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糖心传媒 professor takes a look at the a theory that having God in the workplace leads to greater job satisfaction. See what he found.
December 10, 2019

God in the Workplace

Abstract

Given the myriad positive effects of job satisfaction, analyzing its determinants continues to be a聽much-examined topic in public administration. Likewise, the work done on religiosity in the聽public sector suggests that faith is uniquely important among bureaucrats, but its direct effect聽on their jobs remains unexamined. This study brings together these fields to examine the role聽that religiosity plays in job satisfaction among public servants. Using a framework that聽integrates religion into the public sector workplace, it is hypothesized that religiosity will have a聽positive effect on job satisfaction. Drawing on data from the General Social Survey from 2000 to聽2016, results from an ordered logit model support the hypothesis. This study demonstrates that聽faith does have a direct impact in the workplace, which has numerous implications for public聽administration, ranging from management practices to service delivery.

Introduction

Religion can cause tension in the workplace, especially within the public sector. Public聽managers often have to negotiate requests from employees concerning the exercise of their faith聽on the job, such as if and where public prayer may be allowed or how to accommodate religious聽dress. This reconciliation can even impact the implementation of policy, such as when a county聽clerk in Kentucky cited her religious beliefs when she ordered that her office would no longer聽issue marriage licenses.聽

However, while the interplay of religion and the public sector is a regular occurrence,聽there are still many questions in this field in the academic literature. For example, while it has聽been found that faith plays a heightened role among government workers, its direct effects on聽their jobs remains unexamined. Scholars have found that faith is not only more prevalent among聽those in the public sector, but that they are also more likely to want to incorporate their faith in聽their jobs (Houston & Cartwright, 2007; Freeman & Houston, 2010; Houston et al., 2008).聽

What scholars have not yet analyzed is the impact of that faith in their work.聽As a first step in this direction, this article examines the role of religiosity on job聽satisfaction among bureaucrats. Given the various positive behaviors associated with job聽satisfaction, any potential determinant of it merits detailed examination. Using a framework聽that focuses on the needs of the religious and the fulfillment of those needs, it is hypothesized聽that job satisfaction is higher among religious bureaucrats than non-religious bureaucrats.聽

To test this, data from the General Social Survey (GSS) covering a sixteen-year span from聽2000 to 2016 was used. An ordered logit model found support for the hypothesis. Bureaucrats聽that were religious were more likely to say that they were very satisfied with their jobs than聽those that were not religious.聽

These results suggest that religiosity impacts how bureaucrats view their work.聽Therefore, it may be reasonable to next investigate if the actions of bureaucrats while on the job聽are also shaped by their faith. This could have important consequences for management as they聽learn how to best lead their workers. Furthermore, it should be better understood which types of聽bureaucrats may be more religious. Future studies may also wish to consider the behavioral聽implications of religion within the workplace.聽

The article will proceed as follows. The literature will be reviewed, followed by the聽presentation of the hypothesis. The data will then be described. The results will be examined,聽followed by a discussion of their implications and then a brief conclusion.聽

Literature Review and Hypothesis

Though defined in various ways, job satisfaction centers around the joy derived from聽labor. Spector (1997) labeled it as 鈥渢he degree to which people like their jobs鈥 (vii). In the realm聽of public administration, Jilke (2016) defined it as 鈥…the outcome of employees鈥 individual聽expectations from their jobs and what they perceive they get鈥 (374). Simply put, when scholars聽concern themselves with job satisfaction, they are focused on how much people enjoy what they聽do for a living.聽

There have been numerous studies on job satisfaction within both the private and public聽sector. From 2000-2018, hundreds of articles that discussed job satisfaction were published in聽peer-reviewed academic journals, based on a search of the term 鈥渏ob satisfaction鈥 in the聽abstracts of peer-reviewed articles. As was noted by Jilke (2016), there have been almost a score聽of articles published annually on job satisfaction in public management since 2000.聽

Job satisfaction may be a popular research topic due to the number of positive attitudes聽and behaviors associated with it. Perhaps most notably, there is an association between job聽satisfaction and performance (Judge et al., 2001; Kim, 2005; Borgogni et al., 2010). Job 1听satisfaction is also associated with other behaviors, such as increased job commitment (Meyer et聽al., 2002) and decreased turnover intent (Tschopp et al., 2014).聽

There are also correlates of job satisfaction that are unique to the public sector. For聽example, satisfaction among public sector employees tends to be more strongly linked to聽affective and normative job commitment than private sector employees (Markovits et al., 2010).听Additionally, those that are satisfied are less likely to want to switch to the private sector聽(Kankaanranta et al., 2007).聽

Given the positive outcomes associated with job satisfaction, it is unsurprising that there聽have been numerous studies trying to determine its causes. Within the public sector, scholars聽have analyzed several different types of determinants. Some have looked to individual-level聽factors, such as demographic characteristics (Jung et al., 2007) or personality traits (Cooper et聽al., 2014). Others have looked to more intermediate factors, such as organizational聽characteristics (Steijn 2004). There has also been a focus on more macro-factors, such as regime聽change (Jilke, 2016) or government budget cuts (Keifer, 2014). In one of the more聽comprehensive studies to date, Taylor and Westover (2011) found that public service motivation,聽intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics, and work relations all contribute to job satisfaction.聽

However, there remains a factor that has been largely neglected in the literature on job聽satisfaction: religiosity.聽

There have been few studies concerning religion in the public sector. Over the past聽twenty years, the number of articles concerning these two topics is less than a dozen. This may聽be due to the level of discomfort among public administrators in discussing faith. For example, in a survey of ASPA members, Bruce (2000) found that a majority believed that it was聽inappropriate to discuss spirituality in the profession of public administration. Among those聽that were not personally spiritual, this number was closer to eighty percent. As King (2007)聽wrote, 鈥淥nce the idea of religion or spirituality is raised, public administration professionals –聽academic and practitioner alike – raise the red flag and wave it furiously…鈥 (110).聽

Those articles in public administration that do discuss religiosity tend to cluster around聽similar themes. A few call on those in the public sector to use spiritual wisdom or the teachings聽of Jesus in public administration (Lynch & Lynch, 1999; deHaven-Smith, 2003). Others make聽preliminary observations on the role of spirituality among bureaucrats and urge more work to聽be done (Bruce, 2000; Lowery, 2005). In a broad look at this issue, King (2007) introduced a聽model that reconciled religiosity and spirituality in the private sector and suggested how it could聽be used in the public sector.聽

Some of the more quantitative approaches suggest both descriptive and practical effects聽of religiosity among public servants. Studies have shown that bureaucrats were generally more聽spiritual and more committed to their faith than those in the private sector (Houston &聽Freeman, 2007; Freeman & Houston, 2010). Beyond mere differences in practice, however,聽bureaucrats were also more likely to report that they try to carry their religious beliefs into the聽workplace than those in the private sector (Houston et al., 2008). This is in line with Lowery聽(2005), who noted in interviews with religious bureaucrats that they say that their faith informs聽their work. In other words, not only are bureaucrats more likely to be religious, they are also聽more likely to try to infuse their faith into their jobs than those working elsewhere. However,聽while bureaucrats may want to be guided by their faith in the workplace, studies have yet to聽show if they do . What remains to be analyzed is if faith has any direct impact on the work of聽those in the public sector that are religious.聽

What should be the expected effect of religiosity on the job satisfaction of bureaucrats?聽

For this, returning to the work of King (2007) may provide a suggestion. King (2007) sought a聽way to integrate religion and spirituality into the workplace. For this, he turned to the work of聽Nash and McLennan (2001) and their definition of 鈥渃atalytic engagement鈥 with religion.聽

Catalytic engagement defines religious practice as learning about or feeling the presence of God聽or some equivalent and then becoming 鈥減ersonally enhanced鈥 because of it (Nash and聽McLennan 2001, 230). This is religiosity as an inflection point leading to transformation. This 2听is not religiosity manifesting itself in the form of proselytizing or by only relying on religious聽texts in moments of ethical quandary. Rather, this is religiosity as it alters concrete elements of聽the needs and perceived fulfillment of those needs within people. Catalytic engagement with聽

faith would allow religious believers to incorporate their religiosity into the workplace as they聽focus on fulfilling specific needs brought on by their beliefs.聽Based on this framework, which needs are altered by religiosity, and how could such聽needs be fulfilled in the public sector workplace? It has been shown that having a religious or聽spiritual experience can have myriad attitudinal effects, such as increased sense of 鈥渟mall self鈥澛or of spiritual humility (Preston and Shin 2017). Such religious experiences may also have聽behavioral effects, such as getting people to think beyond themselves and to focus on serving聽other people (Fredrickson 2002, Piedmont 1999). There is abundant evidence that those that聽are more religious are more likely to serve others, whether through helping neighbors or the聽homeless (Broosk 2006, Putnam and Campbell 2010), volunteering (Uslaner 2002, Ruiter and聽De Graff 2006, Putnam and Campbell 2010), or by being more civically active (Wald and聽Calhoun-Brown 2007, Smidt 2008). This suggests that there is a need among the religious to聽serve other people and that they seek to fulfill this need.聽

It is this 鈥渘eed to serve鈥 that may connect religiosity to job satisfaction in the public聽sector. Public employees serve others by the very nature of their employment; their jobs directly聽focus on their communities. Religious bureaucrats may then fulfill this need to serve by working聽for the government. The need to serve others may be stronger among the religious, and work in聽the public sector serves others, so those that are religious should be more satisfied with their聽work than those that are not. Based on this, religiosity should have a positive effect on job聽satisfaction in the public sector.聽

Therefore, the following argument is made in this article. Bureaucrats have been found聽to be more religious than those in the private sector, but it remains to be seen how this directly聽impacts their work. Those that are religious are 鈥減ersonally enhanced鈥 by a religious or spiritual聽experience. This 鈥渆nhancement鈥 leads to changes in the needs and perceived fulfillment of those聽needs in those people. One of those needs is a desire to serve the community. Working in the聽public sector gives those that are religious a chance to fulfill that need. Given that job聽satisfaction is defined as how much people enjoy what they do for a living, it is thus聽hypothesized that those that are religious in the public sector will have higher job satisfaction聽than those that are not. 3听

H1: Job satisfaction will be higher among religious bureaucrats than non-religious bureaucrats.

Data and Methods

Data comes from the General Social Survey (GSS), a full-probability survey that conducts聽in-person interviews. The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago has聽been administering the GSS since 1972. Alongside standard demographic questions, the survey聽also includes questions concerning other assorted and sundry topics. Based on the availability of聽questions, the data for this article comes from the surveys administered every other year from聽2000 through 2016 for a total of nine different surveys. Given the nature of the question聽motivating this article, the sample will be limited to only include the responses from聽bureaucrats. To determine if a respondent is a bureaucrat, answers to the survey question, 鈥淎re聽you employed by the federal, state or local government or by a private employer (including聽non-profit organizations)鈥 will be used.聽

The dependent variable is a measure of job satisfaction. The question used asks, 鈥淥n the聽whole, how satisfied are you with the work that you do – would you say you are very satisfied,聽moderately satisfied, a little satisfied, or very dissatisfied?鈥 Given the ordinal nature of the聽responses to the question, an ordered logit model will be used to model the data.聽

The key independent variable is a measure of religiosity. It has been long agreed upon in聽the literature that there are multiple dimensions to religiosity (Durkheim 1912; Stark and Glock聽1968; Vaillancourt 2008); therefore, this analysis will use multiple measures in attempt to聽capture these dimensions. It has been argued by several scholars that religiosity can be collapsed聽into two categories: public and private (Wuthnow 1993; Graham and Haidt 2010; Van Tienen et 2011; Paxton et al. 2014). Public religiosity are those actions that others may witness, while聽private religiosity is concerned with more personal displays of devotion. In accordance with聽those studies, public religiosity will be measured as church attendance and private religiosity聽will be measured as frequency of prayer. 4

Next, these two categories have to be coded. The question used to public religiosity聽asked, 鈥淗ow often do you attend religious services?鈥 Answers ranged from, 鈥淣ever,鈥 to, 鈥淢ore聽than once a week.鈥 This variable was thus coded as days per year and then log transformed to聽reduce skew. Such a transformation is common in the literature (Lim and Putnam 2010; Paxton 5听et al. 2014). The question used to measure private religiosity asked, 鈥淎bout how often do you聽pray?鈥 The answers to the question ranged from, 鈥淣ever,鈥 to 鈥淪everal times a day.鈥 Given that聽the responses do not allow for a differentiation between higher frequency of prayer (ex. someone聽who prayed twice a day and someone who prayed five times a day would be coded in the same聽category), the variable will be dummy coded, with those who pray at least once a day coded as 1听and all others as 0. This is also in keeping with the literature (Paxton et al. 2014). 6听

Other independent variables will be used as controls in the model. In keeping with other聽recent work on job satisfaction in the public sector (Van Ryzin, 2014; Jilke, 2016), various聽demographic variables will be included, such as age, education, race, and sex. Both personal聽income and family income will be measured, as well as hours worked. The continuous variables聽will be age, personal income, and family income; the remaining variables will be dummy coded.聽

Descriptive statistics for the variables are available in the Appendix.聽

Results

First, the religiosity and faiths of those in the public sector will be examined. Concerning聽the public measure of religiosity, over 30% of bureaucrats attend church at least once a week. 7听

This is over five percentage points greater than the number of those in the private sector that聽attend church at least once a week. For the private measure of religiosity, almost 60% of聽bureaucrats reported praying at least once a day, which is about three percentage points higher聽than those in the private sector. This is similar to the findings in earlier works that suggested聽that bureaucrats were more religious than others (Houston et al., 2008).聽

Table 1: Percentage Of Workers That Are Religious by Job Sector and Religiosity (n=1397)聽

搁别濒颈驳颈辞蝉颈迟测听

Job Sector Public Private聽

Public Sector 30.38 61.27听

Non-Public Sector 24.15 58.22听

To what religions do bureaucrats belong? Among all bureaucrats in the sample, about聽55% identified as Protestant, 22% as Catholic, 2% as Jewish, and 15% as 鈥渘one,鈥 meaning they聽did not identify with a specific faith, were atheist, or were agnostic. This distribution is slightly聽out of step with the rest of the country, but is in line with previous studies of religion in the聽public sector. According to a Pew Forum survey conducted in 2014, about 70% of Americans聽identify as Christian, with about 45% identifying as Protestant and 20% as Catholic (Pew 2014).聽

Around 6% identify with a non-Christian faith, with Jews occupying 2% of the total and the rest聽scattered among Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and other faiths. Those that are atheist, agnostic,聽or 鈥渘othing in particular鈥 total over a fifth of the sample, with those falling in the latter category聽making up over 15% of the total sample. In summary, Christians, specifically Protestants, are聽overrepresented in the public sector, while the 鈥渘ones鈥 are underrepresented. This echoes the聽findings from earlier studies that found that bureaucrats were more likely to identify with a聽religion than those in the private sector (Houston & Freeman, 2007; Freeman & Houston,聽2010).听

The results in table 2 display the distribution of religious membership of bureaucrats聽among those who identify with a religion. The table shows that the sample is overwhelmingly聽Christian, with almost 95% identifying as such. More than 60% of the total sample identified as聽Protestant, with another almost 30% identified as Catholics. Around another 4% are either聽Orthodox-Christian, interdenominational or refer to themselves simply as 鈥淐hristian.鈥 Aside聽from Judaism, no other specific faith totals more than a percentage point.聽

Table 2: Faiths of Bureaucrats Who Identify With A Religion (n=1187) Name Percentage聽

Protestant 60.84聽

Catholic 28.75听

Christian 3.63听

Jewish 2.19听

Other 1.33听

Buddhism 0.84聽

Islam 0.61听

Inter-Denominational 0.58听

Orthodox-Christian 0.51听

Hinduism 0.42听

Other Eastern 0.18听

Native American 0.13听

Next, the distribution of job satisfaction among all bureaucrats will be reviewed. As can聽be seen in the following table, most bureaucrats are satisfied with their jobs. Almost half say that聽they are fully satisfied with their jobs. Less than 13% said that they were either a little satisfied聽

or very dissatisfied with their work.聽

Figure 1: Job Satisfaction Among Government Employees聽

Figure 2: Job Satisfaction Among Government Employees By Public 搁别濒颈驳颈辞蝉颈迟测听

Does this distribution change when the satisfaction of religious bureaucrats is analyzed聽separately? The following figures show the differences in satisfaction between religious and聽non-religious bureaucrats using each measure of religiosity. Those that attend church at least聽once a week appear to be less likely to say they are very dissatisfied, a little satisfied, or聽moderately satisfied with their jobs than those that are not religious. However, they appear to be聽almost 10 percentage points more likely to say that they are very satisfied with their jobs. This聽finding is echoed when considering the private measure of religiosity. While those that pray at聽least once a day are almost seven percentage points less likely to say that they are moderately聽satisfied with their jobs, they are about ten percentage points more likely to say that they are聽very satisfied. These figures provides prima facie support for the proposed hypothesis. While聽these results are suggestive, they do require additional analysis.聽

Figure 3: Job Satisfaction Among Government Employees By Private 搁别濒颈驳颈辞蝉颈迟测听

The results of the ordered logit model are described in the following table. Standard 8听

errors are clustered by year. The impact of the control variables is in line with the rest of the聽

literature on job satisfaction; while age, sex, income, and education had no effect, being white聽

and working more hours tended to increase the odds of being satisfied. 9听

Table 3: Ordered Logit Model of Job Satisfaction, 2000-2016 Variables Odds Ratio Std. Err.聽

Public Religiosity 1.02 0.04聽

Private Religiosity 1.40 0.15听

White 1.84 0.25听

Age 1.01 0.01听

Male 0.97 0.08听

College 0.82 0.09听

Personal Income 1.01 0.03听

Family Income 0.98 0.07听

Work Hours 1.23 0.10聽

Cut One -2.63 1.04聽

Cut Two -1.20 1.12听

Cut Three 0.88 1.16听

N 1397听

Pseudo R2 0.02听

AIC 2616.82听

BIC 2658.76 * Note: Variables significant at the 0.05-level are in 产辞濒诲听

Most important, both measures of religiosity had a positive effect on job satisfaction.聽

Turning first to the public measure of religiosity, a one unit increase in the natural log of church聽attendance increases the odds of being very satisfied as opposed to being either moderately聽satisfied, a little satisfied, or very dissatisfied by 1.02, all else constant. With respect to the聽measure of private religiosity, moving from not praying at least once a day to praying at least聽once a day, the odds of being very satisfied as opposed to being either moderately satisfied, a聽little satisfied, or very dissatisfied are 1.40 greater, all else constant.聽

The effect of religiosity on job satisfaction is displayed graphically in the following figure.聽Those who do not pray at least once a day have a predicted probability of being very satisfied of聽0.53, all else constant. For those that do pray at least once a day, that predicted probability聽moves to 0.61, all else constant. This helps demonstrate that the effect of religiosity on job聽satisfaction is both statistical and substantive.聽

Figure 4: Predicted Probability of Being 鈥淰ery Satisfied鈥 by Private Religiosity with 95% Confidence Intervals聽

Discussion

The results of this study suggest that religious bureaucrats are more likely to be satisfied聽with their jobs. Given the plethora of other variables that have also been found to exert an effect聽on job satisfaction, locating another relevant variable is notable. Additionally, finding that it has聽such an impact in the public sector is important, given the unique role played by government聽employees and the sorts of tasks they are given.聽

What are some of the implications of this finding? Since this study shows that religious聽beliefs do exert an effect in the workplace, figuring out what to do with this information is聽important. Those that are in the public sector will not be making hiring decisions based on聽religiosity, so the effects of religiosity need to be understood more in the context of聽management. For example, managers should make sure that the workplace is supportive of聽those that are religious. Pargament (2002) noted that when religious identity was not supported聽in the community, religious adherents may suffer emotional distress; this could carry over into聽the workplace.聽

The framework of catalytic engagement may be useful in examining these and other聽related questions. Managers may wish to look at the needs of their workers and see if and how聽the workplace can meet those needs. Borrowing the language from Klinger et al. (2015), focusing聽on need fulfillment may separate organizations from focusing on creating a 鈥渃ulture of聽commitment鈥 to a 鈥渃ulture of compliance鈥 (219).聽

To do this, managers may also wish to borrow ideas and language from the literature on聽diversity management. The findings from this paper suggest that religious public sector聽employees may have different needs than others. As was noted by Groeneveld (2011) in her聽study of diversity management, policies in the public sector workplace need to reflect the diverse聽needs and values of different groups of employees. Learning how to meet and fulfill those needs聽has tangible consequences for the workplace. For example, the successful implementation of聽diversity management can lead to an increased sense of well being (Mor Barak and Levin 2002).聽

There are other implications of this finding. Studies have long shown a link between job聽satisfaction and tenure (March & Simon, 1958; Dougherty et al., 1985; Brown & Peterson, 1993;聽Tschopp et al., 2014; Brawley & Pury, 2016). With increases in tenure normally come increases聽in power. Given that, it may be reasonable to assume that those bureaucrats who stay in their聽jobs the longest and have accrued more power and responsibilities may also be more religious聽than others, but such a claim would first merit investigation. How does religiosity impact how a聽bureaucrat executes her or his job? The implications of such an arrangement are ripe for future聽别虫补尘颈苍补迟颈辞苍.听

Additionally, little is known about which types of bureaucrats are religious. This study聽grouped together bureaucrats of all levels and all vocations. It is possible that some areas of聽government work may be more attractive to religious bureaucrats, but this needs to be聽determined. Are religious bureaucrats more likely to work in positions that are people-facing, or聽do they prefer to work in anonymity? Are religious bureaucrats more likely to want to work in聽their own communities, or do they want to serve the entire country? These and other questions聽remain to be explored.聽

In a similar vein, this study only focused on the United States. The religious composition聽of the US is changing; fewer people identify with any religion, while there has been growth in聽smaller faiths, such as Islam and Buddhism. Additionally, the idea of a separation of church and聽state is foundational to the country. What happens in bureaucracies where the government聽better resembles a theocracy? How might an adherence to a particular faith impact the delivery聽of services? These are other areas worthy of study.聽

Furthermore, this study only used two variables to measure religiosity. Other studies of聽religiosity have included question batteries or other variables to capture this multidimensional聽concept. While both church attendance and frequency of prayer are commonly used to measure聽religiosity, the use of other measurement techniques would serve to bolster these conclusions.聽

Conclusion

Scholars have long examined the causes and effects of job satisfaction in the public聽sector. However, the role of faith had yet to be incorporated into those studies. Based on prior聽work in the fields of religion and in public administration, it was hypothesized that increases in聽religiosity would increase job satisfaction. Using surveys covering an almost 20 year period,聽statistical models support the hypothesis, suggesting that those bureaucrats that were more聽religious tended to be more satisfied with their jobs.聽

For scholars, this article provides more support for the idea that bureaucrats may not be聽neutral instruments in their implementation of the law. Though Weber (1922, 2013) may have聽called for a neutral, rational administration, studies have shown the degree to which discretion聽and active representation shape the implementation of policies (Lipsky, 1980; Denhardt &聽deLeon, 1995; Sowa & Selden, 2003). Though they may have expressed some reservation in the聽past, scholars should not shy away from studying how faith may impact the delivery of聽government services.聽

For practitioners, this finding suggests that religion may play an important role in the聽work lives of their fellow bureaucrats. One of the implications of this is to make sure that the聽workplace remains a tolerant and respectful place for those of all religious persuasions.聽

Likewise, this may also encourage public servants to increase their knowledge of various faiths聽so that they may better understand their coworkers.聽

Bureaucracy remains an essential element to good governance. For many, religion聽remains an essential part of life. It is hoped that this study increases the understanding of these聽two oft-maligned, yet vital, entities.聽

Disclosure Statement

The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest that relate to the research, authorship, or publication of this article.聽

Appendix: Descriptive Statistics Variable Mean Std. Dev. Min Max N聽

Job Satisfaction 3.46 0.72 1 4 1397听

Public Religiosity 2.36 1.74 -0.69 4.64 1397听

Private Religiosity 0.66 0.47 0 1 1397听

White 0.73 0.45 0 1 1397听

Age 44.86 12.40 19 88 1397听

Male 0.39 0.49 0 1 1397听

College 0.43 0.50 0 1 1397听

Personal Income 10.89 2.40 1 12 1397听

Family Income 11.63 1.30 2 12 1397听

Work Hours 0.20 0.40 0 1 1397听


Author Biography

糖心传媒 professor takes a look at the a theory that having God in the workplace leads to greater job satisfaction. See what he found.Michael Bednarczuk is an Adjunct Instructor of Political Science at Ohio University – Chillicothe. His research has appeared in a variety of journals, including The American Review of Public Administration , Administration & Society , and Public Administration Quarterly .


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1 However, there are some studies in which job satisfaction had no effect on performance (Keavney and Nelson 1993, Shore and Martin 1989). Furthermore, the exact causal mechanism for the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is still disputed (see Judge et al. 2001).
2 This is similar to Pargament鈥檚 (1997) conception of religion as 鈥渁 search for significance in ways related to the sacred鈥 (32), which includes objects such as community and work that are sacred due to their relation with a higher power.
3 It may also be argued that the religious will have higher job satisfaction because they view all of their work as a way of serving God. If this was the causal mechanism at work, then the effect of religiosity on job satisfaction should be the same across the private and the public sector. To test this, an additional model was run using private sector employees, and both the private sector and public sector models were then compared using seemingly unrelated regression. The effect of religiosity on job satisfaction was significantly larger in the public sector than in the private sector. This suggests that the effect of religiosity in the public sector is different from that in the private sector.
4 Tests showed that these variables should not be combined into one measure (ex. Cronbach鈥檚 alpha was less than 0.6), nor were they collinear, so they will be modeled as separate variables.
5 Other methods of scaling attendance, such as a dummy for those who attended at least once a week, were modeled and did not alter the substantive findings.
6 Other methods of scaling prayer, such as a categorical variable, were modeled and did not alter the substantive findings.
7 While this variable is coded as the natural log of the frequency of attendance at religious services in the statistical models used in this article, it is presented as a dummy in this descriptive section for ease of interpretation.聽
8 Other models were tested, such as a fixed effects model. Also, the analysis was re-run for every specific year. The results were robust across the various specifications.聽
9 It is possible that job satisfaction is confounded with life satisfaction. While it is suggested that the relationship between job and life satisfaction only runs from job satisfaction through life satisfaction in the public sector (Mafini and Dlodlo 2014), there are other studies that find a more reciprocal relationship across sectors (see Unanue et al. 2017). While there was not a measure of life satisfaction in the dataset, there was a measure of happiness, and these two measures have been shown to be highly related over time (DeJonge et al. 2016). This measure was included as an independent variable and the results were statistically and substantively unchanged, so it has been omitted.聽