Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine which job characteristics have potential for enhancing internal motivation among individuals in selected professional occupations in agriculture. . The job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) provided a theoretical base for the study. The population included all teachers of vocational Agriculture (VATs), and all county extension agents specializing in agriculture (CEAs) in Texas. A random sample of 300 was selected. The Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) (Hackman & Oldham, 1980), the instrument for the study, was pilot tested and mailed to the sample of subjects. Of 300 possible, 265 (88%) returned the instrument. The VATs and CEAs exhibited approximately equal degrees of occupational mobility, distributions of age and levels of education. While the VATs spent most of their time working with youth, the CEAs worked slightly more with adults than with youth. Concerning both professions, statistically significant, positive relationships were found between the core job characteristics and the critical psychological states and between the critical psychological states and internal motivation. VATs perceived their jobs as being significantly higher in task identity and knowledge of results than CEAs. CEAs perceived their jobs as being significantly higher than VATs in skill variety, feedback from agents, dealing with others, satisfaction with compensation and satisfaction with job security. When compared to the JDS norms for professional/technical workers, both VATS and CEAs believed that their jobs provided significantly more opportunities for feelings of motivation. Both groups reported less need for personal growth from their work than did the JDS norm group. For VATs, significant relationships were revealed between tenure in current profession, tenure at current location, time spent with adults relative to youth, age level and education level and certain job variables related to internal motivation. For CEAs, significant correlations were revealed between tenure in current profession, number of jobs in current profession, tenure at current location, time spent working with adults relative to youth, age level and education level and certain job variables related to internal motivation.
Carnes, John Eckford (1985). Job variables related to internal motivation as perceived by persons employed in selected professional occupations in agriculture. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -407014.