MEASURING THE MONDAY BLUES - VALIDATION OF A JOB-SATISFACTION SCALE FOR THE HUMAN-SERVICES

Nothing is as central to the work lives of social workers eras important to on organization's effective use of personnel os the satisfaction staff derive from their employment. The present study presents a short (14-item) facet-based, direct measure of job satisfaction that can be used by researchers and administrators. The stale was developed and validated in a series of studies from 1980 to 1991 involving over 600 helping professionals. Across administrations the full Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) alpha reliabilities ranged between .83 and .91, and reliabilities of the intrinsic and organizational satisfaction subscales ranged from .85 to .90 and .78 to .90, respectively Factor analyses also suggested a third (two-item) factor dealing with salary promotion, and benefits. Among findings supporting validity were correlations of lower JSS scores with later-measured depression, burnout, and intention to quit one's job. Two separate studies found job satisfaction or dissatisfaction related to emotional exhaustion or burnout.