A Comparison of Workers Employed in Hazardous Jobs in Terms of Job Satisfaction,

Perceived Job Risk and Stress: Turkish Jean Sandblasting Workers, Dock Workers,
Factory Workers and Miners
Author(s): Ayda Buyuksahin Sunal, Onur Sunal and Fatma Yasin
Source: Social Indicators Research, Vol. 102, No. 2 (June 2011), pp. 265-273
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41476481
Accessed: 01-04-2019 10:29 UTC

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Soc Indie Res (2011) 102:265-273
DOI 10.1007/sl 1205-010-9679-3

A Comparison of Workers Employed in Hazardous

Jobs in Terms of Job Satisfaction, Perceived Job Risk
and Stress: Turkish Jean Sandblasting Workers, Dock
Workers, Factory Workers and Miners

Ayda Buyuksahin Sunal * Onur Sunal • Fatma Yasin

Accepted: 27 June 2010/ Published online: 31 July 2010

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Abstract The purpose of this study is to compare job satisfaction, perception of job risk,
stress symptoms and vulnerability to stress of miners, dock workers, jean sandblasting
workers and factory workers. A job satisfaction scale and stress audit scale were applied to
220 workers. Results revealed that dock and jean sandblasting workers perceived their work
as more risky compared to other workers. Jean sandblasting workers also had the lowest
scores on job satisfaction subscales (organisational policies, physical conditions, interper-
sonal relations, individual factors, autonomy and wage) and total job satisfaction. Likewise,
dock workers had lower scores on job satisfaction than factory workers and miners.
Analyses also showed that miners did not differ from factory workers in terms of job
satisfaction and stress symptoms. Moreover, jean sandblasting workers and dock workers
obtained higher scores on stress symptoms. Jean sandblasting workers were also found to be
the group that had the highest level of vulnerability to stress. Perceived job risk, vulnera-
bility to stress and stress symptoms were the most important predictors of job satisfaction.

Keywords Hazardous jobs • Perceived job risk • Job satisfaction • Stress symptoms •
Vulnerability to stress

Job satisfaction can be defined as individuals' positive and negative feelings and attitudes
about their work (Schultz and Schultz 1994). Job satisfaction has been shown to be
associated with various factors such as job characteristics (self actualisation, level of
responsibility), interpersonal relationships (friends and others), institutional factors
(administrative policies, job safety, wage, etc.), working environments and conditions

A. B. Sunal (El)
Faculty of Letters, Department of Psychology, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
e-mail: bsahin@humanity.ankara.edu.tr

O. Sunal
Faculty of Commercial Sciences, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

F. Yasin
Kardelen Special Education, Ankara, Turkey

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 266 А. В. Sunal et al.

(working with heavy

and §ahin 2006). Wor
satisfaction (Malek e
vibration), chemical
(viruses, bacteria, fu
radiation etc.) are job
accidents and injuries
rescue workers (Cha
construction worker
One study (Goldenh
workers who were in
encing an injury. Also
at greater risk of ex
stressors and injuries
1995). Similarly, Mac
stressed and those w
reaux et al. (1997) stu
emergency service pr
dictors
for more seve
study conducted with
negative correlations
also demonstrated tha
levels of occupational
intention (Duraisingam
that interpersonal rel
tions. Some studies
incident, firefighters
Similarly, occupatio
workers may encount
various hazardous re
painting and finish co
ionizing-non ionizing
vapour, mist, paint, s
possesses a high risk o
is used on a surface of
where materials comp
includes silica particles
by the workers. Duri
inhaled by workers w
greater risk of develo
caused by inhalation (
silicosis, because of th
compound in the ear
employed in the info
result of the nature of
are taken. As no skills
low. In Turkey, thes
employed in workplac
sandblasting workers

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A Comparison of Workers Employed in Hazardous jobs 267

silicosis (§ahbaz et al. 2007). In a recent circular, issued by The Turki

sandblasting of jeans was banned to prevent the development of incu
been a growing number of media reports which all revealed the ve
working conditions in sandblasting ateliers. Among the workers inter
well below the minimum legal level and hardly any of them ha
coverage (Arpa 2008). Miners can also face explosions which are co
main hazards in this sector. Similarly, dock workers might become v
from falls from heights and electric shocks (Turkish Ministry of H
strated, Turkish miners, dock workers and jean sandblasting worker
pational conditions. As mentioned before, working in hazardous con
satisfaction and psychological stress levels (Motowidlo et al. 1986).
In Turkey, when we take previous studies conducted with haz
groups into consideration, it can be seen that mostly emergency work
(Duruduygu et al. 2003), health professionals (Acicbe et al. 2003)
(Yilmaz and §ahin 2007) are examined. However, no research has
miners, dock workers, and jean sandblasting workers in Turkey. Th
study was to compare hazardous occupational groups in terms of job
risk and stress levels. Besides, factory workers which are considered
risky jobs compared to other hazardous occupational groups are also
These workers are employed in highly reputable and well know
production companies where occupational health and safety stand
code standards are met, and are frequently inspected by governmen
The hypotheses were as follows:

• Hypothesis 1: Due to lower risk of acquiring fatal illnesses and

accidents, factory workers were expected to obtain the lowest scores
• Hypothesis 2: Since factory workers have relatively less heavy
working conditions, we expected factory workers to obtain the
satisfaction and job satisfaction subscales. Also, miners were expec
scores on job satisfaction than jean sandblasting workers and do
• Hypothesis 3: Sandblasting ateliers are characterised by very u
working conditions which might be considered as sweatshops
prevalence of silicosis which is a fatal occupational illness
workers. Also, dock workers have very heavy duties and their wo
great risk of facing occupational accidents; therefore, sandblast
workers were expected to report greater stress symptoms and vu
• Hypothesis 4: It was expected that vulnerability to stress, percei
symptoms would negatively predict job satisfaction.

1 Method

1.1 Participants

Participants comprised 220 male workers from three different Turkish cities (Istanbul
Bursa and Kocaeli). Fifty-nine were miners, 44 were dock workers, 39 were sandblastin
workers and 78 were factory workers (food processing companies), whose ages ranged
between 17 and 55 ( M = 29.50; SD = 7.11). Among 220 workers, 134 (61%) were
married, 82 (37%) were single and 4 (2%) were divorced. Eight of the participants (4%)

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 268 А. В. Sunal et al.

were only literate

school graduates, 6
graduates. Eighty-
(20%) workers in a
The mean monthly wages of the participants was 745,43 TL or 497 USD
(SD = 257,27). The average years of employment was 4.66 years (SD = 5.66). Partici-
pants reported that their current work was their on average 3.31st (SD = 3.14) job.

1.2 Procedure

The purpose of the study was explained to the participants and then scales were given t
them. Participation was voluntary and their answers were kept anonymously. The appli
cation of scales took 30-45 min.

1.3 Measures

1.3.1 Demographic Information

The questionnaire included demographic characteristics such as: age, level of education
marital status and the place where they spent the majority of their lives, monthly income
and number of different workplaces they were employed. Also, their perception of the risk
level of their jobs was measured on a seven point Likert-type scale ranging from not at all
risky (/) to very risky (7).

1.3.2 Stress Scale

The Stress scale was developed by Miller et al. (1988) and adapted to Turkish culture
§ahin and Durak (1994). Stress audit 4.2-OS consists of three parts (stress symptoms, a
vulnerability to stress, stress related factors). The vulnerability to stress scale has 20 item
and in a study conducted with bankers (1994), Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was found .7
Higher scores indicate vulnerability to stress. Stress symptoms scale consist of seven sub
scales: muscular system (a = .92), parasympathetic nervous system (a = .91), sympa-
thetic nervous system (a = .94), emotional system (a = .93), cognitive system (a = .91)
endocrine system (a = .95), immune system (a = .96). In current study total scores
(a = .96) were used. Higher scores indicate the presence of more symptoms.

1.3.3 Job Satisfaction Scales

This is a 32 item inventory developed by Durak-Batigün and §ahin (2006) to measure j

satisfaction. This scale has six factors: Organisational policies (a = .94), individual facto
(a = .87), physical conditions (a = .74), control/autonomy (a = 76), wage (a = .64
interpersonal factors (a = .60). The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the total scale wa
found to be .94.

2 Results

MANOVA was performed treating occupational groups (dock workers, factory worker
jean sandblasting workers and miners) as the independent variables and perceived job risk

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A Comparison of Workers Employed in Hazardous jobs 269

JS subscales (organisational policies, physical conditions, interper

factors, autonomy and wage), total JS, stress symptoms and vulner
dependent variables., p < .05. The MANOVA revealed that
Lambda = .26, F (27, 608) = 13.38, p < .001, rj2 = .37) was the mai
all the following: for perceived risk, F(3,219) = 43.30, p < .001,
sational policies, F(3,219) = 57.97, p < .001, rj2 = .45; for p
F(3,219) = 33.13, p < .001, r¡2 = .32; for interpersonal fact
p < .001, rj2 = .18; for individual factors, F(3,219) = 72.41, p
control/autonomy, F(3,219) = 59.47, p < .001, rj2 = .45; for w
p < .001, rj2 = .34; for total job satisfaction, F(3,219) = 83.94, p
stress symptoms, F(3,219) = 5.56, p < .001, rj2 - .10; for vu
F(3,219) = 17.54, p < .001, rj2 = .20, The results for the post hoc
are presented in Table 1.
Results showed that dock and jean sandblasting workers perce
risky compared to factory workers and miners. These finding
Hypothesis 1 . Unexpectedly, miners did not differ from factory w
ceived job risk level. Pair wise comparisons demonstrated that facto
scores on total job satisfaction than dock workers and sandblastin
with our assumption, miners did not differ on total job satisfaction
Compared with other worker groups, jean sandblasting workers ob
on job satisfaction subscales (organisational policies, physical con
relations, individual factors, control/autonomy, pay) and total job
workers also obtained lower scores on total job satisfaction tha
workers did. In other words, consistent with Hypothesis 2, factory
satisfaction levels than sandblasting workers and dock workers. Jea

Table 1 Workers' perceived risk, job satisfaction (JS), total stress symptoms
terms of occupational group

Dock workers Factory Jean Miners F (3.219)

(N = 44) workers sandblasting (N = 59)
(N = 78) workers
(N = 39)

xsx sxsx s

Perceived job risk 6.93a 0.45 4.74ь 1.36 7.00a 0.00 5.30b 1.65 43.30*
JS-organizational policies 35.18a 12.68 43.88c 12.31 18.21b 4.36 48.66 cd 14.12 57.97*
JS-physical conditions 11.02a 4.32 13.54ac 3.07 4.97b 2.19 14.24c 7.84 33.13*
JS-interpersonal relations 9.45a 3.66 11.47a 8.32 4.54b 1.9 11.39a 2.8 16.07*
JS-individual factors 13.89a 5.58 17.87b 4.06 6.15c 2.08 18.31b 5.23 72.41*
JS-control/autonomy 8.61a 3.79 11.1 lb 2.62 4.28c 1.79 1 1 . 1 9b 2.94 59.47*
JS-wage 3.7a 1.81 5.96ь 2.29 2.2C 0.4 5.12b 2.19 36.26*
JS-total 81.86a 25.57 103.85b 22.24 40.35c 10.89 108.90„ 27.87 83.94*
Total stress symptoms 159.86a 72.21 121.12b 75.40 163.18a 38.13 107.24b 85.84 7.57*
Vulnerability to stress 57.86a 17.56 49.08a 12.84 72.46ь 20.08 50.62a 20.65 17.54*

In each row, means with different subscripts differ at the .05 level significance according to a Scheffe test
* p < .001

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 270 А. В. Sunal et al.

obtained the highe

workers reported m

2.1 Correlation Be

The correlation an
"vulnerability to s
scores (-.37, -.26,
cantly with organ
(-.23), control/au
nerability to stres
individual factor
(-.20) and interper
Hierarchical mult
values of all the va
was used. The ind
demographic varia
entered the equatio
vulnerability to str
predictors of job
(F = 13.40; df= 2-2
equation, this varia
variable increased
score of stress sym
negative predictor
explained to 25%
which was entered
job satisfaction and
(F = 19.79; df= 5-2
vulnerability to str

Table 2 Correlations b

Job Organisational Individual Physical Control/ Wage Interpersonal

satisfaction policies factors conditions Autonomy relations
total score

Age .17* .14* .16* .15* .16* .08 .17*

Income .11 .06 .14* .05 .18* .22* .11
Number of .12 .06 .16* .06 .20* .14* .12
job
experiences
Perceived job -.37* -.34* -.35* -.23* -.32* -.35* -.25*
risk

Total stress -.26* -.24* -.28* -.20* -.25* -.16 -.09

symptoms
Vulnerability -.41* -.41* -.37* -.27* -.38* -.20* -.24*
to stress

* p < .05

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A Comparison of Workers Employed in Hazardous jobs 271

Table 3 Hierarchical regressions: prediction of job satisfaction

Variables В Beta Ř1 change R2 Adjusted R2 Residual mean F

square ( df)

Demographic variables
Education level 5.57 .18 .07 .07 .06 1,075.30(1-219) 15.23
Age .84 .18 .05 .11 .10 1,028.68 (2-219) 13.40
Perceived job risk
Perceived job risk level -4.91 -.23 .10 .21 .19 923.31 (3-219) 18.54
Stress symptoms
Total stress symptoms -.07 -.14 .04 .25 .23 880.44 (4-219) 17.46
Vulnerability to stress
Vulnerability to stress -.50 -.28 .07 .32 .30 801.37 (5-219) 19.79

(For all F values p < .05)

3 Discussion

In this study our purpose was to compare workers' job satisfaction, perceived job r
level, stress symptoms, and vulnerability to stress in different occupational groups (do
workers, jean sandblasting workers, miners and factory workers). As previously m
tioned, dock workers, jean sandblasting workers and miners have hazardous occupati
Therefore, ordinary factory workers were also included in this study to make comparis
as they are thought to have relatively less hazardous jobs. In addition, variables that pre
the level of job satisfaction were considered.
Results showed that occupational groups differ in terms of job satisfaction, perce
job risk, stress levels and vulnerability to stress. Pair way comparisons revealed that do
workers and jean sandblasting workers perceived their jobs more risky than fact
workers and miners. Consistent with expectations, jean sandblasting workers and d
workers perceive their jobs more risky than factory workers. Jean sandblasting workers
dock workers are employed in workplaces where occupational safety and health meas
are very poor. As a consequence, jean sandblasting workers carry a high risk of acquiri
silicosis, a fatal occupational illness, (Çahbaz et al. 2007) and dock workers carry high ri
of facing occupational accidents such as fall from heights, electrical shocks, confin
spaces, etc. (ILO 1998). A previous study (Akgun et al. 2005) conducted in Turkey
revealed that sandblasting was one of the major risk factors for acquiring silicosis. In t
current study, unexpectedly, miners did not significantly perceive their jobs as risky as
sandblasting workers and dock workers do. This finding can be related to the fact t
miners are more likely to be members of a trade union. As unionized workers are m
likely to benefit from social protection, social insurance and occupational safety and he
practices, they tend to perceive their jobs as less risky.
As expected, factory workers had higher scores on job satisfaction. Jean sandblast
workers also had the lowest scores on job satisfaction subscales (organisational polic
physical conditions, individual factors, control/autonomy, interpersonal relations) and t
job satisfaction scale. Dock workers obtained lower scores on total job satisfaction t
miners and factory workers did. These results can be explained by the fact that th
workers have very hazardous jobs and perceive their jobs as very risky. Unexpected
miners do not differ on job satisfaction from factory workers, which might be related
working in a more formal sector where workers are unionized. In addition, in the curr

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 272 А. В. Sunal et al.

study, jean sandblas

Dock and sandblastin
findings were consis
that workers having
When the relationsh
and perceived risk l
related with vulnera
wise regression analy
best predictors of j
earlier research (Che
safety and health con
predictors of illness
2002; §ahin and Dur
stress and job satisfa
In conclusion, the pr
stress symptoms an
ardous jobs. In this s
unlikely to be a pro
This study showed t
lower job satisfaction
and vulnerability to
occupational safety
demonstrated that m
risky as dock and je
mining. Moreover, m
blasting workers.
There are some limi
miners, jean sandblas
the findings only rep
study may not be g
limitation of this stu
samples can be inclu
regions and other ha
niture workers, meta

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