Meaning of working: a study in the public and private sectors / Significado do trabalho: estudo nos setores público e privado

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Work has been seen not only as a means of obtaining income, but as an activity that promotes personal achievement, social status and the possibility of establishing and maintaining interpersonal contacts, among other factors. This research aimed to investigate the factors that influence and give meaning to work such as: - work centrality, which aimed to investigate the degree of the importance of work within the context of different areas of peoples lives, such as family, leisure, religion and life in community; - social norms, both as a supplier of conditions such as a collector of attitudes; - valued objectives and results, reflecting what one aspires to by working. Additionally it sought to identify different meanings depending on the respondents´ characteristics, especially considering workers from public and other sectors. Based in the literature, an initial model was developed, which did not prove satisfactory in light of the sample. The initial model was then replaced by another, from among four models examined. The chosen model presented the best goodnessof- fit under the structural equation modeling using partial least square method. It was found, among other results, that the meaning of work reflects, by order, on the centrality of work, on valued objectives and results and finally, on social norms. Analyzing the differences between the public sector´s sub-sample and that of other sectors, it was concluded that the respondents in the public sector see work as a meaning for life, value the appropriateness of the tasks to their capacity and the variety of tasks. The respondents of other sectors, in turn, place a higher value on a proper working environment, good interpersonal relationships, the attractiveness of tasks and good remuneration. To complement the research, other techniques were used, such as logistic regression, comparison of means and exploratory factor analysis. With regard to work centrality, women have higher values than men, as do singles and those with higher education. If considering the influence of duty-oriented social norms, higher values were found for: women, singles, religious individuals, those with less dependents and those more satisfied with life. For the meaning of work, women stood out by showing higher values.

ASSUNTO(S)

administração pública organizational psychology models (multivariate analysis) work psicologia organizacional modelos (análise multivariada) public management trabalho

Documentos Relacionados