TY - JOUR T1 - From Job Characteristics to Job Satisfaction of Foreign Workers in Taiwan's Construction Industry: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment JF - Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries Y1 - 2015 A1 - Li-Chun Hsu A1 - Pei-Wen Liao KW - building trades KW - construction industry KW - foreign workers KW - job satisfaction KW - organizational commitment KW - Taiwan AB -

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among job characteristics, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction of foreign workers in Taiwan. Overall, 440 Thailand foreign workers were recruited and structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. The results of this study supported all proposed hypotheses. Job characteristics had a positive effect on job satisfaction of foreign workers. However, the results showed an indirect effect of job characteristics on job satisfaction via organizational commitment. Moreover, the findings suggested that job autonomy is better compared to other job characteristics. This study contributes to the existing literature by stressing the importance of such relationships in the cross-cultural management enterprises, particularly those concerning foreign workers.

VL - Article first published online: 16 APR 2015 L2 - eng UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hfm.20624/abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Social Expectations, Gender And Job Satisfaction: Front-Line Employees In China's Retail Sector JF - Human Resource Management Journal Y1 - 2015 A1 - Qihai Huang A1 - Jos Gamble KW - China KW - gender KW - gender role theory KW - human resource management KW - job satisfaction KW - multinationals KW - retail employment AB -

This study aims to enhance our understanding of gender and employment in China. Analysing data collected from over 1,800 employees at 22 foreign-invested and locally owned retail stores in eight Chinese cities, it firstly explores whether, like their counterparts in Western countries, female employees have higher levels of job satisfaction than their male colleagues. Secondly, it distinguishes the key differential predictors of female and male employees' job satisfaction levels. This article extends gender role theory on job satisfaction by showing how traditional values, the structure of work and a nation's dominant gender ideology combine to shape women and men's job satisfaction and work experiences in a transitional context.

VL - First published online February 2015 L2 - eng UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-8583.12066/full ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Relating Patient Satisfaction To Nurses' Job Satisfaction, Job Security, and Obedience OCBs JF - International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing Y1 - 2014 A1 - Ali Bassam Mahmoud A1 - William D. Reisel KW - job satisfaction KW - job security KW - nursing KW - obedience KW - patient satisfaction KW - Syria AB -

Purpose– This paper aims at investigating the relationships among patient satisfaction, and nurses' job security, job satisfaction, and obedience OCBs within the setting of private hospitals in Damascus and Rural Damascus Governorates. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional survey conducted within private hospitals in Damascus and Rural Damascus Governorates had resulted in (325) subjects of nurses, and (393) subjects of patients. Double-translation, face validation, exploratory factor analysis, and Cronbach's alpha were used to validate measures used in this study with respect to the Syrian context. Afterwards, the two samples were aggregated on the basis of hospital-department. That is, 217 cases had resulted, and were used to test the proposed model, and revise it if required. Findings – The results indicate that job security positively influences both job satisfaction and obedience OCBs. Both job satisfaction and obedience OCBs fully mediate the relationship between job security and patient satisfaction. Obedience OCBs partially mediate the relationship between job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – Further investigations in other service-providing settings (e.g. telecommunications) are needed for more evidence of the model validity. Using cross-sectional design in testing causalities has been criticized by several researchers, so longitudinal method is recommended in further investigations for the model. Wider views could be delivered if more of other attitudinal variables are included in the model. Practical implications – Better levels of patient satisfaction could be achieved through enhancing nurses' perceptions towards job security. Job satisfaction would be an important factor in keeping positive levels of patient satisfaction, especially when employment at one private hospital lacks security and stability. Originality/value – This research comes to be one of the first studies to provide evidence of the full mediation that job satisfaction and obedience OCBs play regarding the relationship between job security and patient satisfaction. In addition, this study proves the partial mediation that obedience OCBs play between job satisfaction and patient satisfaction.

VL - 8 L2 - eng CP - 1 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - What Did You Learn at Work Today? The Forbidden Lessons of Labor Education Y1 - 2014 A1 - Helena Worthen KW - job satisfaction KW - labor education KW - workplace AB -

What Did You Learn at Work Today? The Forbidden Lessons of Labor Education is written for everyone who works. How do workers make a bad job into a good job? Where do they get the power to do their jobs right? These lessons must be learned, but not the way we learn at school, where people study alone and succeed or fail as individuals. The lessons of labor education are learned collectively, through practice and discussion. How should we respond to a crisis? How do we recognize and define the enemy? How do we pass on what we've learned to the new generation? How do we use a network to solve a problem? This book, by experienced labor educator Helena Worthen, explains how to capture and preserve what workers learn at work and use it to build power. Chapters include case studies of teachers, engineers, healthcare workers, construction workers and garment factory workers. No previous knowledge of the labor movement required; it begins with the question, "Can they do that?”

PB - Hardball Press CY - Brooklyn, NY L2 - eng ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Workplace Flexibilities, Job Satisfaction and Union Membership in the US Workforce JF - British Journal of Industrial Relations Y1 - 2014 A1 - Chad D. Cotti A1 - M. Ryan Haley A1 - Laurie A. Miller KW - job satisfaction KW - National Study of the Changing Workforce KW - union membership KW - workplace flexibilities AB -

Using individual-level data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, we quantify how workers' job satisfaction levels correlate with five schedule-based workplace flexibilities. The data permit us to control for numerous variables that might otherwise explain variation in the probability of job satisfaction, including, but not limited to, income, benefits, stress, depression, job control and individual preferences over flexibilities. Conditional on this control set, we find that workplace flexibilities correlate with an 8.1 per cent increase in job satisfaction. The relationship between job satisfaction and workplace flexibilities prevails through several sensitivity analyses, bias assessments and a propensity score matching analysis. We also explore how job satisfaction, union membership and workplace flexibilities intermix; we find that workplace flexibilities may function as a partial substitute for union membership.

VL - 52 L2 - eng CP - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - What Workers Want Depends: Legal Knowledge and the Desire for Workplace Change among Day Laborers JF - Law & Policy Y1 - 2013 A1 - Trautner, Mary Nell A1 - Erin Hatton A1 - Kelly E. Smith KW - day laborers KW - employment law KW - job satisfaction KW - labor law KW - unionization KW - workers’ rights AB -

In this article, we identify legal knowledge as a key difference between workers who desire workplace change and those who do not. Based on surveys with 121 day laborers, we find that not all day laborers are equally dissatisfied with their jobs, despite uniformly difficult working conditions. Some day laborers do not want to make any real changes to the day labor industry, while others desire a range of industry changes, from higher wages to greater government regulation and unionization. A key difference between these workers is their knowledge of employment law: Those who know the law are more likely to desire workplace change.

VL - 35 L2 - eng CP - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Does the Impact of Union Experience on Job Satisfaction Differ by Gender JF - Industrial and Labor Relations Review Y1 - 2012 A1 - Artz, Benjamin KW - gender KW - job satisfaction KW - union leadership KW - union membership AB -

The author investigates gender differences in the impact of accumulated union experience on job satisfaction. Because there are fewer women than men in both public and private sector unions, and women are disproportionately underrepresented in union leadership, their collective bargaining power is not equivalent to that of men. As a result, women’s preferences for job characteristics and benefits may be overlooked, contributing to reduced job satisfaction as their tenure in the union increases. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) panel data from 1979–2004, the author demonstrates that the accumulation of union experience negatively affects women’s job satisfaction more severely than it does men’s. This is particularly the case in private sector unions, in which women are more likely to be under-represented in both union membership and leadership positions.

VL - 65 L2 - eng UR - http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrreview/vol65/iss2/2/ ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Public Perceptions of Union Efficacy: A Twenty-Four Country Study JF - Labor Studies Journal Y1 - 2012 A1 - Rebecca Kolins Givan A1 - Lena Hipp KW - job satisfaction KW - perceived job security KW - public opinion KW - union membership KW - union revitalization KW - unions KW - working conditions AB -

Since the perceived efficacy of unions is one of the best predictors of an individual’s willingness to vote for or join a union, this article examines the relationship between union membership and perceptions of unions. In particular, we ask: How do union members feel about unions in comparison to nonunion members? How do former union members feel about unions in comparison with those who were never members? How do different groups of workers perceive unions? We answer these questions by analyzing large-scale, cross-national survey data on perceptions of unions. The data contain 14,733 observations in twenty-four countries and are taken from the 2005 wave of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The survey asks how respondents feel about the effects of unions on both job security and working conditions. From our analysis, we can conclude that union-membership status (both current and past) and gender matter in determining perceptions of the efficacy of unions. In particular, we find that union members feel more positive about the ability of unions to improve working conditions and job security than nonunion members and that former members tend to be more positive than never union members in these views. We also find that among nonunion members, women tend to hold a more positive view than men of the effect of unions on job security.

VL - 37 L2 - eng CP - 1 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - What Do Unions Do? A Twenty Year Perspective Y1 - 2007 A1 - Bennett, J. A1 - Kaufmann, B. KW - benefits KW - decline of unions KW - dispute resolution KW - economic theory KW - income inequality KW - job satisfaction KW - productivity KW - wages AB -

One of the best-known and most-quoted books ever written on labor unions is What Do Unions Do? by Richard Freeman and James Medoff. Published in 1984, the book proved to be a landmark because it provided the most comprehensive and statistically sophisticated empirical portrait of the economic and socio-political effects of unions, and a provocative conclusion that unions are on balance beneficial for the economy and society.

The present volume represents a twentieth-anniversary retrospective and evaluation of What Do Unions Do? The objectives are threefold: to evaluate and critique the theory, evidence, and conclusions of Freeman and Medoff; to provide a comprehensive update of the theoretical and empirical literature on unions since the publication of their book; and to offer a balanced assessment and critique of the effects of unions on the economy and society. Toward this end, internationally recognized representatives of labor and management cover the gamut of subjects related to unions.

Topics covered include the economic theory of unions; the history of economic thought on unions; the effect of unions on wages, benefits, capital investment, productivity, income inequality, dispute resolution, and job satisfaction; the performance of unions in an international perspective; the reasons for the decline of unions; and the future of unions. The volume concludes with a chapter by Richard Freeman in which he assesses the arguments and evidence presented in the other chapters and presents his evaluation of how What Do Unions Do? stands up in the light of twenty years of additional experience and research. This highly readable volume is a state-of-the-art survey by internationally recognized experts on the effects and future of labor unions. It will be the benchmark for years to come. (publisher's statement)

PB - Transaction Publishers CY - New Brunswick, NJ L2 - eng ER -