Low Supervisor Support Research Articles

Psychosocial job factors, physical workload, and incidence of work-related spinal injury: a 5-year prospective study of urban transit operators.

Five-year prospective cohort study of 1449 transit operators. To investigate psychosocial job factors as predictors of work-related spinal injuries, controlling for current and past physical workload. The association between psychosocial job factors and spinal disorders may be confounded by physical workload. A 1991 prospective study of Boeing workers found psychosocial but not physical factors to be associated with spinal injuries. However, data on physical workload were limited. Recent cross-sectional studies of transit drivers showed both physical and psychosocial factors to be independently associated with back and neck pain. This study was designed to test these findings prospectively. Spinal injuries were ascertained from workers' compensation records, employment history from company records, and psychosocial factors from questionnaires. Logistic regression models adjusted for age, gender, height, weight, vehicle type, and current and past physical workload. During follow-up, 320 drivers reported a first spinal injury. Spinal injury was predicted by psychological job demands (odds ratio [OR], 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-1.95); job dissatisfaction (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.09-2.23); and the frequency of job problems (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.02-2.26). Marginally significant associations were found for low supervisor support (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.99-1.72) and female gender (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 0.95-2.32). Compared with full-time work, part-time work was associated with a 2.7-fold reduced risk for spinal injury (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.15-0.93). Cable car crews performing the heaviest physical labor had a threefold increased risk of spinal injury compared with bus drivers (OR, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.85-5.00). Physical workload and psychosocial job factors both independently predict spinal injury in transit vehicle operators.

Psychosocial job factors associated with back and neck pain in public transit operators.

This cross-sectional study examined associations between psychosocial job factors and the prevalence of nondisabling back and neck pain in professional drivers after physical work load was taken into account. A total of 1449 transit vehicle operators completed a medical examination and a questionnaire yielding information on demographic and anthropometric variables, health status, and physical and psychosocial job factors. Company records were used to supplement information on employment history. Physical work load was measured in life-time years and current weekly hours of professional driving. The relation of psychosocial factors with back or neck pain was analyzed by logistic regression models adjusted for past and current physical work load, vehicle type, age, gender, body height, and weight. The main result of this study was that both physical work load and psychosocial factors were simultaneously and independently associated with back or neck pain. Psychosocial factors associated with back or neck pain included extended uninterrupted driving driving periods, frequency of job problems, high psychosocial demands, high job dissatisfaction, and low supervisory support. An analysis of specific job problems is provided which may be useful in setting priorities for research and intervention efforts in this high risk occupation. The results provide support for the role of psychosocial job characteristics in the etiology of back or neck pain in occupational settings.

The Effects of Gender and Employee Classification Level on Communication-Related Outcomes

We surveyed 1,152 employees of a midwestern telephone company to test the effects of gender and employee classification level on work outcomes. To determine whether gender differences in this organization were stable or context dependent, competing hypotheses were established from both structural and socialization perspectives. Significant main effects of gender and employee classification level were predicted and found by structuralist theory. Women reported lower job satisfaction and interaction as less desirable than men, whereas hourly workers reported lower supervisory support, teamwork, communication satisfaction, and accuracy of information than salaried workers. Structuralist theory also predicted and found significant interaction effects for satisfaction with communication, supervisory support, teamwork, and desire for interaction. However, both theories operated for employees' perceptions of information accuracy.