Job satisfaction amongst agricultural extension personnel in Kurdistan Province of Iran

Abstract

Understanding behaviour of an individual in an organization requires knowing something about organization and some psychological factors as well as job satisfaction. Job satisfaction broadly is considered to be as attitude of a person reflecting the degree to which his/her important needs are satisfied by this job. To study the job satisfaction level and factors associated with job satisfaction of Extension personnel, a sample of 74 extension personnel from Kurdistan province of Iran were selected. To study the job satisfaction level among respondents, Bray Field and Rothe Job Satisfaction Index was used. A data form was used to collect information about selected personal variables. The reliability and validity of the Bray Field and Rothe Job Satisfaction Index were determined. Cronbach's alpha computed to measure reliability of the 20 items of scale was 0.82. The data were analyzed using statistical methods such as frequencies, percentage, mean score, standard deviation, and product moment correlation and regression analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the extension personnel (51.4%) belonged to high level of job satisfaction, followed by 35.1 and 13.5 percent belonging to medium and low level of job satisfaction, respectively. The index items most suggesting negative job satisfaction was unclear promotion policy in organization and low salary, respectively. According to regression analysis educational level, level of job diversity and salary were found to have contributed to the increase of job satisfaction among extension personnel. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 35 (2) 2006: pp. 176-187