Job satisfaction in social services in Crete, Greece: social workers’ views

Abstract

This research-based article presents the results of a study examining job satisfaction among social workers in public social services in Crete, Greece. It focuses on their overall job satisfaction, as well as on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with intrinsic, extrinsic and organisational work aspects. The results of this study suggest that while respondents experienced a quite high level of overall satisfaction with their job, other indicators of job satisfaction showed that the level of job satisfaction was not so high. The main sources of respondents’ satisfaction were intrinsic work aspects while the main sources of dissatisfaction were organisational and extrinsic work aspects. Respondents’ job satisfaction was found to be significantly correlated with: the years of unemployment before respondents first worked as social workers, the number of social workers working in the organisation, and their intention to leave or change their present job.

Keywords:

• Social Workers
• Job Satisfaction

Notes

1. Role ambiguity occurs when there is uncertainty about the expectations of the others regarding the employee functions and responsibilities (Spector, 1997).

2. A head of the social work department—apart from working in the application of programmes as a social work practitioner does—has the additional responsibility to co-operate with organisational superiors. However, this is not a higher rank position offering particular authority within the organisation.

3. Extrinsic factors focus on issues that are external to the job itself (Herzberg, 1959).

4. Intrinsic factors refer to a job's inherent features (Herzberg, 1959).