THE RELATIONSHIP OF PERSONALITY TRAITS, INTEREST LEVELS, AND CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHIC AND JOB CHARACTERISTICS TO THE JOB SATISFACTION LEVELS OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGISTS

The purpose of the study was to investigate personality types, aptitude types, and certain demographic factors and determine the relationship of these variables to the job satisfaction levels of medical technologists.;The major findings of the study were: (1) The technologists were moderately satisfied in the areas of general work, promotional opportunities, supervision, and affinity for co-workers. Low satisfaction levels were found in the area of pay. Hospital size showed no significant relationship to the medical technologists' job satisfaction levels. (2) More than half of the medical technologists preferred introversion over extroversion, sensing over intuition, feeling over thinking, and judgment over perception. The subjects fell into each category of the possible 16 personality types with a large concentration in types ISTJ, ISFJ, and ESFJ. These results replicated several other similar studies of medical technologists. (3) Personality type showed no significant relationship to job satisfaction in the areas of general work, pay, promotional opportunity, and supervision. Personality type was significantly related to job satisfaction with co-workers. The group of subjects which had the greatest mean score for satisfaction with co-workers was in the personality type Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging (ESFJ). (4) The medical technologists scored highest on the Investigative Theme (I Theme) on the SCII. They also had high scores on the Medical Service and Medical Science variables on the Basic Interest Scales. A stepwise multiple regression showed that the Medical Service score was a predictor of job satisfaction in the areas of general work, pay, promotional opportunity, supervision, and affinity for co-workers. (5) The demographic data questionnaire indicated that the majority of the participants were single and under 35 years of age. Over half of the subjects were either the oldest or only child in the family. The subjects cited "aptitude for science course" as the predominant reason for choosing medical technology as a career. (6) In the area of general work, going from greatest job satisfaction to least job satisfaction, the results were as follows: bacteriology personnel, blood bank personnel, hematology personnel, and chemistry personnel.;The major conclusions of the study were: (1) Medical technologists are generally not a highly satisfied group of employees. They are dissatisfied with promotional opportunity and pay. The more automated laboratories have the least satisfied personnel. (2) Job satisfaction levels vary little regardless of hospital size indicating very similar organizational climates regardless of hospital or hospital size. (3) The Medical Service score on the SCII serves as a predictor of job satisfaction in the medical technology field. (4) Personality type had no significant relationship on the job satisfaction levels of medical technologists except for the area of co-workers. The Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging (ESFJ) types are significantly more satisfied with co-workers than other personality types.;The sample consisted of 207 female medical technologists working in clinical laboratories of selected hospitals in the metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, area. Participants were ASCP certified and were working as staff technologists in non-supervisory positions. The instruments used were as follows: Job Descriptive Index (job satisfaction); Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (personality type); Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (aptitude type); and a demographic data questionnaire developed by the researcher.