A study of work autonomy and job satisfication of social workers in Metropolotan Atlanta, 1995

The purpose of this study was to analyze, describe and explain the relationship between work autonomy and job satisfaction of social workers. The study analyzed facets of work autonomy and job satisfaction in order to explain the contributions of the independent variables to variation in the dependent variables and to determine which of these facets were predictors of work autonomy and job satisfaction for social workers. Survey research was employed in a metropolitan area involving a randomly selected sample of 371 social worker respondents compiled from lists of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) and Clark Atlanta University School of Social Work. The independent variables of the study were gender, ethnicity, education, annual income and age group. The questionnaire employed two instruments. Breaugh's Work Autonomy (BWA) Scale measured work autonomy and the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) measured job satisfaction. The work autonomy facets of methods, scheduling, and criteria; and the job satisfaction facets of work, pay, coworkers, promotions and supervision were codifed, measured and analyzed. The findings of the study indicated a statistically significant relationship between the work autonomy and job satisfaction of social workers: there was a statistically significant relationship between work autonomy, job satisfaction and the annual income of social workers; the methods facet was a predictor of work autonomy; the supervision facet was a predictor of job satisfaction; and, of the 371 social worker respondents, 78.9% experienced some work autonomy and 51.6% experienced some job satisfaction in their jobs