not regretting taking one's job were predictive of thinking about leaving one's job. Thinking about leaving was predictive of taking concrete steps towards actual leaving.

Discussion

While people both prevention workers and educators report different levels of job satisfaction and work conditions in their agencies, job title itself has less to do with a worker's intention to leave, as measured by both thinking about leaving and taking steps towards actively looking for a new job, than other factors. Larger contextual factors may be at play in workers' decisions to stay employed. Suggestions are made for reducing turnover intentions along with suggestions for further study to clarify the role of organizational factors in workers' intention to leave.     

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.     

Atheistic, agnostic, and religious older adults on well-being and coping behaviors

Previous research reports relationships between religion and both well-being and positive coping, especially among the older adult age group. However, researchers have failed to consider the non-religious when comparing groups categorized by religious belief, ignoring possible differences between those with a belief and the non-religious, atheists, and agnostics. To explore possible differences, we gathered data from a sample of 134 religious and non-religious older adults (55 years old plus) who completed an online questionnaire assessing relationships between religiosity and well-being, social support, locus of control, and meaning in life. Belief groups, including atheists, agnostics, and those high and low on religious beliefs, were compared on coping behaviors. The religious groups did not significantly differ from atheists and agnostics on well-being, satisfaction with social support, or locus of control; however, the high religiosity group did endorse higher levels of presence of meaning in life than the atheists and a greater number of social supports compared to the non-religious groups. The groups significantly differed on their use of religious coping (p < .05), and differences approached significance on the groups utilization of humor and substances as coping mechanisms (p = .07). The religious groups endorsed religious-oriented coping at significantly greater rates, whereas the atheists endorsed a greater use of substances to cope than the other three groups. Additionally, atheists endorsed humor for coping more so than their low religiosity counterparts.     

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.     

Social supports preferred by the teachers when facing school violence

Objectives

This study aims at examining whether the social support sources of teachers differ depending on the variables of gender and seniority when they encounter violence at school and investigating their opinions on precautions against school violence.

Methods

Data was collected via a questionnaire from a sample of 179 female and 166 male Turkish teachers. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for data analysis.Results: Male and female teachers preferred to share the experience of exposure to verbal (χ² (5) = 22.81, p < .01), physical (χ² (5) = 36.64, p < .01), emotional (χ² (5) = 26.13, p < .01) and sexual violence (χ² (5) = 37.43, p < .01) at school with different social support sources. Male teachers preferred their colleagues as social support sources whereas female teachers preferred their spouses/families. Social support sources which teachers prefer when they face any type of violence other than sexual violence differ due to the length of teaching experience. School administrators and counselors are not among the social support sources of teachers when they were exposed to violence.

Conclusions

Turkish teachers' preferences related to their victimization experiences indicate a need for prevention program encompassing teachers, school counselors and administrators.     

Disordered Gambling among Chinese Casino Employees

A previous study suggests that casino employees are at higher risk for disordered gambling than non-casino employees. The present study examined the cognitive correlates of the gambling involvement of Chinese casino employees. These potential cognitive correlates included attitudes toward the gaming industry and gambling activities, perceived job meaningfulness, and job stress. One hundred and nineteen Chinese respondents (M = 57; F = 62) working as dealers in Macao casinos were recruited through convenience sampling to fill out a questionnaire. The results revealed that about 7% of the respondents scored 10 or more on the South Oaks Gambling Screen and engaged in disordered gambling. Path analysis showed that attitude toward the gaming industry had a positive impact on job meaningfulness, which largely explained variances of job stress among casino employees. Job stress had a significant, but weak, direct impact on disordered gambling. Though causality between variables cannot be confirmed, this study provided insights into the impacts of cognitive factors on gambling involvement among Chinese front-line employees in the gaming industry. Implications of the findings were also discussed.     

Organizational tenure among child welfare workers,burnout, stress,and intent to leave: Does employment-based social capital make a difference?

Research has shown that child welfare organizations have a prominent role in safeguarding their workers from experiencing high levels of job stress and burnout, which can ultimately lead to increased thoughts of leaving. However, it is not clear whether these relationships are shaped by their length of organizational tenure. A cross-sectional research design that included a statewide purposive sample of 209 child welfare workers was used to test a theoretical model of employment-based social capital to examine how paths to job stress, burnout, and intent to leave differ between workers who have worked in a child welfare organization for less than 3 years compared to those with 3 years or more of employment in one organization. Path analysis results indicate that when a mixture of dimensions of employment-based social capital are present, they act as significant direct protective factors in decreasing job stress and indirectly shape burnout and intent to leave differently based on organizational tenure. Thus, organizations may have to institute unique intervention efforts for both sets of workers that provide immediate and long-term structures of support, resources, and organizational practices given that their group-specific needs may change over time.     

The effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender: An analysis for Switzerland

This paper analyzes the effect of job satisfaction on labor turnover by gender using data from the first two waves of the Swiss Household Panel (1999 and 2000). The results confirm that job satisfaction is a very good predictor of future quits and, more important, reveal that job satisfaction does not influence the inclination to become non-employed; that is, neither men nor women self-select out of the labor force due to dissatisfaction. This result clearly refutes the claim that the gender/job satisfaction paradox (i.e., the fact that women tend to be more satisfied at work than men) is being driven by self-selection. This paper also shows that, based on job satisfaction information and quitting behavior, there is no apparent difference in firm attachment between men and women.     

Communicating during crisis: Use of blogs as a relationship management tool

Using a post-test only experimental design with control group, this study investigated the impact of blogs on relationship management during a crisis. Participants (N = 109) were exposed to a personal blog (n = 45), organizational blog (n = 46), or control (n = 18). Results indicate blogs impact the perception of the level of crisis an organization experiences. Additionally, relationships created through blogs impact the perception of crisis. Use and credibility were also investigated.     

Job insecurity and well-being: A longitudinal study among male and female employees in finland

Job insecurity has grown dramatically in Finland, as elsewhere. This study examined the relationships between a specific job stressor, i.e. job insecurity, and occupational, overall and family well-being, by utilizing one-year follow-up data collected among male and female employees in Finland. Occupational well-being was assessed via job exhaustion, overall well-being via somatic symptoms, and family well-being via work spillover into parenthood. The study was carried out by means of questionnaires, which were completed twice, in 1995 and in 1996 by employees in four organizations. This article is based on the data of those respondents (n = 219)j who participated in the study in both years. The results indicated gender differences in the predictive relationships between the job insecurity and well-being indicators. For the women job insecurity perceived in 1995 increased job exhaustion and negative work spillover into parenthood in the subsequent year. For the men, in turn, job insecurity did not have negative effects on well-being over a one-year period. Hence, job insecurity seemed to operate as a long-lasting job stressor for the women only. Job insecurity and well-being were both relatively stable among the sexes during the follow-up period. Implications for supporting work and family in the context of increased job insecurity and other changes in working life in Finland and other industrialized countries are discussed.