Psychological Reports, 1992, 70, 43-50.
O Psychological Reports 1992
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, A N D STRESS AMONG BLACK PROFESSIONALS ' GEORGE 0 . GAMBLE
MICHAEL T. MATTESON
Department of Accounkancy and Taxation
Department of Management
College of Business Administration University of Houston Summary.-Most studies of work-related Type A behavior have been conducted with samples of white men. Using a mail questionnaire to assess Type A behavior, job satisfaction, and daily stress and tension among 250 black men and 233 black women public accountants, the prevalence of Type A behavior and its relationship with satisfaction and stress were highly consistent with those reported for other samples of white men and women.
Type A behavior is an action-emotion construct originally formulated and described by Friedman and Rosenman (1974). The individual exhibiting Type A behavior is characterized in part as being extremely hard-driving and competitive, highly achievement-oriented and work-involved, and engrossed in a chronic struggle to accomplish more and more in less and less time. Since 1974 hundreds of studies focusing on the physiological, psychological, behavioral, and occupational correlates of Type A behavior have appeared in the medical, psychological, and management literature. [For recent reviews see, for example, Ganster, Sime, and Mayes (1989); Haynes and Matthews (1988); Thoresen and Low (1990).] Employed white men constitute by far the most frequently represented group in these studies (Houston & Snyder, 1988), followed by white male and female college students. I n the last few years more studies of women have been reported (Dearborn & Hastings, 1987; Thoresen & Low, 1990), but the samples still remain predominately male and overwhelmingly white. A major objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of Type A behavior in a sample of employed black men and women. Virtually no published work-related Type A behavior research has focused on black workers, although they comprise over 10% of the working population in the United States. Work or organizationally oriented research on Type A behavior has tended to center on relations with a variety of traditional organizational variables, most notably job satisfaction, stress and tension, performance, organizational level, absenteeism and turnover, and other personality or behavior dimensions (e.g., locus of control, achievement orientation, general well-be'Address correspondence to M. T. Matteson, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-6283.
44
G . 0. GAMBLE & M. T. MATTESON
ing). A second important objective of this study was to obtain data relating Type A behavior to certain of these variables, specifically job satisfaction and stress, in an important and virtually unstudied group consisting of employed black professionals. Researchers have consistently reported significant positive relations be. tween Type A behavior and self-report measures of stress and tension within predominately whlte samples (Bedeian, Mossholder, & Touliatos, 1990; Dearborn & Hastings, 1987; Haynes, Levine, Scotch, Feinleib, & Kannel, 1978; Kelly & Houston, 1985; Matteson, Ivancevich, & Smith, 1984). I n one of the few studies of a black sample, Adams, LaPorte, Matthews, Orchard, and K d e r (1986) reported similar associations; college freshmen rather than employed adults, however, were assessed. The reported correlations between Type A behavior and job satisfaction are far less definitive. Bedeian, et al. (1990) reported positive relationships between Type A behavior and job satisfaction for men and women separately, but only the latter was statistically significant. Ivancevich, Matteson, and Preston (1982) found negative correlations with intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction for a sample of women, but only the former achieved significance. Other investigators have reported only weak nonsignificant relationships, both positive and negative (Burke, 1988; Howard, Cunningham, & Rechnitzer, 1977; Jamal & Ahmed, 1985; Matteson, et al., 1984). While the existing research has included some women, these samples are once again overwhelmingly white. METHOD
Subjects Questionnaires were mailed to 1000 members of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), a professional organization whose members are accountants in a variety of professional settings, including public accounting, industry, government, and academia. The 1000 participants were randomly selected from a current NABA membershp of approximately 1500. Of the 1000 questionnaires mailed, 529 were returned. Incomplete surveys and late returns reduced the number of processed replies to 494, yielding a usable response rate of 49%. The average age of the respondents was 30 years, with a range of 23 to 52 years. AU had undergraduate college degrees, while 27% had graduate degrees (primarily Master's in Accountancy); 47% were Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Of the 483 respondents indicating their sex, 250 were men and 233 were women. Questionnaire I n addition to demographic and occupational information, the questionnaire contained the following measures, all using four- to seven-point response scales in Likert format.
45
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, STRESS
.Type A behavior-Type A behavior was assessed on the Framingham Type A Scale, a 10-item measure designed for use in work settings and developed for the Framingham heart study (Haynes, et al., 1978). An example of an item: "I am hard-driving and competitive." Sbess.-The Reeder Daily Stress Scale (Reeder, Schrama, & Dirken, 1973), a 4-item measure of perceived stress experienced in daily activities, was used (example: "My daily activities are extremely trying and stressful"). Also, a 6-item measure of the extent to which job tension continues outside the work environment was included (example: "I stay in high gear and have trouble relaxing once I leave work"). This measure, Tension Discharge Rate, was developed for use in the stress and health change study of air traffic controllers (Rose, Jenkins, & Hurst, 1978) and has been used in several studies of Type A behavior. Job satisfaction.-Portions of the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980) were given to assess satisfaction. Specifically, a 3-item measure of general job satisfaction was included (example: "Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my job situation"), along with four of the five Job Diagnostic Survey measures of specific aspects of the job: growth (4 items), coworkers (3 items), pay (2 items), and job security (2 items).
RESULTS Summary statistics and correlations for all variables are presented in Table 1. The mean Framingham Scale value of 24.5 appears consistent with a range of Framingham Scale values reported among a variety of predominately white samples (DeFrank, Matteson, Schweiger, & Ivancevich, 1985; Haynes, et al., 1978; Matteson, et al., 1984). Although not displayed in the table, correlations between Type A behavior and age (-.01) and sex (.01) were not significant. Type A behavior as measured by the Framingham Scale was highly corTABLE 1
MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOREIGHTMEASURESAND THEIRPEARSON CORRELATIONS Variable
M S D
l
t
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1. Type A Behavior 24.5 5.9 63 57 81 2. Daily Stress 7.7 2.6 18.3 7.8 61 51 87 3. Tension Discharge 4.6 1.6 -12 -24 -10 80 4. Job Satisfaction -05 -09 -06 68 84 5. Growth Satisfaction 5.0 1.4 5.1 1.1 -07 -15 -10 52 66 65 6.CoworkerSatisfaction 48 46 44 79 4.8 1.5 -14 -20 -06 7. Security satisfaction 4.3 1.7 -15 -17 -09 41 36 36 41 85 8. Pay Satisfaction *Decimal points have been omitted for correlations. Values on the diagonal are a1 ha coefficients. Critical values = .09 for p < .05, .12 for p .05) than did women. These differences, however, are not inconsistent with sex-related differences found in traditional white samples.
DISCUSSION The relationship of Type A behavior with a variety of organizationally relevant variables is frequently addressed in the research literature. The present objective was to add to the existing knowledge by surveying black professionals, an important and understudied group. While directly comparable data are not available, the distribution of Framingham Type A Scale scores (mean and standard deviation values) is consistent with those for predominately white samples. When converted to the same scoring procedure, for example, the mean value of 24.5 obtained for the black accountants is slightly higher than that for a predominately blue-collar and slightly older group mean of 22.0 from the original Framingham research (Haynes, et al., 1978) and slightly lower than that for a group of Fortune 500 chief executive officers with a mean of 26.5 (DeFrank, et al., 1985). Although, contrary to many studies, Type A scores for this sample were independent of both age and sex, the lack of association here is not surprising. The average age of 30 years and a small standard deviation of 5.2 indicate this is a relatively young sample. Since most studies reporting a moderate inverse relationship with age point to lowered scores beginning to occur most frequently in individuals over 40, the relative independence of the behavior pattern with age that characterizes the present sample is not unexpected. Similarly, the corresponding lack of association with sex is equally unsurprising. Reported gender differences in the distribution of Type A behavior have typically been obtained when samples being compared differed significantly on variables other than sex, current employment status and years of full-time work experience being the most frequent and obvious differences. Most published reports, however, have not indicated gender differences in Type A behavior when occupation, education, or socioeconomic status are similar (Baker, Dearborn, Hastings, & Hamberger, 1984). Particularly with respect to occupation and education, it would be difficult to achieve greater homogeneity than exists within the present sample. One of the stronger and more consistent relationships found in the Type A literature is the almost universally reported positive association between Type A behavior and self-reported stress. Generally, Type A individuals tend to think of their jobs as stressful regardless of the actual stress present (Payne, 1988). The data from the present study are entirely consistent with these previous reports. Indeed, the relationship obtained in this research between Type A behavior as measured by the Framingham Scale and stress as measured by the Reeder Daily Stress Scale is virtually indistinguishable from
48
G. 0 . GAMBLE
&
M. T. MATTESON
previous findings based on the same two measures with predominately or exclusively white samples (Haynes, et al., 1978; Kelly & Houston, 1985; Matteson, et al., 1984). Unlike the consistent positive association with reported stress, the relationship between Type A behavior and job satisfaction is far more problematic. While most studies have not yielded a significant relationshp with satisfaction, a minority have. From the latter, some results have suggested the direction of the association is positive, others that it is negative. The data from the present study are in keeping with the equivocal outcomes in previous research. The weak significant negative correlation between Type A behavior and general job satisfaction reported here loses significance in the subgroup comparisons in Table 2. O n the other hand, two specific facets-security and pay-are significantly negatively related, while two others-growth and coworkers-are not. When the relationships of Type A behavior and satisfaction in the present study are further examined by sex, a clearer pattern emerges. For men, only satisfaction with security was significantly related to Type A behavior; for women, general job satisfaction and all four specific satisfaction facets were significant. Why should the association of Type A behavior and job satisfaction be so much stronger for women in our sample? While it must remain speculative at this point, a possible explanation relates to an interaction between issues of control and the nature of public accounting. To the extent that job satisfaction is affected by the perceived control the job occupant has in influencing various aspects of the job (growth, pay, etc.), Type A persons, with their stronger need for control, would experience correspondingly greater dissatisfaction with perceived lower control. Historically, public accounting has not been an area wherein women have been able to exercise as much control over career success as men. For example, in the eight largest public accounting firms in the United States, women represent only about 3% of those who are partners (Hooks & Cheramy, 1988). Thus, individuals with high control and need for achevement (Type As) who feel frustrated in their attempts to obtain higher career achievement (female public accountants) are likely to report lower satisfaction. In every respect, with regard to each variable included in the present study, results obtained from this sample of black men and women are entirely consistent with previous research conducted with overwhelmingly white and predominately male samples. Certainly one questionnaire-based study does not begin to provide definitive information; nonetheless, data are now available where few existed. Based on these results, there are no compelling reasons to believe the prevalence and nature of Type A behavior is any different among black and white professionals. The burden of proof lies
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, STRESS
49
with those who suggest Type A behavior is related to race, just as it does with those who suggest it is related to gender. REFERENCES ADAMS,L. L., LAPORTE,R. E., MATTHEMS,K. A,, ORCHARD, T. J., & KULLER,L. H. (1986) Blood pressure determinants in a middle-class black population: the University of Pittsburgh experience. Preventive Medicine, 15, 232-242. BAKER,L. J., DEARBORN, M., HASTINGS, J. E., & HAMBERGER, K. (1984) Type A behavior in women: a review. Health Psychology, 3, 477-497. BEDEIAN, A. G., MOSSHOLDER, K. W., & TOULIATOS, J. (1990) Type A status and selected work experiences among male and female accountants. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 291-306. B u r w , R. J. (1988) Integrating Type A behavior into organizational research: the variable that came in from the cold. Paper presented at Academy of Management, Anaheim, CA. M. J., & HASTINGS, J. E. (1987) Type A personality as a mediator of stress and DEARBORN, strain in employed women. Journal of Human Stress, 13, 53-60. DEFRANK, R. S., MATESON, M. T., SCHWEIGER, D. M., & IVANCEVICH, J. M. (1985) The impact of culture on the management practices of American and Japanese CEOs. Organizational Dynamics, 13, 62-76. FRIEDMAN, M., & ROSENMAN, R. (1974) Type A behavior and your heart. New York: Knopf. GANSTER, D. C., S m , W. E., & MAYES,B. T. (1989) Type A behavior in the work setting: a review and some new data. In A. Sie man & T M Dembroski (Eds.), In search of coronary prone behavior: Hillsdale, NJ: ~ r f b a u m .pp: 149-194. HACKMAN, J. R., & OLDHAM,G. R. (1975) Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170. HACKMAN, J. R., & OWHAM,G. R. (1980) Work dezign. Reading, M A : Addison-Wesley. HAYNES,S. G., LEVME,S., SCOTCH,N., FEMLEIB,M., & KANNEL,W. B. (1978) The relationship of psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 107, 362-383. HAYNES,S. G., & MATTHEWS,K. A. (1988) Review and methodologic critique of recent studies on Type A behavior and cardiovascular disease. Annals of Behavior Medicine, 10, 47-59. HOOKS,K. L., & CHEWY, S. L. (1988) Womcn accountants: current status and future prospects. The CPA Journal, 58, 66-70 HOUSTON, B. K., & SNYDER, C. R. (Eds.) (1988) Type A behavior pattern: theory, research and intervention. New York: Wiley. D. A,, & RECHNITZER, P. A. (1977) Work patterns associated HOWARD, J. H., CUNNINGHAM, with Type A behavior. Human Relations, 30, 825-836. IVANCEVICH, J. M., MATESON, M. T., & PRESTON,C. (1982) Occupational stress, Type A behavior, and physical well being. Academy of Management Journal, 25, 373-391. JAMAL,M., & AHMED, S. W. (1985) Distress, stress-prone Type A behavior, and personal and organizational consequences. Canadian Journal of Administrative Science, 2, 360-374. KELLY,K. E., & HOUSTON,B. K. (1985) Type A behavior in employed women: relations to work, marital and leisure variables, social support, stress, tension, and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1067-1079. ~ T T E S O M. N , T., IVANCEVICH, J. M., & SMITH, S. V. (1984) Relation of Type A behavior to performance and satisfaction among sales personnel. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 25, 203-214. PAYNE,R. (1988) Individual differences in the study of occupational stress. In C. L. Cooper & R. Payne (Eds.), Causes, coping, and consequences of stress at work. New York: Wiley. QJ. 209-232. REEDER,L. G., SCHRAMA, P. G., & DIRKEN,J. M. (1973) Stress and cardiovascular health: an international cooperative study. Social Science and Medicine, 1, 573-584. ROSE,R. M., JENKINS, C. D., & HLIRST,M. W. (1978) Air trafic controller health change study: a prospective investigation of physical, psychological and work-related changes. Austin, TX: Univer. of Texas Press.
50
G.0.GAMBLE & M. T. MATTESON
THORESEN, C. E.,& LOW, K. G. (1990)
Women and the Type A behavior pattern: review and commentary. Journal of Social Behavior and Puxonality, 5 , 117-123.
Accepted December 9, 1991.
O Psychological Reports 1992
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, A N D STRESS AMONG BLACK PROFESSIONALS ' GEORGE 0 . GAMBLE
MICHAEL T. MATTESON
Department of Accounkancy and Taxation
Department of Management
College of Business Administration University of Houston Summary.-Most studies of work-related Type A behavior have been conducted with samples of white men. Using a mail questionnaire to assess Type A behavior, job satisfaction, and daily stress and tension among 250 black men and 233 black women public accountants, the prevalence of Type A behavior and its relationship with satisfaction and stress were highly consistent with those reported for other samples of white men and women.
Type A behavior is an action-emotion construct originally formulated and described by Friedman and Rosenman (1974). The individual exhibiting Type A behavior is characterized in part as being extremely hard-driving and competitive, highly achievement-oriented and work-involved, and engrossed in a chronic struggle to accomplish more and more in less and less time. Since 1974 hundreds of studies focusing on the physiological, psychological, behavioral, and occupational correlates of Type A behavior have appeared in the medical, psychological, and management literature. [For recent reviews see, for example, Ganster, Sime, and Mayes (1989); Haynes and Matthews (1988); Thoresen and Low (1990).] Employed white men constitute by far the most frequently represented group in these studies (Houston & Snyder, 1988), followed by white male and female college students. I n the last few years more studies of women have been reported (Dearborn & Hastings, 1987; Thoresen & Low, 1990), but the samples still remain predominately male and overwhelmingly white. A major objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of Type A behavior in a sample of employed black men and women. Virtually no published work-related Type A behavior research has focused on black workers, although they comprise over 10% of the working population in the United States. Work or organizationally oriented research on Type A behavior has tended to center on relations with a variety of traditional organizational variables, most notably job satisfaction, stress and tension, performance, organizational level, absenteeism and turnover, and other personality or behavior dimensions (e.g., locus of control, achievement orientation, general well-be'Address correspondence to M. T. Matteson, Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-6283.
44
G . 0. GAMBLE & M. T. MATTESON
ing). A second important objective of this study was to obtain data relating Type A behavior to certain of these variables, specifically job satisfaction and stress, in an important and virtually unstudied group consisting of employed black professionals. Researchers have consistently reported significant positive relations be. tween Type A behavior and self-report measures of stress and tension within predominately whlte samples (Bedeian, Mossholder, & Touliatos, 1990; Dearborn & Hastings, 1987; Haynes, Levine, Scotch, Feinleib, & Kannel, 1978; Kelly & Houston, 1985; Matteson, Ivancevich, & Smith, 1984). I n one of the few studies of a black sample, Adams, LaPorte, Matthews, Orchard, and K d e r (1986) reported similar associations; college freshmen rather than employed adults, however, were assessed. The reported correlations between Type A behavior and job satisfaction are far less definitive. Bedeian, et al. (1990) reported positive relationships between Type A behavior and job satisfaction for men and women separately, but only the latter was statistically significant. Ivancevich, Matteson, and Preston (1982) found negative correlations with intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction for a sample of women, but only the former achieved significance. Other investigators have reported only weak nonsignificant relationships, both positive and negative (Burke, 1988; Howard, Cunningham, & Rechnitzer, 1977; Jamal & Ahmed, 1985; Matteson, et al., 1984). While the existing research has included some women, these samples are once again overwhelmingly white. METHOD
Subjects Questionnaires were mailed to 1000 members of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), a professional organization whose members are accountants in a variety of professional settings, including public accounting, industry, government, and academia. The 1000 participants were randomly selected from a current NABA membershp of approximately 1500. Of the 1000 questionnaires mailed, 529 were returned. Incomplete surveys and late returns reduced the number of processed replies to 494, yielding a usable response rate of 49%. The average age of the respondents was 30 years, with a range of 23 to 52 years. AU had undergraduate college degrees, while 27% had graduate degrees (primarily Master's in Accountancy); 47% were Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Of the 483 respondents indicating their sex, 250 were men and 233 were women. Questionnaire I n addition to demographic and occupational information, the questionnaire contained the following measures, all using four- to seven-point response scales in Likert format.
45
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, STRESS
.Type A behavior-Type A behavior was assessed on the Framingham Type A Scale, a 10-item measure designed for use in work settings and developed for the Framingham heart study (Haynes, et al., 1978). An example of an item: "I am hard-driving and competitive." Sbess.-The Reeder Daily Stress Scale (Reeder, Schrama, & Dirken, 1973), a 4-item measure of perceived stress experienced in daily activities, was used (example: "My daily activities are extremely trying and stressful"). Also, a 6-item measure of the extent to which job tension continues outside the work environment was included (example: "I stay in high gear and have trouble relaxing once I leave work"). This measure, Tension Discharge Rate, was developed for use in the stress and health change study of air traffic controllers (Rose, Jenkins, & Hurst, 1978) and has been used in several studies of Type A behavior. Job satisfaction.-Portions of the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980) were given to assess satisfaction. Specifically, a 3-item measure of general job satisfaction was included (example: "Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my job situation"), along with four of the five Job Diagnostic Survey measures of specific aspects of the job: growth (4 items), coworkers (3 items), pay (2 items), and job security (2 items).
RESULTS Summary statistics and correlations for all variables are presented in Table 1. The mean Framingham Scale value of 24.5 appears consistent with a range of Framingham Scale values reported among a variety of predominately white samples (DeFrank, Matteson, Schweiger, & Ivancevich, 1985; Haynes, et al., 1978; Matteson, et al., 1984). Although not displayed in the table, correlations between Type A behavior and age (-.01) and sex (.01) were not significant. Type A behavior as measured by the Framingham Scale was highly corTABLE 1
MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOREIGHTMEASURESAND THEIRPEARSON CORRELATIONS Variable
M S D
l
t
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1. Type A Behavior 24.5 5.9 63 57 81 2. Daily Stress 7.7 2.6 18.3 7.8 61 51 87 3. Tension Discharge 4.6 1.6 -12 -24 -10 80 4. Job Satisfaction -05 -09 -06 68 84 5. Growth Satisfaction 5.0 1.4 5.1 1.1 -07 -15 -10 52 66 65 6.CoworkerSatisfaction 48 46 44 79 4.8 1.5 -14 -20 -06 7. Security satisfaction 4.3 1.7 -15 -17 -09 41 36 36 41 85 8. Pay Satisfaction *Decimal points have been omitted for correlations. Values on the diagonal are a1 ha coefficients. Critical values = .09 for p < .05, .12 for p .05) than did women. These differences, however, are not inconsistent with sex-related differences found in traditional white samples.
DISCUSSION The relationship of Type A behavior with a variety of organizationally relevant variables is frequently addressed in the research literature. The present objective was to add to the existing knowledge by surveying black professionals, an important and understudied group. While directly comparable data are not available, the distribution of Framingham Type A Scale scores (mean and standard deviation values) is consistent with those for predominately white samples. When converted to the same scoring procedure, for example, the mean value of 24.5 obtained for the black accountants is slightly higher than that for a predominately blue-collar and slightly older group mean of 22.0 from the original Framingham research (Haynes, et al., 1978) and slightly lower than that for a group of Fortune 500 chief executive officers with a mean of 26.5 (DeFrank, et al., 1985). Although, contrary to many studies, Type A scores for this sample were independent of both age and sex, the lack of association here is not surprising. The average age of 30 years and a small standard deviation of 5.2 indicate this is a relatively young sample. Since most studies reporting a moderate inverse relationship with age point to lowered scores beginning to occur most frequently in individuals over 40, the relative independence of the behavior pattern with age that characterizes the present sample is not unexpected. Similarly, the corresponding lack of association with sex is equally unsurprising. Reported gender differences in the distribution of Type A behavior have typically been obtained when samples being compared differed significantly on variables other than sex, current employment status and years of full-time work experience being the most frequent and obvious differences. Most published reports, however, have not indicated gender differences in Type A behavior when occupation, education, or socioeconomic status are similar (Baker, Dearborn, Hastings, & Hamberger, 1984). Particularly with respect to occupation and education, it would be difficult to achieve greater homogeneity than exists within the present sample. One of the stronger and more consistent relationships found in the Type A literature is the almost universally reported positive association between Type A behavior and self-reported stress. Generally, Type A individuals tend to think of their jobs as stressful regardless of the actual stress present (Payne, 1988). The data from the present study are entirely consistent with these previous reports. Indeed, the relationship obtained in this research between Type A behavior as measured by the Framingham Scale and stress as measured by the Reeder Daily Stress Scale is virtually indistinguishable from
48
G. 0 . GAMBLE
&
M. T. MATTESON
previous findings based on the same two measures with predominately or exclusively white samples (Haynes, et al., 1978; Kelly & Houston, 1985; Matteson, et al., 1984). Unlike the consistent positive association with reported stress, the relationship between Type A behavior and job satisfaction is far more problematic. While most studies have not yielded a significant relationshp with satisfaction, a minority have. From the latter, some results have suggested the direction of the association is positive, others that it is negative. The data from the present study are in keeping with the equivocal outcomes in previous research. The weak significant negative correlation between Type A behavior and general job satisfaction reported here loses significance in the subgroup comparisons in Table 2. O n the other hand, two specific facets-security and pay-are significantly negatively related, while two others-growth and coworkers-are not. When the relationships of Type A behavior and satisfaction in the present study are further examined by sex, a clearer pattern emerges. For men, only satisfaction with security was significantly related to Type A behavior; for women, general job satisfaction and all four specific satisfaction facets were significant. Why should the association of Type A behavior and job satisfaction be so much stronger for women in our sample? While it must remain speculative at this point, a possible explanation relates to an interaction between issues of control and the nature of public accounting. To the extent that job satisfaction is affected by the perceived control the job occupant has in influencing various aspects of the job (growth, pay, etc.), Type A persons, with their stronger need for control, would experience correspondingly greater dissatisfaction with perceived lower control. Historically, public accounting has not been an area wherein women have been able to exercise as much control over career success as men. For example, in the eight largest public accounting firms in the United States, women represent only about 3% of those who are partners (Hooks & Cheramy, 1988). Thus, individuals with high control and need for achevement (Type As) who feel frustrated in their attempts to obtain higher career achievement (female public accountants) are likely to report lower satisfaction. In every respect, with regard to each variable included in the present study, results obtained from this sample of black men and women are entirely consistent with previous research conducted with overwhelmingly white and predominately male samples. Certainly one questionnaire-based study does not begin to provide definitive information; nonetheless, data are now available where few existed. Based on these results, there are no compelling reasons to believe the prevalence and nature of Type A behavior is any different among black and white professionals. The burden of proof lies
TYPE A BEHAVIOR, JOB SATISFACTION, STRESS
49
with those who suggest Type A behavior is related to race, just as it does with those who suggest it is related to gender. REFERENCES ADAMS,L. L., LAPORTE,R. E., MATTHEMS,K. A,, ORCHARD, T. J., & KULLER,L. H. (1986) Blood pressure determinants in a middle-class black population: the University of Pittsburgh experience. Preventive Medicine, 15, 232-242. BAKER,L. J., DEARBORN, M., HASTINGS, J. E., & HAMBERGER, K. (1984) Type A behavior in women: a review. Health Psychology, 3, 477-497. BEDEIAN, A. G., MOSSHOLDER, K. W., & TOULIATOS, J. (1990) Type A status and selected work experiences among male and female accountants. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 291-306. B u r w , R. J. (1988) Integrating Type A behavior into organizational research: the variable that came in from the cold. Paper presented at Academy of Management, Anaheim, CA. M. J., & HASTINGS, J. E. (1987) Type A personality as a mediator of stress and DEARBORN, strain in employed women. Journal of Human Stress, 13, 53-60. DEFRANK, R. S., MATESON, M. T., SCHWEIGER, D. M., & IVANCEVICH, J. M. (1985) The impact of culture on the management practices of American and Japanese CEOs. Organizational Dynamics, 13, 62-76. FRIEDMAN, M., & ROSENMAN, R. (1974) Type A behavior and your heart. New York: Knopf. GANSTER, D. C., S m , W. E., & MAYES,B. T. (1989) Type A behavior in the work setting: a review and some new data. In A. Sie man & T M Dembroski (Eds.), In search of coronary prone behavior: Hillsdale, NJ: ~ r f b a u m .pp: 149-194. HACKMAN, J. R., & OLDHAM,G. R. (1975) Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170. HACKMAN, J. R., & OWHAM,G. R. (1980) Work dezign. Reading, M A : Addison-Wesley. HAYNES,S. G., LEVME,S., SCOTCH,N., FEMLEIB,M., & KANNEL,W. B. (1978) The relationship of psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 107, 362-383. HAYNES,S. G., & MATTHEWS,K. A. (1988) Review and methodologic critique of recent studies on Type A behavior and cardiovascular disease. Annals of Behavior Medicine, 10, 47-59. HOOKS,K. L., & CHEWY, S. L. (1988) Womcn accountants: current status and future prospects. The CPA Journal, 58, 66-70 HOUSTON, B. K., & SNYDER, C. R. (Eds.) (1988) Type A behavior pattern: theory, research and intervention. New York: Wiley. D. A,, & RECHNITZER, P. A. (1977) Work patterns associated HOWARD, J. H., CUNNINGHAM, with Type A behavior. Human Relations, 30, 825-836. IVANCEVICH, J. M., MATESON, M. T., & PRESTON,C. (1982) Occupational stress, Type A behavior, and physical well being. Academy of Management Journal, 25, 373-391. JAMAL,M., & AHMED, S. W. (1985) Distress, stress-prone Type A behavior, and personal and organizational consequences. Canadian Journal of Administrative Science, 2, 360-374. KELLY,K. E., & HOUSTON,B. K. (1985) Type A behavior in employed women: relations to work, marital and leisure variables, social support, stress, tension, and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1067-1079. ~ T T E S O M. N , T., IVANCEVICH, J. M., & SMITH, S. V. (1984) Relation of Type A behavior to performance and satisfaction among sales personnel. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 25, 203-214. PAYNE,R. (1988) Individual differences in the study of occupational stress. In C. L. Cooper & R. Payne (Eds.), Causes, coping, and consequences of stress at work. New York: Wiley. QJ. 209-232. REEDER,L. G., SCHRAMA, P. G., & DIRKEN,J. M. (1973) Stress and cardiovascular health: an international cooperative study. Social Science and Medicine, 1, 573-584. ROSE,R. M., JENKINS, C. D., & HLIRST,M. W. (1978) Air trafic controller health change study: a prospective investigation of physical, psychological and work-related changes. Austin, TX: Univer. of Texas Press.
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G.0.GAMBLE & M. T. MATTESON
THORESEN, C. E.,& LOW, K. G. (1990)
Women and the Type A behavior pattern: review and commentary. Journal of Social Behavior and Puxonality, 5 , 117-123.
Accepted December 9, 1991.
