The current study indicated that civil-liberties climate can be reliably measured. Civil-liberties climate correlated .36 with over-all job satisfaction and −.60 with work alienation for 144 students (76 men, 66 women). For work alienation, the correlation was statistically significant for women but not for men. Although individuals differed in the extent to which they preferred a favorable civil-liberties climate at work, these preferences did not moderate the climate relationships to satisfaction or alienation. The differences in individual preferences were significantly correlated .35 with general attitudes about civil-liberties issues and with the personality measures of tolerance for ambiguity and self-esteem (≤ .35). Although causality cannot be inferred, current data suggest that civil-liberties climate contributes to the quality of work life.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdornoT. W.Frenkel-BrunswikE.LevinsonD. J.SanfordR. N. (1950) The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper.
2.
ArnoldH. J. (1982) Moderator variables: a clarification of conceptual, analytic and psychometric issues. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 29, 143–172.
3.
BrayfieldA. H.RotheH. (1951) An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 35, 307–311.
4.
BudnerS. (1962) Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable. Journal of Personality, 30, 29–50.
5.
EwingD. W. (1977) Freedom inside the organization. New York: Dutton.
6.
FusilierM.HoyerW. (1980) Variables affecting perceptions of invasion of privacy in a personnel selection situation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65, 623–626.
7.
GornG. J.KanungoR. (1980) Job involvement and motivation. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 26, 265–277.
GuionR. M. (1973) A note on organizational climate. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 9, 120–125.
10.
HellreigelD.SlocumJ. (1974) Organizational climate: measures, research and contingencies. Academy of Management Journal, 17, 255–280.
11.
HymanH. H.SheatsleyP. (1953) Trends in public opinion on civil liberties. Journal of Social Issues, 9, 6–16.
12.
JamesL.JonesA. (1974) Organizational climate: a review of theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 81, 1096–1112.
13.
JoinerC. A. (1982) Note on the reliability coefficient of the Manifest Needs Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 55, 149–150.
14.
KanungoR. (1979) The concepts of alienation and involvement revisited. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 119–138.
15.
KanungoR. (1981) Work alienation and involvement: problems and prospects. International Review of Applied Psychology, 30, 1–16.
16.
KanungoR. (1982) Work alienation: an integrative approach. New York: Praeger.
17.
KatzellR. A. (1964) Personal values, job satisfaction and job behavior. In BorowH. (Ed.), Man in a world of work. Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin. Pp. 341–363.
18.
KormanA. K. (1975) Work experience, socialization and civil liberties. Journal of Social Issues, 31, 137–151.
19.
KormanA. K. (1977) Organizational behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
20.
LafolletteW.SimsH. (1975) Is satisfaction redundant with organizational climate?Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 13, 275–278.
21.
LefkowitzJ.SomersM.WeinbergK. (1984) The role of need—level and/or need salience as moderators of the relationship between need satisfaction and work alienation-involvement. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 24, 142–158.
22.
LeventhalH.JacobsR.KudirkaN. (1964) Authoritarianism, ideology and political candidate choice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 69, 539–549.
23.
LockeE. A. (1976) Job satisfaction. In DunnetteM. D. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. New York: Rand-McNally. Pp. 1297–1349.
24.
MathisP. (1981) Attitudes of federal employees toward whistleblowing. In ZalkindS. S. (Chair), Civil liberties in the workplace. Symposium presented at meeting of American Psychological Association, Los Angeles.
25.
McCloskyH. (1958) Conservatism and personality. American Political Science Review, 52, 27–45.
26.
McCloskyH.BrillA. (1983) Dimensions of tolerance. New York: Russell Sage Found.
27.
NaderR.PetkasP. J.BlackwellK. (1972) (Eds.) Whistleblowing. New York: Grossman.
28.
NunnC. Z. (1973) Support for civil liberties among college students. Social Problems, 20, 300–310.
29.
ParmerleeM. A.NearJ. P.JensenT. C. (1982) Correlates of whistleblowers' perceptions of organizational retaliation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 17–34.
30.
PayneR.PughD. (1976) Organization structure and climate. In DunnetteM. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. New York: Rand-McNally.
31.
PorterL. W. (1961) A study of perceived need satisfactions in bottom and middle level management jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 45, 1–10.
32.
ProthroJ.GriggC. (1960) Fundamental principles of democracy: bases of agreement and disagreement. Journal of Politics, 22, 276–294.
33.
RemmersH. H. (1963) Anti-democratic attitudes in American schools. Evanston, IL: Northwestern Univer. Press.
34.
RemmersH. H.RadlerD. (1957) The American teenager. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
35.
RokeachM. (1960) The open and closed mind. New York: Basic Books.
36.
RosenbaumB. (1973) Attitudes toward invasion of privacy in the personnel selection process and job applicant demographic and personality correlates. Journal of Applied Psychology, 58, 333–338.
37.
RosenbergM. (1965) Society and the adolescent self image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univer. Press, 1965.
38.
SchaefferR. H. (1953) Job satisfaction as related to need satisfaction in work. Psychological Monographs, 67, No. 14 (Whole No. 364)
39.
ScheinV. E. (1976) Individual privacy and personnel psychology: the need for a broader perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 33, 154–168.
40.
SchneiderB. (1975) Organizational climates: an essay. Personnel Psychology, 28, 447–479.
41.
SchneiderB.ReichersA. E. (1983) On the etiology of climates. Personnel Psychology, 36, 19–39.
42.
SearsD. O. (1969) Political behavior. In LindzeyG.AronsonE. (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology. (2nd ed.) Vol. 5. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969. Pp. 315–458.
43.
SelvinH. C.HagstromW. O. (1960) Determinants of support for civil liberties. British Journal of Sociology, 11, 51–73.
44.
SheinfeldD. (1978) Civil liberties attitudes: parochial school education and moderator variables. Unpublished Master's thesis, Baruch College, CUNY, New York.
45.
SheinfeldD.ZalkindS. S. (1981) The relationships of civil liberties attitudes to personality variables of public and parochial school students. Eastern Psychological Association Convention, New York, NY, Match.
46.
SteersR. M.BraunsteinW. (1976) Behaviorally based measure of manifest needs in work settings. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 9, 251–266.
47.
StoufferS. A. (1955) Communism, conformity and civil liberties. New York: Doubleday, 1955.
48.
SullivanJ. L.PieresonJ. E.MarcusG. E. (1982) Political tolerance and American democracy. Chicago, IL: Univer. of Chicago Press.
49.
TolchinskyP.McCuddyH.AdamsJ.BansterD.WoodmanR.FromkinH. (1981) Employee perceptions of privacy: a field simulated experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 308–313.
50.
VroomV. H. (1964) Work and motivation. New York: Wiley.
51.
WaltonR. (1974) Improving the quality of work life. Harvard Business Review, 52 (May-June), 6–18.
52.
WeissenbergP.GreenfeldL. (1968) The relationship between job satisfaction and job involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 52, 469–473.
53.
WestinA. F. (1981) Whistleblowing: loyalty and dissent in the corporation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
54.
WilliamsA.WoodwardS. (1980) A note on Steers and Braunstein's behaviorally based measure of manifest needs. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53, 219–221.
55.
WinklerC. (1982) The gender trap. Public Opinion, 5(5), 20.
56.
ZalkindS. S. (1975) Civil liberties, an overview of some contributions from the behavioral sciences. Journal of Social Issues, 31, 1–12.
57.
ZalkindS. S.GauglerE. A.SchwartzR. M. (1975) Civil liberties attitudes and personality measures: some exploratory research. Journal of Social Issues, 31, 77–83.
58.
ZedeckS. (1971) Problems with the use of “moderator” variables. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 295–310.
59.
ZellmanG.SearsD. O. (1971) Childhood origins of tolerance for dissent. Journal of Social Issues, 27, 109–136.
