Occupational role stress in the Canadian forces: Its association with individual and organizational well-being.

Studies on workplace stress have been conducted in various occupational environments. However, published reports exploring occupational stress in the military are rare. This study examines occupational stress in the Canadian Forces within the framework of social role theory and its relation to employee health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Ss were 1,068 Regular Forces military members who completed a survey questionnaire. Of interest were the psychological resources (e.g., individual coping skills, workplace leadership, and perceived organizational support) that have the potential to alter the perception of work stress and/or alleviate its association with individual and organizational outcomes. Regression analyses indicated a negative association between occupational role stress and both individual (strain) and organizational (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) well-being. No moderating effects were found for coping strategies, workplace leadership, or perceived organizational support, although these factors had direct relationships with both individual and organizational well-being The results are discussed in terms of the potential of organizational resources and role stress to cascade across organizational levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing the Influence of Traumatic and Organizational Stressors on the Psychological Health of Police, Fire, and Ambulance Officers.

This research compared the ability of organizational and traumatic stress to predict psychological strain and job satisfaction in 686 officers from New Zealand's police, fire, and ambulance services. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling techniques. The police model was not replicable across the samples, indicative of the unique experience of occupational stress for police officers. A 2nd model best described the fire and ambulance data, indicating no difference in stress experiences for these respondents. Organizational and traumatic stress reactions were predictive of psychological strain to similar extents. However, organizational stressors predicted job satisfaction to a far greater extent than did trauma symptomatology. The management of occupational stress, psychological health, and job satisfaction within emergency service workers is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement of kinship responsibility for organizational research.

To encourage the systematic inclusion of the kinship responsibility construct in organizational research, we offer a measure and evaluate its reliability and validity in a study of hospital employees. Kinship responsibility is defined as the degree of an individual's obligation to relatives in the community in which the individual resides, and kinship responsibility is expected to affect the individual's organizational behavior. The kinship responsibility construct is related theoretically and empirically to turnover, absenteeism, intent to leave, commitment, satisfaction, and hours worked for both female and male employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A vacation from work: Changes in work and nonwork outcomes.

Compared pre- and postvacation measures in 6 areas: job satisfaction, job involvement (measured as central life interest [JIC] and as importance of performance to self-esteem), organizational commitment, turnover intention, and life satisfaction. Responses obtained from 92 female and 36 male employees (mean age 39 yrs) in technical, administrative, clerical, and service positions 1 wk prior to and 1 wk following their vacations indicate that the vacation had a significant overall effect on the variables studied, even with sex, education, income, and occupational prestige included as covariates. Specifically, JIC decreased and both life satisfaction and turnover intention increased. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that vacation satisfaction and an interaction term involving the prevacation measure and vacation satisfaction increased the predictability of the postvacation measure by 7% in 2 cases: life satisfaction and job satisfaction. Length of vacation did not contribute significantly to the prediction of any of the postvacation variables. The decrease in JIC is discussed in terms of the relative salience of work and nonwork domains and the allocation of psychological resources. Overall, the results are viewed as supporting an open-systems model of organizational behavior. (75 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational stress and intention to leave among employees in small and medium enterprises.

This paper examines the relationship between the occupational stress of employees in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their intentions to leave the organization. A sample of 154 employees from SMEs completed written questionnaires. The responses from the sample are used to test the hypotheses that job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived organizational support (POS) will mediate the relationship between stress and intention to leave. The results of the regression analyses indicate that POS fully mediates the relationship between stress and intention to leave, while job satisfaction and affective commitment are partial mediators of the aforementioned relationship. The implications of the findings for management—particularly those in SMEs—are discussed, as are the limitations of the research and directions for future research in this domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life satisfaction and caregiving stress for individuals with stroke and their primary caregivers.

Life satisfaction scores of 38 individuals (aged 33–84 yrs) at 6 mo post-stroke were compared to disability ratings measured by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and handicap ratings measured by the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique. Satisfaction was lower for the patients than for the general population, and more strongly associated with disability than handicap. Satisfaction scores of the patients' primary caregivers were compared to a measure of caregiver stress and to caregivers' ratings of the patients' disability and handicap. Caregivers' satisfaction was somewhat lower than satisfaction in the general population and directly associated with caregiving stress scores. Caregiving stress scores were associated with the handicap scales of independence, mobility, and occupation, which were related to the physical disability scales of the FIM and to each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparation of the international employee: Career and consultation needs.

Studied how 26 senior managers and 47 senior professional technical staff (recently repatriated) of 4 US owned multinational organizations viewed their international posting, specifically with respect to career path satisfaction. Results of satisfaction scales indicate that many Ss felt under-prepared for their international assignment. It is suggested that a comprehensive international employee development program should assess, provide feedback, and coach individuals on career path, culture shock and adjustment, and performance issues prior, during, and on return from the expatriate assignment. Results suggest that opportunities exist for individual and organizational intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status congruency as a predictor of job satisfaction and life stress.

Administered questionnaires to 2,080 United States Navy enlisted men grouped according to occupational specialties. A status congruency measure was developed and used to determine the degree to which an S was in step with peers within his occupational category relative to duty time, pay grade, age, and marital status. An individual's score on this measure was found to be significantly and uniquely predictive of his reported life stress and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tumor necrosis factor-beta in human pregnancy and labor

Findings are reported from a replicated evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Organizational Job Satisfaction Scale. Data lend strong support for the scale which assesses four dimensions of organizational job satisfaction. Principal component factor analysis of data from two independent samples of urban staff registered nurses (RNs) (n = 496; n = 532) confirmed four dimensions of pay, interaction, administration, and status. Cronbach's alpha for subscales ranged from .76 to .88. Pearson correlation coefficients for the interrelationships among subscales and an estimate of theta verified internal consistency. The Organizational Job Satisfaction Scale scores correlated significantly with a criterion measure of job enjoyment. Hypothesis testing of theoretically predictable relationships supported construct validity. Scores on the organizational job satisfaction subscales correlated significantly with automony, stress, and commitment. Item revisions and recommendations for future use of the instrument are discussed.     

Some relationships between job satisfaction and organization climate.

Relationships among 2 measures of job satisfaction, 1 measure of organizational climate, and 7 production and turnover indexes of organizational effectiveness were investigated in 50 life insurance agencies (N = 522). It was shown that (a) climate and satisfaction measures were correlated for people in some positions in the agencies but not for others; (b) people agreed more on the climate of their agency than they did on their satisfaction; (c) neither satisfaction nor climate were strongly correlated with production data; and (d) satisfaction but not climate, was correlated with turnover data. Implications of these data for research on climate and satisfaction as well as organizational change are discussed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Core Self-Evaluations and Job Burnout: The Test of Alternative Models.

Research on job burnout has traditionally focused on contextual antecedent conditions, although a theoretically appropriate conception implicates person-environment relationships. The authors tested several models featuring various combinations of personal and contextual influences on burnout and job satisfaction. Measures of core self-evaluations, organizational constraints, burnout, and job satisfaction were collected from 859 health care employees. Results from structural equations modeling analyses revealed an influence of core self-evaluations and perceived organizational constraints on job burnout and satisfaction, suggesting personal and contextual contributions. These results favor a broadening of current thinking about the impact of situational constraints on the expression of job burnout, as well as for the role of disposition for affective responding to effectively address occupational health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between supervisors' and trainees' cognitive styles and the supervision process.

33 beginning counseling practicum students and their supervisors rated their supervisory relationship and satisfaction with supervision; supervisors also evaluated their trainees. Ss' cognitive styles were determined through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, Counselor Evaluation and Rating Scale, and individual Likert scales were used as measures of the independent variables. Trainees' scores on certain indices (most notably the Sensing–Intuition index) were related to supervisors' perceptions of the interpersonal nature of their relationship, supervisors' satisfaction with trainees' performances, and supervisors' evaluations of trainees. On the other hand, supervisors' cognitive styles were not related to the independent variables. Cognitive style similarity between supervisor and trainees on specific MBTI scales was related to mutual perceptions of their interpersonal relationships. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and reliability of the Royal College of General Practitioners' questionnaire for measuring senior house officers' satisfaction with their hospital training

BACKGROUND: The training provided for senior house officers (SHOs) has been the subject of debate, and variable satisfaction with training has been reported. The reliability of the instruments used for measuring satisfaction has not been adequately addressed. AIM: To develop a reliable questionnaire to measure SHO satisfaction with hospital training. METHOD: A 42-item questionnaire with eight scales was developed using criteria from the joint hospital visiting guidelines of the Royal College of General Practitioners. The questionnaire was sent to SHOs in Anglia before monitoring visits from the royal colleges, the postgraduate dean and the Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice. RESULTS: Response rates varied from 37.0% to 100%, with an overall response rate of 58.8%. The internal reliability of the whole questionnaire was 0.82. Levels of internal reliability for the individual scales were satisfactory, Cronbach's alpha coefficient being 0.75 or more in all but two of the scales. Test-retest reliability using Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient was greater than 0.82 for six of the scales. There were significant differences in total satisfaction between SHOs reporting on posts accredited by the different royal colleges and also between SHOs training for general practice and those training to be specialists. CONCLUSION: A reliable questionnaire has been developed to measure SHO satisfaction with hospital training that is acceptable to doctors and feasible to administer. National acceptance of a single questionnaire for monitoring SHO posts would enable standards to be monitored regularly at a time of considerable change in hospital training.     

Incorporating a mulitilevel perspective into occupational stress research: Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.

In recent years, scholars in organizational behavior and public health have recognized the value of multilevel modeling. This article draws from both of these fields to illustrate the benefits of incorporating a multilevel perspective into the study of occupational stress. The authors identify key multilevel issues in occupational stress in terms of (a) individual-level analyses, (b) group-level analyses, and (c) cross-level analyses. They integrate the theoretical points with statistical models to help illustrate how one can test multilevel occupational stress propositions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work satisfaction and scores on a picture interest inventory.

Men in 6 different occupational groups were given the Geist Picture Interest Inventory (GPII) and the Hoppock Job Satisfaction Survey. Correlations were computed between job satisfaction variables and scores on relevant scales of the GPII. Additional data were gathered in regard to satisfaction and dissatisfaction with work. With the exception of the Clerical and Outdoor scales, the scales of the GPII used in this study appear to be valid, using work satisfaction as a criterion of validity. Median correlations of the other groups range from .209 (social workers) to .866 (artists). "Freedom" and "intellectual stimulation" were the 2 most prominent reasons for satisfaction while "lack of appreciation by colleagues and administrators" and "bad physical working conditions" were most prominent for disliking work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between satisfaction, attitudes, and performance: An organizational level analysis.

Previous research has consistently shown little relationship between job satisfaction, job attitudes, and performance for individuals, but little work has investigated these relationships at the organizational level of analysis. This study investigated the relationship between employee satisfaction, other job-related attitudes (commitment, adjustment, and psychological stress), and organizational performance. Organizational performance data were collected for 298 schools; employee satisfaction and attitude data were collected from 13,808 teachers within these schools. Correlation and regression analyses supported the expected relationships between employee satisfaction/attitudes and organizational performance. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and emotional distress among nurses providing palliative care: Empirical evidence for an integrative occupational stress-model.

This study tested an integrative occupational stress-model with a sample of 209 palliative-care nurses who responded to a survey. Using two hierarchical regression models, including the Job Demand-Control-Support model, the Effort-Reward Imbalance model, and specific palliative care stressors and resources, results showed that best predictors of job satisfaction were job demand, effort, reward, and people-oriented culture, whereas best predictors of emotional distress were reward, professional and emotional demands, and self-efficacy. Finally, using structural equation modeling, a two-factor occupational stress-model was developed, distinguishing job demands and job resources. Results emphasize the importance of using comprehensive and situation-specific models to study stress in specific worker populations, studying positive outcomes in stress research, and increasing job resources at work to prevent stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)