Psychometric properties of a job satisfaction survey in Slovakia in helping professionals: Preliminary results

Abstract

Problem statement. Job satisfaction is associated with positive outcomes at work and it also influences other aspects of life. Job satisfaction is regarded as an important sign of professional success and accomplishment. In the past decades, job satisfaction on the part of professional workers as a means of helping their professional development has received little attention in Slovakia. The purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was to adapt the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) to the Slovak language so that it can be employed in Slovakia, especially in terms of helping staff involved in social care. The aim of this study was to analyse psychometric properties such as the convergent and discriminant validity and the internal consistency of the JSS. Methods. Participants completed a 36-item Job Satisfaction Survey developed by Spector (1997). This scale was translated into Slovakian using forward and backward translation by native English speakers. For the improvement and assessment of these translations, we employed a meeting with professionals in the form of psychologists. External social work students, social workers, and other professionals from the helping professions associated with social care participated in the research and completed additional questionnaires, namely the Professional Quality of Life Scale, the Life Orientation Test – Revised, and the Well-Being Scale. Findings and Results. It was revealed that higher levels of job satisfaction were linked with optimism, higher occurrence of experiencing positive emotions and lower frequency of experiencing negative emotions. Confirmatory factor analysis failed to confirm nine original factors of the JSS. The coefficients of validity and reliability demonstrated satisfactory values. Conclusions. The preliminary results did not confirm the factor structure of JSS. Discriminant and convergent validity was deemed to be satisfactory, and therefore this scale could be used in the process of assessing the job satisfaction of workers in social institutions in a Slovakian context. Keywords: job satisfaction, helping professions, validity, reliability