Occupational Needs as Moderators between Locus of Control and Job Involvement

Abstract

Contradictory results have been published on the relationship of locus of control with job involvement, so in this study occupational needs were tested as moderators between the variables. Needs were measured with Ghiselli's Self-description Inventory, job involvement with Kanungo's Job Involvement scale, and locus of control with Pettersen's scale. Job involvement of 220 mainly female teachers was significantly predicted by extrinsic needs, and that of 213 female secretaries rather by intrinsic needs. Job involvement related to extrinsic needs was not associated with locus of control, while this relationship with intrinsic needs and job involvement was not needed for internal locus of control to correlate with job involvement. Especially the combination of strong intrinsic and extrinsic needs moderated the correlation, although locus of control could correlate with job involvement also for subjects with weak needs. The correlations were independent of internality of control or the amount of involvement. These results suggest that locus of control and job involvement are independent variables, and the former cannot be used as a predictor of the latter.