BLACK-WHITE DIFFERENCES IN WORK ENVIRONMENT PERCEPTIONS AND JOB SATISFACTION AND ITS CORRELATES

Numerous studies have reported racial differences in intelligence, abilities, motivation, job satisfaction, and so forth. Relatively few of these studies, however, limited their comparisons to blacks and whites experiencing similar work conditions. The present effort compared black ( n = 166) and white ( n = 1,451) sailors assigned to the same shipboard divisions in order to investigate possible differences in perceived work conditions, satisfaction, need strength, and relationships among these variables. Also explored were two hypothesized sources of race-related satisfaction differences–differences in perceived work conditions and differences in need strength. The results tended to support the need strength hypothesis although satisfaction differences were fewer than expected.     

Looking for Work After Forty: Job Search Experiences of Older Unemployed Managers and Professionals

This article describes the job search experiences of 348 previously unemployed managers and professionals over age 40. Recommendations are drawn from their experiences.     

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE AND A VIE MODEL FOR WORK MOTIVATION1

The present study examined relationships between psychological climate and components of a valence-instrumentality-expectancy model. Data were obtained from 504 managerial employees of a large health care company. A principal component analysis of responses to 35 composites representing perceptions of the job, leadership, workgroup, and organization yielded six psychological climate components. Similar analyses were conducted separately for 20 valence items and 20 instrumentality items. Considerable similarity was found among the instrumentality and valence components, with one component in each area representing intrinsic outcomes, one component representing organizationally-mediated extrinsic outcomes, one representing negative or neutral outcomes, and one representing leader and workgroup-mediated extrinsic outcomes. Relationships among psychological climate and valence-instrumentality-expectancy components were significant and supported several hypotheses proposed in the literature.     

PERCEIVED JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND JOB SATISFACTION: AN EXAMINATION OF RECIPROCAL CAUSATION

The following four assumptions were tested (a) satisfaction with job/task events and perceptions of job challenge, autonomy, and importance are direct, reciprocal causes of each other; (b) job perceptions are also caused directly by situation attributes, although perceptual distortions resulting for individual dispositions must also be considered; (c) job satisfaction is also cognitively consistent with (i.e., caused by) individual dispositions, although these individual dispositions are generally different from those associated with job perceptions; and (d) individuals reply on job perceptions, and not situational attributes, for information in formulating job satisfaction attitudes. The assumptions are tested on a sample of nonsupervisory subjects ( n = 642) from divergent work environments (e.g., production-lines and a computer software department). A nonrecursive, structural equation analysis, combined with tests of logical consistency, supported the assumptions above. The results were employed to recommend changes in current perspectives regarding perceptual/affective dichotomies and unidirectional causal models and moderator models that link job perceptions to job satisfaction.     

Personal relationships in late modernity

This article is concerned with the significance of personal relationships in contemporary social life, principally drawing on recent British research. After reviewing traditional sociological theories concerning the impact of economic transformations on family and community ties, the author examines the character of couple and family commitment in the context of the radical demographic changes that have been occurring, particularly in patterns of family formation and dissolution. Relating these changes to theories of “late modernity,” the author assesses their implications for the relevance of personal relationships in general, and friendship in particular, in contemporary social formations. The author's argument is that far from becoming socially marginal as dominant theories generally imply, personal relationships are likely to become increasingly significant as social life becomes more fragmented and less predictable.     

IS THERE A METHOD TO OUR MADNESS? THE IMPACT OF DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY ON ORGANIZATIONAL SURVEY RESULTS

Results from 3 organizational survey efforts were used to explore the impact of data collection method on 5 outcomes: response preference, item completion rate, use of don't know responses, item mean and variability. The first study compared 977 online with 711 opscan responses in a U.S. government agency. The second study compared a Time 2 administration of 893 online with 732 opscan responses. The third study examined 4,654 automated phone (IVR) with 3,587 paper responses in a global pharmaceuticals firm. Although method utilization varied considerably by country, the more technological approaches were preferred in the U.S., and younger employees were significantly more likely to respond online. Overall, survey method accounted for a relatively small percentage of unique variance in the data (0% to 4%). Practitioners may be better off choosing an administration method based on factors such as cultural fit and ease of implementation rather than issues of data quality.