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The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa
Data relevant to five separate areas of a worker's job satisfaction (satisfaction with: work, pay, promotion opportunities, co-workers and supervision) were gathered from a sample of 98 male Coloured salesmen and 95 male White salesmen, employed in different branches of a life assurance company in S...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Psychology
2016
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| _version_ | 1867614046156488704 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Vos, Eline Amarens |
| author2 | Orpen, C E M |
| author_browse | Orpen, C E M Vos, Eline Amarens |
| author_facet | Orpen, C E M Vos, Eline Amarens |
| author_sort | Vos, Eline Amarens |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Data relevant to five separate areas of a worker's job satisfaction (satisfaction with: work, pay, promotion opportunities, co-workers and supervision) were gathered from a sample of 98 male Coloured salesmen and 95 male White salesmen, employed in different branches of a life assurance company in South Africa. Furthermore, measures were obtained of the subjects' feelings of overall job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, in order to investigate the validity of Herzberg's theory that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are qualitatively different and that, as a result, they should be measured separately. Next, measures were obtained of the subjects' feelings of internal versus external control in life. Separate measures were obtained on the two subscales of personal control and control ideology of Gurin's Internal-External Scale (1969). The subjects were asked to indicate in what class (upper, middle or lower) they regarded themselves to be and with what class they compared themselves. Analysis of these data included: (a) the Coloured subjects were more satisfied with their jobs than the White subjects; (b) the workers who compared themselves with a higher comparative reference-group were less satisfied with their jobs than were workers who compared themselves with their membership reference-group, or with a lower comparative reference-group. An explanation of these findings in terms of frames of reference and alternatives available to the workers is offered. (c) The Coloured subjects were less internally-orientated than the Whites and expressed less sense of personal control over their lives; (d) feelings of personal control were more highly correlated with satisfaction with intrinsic than with extrinsic job-aspects. The present study established not only the usefulness of reference-group theory as a social explanation for differences in workers' satisfaction with various job-aspects, but also served to remove cultural limitations of Gurin et aI's theory of internal-external control and to increase its generality. Finally, measures of internal-external control were related to satisfaction with intrinsic and extrinsic job-aspects, and the I-E concept was related to the social reference-group theory. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/16635 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:45:48.779Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of Psychology |
| publisherStr | Department of Psychology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/16635 The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa Vos, Eline Amarens Orpen, C E M Psychology Job satisfaction Sales personnel Data relevant to five separate areas of a worker's job satisfaction (satisfaction with: work, pay, promotion opportunities, co-workers and supervision) were gathered from a sample of 98 male Coloured salesmen and 95 male White salesmen, employed in different branches of a life assurance company in South Africa. Furthermore, measures were obtained of the subjects' feelings of overall job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, in order to investigate the validity of Herzberg's theory that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are qualitatively different and that, as a result, they should be measured separately. Next, measures were obtained of the subjects' feelings of internal versus external control in life. Separate measures were obtained on the two subscales of personal control and control ideology of Gurin's Internal-External Scale (1969). The subjects were asked to indicate in what class (upper, middle or lower) they regarded themselves to be and with what class they compared themselves. Analysis of these data included: (a) the Coloured subjects were more satisfied with their jobs than the White subjects; (b) the workers who compared themselves with a higher comparative reference-group were less satisfied with their jobs than were workers who compared themselves with their membership reference-group, or with a lower comparative reference-group. An explanation of these findings in terms of frames of reference and alternatives available to the workers is offered. (c) The Coloured subjects were less internally-orientated than the Whites and expressed less sense of personal control over their lives; (d) feelings of personal control were more highly correlated with satisfaction with intrinsic than with extrinsic job-aspects. The present study established not only the usefulness of reference-group theory as a social explanation for differences in workers' satisfaction with various job-aspects, but also served to remove cultural limitations of Gurin et aI's theory of internal-external control and to increase its generality. Finally, measures of internal-external control were related to satisfaction with intrinsic and extrinsic job-aspects, and the I-E concept was related to the social reference-group theory. 2016-02-01T10:01:22Z 2016-02-01T10:01:22Z 1974 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16635 eng application/pdf Department of Psychology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Psychology Job satisfaction Sales personnel Vos, Eline Amarens The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| title_full | The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| title_short | The social reference-group theory of job satisfaction : a comparative study of Coloured and White salesmen in South Africa |
| title_sort | social reference group theory of job satisfaction a comparative study of coloured and white salesmen in south africa |
| topic | Psychology Job satisfaction Sales personnel |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16635 |
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