Abstract
This study examines care staff at special nursing homes for the elderly in terms of the influence of facility type on their perceptions of the level of social support available at the workplace and job competence on job satisfaction.An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor structure of perceived job competence. The following five factors were identified: ‘Originality, Ingenuity and Diligence at Work’, ‘Forecasting and Problem Solving on the Job’, ‘Achievement and Task Performance on the Job’, ‘Overall Understanding of Work and Role Performance’ and ‘Cooperation towards the achievement of Team Objectives’. A multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measures of perceived job competence had a five-factor structure in both unit-style and conventional facilities. ANOVAs revealed that care staff from the unit-style facilities sample perceived that they had significantly more supervisor support, job competence on job satisfaction compared with care staff from the conventional facilities sample. In addition, a path analysis was applied for each facility type to analyse the effects of social support at the workplace and perceived job competence on job satisfaction. The results indicated that, regardless of facility type, supervisor support was directly and positively associated with perceived job competence and job satisfaction. Moreover, supervisor support was significantly, however, indirectly associated with job satisfaction in terms of ‘Originality, Ingenuity and Diligence at Work’. However, ‘Achievement and Task Performance on the Job’ was associated with lowering job satisfaction at conventional facilities.This study suggests that there are some differences in the factors that influence job satisfaction among care staff at different facility types. In addition, it is important to establish support systems at the workplace to facilitate the improvement of perceived job competence on job satisfaction among care staff at special nursing homes.
