Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work: A Job Diagnostic Survey

Transcription

1 Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work: A Job Diagnostic Survey Verlin B. Hinsz, Leissa C. Nelson Responses of family farmers to the Job Diagnostic Survey were examined to assess the internal rewards farmers receive from their work. It is suggested that family farmers' high motivation and commitment to farming are largely influenced by the positive job characteristics associated with farming. According to surveys of American workers, external rewards such as salary, benefits, and prestige rank high among the qualities of good jobs (Jurgensen, 1978). However, the organizational research also indicates continual problems with many typical workers in the areas of turnover (Mobley, 1982), job satisfaction (Locke, 1976), motivation (Steers and Porter, 1987), and job commitment (Mowday, Porter, and Steers, 1982). In contrast, family farmers are generally perceived to have high job satisfaction, low turnover, an overwhelming commitment to their work, and a willingness to work long hours for little pay (O'Brien, 1986). Family farmers appear willing to continue farming even though they may lose money or even their farms (Benesch, 1986). When family farmers are encouraged to quit work and leave their farms, they react bitterly (Farmer, 1986; Hargrove, 1986) and occasionally violently (Malcolm, 1986). In the context of the problems associated with the stereotypic "industrialized' worker, the family farmer is an enigma. Family farmers have suffered major financial difficulties recently, as evidenced by the percentage of delinquent farm loans and the number of foreclosures (Chibnik, 1987). A recent survey of one sample of family farmers (Pederson, Watt, and Vreugdenil, 1985) indicated that 23 percent Note: A portion of this research was presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, We appreciate the contributions of the students of the Winter 1985 Industrial Psychology class to this research, We also thank Mary Hendrickson, Kevin McCaul, Lois Veltum, Mary Zalesny, Joe Rosse, David Vollrath, Scott Tindale, and Harriette McCaul for their comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Correspondence should be directed to Verlin B. Hinsz, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, FAMILY BUSINESS REVIEW, vol. Ill, no. 1, Spring 1990 Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers 35

2 36 Hinsz, Nelson of all family farmers were delinquent in repaying loans. This survey also revealed that the number of farm foreclosures had more than tripled in the period from 1982 to The family farmers surveyed did not have much hope for the future, with 56 percent of them indicating that if economic conditions did not improve, they would be forced out of farming within the next five years. However, the motivation of farmers to continue farming appears to remain quite high. In light of the stereotype of many people working only for financial gain, the determination of family farmers to continue farming until the bitter end poses an intriguing contradiction. Not only do family farmers appear willing to work without financial gain, they appear willing to risk financial loss and even their farms to be able to work (Ferguson and Engels, 1989). There are a variety of possible explanations for farmers' contradictory reactions to their work. Factors such as commitment to a farm held in the family for generations or a lack of viable alternative occupations may play important roles in farmers' desire to keep farming (Comstock, 1987). This paper, however, explores the job characteristics model of Hackman and Oldham (1976, 1980), which suggests that the motivating potential of farm work may explain the puzzling nature of family farmers' reactions to their work. Although family farmers may be contrasted with more typical workers in the area of their personal reactions toward their job, it is important to recognize that farming differs from other work in a number of substantive ways. Farmers are generally self-employed owner-operators who reside on their farm with their family in a rural setting and have often inherited the farm from their forebears (Case, 1986). These factors distinguish the job of farming from the jobs of other (primarily industrialized) workers and may play a large role in farmers' reactions to their work. However, examining family farmers' responses to specific job characteristics may contribute to a better understanding of why family farmers react so differently to their jobs. One way of understanding the puzzling reactions of family farmers to their work is to note that farming may provide tremendous internal rewards. As a consequence, the external rewards of pay, benefits, prestige, and security may seem less important. Although the work motivation of farmers is governed by a number of factors and is obviously complex, the job characteristics model (Hackman and Oldham, 1975, 1976, 1980) suggests that high internal motivation for work is the consequence of a set of core characteristics possessed by the job. These core job characteristics influence changes in three critical psychological states, which in turn influence the workers' affective reactions to work, for example, in the areas of satisfaction and motivation. Hackman and Oldham propose five core job characteristics that influence a worker's reaction to his or her job: skill variety, task identity, task

3 Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work 37 significance, autonomy, and feedback. As aspects of the activities associated with performing the job itself, these characteristics in turn contribute directly to psychological states critical in an individual's internal reactions to his or her work. These critical psychological states are experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, and knowledge of results, and they lead to the important affective reactions to the personal outcomes associated with the job, such as general satisfaction with the work, feelings of personal growth in the job, and internal motivation to do the work. In addition to these more personal and internal outcomes, a job also provides a context for experiencing satisfaction with other more external outcomes, such as job security or pay. As a basis for explaining family farmers' reactions to their work, the job characteristics model suggests that farming must contain those features that make the work internally satisfying and motivating. Therefore, one would predict that family farmers, in comparison to members of other job families, should perceive higher levels of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback in their job. As a consequence of the high level of these core job characteristics, family farmers should experience greater meaningfulness in their work, experience higher levels of responsibility, and gain more knowledge of results from their work. Consequently, family farmers should react more positively to the outcomes of their work. Hackman and Oldham (1980) distinguish between two types of reactions workers may have to their jobs. Affective outcomes result from aspects of the job that are internal to the work itself, such as internal work motivation, general satisfaction, and growth satisfaction. These affective outcomes are most directly influenced by the core job characteristics. In contrast, context satisfactions are reactions to aspects of the job that are derived from the work setting or context, such as satisfaction with the amount of pay or job security. We predict that family farmers should have higher levels of the affective outcomes than do members of other job families. On the other hand, farming should not differ from other job families in terms of satisfaction with the job context. In fact, given the economic crisis in farming, one might expect family farmers to score lower than other workers in feelings of job security and pay satisfaction. Overview of the Study To consider whether the job characteristics model can provide a viable explanation for the apparent contradictory nature of family farmers' reactions to their work, family farmers from the upper Midwest were asked to complete the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman and Oldham, 1974), which assesses the various features of the job characteristics model. The

4 38 Hinsz, Nelson responses of the family farmers to the Job Diagnostic Survey were then compared to the average responses of individuals in other job families (Oldham, Hackman, and Stepina, 1979). This provides a means for testing the hypotheses about the relative standing of family farmers with regard to the core job characteristics, psychological states, affective outcomes, and context satisfactions. Method Subjects. A Job Diagnostic Survey was mailed to a convenience sample of ninety-four family farmers in the upper Midwest region. Also included was a short set of items that provided demographic information. The survey concluded with an open-ended question about why the respondent was involved in farming. Fifty-four surveys (57 percent) were returned during January 1985, two of which were from individuals that had left farming. One survey was incomplete. The remaining fifty-one respondents had operated family farms for an average of 21.8 years. Farm size varied from 227 to 5,000 acres. About 40 percent of respondents had some college education, and 84 percent had at least a high school diploma. This sample compares favorably to known characteristics of family farmers in the region (Leholm, Leistritz, Ekstrom, and Vreugdenhil, 1985). Survey. The Job Diagnostic Survey assesses the degree to which five core job characteristics exist in a particular job such as farming: (1) skill variety making use of the farmers' various skills and talents, (2) task identity being able to complete an entire piece of identifiable work, (3) task significance the farmers' views as to the importance of their job, (4) autonomy being able to work and make decisions about the job freely, and (5) feedback the amount of information returned to the farmers from the job. The Job Diagnostic Survey also measures three critical psychological states that are important in workers' reactions to their job: (1) experienced meaningfulness how valuable and worthwhile the family farmers find their job, (2) experienced responsibility for work outcomes the extent to which family farmers feel accountable or responsible for the work they do, and (3) knowledge of results the degree to which farmers are aware of the effectiveness of their efforts. A number of affective reactions by family farmers to their job were assessed by the Job Diagnostic Survey: (1) general satisfaction with performance and returns, (2) internal motivation measuring effective selfmotivation and internal reactions to job performance, (3) growth satisfaction satisfaction with aspects of the job that provide opportunity for personal growth and development, (4) pay satisfaction the degree to which farmers believe they are being paid what they're worth, and (5) job

5 Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work 39 security satisfaction how much do family farmers believe that they will be able to continue working on their farm. Procedure. To produce the sample, students in an industrial psychology class were asked to generate names and addresses of local family farmers to whom the survey could be sent. Each farmer was mailed a copy of the survey and a cover letter that explained the survey and included a number of instructions (see Hackman and Oldham, 1980, Appendix D). The instructions described how to complete the survey and stated that "When this survey speaks of your job, we are asking for your perceptions and reactions to farming." The completed surveys were coded according to the procedures outlined by Hackman and Oldham (1980, Appendix C). Results and Discussion Analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses that family farmers would generally perceive high levels of the core job characteristics, critical psychological states, affective outcomes, and would have similar or lower levels of satisfaction with the job context. These predictions were tested by comparing the family farmers' average responses on the Job Diagnostic Survey with the national norms provided by Oldham, Hackman, and Stepina (1979). The national norms are based on the responses of 6,930 employees who worked at 876 jobs in 56 organizations. Mean values for these family farmers' responses and the national norms are presented in Table 1. In general, the results provide support for the hypotheses. Family farmers scored significantly higher than the national norms for the job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, autonomy, and feedback from the job. These results are consistent with the conception of farming as having a variety of job skills and tasks, an independent nature to the work, and the advantage of whole-task completion. However, no significant difference was observed for task significance, which could reflect the family farmers' perception that farming is not highly valued by the public. Hackman and Oldham (1975) proposed a Motivating Potential Score as an index that reflects the responses to the five core job dimensions and the potential of the job to motivate the worker. Family farmers scored significantly higher than national norms on this Motivating Potential Score (see Table 1). Consistent with the job characteristics model, family farmers exhibited significantly higher values than the national norms on the critical psychological states of experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, and knowledge of results. This finding meets expectations. Theoretically, these psychological states arise from the work itself and would lead family farmers to continue in their work despite adverse ex-

6 40 Hinsz, Nelson Table 1. Mean Values for Family Farmers and National Norms on Components of the Job Diagnostic Survey Family Farmers National Norms Job Characteristics Skill variety 5.87 a 4.53 Task identity 5.82 a 4.65 Task significance Autonomy 6.36 a 4.78 Feedback from the job 5.83 a 4.81 Motivating Potential Score a Critical Psychological States Experienced meaningfulness 5.92 a 5.10 Experienced responsibility 6.15 a 5.40 Knowledge of results 5.53 a 5.04 Affective Outcomes General satisfaction 5.47 a 4.65 Growth satisfaction 5.95 a 4.74 Internal work motivation 5.95 a 5.50 Context Satisfactions Pay satisfaction Job security satisfaction N = 51 6,930 Denotes that family farmers score significantly higher (one-tailed t > 1.65, p <.05) than the national norm. Source: National norms data are taken from Oldham, Hackman, and Stepina, ternal factors such as low financial returns, bad weather, and lack of job security. Consistent with predictions, family farmers were observed to have significantly more positive reactions to the affective outcomes of their work in the areas of general satisfaction, growth satisfaction, and internal work motivation. However, positive reactions were not observed for context-related reactions to pay and job security. Family farmers were below national norms in the areas of pay satisfaction and job security satisfaction (both fs = -1.50, p <.08). This probably reflects an accurate perception on the part of family farmers of the financial crises they faced. The differential satisfaction with outcomes internal and external to the work itself is consistent with the distinction between affective outcomes and context satisfactions posed by Hackman and Oldham (1980). The preceding results provide substantial support for the idea that the job characteristics model is a means of understanding family farmers' reactions to their jobs. Nevertheless, these findings are based on compar-

7 Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work 41 isons to aggregate norms from a broad array of jobs. The differences between farming and other jobs would be more meaningful if family farmers were found to score higher in the core job characteristics, psychological states, and affective outcomes than individuals who held other specific jobs. Fortunately, in addition to the national norms, Oldham, Hackman, and Stepina (1979) also provide norms for the various component scales of the Job Diagnostic Survey for workers in nine different job families: professional or technical, clerical, sales, managerial, service, processing, machine trades, bench work, and structural work. Analyses were conducted to compare the responses from this sample of family farmers with the norms from the nine job families. Results were consistent with those reported regarding national norms. In general, farmers scored significantly higher than members of the nine job families for the core job characteristics (excluding task significance), the three critical psychological states, internal work motivation, general satisfaction, growth satisfaction, and Motivating Potential Score. Of the ninety-nine comparisons involved, all but thirteen attained significance, and the mean values for these thirteen were in the predicted direction. Many of these differences might have achieved statistical significance if the sample sizes of several of the job families (n's of 4, 5, 16, 18) had been larger. We noted earlier that family farmers differ from other workers in a variety of ways. Therefore, it may be appropriate to compare them with workers in other job families that share their self-employment or owneroperator characteristics, such as small businesses or independent trucking businesses. Our search of the literature did not uncover any reports of Job Diagnostic Survey responses by these types of workers, but Hackman and Oldham (1980) reported responses from a sample of organizational development (OD) consultants. Although the significance tests are approximations, farming had a significantly higher motivating potential score than OD consulting (mean = 183). OD consulting was slightly lower in the psychological states of experienced meaningfulness (mean = 5.9) and experienced responsibility (mean = 6.0), and significantly lower in knowledge of results (mean = 5.2). Farming and OD consulting were virtually identical in the areas of the affective outcomes of internal work motivation, growth satisfaction, and general satisfaction. Therefore, farming appears to have even more motivating potential than OD consulting, a job that Hackman and Oldham (1980) identified as being relatively high in motivating potential. The responses of this sample of family farmers indicate that farmers enjoy the work they do, even though they feel poorly paid, lack job security, and are unappreciated. However, farming provides other, more internal rewards. The open-ended responses concerning why the respondents were involved in farming support this contention. These family farmers indicated that farming provides them with satisfying and chal-

8 42 Hinsz, Nelson lenging work ("I like the work, I like the challenge"), an opportunity to be one's own boss.("i like being my own boss"), variety in daily tasks ("I have always enjoyed working at many tasks"), an enjoyable lifestyle, a good place to raise a family ("It is a wonderful place to live and to bring up a family"), and responsibility for the outcomes of one's work ("satisfaction from a job well done"). A content analysis was conducted on the responses of the forty-six family farmers who answered the open-ended item indicating their reasons for being farmers. These reasons (with frequency of each type of statement enclosed in brackets) included: family heritage in farming [27], independence and autonomy in the work [21], experienced responsibility [15], satisfying work [15], a good life [15], challenging work [12], a place for a family [10], skill variety [7], and feedback and knowledge of results [5]. The responses to this open-ended item provide additional support for our view that family farmers' reactions to their work can be understood within the context of the job characteristics model. This study indicates that one possible way of understanding the apparent contradictory nature of family farmers' reactions to their work is within the context of Hackman and Oldham's job characteristics model. Four of the five job dimensions that are postulated to influence the satisfaction and motivation derived from a job are well represented in these family farmers' perceptions of their job. In comparison to a number of job families, farming was found to have a significantly greater potential to motivate. Family farmers also appear to experience high levels of the psychological states that contribute to positive affective reactions to their work. Based on the examination of these family farmers' responses to the Job Diagnostic Survey, it is possible to see that farming provides the characteristics that make family farmers willing to work hard for little pay for a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Traditionally, the Job Diagnostic Survey has served as an instrument for examining jobs to understand why they are not motivating and satisfying. From an analysis of responses to the Job Diagnostic Survey, specific changes would then be implemented to redesign the job to improve it (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). With the possible exceptions of providing greater pay, job security, and appreciation for farming, it does not appear that farming requires job redesign. On the contrary, farming serves as an example of a relatively well-designed job. This study suggests that to the extent that family farmers reflect other family business operators, they too might have motivating jobs. Although this study was conducted on a relatively small convenience sample of farmers, it represents the only use of the Job Diagnostic Survey with family business operators known to the authors. Given that the job characteristics model provides a strong basis for understanding family farmers' reactions to their work, it might also serve as a normative basis for examining the reactions of other family

9 Family Farmers' Reactions to Their Work 43 business operators to their jobs. For family business operators who are displeased by aspects of their work, the Job Diagnostic Survey might identify the problem areas. Subsequently, the job redesign methods suggested by Hackman and Oldham (1980) could be considered in interventions in the jobs of family business operators. An additional aspect of this study is that it demonstrates research in an industry that is largely ignored in the organizational literature: farming. Although farmers account for less than 4 percent of the work force, farming is still a relevant economic enterprise, and in many states it is the largest industry. Given that a number of work-related issues such as job stress, career change, job commitment, and so on, are clearly apparent in farming, organizational research could benefit from an examination of farm work. In addition, future endeavors should be directed toward integrating organizational theory and research with classes of workers that are underrepresented in the literature, such as family business operators. This study demonstrates that such endeavors can contribute to a broader understanding of the behavior of people at work. References Benesch, K. F. "The Displaced Farmer: Career Counseling Concerns." Career Development Quarterly, 1986, 35 (1), Case, L. D. "Serving the Displaced Farmer." Vocational Education Journal, 1986, 61 (7), Chibnik, M. Farm Work and Fieldwork. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, Comstock, G. Is There a Moral Obligation to Save the Family Farm? Ames: Iowa State University Press, Farmer, V. "Broken Heartland." Psychology Today, 1986, 20 (4), Ferguson, S. B., and Engels, D. W. "American Farmers: Workers in Transition." Career Development Quarterly, 1989, 37 (1), Hackman, J. R., and Oldham, G R. "The Job Diagnostic Survey: An Instrument for the Diagnosis of Jobs and the Evaluation of Job Redesign Projects." JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1974, 4, 148. Hackman, J. R., and Oldham, G R. "Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey." Journal of Applied Psychology, 1975, 60 (2), Hackman, J. R., and Oldham, G. R. "Motivation Through the Design of Work: Test of a Theory." Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1976, 16 (2), Hackman, J. R., and Oldham, G. R. Work Redesign. Reading, Mass.: Addison- Wesley, Hargrove, D. S. "Mental Health Response to the Farm Foreclosure Crisis." The Rural Sociologist, 1986, 6 (2), Jurgensen, C. E. "Job Preferences (What Makes a Job Good or Bad?)." Journal of Applied Psychology, 1978, 63 (3), Leholm, A. G, Leistritz, F. L., Ekstrom, B. L., and Vreugdenhil, H. G. Selected Financial and Other Socioeconomic Characteristics of North Dakota Farm and Ranch Operators. Agricultural Economics Report no Fargo: North Dakota State University, 1985.

10 44 Hinsz, Nelson Locke, E. A. "Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction." In M. D. Dunnette (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Skokie, 111.: Rand McNally, Malcolm, A. H. Final Harvest. New York: Times Books, Mobley, W. H. Employee Turnover: Causes, Consequences, and Control. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W., and Steers, R. M. Employee-Organization Linkages: The Psychology of Commitment, Absenteeism, and Turnover. Orlando, Fla.: Academic Press, O'Brien, G. E. Psychology of Work and Unemployment. New York: Wiley, Oldham, G. R., Hackman, J. R., and Stepina, L. P. "Norms for the Job Diagnostic Survey." JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1979, 9, 14. Pederson, G, Watt, D., and Vreugdenhil, H. "Farm Financial Stress in North Dakota." North Dakota Farm Research, 1985, 43 (4), 3-6. Steers, R. M., and Porter, L. W. Motivation and Work Behavior. (4th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, Verlin B. Hinsz is an assistant professor of psychology Dakota State University. Leissa C. Nelson is in the industrial/organizational graduate program at the University of Minnesota. at North psychology