This study examines the relationship between structural occupational conditions and psychological and attitudinal outcomes of work. Specifically, it addresses how structural conditions that determine how a worker must present him/herself to clients/customers affect conditions of self-esteem, mastery, locus of control, and job satisfaction for workers while on the job. Existing research in the social psychology of work does not address this relationship alone. This study defines this relationship by drawing on concepts from the three major perspectives within the social psychology of work: social structure and personality, symbolic interactionism, and psychological social psychology.
Data was collected via a web-based computer adaptive survey. Of the 21,988 Kent State University students solicited to participate in the study, 1,280 individuals responded.
This study also reveals how patterns of interaction, facilitated by structural occupational conditions, between workers and clients/customers affect workers’ psychological and attitudinal outcomes.