Work shift, occupational status, and the perception of job prestige

Abstract

Ratings of job prestige provided by 170 respondents in 2 widely different work settings, a state mental hospital and an electronics plant, revealed a significant interaction between work shift and occupational status level. As hypothesized, nonsupervisory night workers (hospital attendants and assembly line workers) attributed less prestige to own and coworkers' jobs than did their counterparts on the day shift, whereas no differences were found between the ratings of day and night supervisory personnel (registered nurses, industrial engineers, and foremen). These results suggest that situational characteristics of the work environment are more potent determinants of the job attitudes of lower-echelon than of upper-echelon workers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)