75 PASTORAL CALLING AND OVERALL JOB SATISFACTION Calling is an essential construct regarding a person’s career choices. As demonstrated within the literature, the field of calling has recently received an increased amount of scholarship. However, the field is still young and lacking in regard to specific populations, such as Christians. The construct of calling has many potential benefits to the general well-being and career outcomes of pastors. Because research on calling within a strictly Christian context was almost non-existent, researchers have stated there is a great need for scholarship within such contexts.45 As previously mentioned, job satisfaction has been more thoroughly examined. However, only a small portion of studies on job satisfaction examine clergy.46 Overall, the current picture among pastors looks bright, and they report good levels of satisfaction in multiple dimensions of well-being.47 Overview of Research The basis of this article was a quantitative non-experimental study to determine if the presence of a calling, search for a calling, and the degree to which a calling is being lived are significant predictors of job satisfaction among pastors. The current study also examined the relationships between the presence of a calling, search for a calling, and the degree to which a calling is being lived among pastors. Three instruments, the Brief Calling Scale (BCS), the Living Calling Scale (LCS), and the Job in General Scale (JIG) measured the presence of a calling, search for a calling, degree of living out a calling, and job satisfaction of pastors, respectively. Demographic data, such as age, church location by state, years of service in the current position, and years of pastoral experience, were also gathered in the survey. The survey had a total of 757 participants and 685 completions. Based on a multiple regression analysis with three predictors, a minimum number of 76 valid responses from the target population are required for a medium effect size with a power of .80 and α = .05.48 Additional multiple regression testing with two predictors only requires a minimum number of 67 valid responses from the target population for a medium effect size with a power of .80 and α = .05.49 Meeting the minimum number of 76 valid responses satisfied the requirements for multiple regression with up to three predictors.
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