The purpose of this study was to assess the social climate of different size churches and the relationship between social climate, member satisfaction, and church size. This study has investigated the extent to which (1) church member satisfaction is affected by social climate and church size and (2) the extent to which social climate is affected by church size. The social climate is the unique "personality" of a setting that gives it clarity and coherence (Moos, 1974b). The data were collected at different size churches. The sample consisted of a random sample for each church of those who completed a "church satisfaction questionnaire," which included demographic information, and the Group Environment Scale (Moos, 1986). There were 50 respondents for each church included in the sample. The sample included 114 men and 136 women. One hundred seventy eight were married and 170 reported having children. Two hundred fourteen considered themselves a member of their church.Previous research indicates satisfaction is influenced by both a setting's social climate and its size. Social climate dimensions that seem to influence member satisfaction are "cohesion," "leader support," "task orientation," "autonomy," and "innovation." Staffing theory suggests that size is also related to satisfaction. Small settings are presumed to be "understaffed" and those in understaffed settings are likely to report more feelings of satisfaction.The results of this study indicated that churches characterized by greater perceived "cohesion," "leader support," "task orientation," and "innovation" tended to have members who were more satisfied. The linear composite of these variables was statistically significant (p < .05) and identified 43.89% of the variance of the satisfaction measure. Results suggest that understanding the church social climate is helpful in understanding its members. Implications of these results relevant for church leaders are discussed.Contrary to what was anticipated, size was not a predictor of church satisfaction. The failure of size to predict church satisfaction is discussed in terms of staffing theory (Wicker, 1979a).The fact that certain social climate dimensions are. related to church member satisfaction is encouraging and justifies further research in this area. Ideas warranted for further research are developed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/177975 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Maloney, Vance E. |
| Contributors | White, Michael J. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | xi, 131, [2] leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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