WORK AND SELF-ESTEEM

The purpose of this paper is to examine a sampling of the current research investigating self-esteem in relation to work or work-related variables. In this regard, a search of the Psych-Lit database revealed that in the last five years, over 180 studies had been conducted on self-esteem in the work setting. While it is not possible to review all of these studies, a representative sampling is examined here.

Mallinckrodt (1990) examined for relationships between work variables, job satisfaction, and self-esteem for a sample of 40 middle-aged professionals. All professionals were pretested after losing their jobs, and then posttested one year later. Of interest to Mallinckrodt was whether a hidden cost of job loss was decreased job satisfaction and/or self-esteem upon reemployment.

Findings showed that those who were employed one year later were indeed experiencing significantly less job satisfaction in their new positions than that they had experienced in their former positions. Dissatisfaction tended, primarily, to be associated with the factors of pay and company benefits. However, both self-esteem and internal locus of control (degree to which one feels his life circumstances are controlled by internal factors like choice, effort, decision, etc.) were elevated following reemployment. Interestingly, age was observed to be positively correlated with satisfaction on the new j

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(1986) stated: It is concluded that a social service agency will obtain higher worker effectiveness and less worker exhaustion by recognizing the need for worker independence, self-esteem acceptance, and support. (p.23) In a Canadian study, Jamal (1988) examined self-esteem in relation to moonlighting. Subject groups consisted of 404 rank-and-file workers, 252 firefighters, and 283 blue-collar workers. while groups did not show any differences on measures of mental and physical health, job satisfaction, job stress, job performance, and social support, a significant difference was found for self-esteem. Specifically, Jamal found that subjects who were moonlighting had significantly higher self-esteem scores than did subjects who were not moonlighting. In addition, moonlighters were found to be more dominant, practical, emotionally stable, masculine, and independent than nonmoonlighters. Tang, Liu and Vermillion (1987) examined self-esteem n relation to task difficult (easy or difficulty). During the first work period, subjects who were in the easy condition set higher goals than did subjects who were in the difficult condition. When conditions were compared, it was found that high self-esteem subjects in the easy work task
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2327
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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