Keywords

Locus of Control, turnover, employee satisfaction, caregivers

Abstract

The goal of this research was to identify factors that may contribute to employee satisfaction. Review of the literature revealed potential factors influencing employee satisfaction, such as locus of control, difficulty of the work itself, and working conditions. These literature findings guided this research, to establish if a relationship existed between employee satisfaction of caregivers employed in a developmental institution and locus of control. Supervisors and their employees were given a locus of control scale; employees were additionally given a job satisfaction survey. The relationship between the supervisors' locus of control and employee satisfaction was evaluated as well as the relationship between the employees' locus of control and their job satisfaction. The resignation rate and rate of transfers within the agency were established for each of the supervisors and were assessed in relationship to the locus of control of the supervisors. Factors such as the level of physical exertion required by employees in their job duties and the level of behavioral intervention in their homes were assessed as they related to their own job satisfaction, their transfers, and their rates of resignations. Findings from the correlation procedures revealed no relationship to a statistically significant degree between the locus of control of supervisors and their employees' job satisfaction. The locus of control of supervisors was also not found to be statistically significantly correlated with the numbers of employee transfers within the organization; however, a relationship between the locus of control of supervisors and employee resignations was established. The supervisors who had an internal locus of control had fewer resignations. A statistically significant negative relationship was also found between employees' job satisfaction and their own locus of control. The employees who had an internal locus of control reported higher job satisfaction. Although there was no relationship established between the employees' job satisfaction and type of exertion, there was a statistically significant negative relationship between behavioral exertion and requests for inter-agency transfers and resignations, and a positive correlation between physical exertion and number of resignations. Results of this study suggest that locus of control is an impacting variable for job satisfaction and turnover. Combining attribution training with effective management practices with all employees may increase employee satisfaction. Findings from this research suggest a need for a better refinement of the theoretical construct of job satisfaction and a need to evaluate the effectiveness of the instrumentation currently used to determine job satisfaction.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2005

Semester

Summer

Advisor

House, Jess

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Educational Research, Technology, and Leadership

Degree Program

Educational Leadership

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000558

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000558

Language

English

Release Date

August 2005

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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