Status Differences in Interpersonal Strain and Job Resources at Work

• In Event: 413 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Refereed Roundtable Session. Table 01. Culture and Organizations
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 17. Occupations and Professions

Abstract

This study sets out to explore how strained working relationships with coworkers and clients and access to resources may be linked to status differences. We examine three distinct statuses related to interpersonal strain and coping resources: sex, job authority and occupation. We address a series of research questions with survey data collected from two different occupations: veterinarians and animal health technologists (AHTs). We also present qualitative data to offer specific examples of interpersonal strain that these workers experience with coworkers and clients and to aid in the interpretation of the quantitative findings. The results show that the relationships between the status variables and interpersonal strain are complex and differ depending on whether the strained interactions involve coworkers or clients. We also found that challenging work is a resource that is widely available to these workers, but is more beneficial to the higher status veterinarians particularly in regards to client strain. In contrast, autonomy is a scarce resource for the lowest status group in this study, namely female AHTs, and yet is appears especially beneficial in reducing both types of interpersonal strain for them. Lastly, an unexpected finding was that the greater number of lower status group members in a clinic (female AHTs), appears to exacerbate interpersonal tensions with coworkers and clients for the highest status group (male veterinarians). Future research might explore how men experience and cope with the rapid numerical feminization of a previously male-dominated occupation in terms of their interpersonal interactions with their female coworkers.

Authors

• Jean E. Wallace, The University of Calgary

• Tom W. Buchanan, Mount Royal University