Factors affecting Work Locus of Control: An Analytical and Comparative Study

Work locus of control of employees refers to how employees believe that they can control work events. Individuals with high scores on the Work Locus of Control Scale developed by Spector are considered externals. Externals believe that external forces such as faith or luck determine events. Internals believe that they have more control over work environment and events. Major personality attributes influence organizational behavior. Locus of control attribute has been found to be a powerful predictor of behavior in organizations. Almost all related research has been conducted in Western English speaking countries. Relatively, few studies have investigated locus of control in other cultures. Most cross-national studies have been done in Confucian Asia, almost neglecting Arab countries. This study investigated a sample of Jordanian employees from three different local organizations through distributing, collecting and analyzing a questionnaire. The sample size was based on 50% proportion with a confidence level of 95% and an acceptable error of 0.07. The study examined the effect of some independent variables such as demographic variables among others on the employee work locus of control. A new independent variable was introduced which is related to employee religiousness. A focus group was formed to help develop the operational definition of this variable. Feeling religious and commitment to worship with a four points Likert type scale was used. The study indicated that a correlation exists between this new variable and work locus of control. Also the study showed that work locus of control for Jordanian employees ranked in the middle of the international norms. The sample scored 47 which is about ten points lower than the extremist Externals in China and ten points higher than the other extreme of Internals in New Zealand. Keywords: .