This study was designed to gather information in regard to job satisfaction, up-date demographic information, and to measure the difference between actual and desired amounts of time spent in different role activities by Virginia school psychologists. The results were compared to Levinson's 1983 study of Virginia school psychologists and to the results of a national study (Brown, 1992). Data were collected through mailed surveys consisting of a demographic data form and a modified version of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. A total of 351 randomly selected subjects were mailed survey materials, and 83.97% responded. The data analysis utilized the responses from 197 school psychologists employed full-time in the public schools. The current sample of Virginia school psychologists indicated that 81.2% are either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, while 18.8% reported that they are dissatisfied with their job. Virginia school psychologists are satisfied as shown by 17 of the 20 scales measured by the modified Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. The three areas of job dissatisfaction were advancement opportunities, school system policies and practices, and compensation. The results of regression analysis revealed three factors as predictors of job satisfaction: control over the types of activities performed, decision to remain in the position for the next five years, and the desire to spend more time in research activities. Virginia school psychologists report spending more time in assessment activities and less time in counseling, consultation, and research than they desire. The level of overall job satisfaction for the current sample compared to their 1983 counterparts and to a 1992 national sample is virtually identical. Although some variations exist, the top seven and last seven factors are the same for all three studies. There are no differences in levels of satisfaction between the current sample and those in the 1983 study. Virginia school psychologists are, however, less satisfied than their national counterparts in the following eleven areas: ability utilization, advancement, authority, policies and practices, compensation, creativity, independence, recognition, responsibility, supervision-relations, and variety. Implications drawn from this study were discussed. Recommendations were made for school psychologists, university trainers, employers, and professional organi / Ph. D.

Licensed substance abuse programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia are reporting turnover rates for counselors of up to 60%. Studies have indicated that low job satisfaction can be a cause for turnover in the human services professions. The entire population of substance abuse counselors certified by the Commonwealth of Virginia was surveyed by mail, using a Modified Minnesota satisfaction Questionnaire and an Individual Information Form. Of the 496 possible responses, 365 were returned for a return rate of 73.7%. The study was conducted to answer three research questions concerning the job satisfaction of these counselors and to provide insight into the possible causes of the high turnover rates. The answers to these questions sought to describe and examine the level of job satisfaction, the sources of job satisfaction and the relationship between job satisfaction and clinical supervisor and clinical supervision variables for this population. The results of the study indicate that these counselors are very satisfied with their jobs. The sources of the greatest influence on job satisfaction are represented by the scales Social service, Moral values and Creativity. The scales Advancement, Policy and practices and Compensation were the least influential on job satisfaction. A model of ten Clinical supervisor and Clinical supervision variables was regressed on job satisfaction. Four variables, Hours of supervision per week, Length of time clinical supervisor has been a clinical supervisor, Degree status of the clinical supervisor and Clinical supervisor is also the administrative supervisor were found to explain a significant amount of the variance in job satisfaction. Although these counselors indicated that they were very satisfied with their jobs, in the next five years 58.44% plan to leave their jobs, which includes 17.75% who plan to leave the substance abuse field entirely. / Ph. D.

Public schools need to enhance teacher job satisfaction which should improve teacher retention, teacher performance, and student achievement. This was a qualitative study of those factors which teachers with high and low job satisfaction perceived affected how they felt about their jobs. A sample of 200 tenured Virginia Beach teachers was randomly selected sent the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (TJSQ). Eighty-four of these teachers who agreed to be interviewed were rated on performance by their principals. Eight teachers, who placed at the top the ranked list of TJSQ scores and who were rated at least above average by their principals, were selected for interviews. Five teachers, who placed at the bottom of the list of TJSQ scores and who were rated average at best by their principals. were also selected for interviews. The teachers in the study said they liked student success best and paperwork least. Respondents said the principal, coworkers, students, materials, autonomy, home life, parents, personality and participatory decision-making all affected job satisfaction. The principal was ranked most important. Job satisfiers were tabulated across questions. The most frequently identified intrinsic factor was student success. The extrinsic factors of working conditions, principal support and coworker support were identified. Intrinsic dissatisfiers included lack of teacher achievement, lack of recognition and lack of student success. Extrinsic dissatisfiers were poor working conditions and unpleasant student relationships. Concerning demographics, the teachers with the top 30 job satisfaction scores were older, more female, more minority, more elementary, more experienced and about equally educated than the teachers with the lowest 30 job satisfaction scores. In general, there was little difference between the responses of the high job satisfaction group and the low job satisfaction group perhaps because of the manner in which they were selected. However, teachers with low job satisfaction in this study were slightly more concerned with recognition, coworker support, working conditions, salary, student support, parent support and input into decision making than the high job Satisfaction group. / Ed. D.

The job satisfaction of elementary school counselors in Virginia was examined in this study. The entire population of 324 elementary school counselors was surveyed with a modified Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. The following research questions were addressed: 1.) What are the levels of overall job satisfaction in elementary school counselors in Virginia? 2.) What degree of satisfaction do Virginia elementary school counselors express with subfactors of job satisfaction? 3.) For elementary school counselors in Virginia, what is the relation between overall job satisfaction and selected demographic variables/work characteristics? Data were also collected through use of an individual information form. Survey materials were mailed to 324 elementary school counselors with a response rate of 88.89% obtained. Of this total 273 of the surveys were usable for data analysis. / Ed. D.

With an average employee turnover rate of nearly 250% in the food service industry, operators agree that this problem is probably the most pervasive in the industry. An estimation of seven to ten percent of revenue is spent on turnover. This study addresses an approach to diminish this figure by enhancing employee job satisfaction which the literature reveals is a precursor to the decision or intent to leave. One of the major influences of satisfaction is the quality of the manager/subordinate relationship. Therefore, the current research investigates the potential of managerial behavioral characteristics and their effects on subordinate job satisfaction. Through a set of three surveys, respondents were asked to identify how important 77 behaviors were to them in their manager, their personal level of job satisfaction and the level of competency their immediate supervisor displays on the importance behaviors. Through correlation analysis 51 behaviors were identified as having significant relationships to the composite job satisfaction score. Seventeen variables saw higher correlation values for respondents who indicated the behavior is "Very Important" to them in a manager they work for. This supports one of the hypotheses which states that the level of importance an employee designates to a particular behavior influences whether or not the level of competency can affect job satisfaction. The results of this study can be immediately operationalized through training and development programs provided to managers. By increasing the level of satisfaction through these programs, management could transfer turnover dollars into profit dollars, an advantage to any organization. / Master of Science

Job satisfaction and its related phenomena have been of considerable interest for many years. Review of the job satisfaction literature, however, revealed few studies which examined the job satisfaction of both full-time and parttime community college faculty. The purpose of the study was (1) to determine the level of job satisfaction among occupational-technical faculty in relation to ten factors based on Herzberg's et al. (1959) Motivation-Hygiene Theory and (2) to determine the relative difference of job satisfaction between full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty in the Virginia Community College System. Specific research questions explored the level of job satisfaction, the level of job satisfaction among the ten factors of Herzberg's et al. (1959) Motivation-Hygiene Theory, and the proportion of variance in job satisfaction explained by selected demographic variables among full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty in the Virginia Community College System. A total of 255 occupational-technical faculty were selected to participate in the study, 127 full-time and 128 part-time. These faculty were mailed a packet of survey materials containing a Data Form and a modified version of the Wood's Faculty Satisfaction/ Dissatisfaction Scale. The overall usable response rate was 70.2% (n=177). The response rate for the full-time occupational-technical faculty was 78.6% (n=99) while the response rate for the part-time occupational-technical faculty was 62.4% (n=78). Results of the study indicated that both the full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty were generally satisfied with their jobs, 76.7% and 89.7% respectively. Both full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty reported the highest level of satisfaction for the factor the work itself and the lowest level of satisfaction for the factor salary. Although both full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty were generally satisfied with their jobs, the part-time faculty were more satisfied with their jobs than were their full-time counterparts. It should be noted, however, that the actual proportion of variance explained by status (i.e., full-time or part-time) was small and may not be of practical significance. Recommendations for local and state level administrators responsible for supervising full-time and part-time occupational-technical faculty were delineated. Recommendations for future research were described. / Ph. D.