Learn More – Work Life Survey

The Quality-of-Work-Life Survey is a standardized survey that have been administered at many colleges and universities in the U.S. and other countries to assess the level of quality of work life.

The Theoretical Model Underlying the Survey

The conceptual model underlying the Quality-of-Work-Life Survey is shown in Figure 1 below (Sirgy et al., 2001). The Quality-of-Work-Life measure is essentially based on need hierarchy theory, a theory widely accepted in social/personality psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, management, as well as quality-of-life studies. The measure is designed to assess the extent to which an organization is perceived to meet the needs of members of the employees. Seven major needs are captured in the Quality-of-Work-Life Survey, each having several dimensions. These are:

health and safety needs
1. protection from ill health and injury at work (i.e., safety at work)
2. protection from ill health outside of work (i.e., job-related health benefits)
3. enhancement of good health (i.e., encouragement at work of preventative measures of health care)
economic and family needs
1. pay (i.e., adequate wages)
2. job security (i.e., feeling secure knowing that one is not likely to get laid off)
3. other family needs (i.e., having enough time from work to attend to family needs)
social needs
1. collegiality at work (i.e., positive social interactions at work)
2. leisure time off work (i.e., having enough time from work to relax and experience leisure)
esteem needs
1. recognition and appreciation of work within the college or university (i.e., recognition and awards for doing a good job at work)
2. recognition and appreciation of work outside the college or university (i.e., recognition and awards by the local community and/or professional associations for work done within the college or university or on behalf of the college or university)
actualization needs
1. realization of one’s potential within the college or university (i.e., job is perceived to allow recognition of potential)
2. realization of one’s potential as a professional (i.e., job is perceived to allow the person to become an expert in his or her field of expertise)
knowledge needs
1. learning to enhance job skills (i.e., perceives opportunities to learn to do the job better)
2. learning to enhance professional skills (i.e., perceives opportunities to learn to become expert in one’s field)
aesthetic needs
1. creativity at work (i.e., perceives opportunities to be creative in solving job-related problems)
2. personal creativity and general aesthetics (.e., perceives opportunities at work to allow personal development of one’s sense of aesthetics and creative expression)

The Quality-of-Work-Life measure has been administered in a variety of organizations to capture the quality of work life of faculty and staff in colleges and universities, nurses and medical staff in medical clinics and hospitals, accountants in accounting firms, marketing professionals, engineers, human resource managers, among others (e.g., Abdollahzade et al., 2016; Afsar & Burcu, 2014; Arndt, Singhapakdi, & Tam, 2015; Chan & Wyatt, 2007; Koonmee et al., 2010; Lee, Singhapakdi, & Sirgy, 2007; Marta et al., 2013; Mohan & Suppareakchaisakul, 2014; Nimalathasan & Ather, 2010; Rastogi, Rangnekar, & Rastogi, 2018; Saha & Kumar, 2016; Singhapakdi et al., 2014; Sirgy et al., 2001; Taher, 2013) and validated in terms of its prediction of constructs such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, satisfaction in non-work domains, and life satisfaction.

As shown in the figure, satisfaction with life overall of employees is heavily influenced by job satisfaction and satisfaction in non-work domains. Job satisfaction, satisfaction in non-work domains, as well as organizational commitment are all construed to be determined by quality of work life (i.e., employee need satisfaction in relation to health and safety needs, economic and family needs, social needs, esteem needs, actualization needs, knowledge needs, and aesthetics needs).

See exact items of the Quality-of-Work-Life measure and other model constructs shown in the figure in the actual online survey questionnaire in the survey.

References

Lee, D. J., Singhapakdi, A., & Sirgy, M. J. (2007). Further validation of a need-based quality-of-work-life (QWL) measure: Evidence from marketing practitioners. Applied Research in Quality of life, 2, 273-287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-008-9042-x

Sinval, J., Sirgy, M. J., Lee, D. J., & Marôco, J. (2020). The quality of work life scale: validity evidence from Brazil and Portugal. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 15 (5), 1323–1351.

Sirgy, M. J., Efraty, D., Siegel, P., & Lee, D. J. (2001). A new measure of quality of work life (QWL) based on need satisfaction and spillover theories. Social Indicators Research, 55, 241-302. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010986923468

Sirgy, M. J., Reilly, N. P., Wu, J., & Efraty, D. (2008). A work-life identity model of well-being: Towards a research agenda linking quality-of-work-life (QWL) programs with quality of life (QOL). Applied Research in Quality of Life, 3, 181-202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-008-9054-6

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Description of the Survey

	I. QUALITY OF WORK LIFE health and safety needs, economic and family needs, social needs, esteem needs, actualization needs, knowledge needs, aethetics needs	II. JOB SATISFACTION job satisfaction
	III. SATISFACTION IN NON-WORK DOMAINS family, leisure, finances, health, education, social life, neighborhood life, community life, spiritual life, environment, housing, culture, social status	IV. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT effort, loyalty, organizational values, inspiration
	V. LIFE SATISFACTION life in general	VI. DEMOGRAPHICS age, gender, marital status, full-time vs. part-time employment

Participants are introduced to the survey questionnaire via a cover letter from their employer describing the objectives of the survey as aiming to assess the quality of work life in their organization. Participants are assured that their responses would remain confidential and anonymous.

The questionnaire consists of three major sections. The first section (“Feelings about How the Firm Addresses Your Personal Needs”) involves the core quality-of-work-life survey items—items related to satisfaction with the seven categories of human needs (and 16 dimensions in total). See exact items of this construct in the actual online survey questionnaire.

The second section of the questionnaire involves a measure of organizational commitment. The third section focuses on measures of satisfaction with various life domains, including the work domain, and life overall. See exact items of these constructs in the actual online survey questionnaire.

The last (third) section of the questionnaire contains demographic questions related to gender, age, educational level, years of service in current type of work, and years of service.

Conducting the Survey

The Management Institute for Quality-of-Life Studies (MIQOLS) provides human resource managers with assistance in conducting the survey online. The survey is first adapted to the exact specification of the organization in question. The adapted version of the survey is then posted on MIQOLS website for data collection. The staff at the client organization publicizes a call to their employees to complete the online survey anonymously and confidentially. A link is provided with the call to complete the survey with a specific deadline.

After the deadline, the survey site is closed, data analyzed, and the results are issued to the client. To see an example of typical results, see the Survey Report section below.

The Survey Report

After the survey has been completed you will receive an Excel data file containing the survey data plus statistical norms for every survey item. A convenient summary sheet will be provided to quickly gauge the responses for each survey question, as well as the computed averages for important question sets.

Data: The raw data containing the results from the survey.

Summary: A sheet which summarizes the survey responses.

An example results spreadsheet is available here.

If the spreadsheet provided is insufficient for your needs, you may also want to consider asking MIQOLS to produce an official report. Official reports can provide not only an analysis and visualization (in the form of charts and graphs) for each survey item, but also further analysis with respect to specific demographics of interest.

The production of an official report varies greatly depending on the specific needs of clients. If you are interested in pursuing this option, please contact us (office@miqols.org) to discuss in detail your requirements.

The report is structured as follows:

Cover page: A title page with applicant contact information and MIQOLS contact information
Executive Summary: The entire content of the report is summarized here.
Theory and Model: The theoretical model underlying the survey is described here and the theoretical constructs are clearly defined. The research supporting the model is also discussed in this section.
Description of the Survey: This section contains a description of the constructs with corresponding survey items.
Sampling and Data Collection: This part of the report describes the call issued to people to participate in the survey, the deadline imposed, any incentives used to encourage participation, the survey link, the number of people who actually participated in the survey, the total number of people contacted, and the response rate. The response rate is compared to past response rates.
Survey Results: This section of the report provides descriptive statistics related to each survey item with figures (e.g., bar charts) against the norm. The norm is calculated based on the average of all past surveys that have been administered through MIQOLS.
Discussion and Recommendations: The survey results are then summarized and interpreted in this section. As such, specific strengths and weaknesses are identified.
References: Exact references of corresponding text citations are fleshed out in this section.
Appendices: Extra detailed information related to any aspect of the report is placed in this section.

Example Reports

Project Fee

$1000 to help set up the survey site for your data collection (guided by the validated survey measures). After the completion of data collection, we will deliver an Excel data file containing the survey data plus statistical norms for every survey item. If you would like a full report with charts and recommendations, you can contact our office to discuss in detail your requirements and the corresponding payment.

To request MIQOLS to conduct a Quality-of-Work-Life Survey, please send an e-mail message to the executive director of MIQOLS, Joe Sirgy, at office@miqols.org indicating interest. You can also contact MIQOLS by letter (address: 6020 Lyons Road, Dublin, Virginia 24084, USA) or by phone (540-674-5022; leave voicemail message). A staff member will contact you by e-mail to set up a telephone (or Skype or ZOOM) meeting. The staff member will answer whatever questions you may have and discuss the logistics of the entire project, the cost, survey specifications, time line, delivery of the survey report and other details.