Dr. Scott Reinardy

Dr. Scott Reinardy

Ball State University professor Scott Reinardy was a newspaper reporter and editor for 18 years at five daily newspapers from 1987-2005.

Reinardy earned his Master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 2003 and his Ph.D. in 2006.

He is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at Ball State University.

You can contact him at:
srreinardy@BSU.edu
(765) 285-8692

 

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Abstract

A survey (N = 715) examined organizational and life issues that affect overall job satisfaction of daily newspaper journalists. The Herzberg motivational-hygiene theory is used to examine motivational (perceived organizational support; social support) and hygiene factors (work-family conflict; role overload; job demands) that affect overall job satisfaction. Results indicate that perceived organizational support and social support create satisfaction, and work-family conflict, role overload and job demands influence dissatisfaction. Additionally, 25.7 percent of journalists in this study said they intend to leave newspaper journalism. Open-ended responses indicated that the primarily reasons for leaving include industry issues/job satisfaction. In essence, the tangential elements that tend to wear on journalists – deadlines, long hours, clashes between work and family – appear to take their toll and create dissatisfaction but are not driving journalists from the workforce. Primarily, journalists intending to leave the profession are frustrated with fundamental issues that comprise an enjoyable work environment – support and encouragement.

 

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Table 1.

Correlations for variables used in this study

Graph 1                       

                                 Job       Perceived           Work-Family         Job            Social         Role

                                 Sat.     Org. Support          Conflict           Demand       Support   Overload

 

Job                            --  

Sat.

N = 715

 

Perceived                .695*           --

Org. Support           

N = 715

 

Work-Family       -.258**      -.223**                    --

Conflict 

N = 715

 

Job                      -.272**      -.284**                .436**                 --

Demand

N = 715

 

Social                   .464**        .519**               -.231**             -.236**            --

Support

N = 715

 

Role                    -.265**      -.269**                .420**               .759**         -.194**        --

Overload

N = 715

Graph 2 


** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level

 

 

 

Table 2.

Journalists’ intentions to leave the profession

Table 2 


Intentions to leave newspaper journalism

N = 674

                     Journalists          Overall

                                                Percentage

 

Yes                     173                   25.7

No                      257                   38.1

Don’t know      244                   36.2

 

Reasons for possibly leaving journalism

 

Industry issues/job satisfaction         30.2%

 

Salary                                                     27%

 

Pressure/stress/burnout                       15.9%

 

Family issues                                        8.1%

 

Retirement                                            6.8%

 

Other                                                      12%