Analysis of organizational climate factors as predictors of job satisfaction and job stress for community college counselors

Increasingly high levels of employee turnover, plummeting rates of retention, and difficulty recruiting community college counselors has lead to problems for college administrators, students, and college counselors. Research focusing on college counselors is very limited, but various organizational climate factors related to job satisfaction and job stress were implied in the literature and may be responsible for these problems. In response, this study was designed to examine the factors of affiliation, participatory decision making, innovation, professional interest, resource adequacy, and staff freedom as predictors for job satisfaction and job stress for counselors. Eighty-eight counselors from 5 colleges participated. Correlational and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results indicated all variables positively correlated to job satisfaction, but none of the variables correlated significantly to job stress. Results of the regression analysis indicated that only staff freedom significantly predicted job satisfaction, with no predictors for job stress. By understanding factors affecting counselors, strategic steps can be taken to address these problems. Improved conditions for counselors should translate into better services provided to students who will contribute positively toward society.