Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
Understanding dirty work and its workers is an emerging area of study related to all elements of society. Dirty work is defined as occupations that society views as physically, socially, and/or morally tainted. Dirty workers (e.g., sanitation workers, morticians, social workers) perform services that fulfill societal needs, yet these occupations are stigmatized by society and considered by many to be undesirable jobs. Many varieties of dirty work exist and can be understood by the degree of associated occupational prestige, public perception of an individual’s social standing based on their professional position (lower and higher occupational prestige). Regardless of the prestige associated with dirty work the presence of dirt or “taint” exists. Taint can be categorized into three stigmatized groups: physically, socially, and morally. “Dirty” occupations have attached stigma that becomes a central part of the stigmatized group members' image and identity, which can lead to a significant part of their life being engaged in creating an identity separate from their beneficial yet dirty work. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact of occupation prestige, financial insecurity, stigmatized perceptions, and employee engagement on job satisfaction in stigmatized workers. Hypotheses include 1) Positive relationship will exist between occupational prestige and job satisfaction and employee engagement and job satisfaction, 2) Negative relationships will exist between financial insecurity and job satisfaction and stigmatized perceptions and job satisfaction, and 3) Occupational prestige and employee engagement will have a greater impact on job satisfaction than stigmatized perceptions and financial insecurity. Participants will include employees from 6 dirty work occupations. Occupations will consist of two occupations per type of taint, one that is considered to have a higher occupational prestige, and another that is considered to have lower occupational prestige. Participants will complete a combination of assessments including a job satisfaction survey, financial insecurity survey, measure of stigmatized perceptions, and employee engagement. Results of this research will inform and further expand the current body of research for dirty work professions by identifying factors influencing the satisfaction employees experience in dirty work occupations. This study will be the first to assess relationships across all three taints, while using occupational prestige as a factor impacting job satisfaction in dirty work occupations.
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Why Dirty Work? An investigation of factors impacting stigmatized worker job satisfaction.
Understanding dirty work and its workers is an emerging area of study related to all elements of society. Dirty work is defined as occupations that society views as physically, socially, and/or morally tainted. Dirty workers (e.g., sanitation workers, morticians, social workers) perform services that fulfill societal needs, yet these occupations are stigmatized by society and considered by many to be undesirable jobs. Many varieties of dirty work exist and can be understood by the degree of associated occupational prestige, public perception of an individual’s social standing based on their professional position (lower and higher occupational prestige). Regardless of the prestige associated with dirty work the presence of dirt or “taint” exists. Taint can be categorized into three stigmatized groups: physically, socially, and morally. “Dirty” occupations have attached stigma that becomes a central part of the stigmatized group members' image and identity, which can lead to a significant part of their life being engaged in creating an identity separate from their beneficial yet dirty work. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact of occupation prestige, financial insecurity, stigmatized perceptions, and employee engagement on job satisfaction in stigmatized workers. Hypotheses include 1) Positive relationship will exist between occupational prestige and job satisfaction and employee engagement and job satisfaction, 2) Negative relationships will exist between financial insecurity and job satisfaction and stigmatized perceptions and job satisfaction, and 3) Occupational prestige and employee engagement will have a greater impact on job satisfaction than stigmatized perceptions and financial insecurity. Participants will include employees from 6 dirty work occupations. Occupations will consist of two occupations per type of taint, one that is considered to have a higher occupational prestige, and another that is considered to have lower occupational prestige. Participants will complete a combination of assessments including a job satisfaction survey, financial insecurity survey, measure of stigmatized perceptions, and employee engagement. Results of this research will inform and further expand the current body of research for dirty work professions by identifying factors influencing the satisfaction employees experience in dirty work occupations. This study will be the first to assess relationships across all three taints, while using occupational prestige as a factor impacting job satisfaction in dirty work occupations.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology