Gender, Dimensions of Work, and Supportive Coworker Relations

Abstract

Do women report a higher level of coworker support than men? If so, do dimensions of work contribute to that difference? To address these questions, I examined data from a sample of employed Toronto residents. Overall, women reported a higher level of coworker support than men. Job authority and nonroutine work are associated positively with coworker support, while job noxiousness is associated negatively with coworker support. In addition, two gender-contingent associations between work dimensions and coworker support emerge: (1) job autonomy is associated positively with coworker support among women only, and (2) job demands are associated negatively with coworker support among women and positively with coworker support among men. I discussed ways that these findings fit into and extend sociological analysis of the links between occupational life and psychosocial functioning.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was supported by a research grant and a National Health Scientist Award from the National Health Research and Development Program (NHRDP) of Health Canada to Dr. R. Jay Turner. The author would like to express sincere thanks to R. Jay Turner for his permission to use these data.

NOTES

Notes

¹ Job autonomy is similar to other concepts such as “freedom from close supervision” (Kohn 1976) or “decision-making latitude” (Karasek and Theorell 1990). Kohn and Schooler (1973) conceptualized occupational self-direction as “the conditions that facilitate or restrict the use of initiative, thought, and independent judgment in work” (p. 104). Their operationalization included three components: closeness of supervision (decision latitude/autonomy), routinization, and substantive complexity. However, the data that I analyzed for this article do not include self-report measures of job complexity, only measures of job autonomy and nonroutine work.

² In several separate analyses (not shown), I also adjusted for having children at home, having children under the age of 6 years at home, and the total number of children. However, none of those different assessments of parenthood status was associated with coworker support so I excluded it from the final models presented here.

³ Using these same data, Turner and Marino (1994) have previously documented gender differences in coworker support. However, their analysis examined data from 1,095 individuals who were currently working or who had previously worked. It may be problematic to ask nonemployed adults to recall and appraise an array of characteristics of their previous job, including the quality of supportive social relations. The nature of the conditions in their current nonemployed situation likely influences those recollections. In addition, Turner and Marino's analysis did not consider gender differences in coworker support net of an array of work dimensions or gender-contingent effects of such conditions. Therefore, my analysis seeks to build off of their general findings by examining a more comprehensive set of work dimensions and explicitly exploring gender differences with greater specificity among currently employed adults.