The effects of planned career transitions on the job satisfaction of temporary workers

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect the degree of planfulness of a career transition has on the subsequent job satisfaction in persons seeking or working in temporary employment. The population for this study was 117 individuals seeking or working as a temporary worker in the internal pool of temporary employees at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. One hundred of the individuals in the population completed a survey which provided demographic information such as reasons for seeking temporary work and employment plans. Planfulness of the career transition was measured by the McDaniels Career Transition Considerations (1991). Degree of job satisfaction was measured by the Job Descriptive Index - Revised (Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1985). Twenty-nine individuals received personal interviews. These workers were questioned about characteristics of their transition, self, environment, and job satisfaction. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to determine planfulness, jobs satisfaction, and to examine the effect of planfulness of the career transition on job Satisfaction. Financial situation was determined to be the primary consideration of those seeking temporary work followed by work options and family issues. Three factors, quality of supervision, co-workers, and the job in general, were most clearly associated with job satisfaction of the population. Present temporary work and pay were found to provide low levels of satisfaction and promotion opportunity was found not to be a source of satisfaction. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed for each scale of job satisfaction and three groups of planfulness. Results suggest that the more planful respondents experienced more satisfaction with three factors of job satisfaction: present work in temporary assignment, coworkers, and the job of temporary work in general. The findings suggest that individuals sought temporary work as a result of a transition as defined by Schlossberg (1984); specifically, in regards to adjusting to role change salience as postulated by Super (1990). Temporary workers were planful in the transition which resulted in experiencing job satisfaction in many facets as described by Hoppock (1935) and Smith, Kendall, and Hulin (1969). These findings have implications for career counselors and individuals seeking temporary work as an adjustment to a career transition. Individuals concerned with their financial situation, work options, and family issues while in a career transition may find satisfaction in temporary work.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Counselor Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Preston, Debra S.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• McDaniels, Carl O.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hutchins, David E.
• Kaiser, Javaid
• Watts, Gale
• Whittaker, Catherine

• counselor education

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06062008-155508

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38123