Interrole conflict among married women: The influence of husband and wife characteristics on conflict and coping behavior

The present research investigated the conflict that women experience between their home and nonhome roles. All of the women in the sample (N = 115) were married and living with their husbands, had at least one child living at home, and were college students. It was found that women who placed a similar level of importance on work as their husbands experienced less intense conflict than women who differed from their husbands in career orientation. In addition, the number of children at home was positively related to a woman's conflict when her husband was highly work oriented. A woman's use of reactive coping strategies was negatively related to her life satisfaction when her husband was dissatisfied with his own life.     

Vocational interest and personality differences between development and research personnel: A field study

Employees classified into development and research groups were contrasted for differences in vocational interest and personality inventory responses. Discriminant and classification analyses indicated that these two groups could be distinguished. Development personnel exhibited greater interests in supervisory-related areas, but researchers showed a tendency toward high specialization and academic interests. With respect to personality characteristics, development personnel described themselves as more dominant, defensive, and achieving, yet less critical than research personnel.     

Managerial career stage and facets of job satisfaction

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between a three-stage model of careers (establishment, advancement, and maintenance) and facets of managers' job satisfaction. Four hundred eighty-three managers responded to a questionnaire regarding the length of time they had been in their occupation and their satisfaction with various aspects of work. The results indicated that career stage moderated managers' satisfaction with all facets of work. Specifically, managers in the establishment stage were significantly more satisfied than those in the advancement and maintenance stages with five of the six facets studied. Further analyses indicated that the first year in the occupation accounted for the differences in satisfaction obtained in the three-stage model. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for the study of managerial careers and the need for consistency in the operational definition of career stages.     

Organization tenure as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship

Organization tenure as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship was examined with data from a sample of 116 technical employees in a medium-sized industrial firm. Results provide support for a moderating influence of organization tenure on the relationship between job performance and overall satisfaction, satisfaction with work, and satisfaction with supervision.     

Organizational communication,performance, and job satisfaction as a function of ethnicity and sex

Regression analysis was used to examine simultaneously the effects of supervisors' and subordinates' ethnicity and sex on organizational communication, supervisory-rated performance, and job satisfaction. The study indicates that female subordinates differentially perceive organizational communication. It also identifies interactions between the sex of the supervisor and subordinate on communication and between the ethnicity of the superior and subordinate on supervisory-rated performance. There were limited impacts of sex and ethnicity on job satisfaction.     

A serendipitous field experiment in job design

A longitudinal study over a 5-month period of changes in several jobs was conducted among 244 employees of a federal agency. Seventy-one employees at a single location constituted an experimental group in which the changes were made. An additional 173 employees at scattered field locations formed a comparison group. Data were obtained on perceptions of job content and a number of job attitudes. The data indicated a temporary positive influence of the changes in one set of jobs. People in a group of clerical jobs, however, experienced a “deenrichment” of their jobs as a result of the changes with an accompanying negative effect on their job attitudes and motivation.     

Employee characteristics as predictors of turnover among female clerical employees in two organizations

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between employee characteristics and turnover in organizations. Female clerical employees (N = 314) in two regional offices of a large insurance company were administered Jackson's Personality Research Form (Jackson, D. Personality research form manual. Goshen, New York: Research Psychologists Press, 1967) and a questionnaire that included measures of several demographic characteristics. Turnover data were collected up to 8 months following administration of the questionnaire. Relationships were found between employee characteristics and turnover in both samples. Compared with stayers, leavers in both offices were characterized by lower tenure in the company, a higher need for autonomy, and a lower need for harm avoidance. These results held up under double cross-validation. Several suggestions were made concerning the direction of future research on turnover.     

Individual versus organizational predictors of job satisfaction and turnover among professionals

In a constructive replication and extension of previous research, the relative importance of individual (personality and professional attitudes) versus organizational (professional reward system and tenure) variables in predicting job satisfaction and turnover was investigated for the case of professionals. Support among a sample of computer specialists was found for the notion that, among professionals, individual variables are more important than organizational factors in predicting satisfaction with the work itself; but individual variables often played a major role in satisfaction with contextual aspects of the job as well. Organizational factors were found to be significantly predictive of satisfaction with all aspects of the job, but were the only significant predictors of turnover. Thus the importance of organizational factors over individual factors for professionals was supported more clearly for the behavioral outcome, turnover, than for attitudinal outcomes.     

A path analytic study of the structure of employee job satisfaction: The critical role of top management

This empirical study examined the structure of job satisfaction for 1991 unionized, hourly rated assembly plant employees. The sample was drawn from 10 product assembly plants in the U.S. automobile industry. A multistage, multivariate model was formulated, involving 15 hypotheses. Causal relationships among the variables in the model were estimated using path analysis. A major finding was that the more positive the individual employee's perception of upper management, the greater the employee's job satisfaction. In addition, the employee's perception of upper management had a greater influence on employee job satisfaction than the employee's perception of immediate supervision (foreman).