Previous investigations regarding the health- and wellbeing-related outcomes of performance-based pay systems have been scarce and ambiguous so far. Considering the huge economic and organizational impact of stress-related health problems, it is important to further investigate this relation, including the impact of different variables that can help to explain the variation in the relationship between performance-based pay and job strain. The main purpose of this study is to challenge the research gap and to understand the effect of organizational justice and job control on the relation between performance-based pay and job satisfaction and stress. A quantitative research method in form of a survey is applied. To test the structural model and its hypotheses, the study uses an approach to partial least squares path modeling (PLS). The main results have shown that organizational justice moderates the relation between performance-based pay and stress. Moreover, performance-based pay increases job satisfaction when employees perceive high job control. It is furthermore revealed that gender, family responsibilities, experience and the type of performance evaluation can have an impact on the relationship as well. The study has contributed to fill the research gap above and has provided new, theoretical insight. Managers are recommended to provide organizational justice and to ensure high autonomy for employees. Instead of applying “one size fits all” solutions, managers should take demographic, organizational and situational factors into account when designing the compensation scheme.

The study was designed to identify the-relationship between job satisfaction levels as perceived by staff nurses and levels of motivation for participation in staff development programs. A second purpose was to examine the relationship between the type of educational preparation, area of nursing practice, number of children under twelve years of age living at home, single parent status, size of hospital and years of service of staff nurses with levels of motivation for participation in staff development programs and with job satisfaction. The motivational theories of Maslow and Herzberg were used as the theoretical basis for the study.The Job Descriptive Index and a questionnaire were distributed to randomly selected staff nurses employed in the seventeen non-federal hospitals of the Eastern Indiana District of Hospital Nursing Service Administrators. Usable instruments were returned by 186 staff nurses for an eighty-two percent response rate. Thirteen null hypotheses were tested, five using the Pearson product-moment (r) correlation and eight using a one-way analysis of variance (F Statistic).The first purpose of the study, to examine the relationship between job satisfaction levels and levels of motivation for participation in staff development programs, revealed that job satisfaction was not found to be correlated significantly with motivation for participation in staff development programs. The small correlation found to exist was negative.The findings relative to the second study purpose, to examine the relationship between single parent status, number of children under twelve years of age living at home, length of employment as a staff nurse, level of educational preparation, size of hospital and area of nursing practice, produced only one significant finding. Single parent status and job satisfaction were found to be positively related at the .05 level of significance.The major conclusion was that job satisfaction was not a motivator for participation in staff development programs in the sample of staff nurses in the study.

Title: Employee Engagement - Sporting goods retail stores in Gävle. Level: Second cycle, Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Author: Maria Claudia Sun Han Cordova and Camille Besnault Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama and Pär Vilhelmson Date: 2013 - May   Purpose: This study examines employee engagement. For that matter, we investigate the factors that influence employee engagement in sporting goods retail stores, and the impact of relationships interactions between the team and the manager.   Method: This study was conducted through a deductive approach. The data was collected from two sporting goods retail stores: Stadium and Intersport, located in Gävle, Sweden; through questionnaires for both store’s employees, and face-to-face interviews to the store managers and employees. Finally, data was analyzed with the programs Microsoft Excel and SPSS.   Result  &  Conclusions:  We  found  out  that  sporting  goods  retail  store’s  employees  were mainly motivated by personal factors, job satisfaction factors and intrinsic factors, such as belongingness to the team. It appears that employees give significance importance to the relationship  they  have  with  their  manager  and  coworkers.  We  also  found  out  that  the relationship with the customers has a huge impact on employee engagement. Suggestions for future research: This research was conducted in a geographic area in a specific  country  (Sweden).  Additionally,  it  is  based  on  the  sporting  goods  retail  market. Thus, it could be interesting to extend this research to others sectors and markets, or to do the same research in another country. Contribution  of  the  thesis:  While  theories  about  employee  engagement  consider  the relationship between employees and co-workers, and employees and manager as important for  employee  engagement,  we  empirically  discovered  that  the  relationship  between employees and customers influences employee engagement significantly. Key  words:  Job  satisfaction,  employee  engagement,  sporting  goods  retails,  motivation, relationships.

The sport industry is a popular and competitive career field with employees drawn to work in a dynamic, yet often untraditional work environment. The challenge of achieving work-life balance has received considerable study in sport, as employees often find a conflict in balancing their job and other life responsibilities, such as family (work-family conflict) and outside activities. This study introduces a new area of potential conflict (work-extracurricular conflict), the outside activities that may be neglected due to a job, which may impact employees. This area may be especially pertinent to a younger segment of the industry which has not been studied, graduate assistants who work in athletic departments while continuing their education. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess work-life balance in graduate assistants (GAs) and their supervisors by comparing their levels of work-family conflict, work-extracurricular conflict, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Secondly, the study introduced the work-extracurricular conflict construct. Data were collected from GAs and supervisors (N = 47) working in five Division I university athletic departments. Descriptive statistics and ANOVA revealed significant differences between GAs’ and supervisors’ job satisfaction, while determining they did not differ on work-family conflict, work-extracurricular conflict and life satisfaction levels. They reported moderate levels of family and extracurricular conflict. Sport managers can utilize this information to better understand the work-life balance of GAs and establish dialogue on ways to improve GAs experience in hopes of keeping these sport professionals in the industry long-term.

The value of specific individuals for the success of a company has increased drastically because of the increased demand on knowledge and service orientation, and job satisfaction has become more important in the competition of the most attractive employees. Improving job satisfaction also brings along additional advantages. For example, it has been proven to have a direct impact on customer satisfaction. This study aims at providing a working procedure for organizations that wish to increase the level of employee job satisfaction, and a method has been developed that gives practical instructions on how to organize the improvement work. To evaluate the current level of job satisfaction in order to find improvement areas, the most important determinants to job satisfaction have been identified through a literature survey. The method has four phases, Prepare, Investigate, Design and Implement, and is shaped as a closed loop to symbolize the need of continuous improvements. To validate the usefulness and precision of the method, it has been tested in a single case study. The case study showed that the method is applicable in the sense that all four phases were possible to carry out, and that it is capable of providing a practical working procedure to increase job satisfaction. It is also useful when it comes to evaluating already existing working procedures. Most important when it comes to increasing job satisfaction is to let the employees actively participate in the improvement work. This will ensure that the solutions suggested are relevant and enduring, and it will make employees feel acknowledged and motivated to follow out the changes.

Background: Moral distress is an increasing concern among nurses in their workplace. Previous research has suggested that moral distress is associated with ethical climate and job dissatisfaction. Economic restraints in the organization have led to loss of nurses from the workplace. Aim: To examine nurses experience of moral distress and their causes. Method: The study was a literature review. Twelve articles were used in the study. They had both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The articles were published between 2000-2011. Results: Three themes emerged from the articles: Powerlessness, meaninglessness and feeling unsafe. The main cause of these feelings was due to understaffing and working with nurses I consider unsafe. Another cause was to perform tasks that I consider meaningless for the patient and cause more harm than good. Conclusion: Moral distress is common among nurses in health care. It can be elicited from different kinds of situations encountered in the work environment. Keywords:  experience, job satisfaction, moral distress, nursing, occupational stress

Tidigare forskning har gett stöd för att personlighet påverkar arbetstillfredsställelse, och i denna studie undersöks om detta även gäller inom socialpsykiatrin i Eskilstuna. Syftet med studien var att undersöka samband och varians mellan olika personlighetsdimensioner och arbetstillfredsställelse. Big Five personlighetsdimensionerna mättes med Shafers personality scale och arbetstillfredsställelse med Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, och dessa mätningar skedde genom en enkätundersökning. De 78 deltagarna i denna studie var personal inom socialpsykiatrin, varav 23 var män. Resultaten redovisades genom Pearsons korrelationer och en hierarkisk regressionsanalys som visade att det fanns samband mellan vissa av Big Five dimensionerna och arbetstillfredsställelsefaktorerna. Detta stämmer även överens med tidigare forskning inom ämnet men däremot blev det inget signifikant resultat för hur stor del av variansen som berodde på personlighetsdimensionerna. Denna studie bidrar med att undersöka hur personligheten hos en outforskad yrkesgrupp är relaterat till hur de trivs på sitt arbete.

Syftet var att beskriva arbetstillfredsställelsen hos intensivvårdssjuksköterskor samt undersöka om arbetssituationen förändrats senaste året. Syftet var vidare att se om skillnader förelåg i arbetstillfredsställelsen mellan intensivvårdssjuksköterskor som arbetade treskift och som inte arbetade treskift. Studien var deskriptiv med kvantitativ ansats. Sextiofyra sjuksköterskor deltog och bortfallet var 29 %. Enkäter testade gällande validitet och reliabilitet för arbetstillfredsställelse användes i studien. Arbetstillfredsställelsen var genomgående hög, intensivvårdssjuksköterskorna upplevde sig mötas med respekt av överordnade och samarbetsklimatet var bra. De var en del av ett team, arbetet var intressant och autonomin var hög. Majoriteten upplevde att personaltätheten var otillräcklig för arbetsbelastningen, beslut från överordnade gick inte att påverka och nästan en tredjedel upplevde sig inte få beröm vid bra utfört arbete. Trots genomgående hög arbetstillfredsställelse funderade nästan tjugo procent på att byta jobb. Senaste året hade arbetsbördan ökat med mer administrativt arbete och mindre tid för patientvård. Förtroendet för den offentliga sjukvården hade minskat. Inga signifikanta skillnader fanns gällande arbetstillfredsställelsen mellan intensivvårdssjuksköterskor som arbetade treskift och som inte arbetade treskift. Nattarbetet ansågs behöva värderas högre med mer tid för återhämtning. Konklusion: Arbetstillfredsställelsen var genomgående hög men arbetsbördan hade ökat senaste året, utbrett missnöje förekom gällande återhämtningstiden vid nattarbete. / The objectives were to describe the work satisfaction amongst intensive care nurses, and to investigate if the work situation has changed over the last year. A further purpose was to see if there were any differences in the work satisfaction between intensive care nurses who worked three-shift and those who did not. The study was descriptive with a quantitative approach. Sixty-four nurses participated and the 29 percent decided not to participate. Questionnaires tested regarding validity and reliability for work satisfaction were used in the study. Work satisfaction was overall high; the intensive care nurses perceived themselves as being respected by superiors, and the work situation as good. They felt part of a team; the work was interesting and the levels of autonomy high. The majority perceived that the staffing levels were insufficient for the workload, they could not affect the decisions made by their superiors, and almost a third experienced that they do not get praise for work well done. Despite the overall high work satisfaction almost twenty percent were thinking of changing jobs. During the last year, the workload had increased with more administrative work leaving less time for patient care. The trust in public healthcare had decreased. No significant differences were found regarding the work satisfaction between intensive care nurses working three-shift and those who did not work three-shift. The general opinion was that night work needed to be valued higher, and that more time was needed for recovery. Conclusion: The work satisfaction was overall high, but the workload had increased over the last year, and there was a widespread dissatisfaction regarding recovery time after night work.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka huruvida ett pilotprojekt bestående av en ny typ av medarbetar- och lönesamtal i Sandvikens kommun givit någon effekt på rolltydlighet, empowerment och arbetstillfredsställelse. Vidare var syftet att undersöka sambanden mellan rolltydlighet, empowerment och arbetstillfredsställelse. En enkät besvarades av 62 förskollärare. Genom t-test undersöktes skillnaden mellan förskollärare som deltar i projektet (N=34) och andra förskollärare (N=28) gällande dessa variabler, men inga signifikanta skillnader kunde visas. En multivariat regressionsanalys visade i enlighet med tidigare forskning ett samband mellan rolltydlighet och arbetstillfredsställelse, men något samband mellan empowerment och arbetstillfredsställelse visades inte. Relationerna analyserades med en stiganalys som visade att rolltydlighet medierar 64 % av effekten av empowerment på arbetstillfredsställelse. Rolltydlighet förklarar 33 % av variansen i arbetstillfredsställelse och slutsatsen är att vikten av rollförtydligande information till medarbetare är av väldigt stor betydelse. / The aim of this study was to investigate whether a project with a new type of performance appraisal in Sandviken Municipality affects role clarity, empowerment and job satisfaction. The further aim was to investigate the relationship between role clarity, empowerment and job satisfaction. A survey was answered by 62 preschool teachers. Student’s t-test analyzed the difference in these variables between the preschool teachers from the project (N=34) and other preschool teachers (N=28) but no significant differences were found. A multiple regression analysis showed a significant relationship between role clarity and job satisfaction in accordance with previous research, but there were no relationship between empowerment and job satisfaction to be found. The relationships were analyzed further with a path analysis that showed that empowerment is mediated by role clarity. Role clarity explains 33 % of the variance in job satisfaction and the conclusion is therefore that information to the employees containing role clarification is of great importance.

Arbetet spelar en central roll i livet för de flesta människor och vi spenderar större delen av vår vakna tid på arbetet. I denna uppsats definieras yrkesstolthet som en självupplevd känsla som gör att individen känner sig viktig och engagerad i sitt yrkesliv och i en organisation. För att förstå individens känsla av yrkesstolthet behöver ett par aspekter tas i beaktning. Undersökningsledarna har genomfört en kvantitativ studie med 122 deltagare, varav 79 kvinnor. Enkäten innehöll 25 påståenden angående yrkesstolthet, individens arbetsplatstrivsel och sociala relationer med en skala från ett till fem. Resultatet visade att de deltagande svarade generellt fyra på enkätfrågorna och därför antas trivas på arbetsplatsen. De effekter som visade sig vara starkast var sambanden mellan individens arbetsplatstrivsel, sociala relationer och yrkesstolthet. Att ingå i ett socialt sammanhang påverkar trivseln på arbetet och yrkesstoltheten. Andra faktorer som visade sig ha betydelse för yrkesstolthet var kön, ålder och utbildningsnivå.