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Bangcheng Liu, Department of Public Administration, School of International and Public Affairs,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Xiaoyi Zhang, Department of Public Economics and Social Policy,
School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Xiaojun Lv, Department
of Public Administration, School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
This research was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (Project
71002035), SMC-Chenxing Young Scholar Program (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), and Shanghai
Pujiang Program awarded to Bangcheng Liu. An earlier version was presented at the 7th International
Conference on Public Administration, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Bangcheng Liu, School of
International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, Peoples
Republic of China. Email: liubangcheng@sjtu.edu.cn
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The theory and practice of Chinese social work originated long ago, in beliefs
such as the great equity of Confucianism (Wang, 1995, 2007). Social workers are
deeply connected to helping others and compassion is a core value in their work
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(Radey & Figley, 2007). Social work in China today is consistent with this notion
and the facilitation of social harmony.
The development of Chinese social work depends on attracting, retaining, and
motivating the best people for the job. The theory of PSM provides a possible
key to achieving this. Specifically, in this study, our aims were to validate the
affective dimension of PSM in a Chinese context and to explore its effect on the
job satisfaction of Chinese social workers.
Method
Participants
Through a local agency, we recruited 602 social workers from eastern China.
We received 552 usable complete responses to our survey (47.1% men). The
average age level of respondents was 3.19 (level 1 = under 30 years of age, 2
= between 30 and 39 years, 3 = between 40 and 50 years, 4 = over 50 years,
SD = 0.89). The average tenure was 3.52 years (SD = 1.50). Most social workers
were employed as employment assistants, housing assistants, or as aged-care
assistants.
Measure
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Results
The results of the initial EFA analysis with Group A are shown in Table 1. We
found that the original eight items in Perrys (1996) scale should be split into two
factors. We found it interesting that the four negatively phrased items combined
into a single factor (factor 1), and the four positively phrased items also combined
into a single factor (factor 2). Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficients of both
factors were at acceptable values of .80 and .68, respectively. Also, the two
factors individually account for 38% and 21%, respectively, of the total variance.
Table 1. Results of EFA of Affective Dimension of PSM (Compassion)
Item
I am rarely moved by the plight of the underprivileged.*
I seldom think about the welfare of people whom I dont know personally.*
There are few public programs I wholeheartedly support.*
I have little compassion for people in need who are unwilling to take the
first step to help themselves.*
I am often reminded by daily events about how dependent we are on one another.
To me, patriotism includes seeing to the welfare of others.
It is difficult for me to contain my feelings when I see people in distress.
Most social programs are too vital to do without.
Alpha coefficient
Variance explained
Eigenvalue
Factor 1 Factor 2
.85
.82
.81
-.04
-.03
-.30
.65
-.22
-.21
-.39
.09
.80
.38
3.06
-.36
.81
.78
.69
.53
.68
.21
1.66
Note: Figures in bold indicate primary factor loading. Items with * indicate they were reverse-scored
from Perrys original scale. EFA is based on principal component analysis with direct oblimin
rotation.
The results indicate that among the Chinese social workers, the compassion
dimension of PSM is a more complex factor than it was in Perrys (1996)
construct. That is, compassion is a construct made up of two subdimensions
instead of being assessed on a unidimensional scale. Our results suggest that
the dimensionality of the compassion of PSM among Chinese social workers
should be reassessed. To validate the dimensionality of Perrys (1996) scale of
compassion, we used structural equation modeling for CFA. Given the caution
recommended by Coursey and Pandey (2007), we analyzed the data for Group
B using LISREL version 8.7 with diagonally weighted least square (DWLS)
estimation. In the first analysis we tested the full version with four negative and
four positive items of the original construct (Model A). As negative questions
may cause problems of validity and reliability (Schmitt & Stults, 1985), we also
tested separately the four positive items from the scale (Model B) and the four
negative items from the scale (Model C). If the components are discrete, as in the
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above case, the two-factor model would be the best fit (Model D).The fit statistics
are summarized into Table 2, in which the results demonstrate that Model C with
four negative items has the best fit.
Table 2. Results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Indices of Fit for Each Model
Model
A One factor (full)
B One factor (positive)
C One factor (negative)
D Two factors
df
2/df
CFI
IFI
207.85
15.03
3.58
128.03
20
2
2
19
.00
.00
.17
.00
10.39
7.52
1.79
6.74
.66
.92
.99
.80
.66
.92
.99
.80
The following analysis for testing Hypothesis 1 was conducted with the 552
respondents, based on Model C. Before testing Hypothesis 1, the results of CFA
on job satisfaction yielded an acceptable result for comparative fit index (CFI)
and incremental fit index (IFI), 2/df = 3.20; CFI = .97; IFI = .97. In Table 3, the
means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables are shown.
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Between Measures
Variable
Gender
Age
Tenure
Compassion
Job satisfaction
SD
.45
3.17
3.50
3.12
2.16
.50
.89
1.50
1.01
.92
1
1.00
.18**
-.02
.18**
.09*
1.00
.43**
-.02
.09*
1.00
-.10*
.04
1.00
.09*
1.00
Note. Gender (1 = male, 0 = female); Age (1 = under 30 years, 2 = 30-39 years, 3 = 40-50 years, 4 =
over 50); N = 552; * p < .05; ** p < .01.
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