A national study of the relationship of demographic, psychological, and situational variables to job involvement of student affairs professionals in community and junior colleges

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of demographic, psychological, and situational variables on the job involvement, or psychological identification with work, of student affairs professionals in community and junior colleges in the United States. Job involvement is related to the quality of life for individuals and effectiveness for organizations. It is influenced by individual and situational characteristics.

A national sample of 430 was drawn. Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire and analyzed using multiple regression analysis.

Two individual difference variables were significant contributors to job involvement in this sample: work involvement and satisfaction,with the amount of respect and recognition received for one's work. Work involvement, the belief that work should satisfy one's needs, was the greatest influence on job involvement. An unexpected finding was that higher involvement was related to low satisfaction with the amount of respect and recognition received. Student affairs professionals were job involvement despite the lack of respect and recognition.

Job skill variety, satisfaction with the opportunity for promotion, and satisfaction with the interesting and enjoyable nature of the work were expected to be significantly related to job involvement. Although nonsignificant, those variables did merit discussion because of their prominence in the literature of student affairs.

Job involvement in this sample was influenced by the combination of many individual and situational variables. Professionals in student affairs reported a high quality of work life as evidenced by the high involvement score. This high involvement was influenced most by individual variables. They will probably continue to be vital and energetic even in times of rapid external change because, unlike individuals in business and industry, their involvement was not significantly influenced by situational variables.