Mason, Louisa (2017) Is Dirty Work Decent Work? Towards a New Perspective on Working. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Workers involved in “dirty jobs”, such as cleaners, personal carers and workers in trades, farming and mining industries, experience stigma associated with their work. Informed by the Psychology of Working theory’s (PWT) standard of decent work, this study explored the influence of stigma on work meaningfulness, and life satisfaction, and the contributions of stigma, work meaningfulness, decent work, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion on workers’ intentions to leave their current jobs. A cross-sectional online survey method was used to gather data from 132 male and female workers, aged between 19 and 70, from a range of dirty occupations and diverse geographic regions of Australia. Results from mediation regression analyses supported the hypothesis that decent work would mediate the relationship between stigma and life satisfaction, with the mediation accounting for 24% of the variance in the regression model. The results did not support the hypothesis that decent work would mediate the relationship between stigma and work meaningfulness. Results from a standard regression analyses supported the hypothesis that, together, stigma, decent work, work meaningfulness, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion would predict workers’ intentions to leave their current jobs. The model accounted for 29% of the variance in withdrawal intentions, with emotional exhaustion and work meaningfulness emerging as significant unique predictors, accounting for an additional 5% and 3% of variance, respectively. Such findings increase our understanding of the psychological factors that influence the retention of workers in stigmatised occupations and may help to inform organisations and individuals about potential protective measures that can be put in place for workers in as “dirty” occupations.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Nancey Hoare; Peter McIlveen |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2025 00:48 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2025 00:48 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | dirty work, stigma, decent work, work meaningfulness, emotional exhaustion, life satisfaction, withdrawal intentions |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52539 |
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