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Much of prior research focused on the dimensionality of the part of Job Diagnostic Survey that measures the core job characteristics, with mixed findings. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an instrument assessing core job characteristics.

Public school teachers (n=685) serving in elementary and secondary schools filled in the Core Job Characteristics Inventory (CJCI). CJCI comprises 29 items to assess job autonomy, task significance, task identification, skill variety and feedback from the job. The development of the CJCI undergone the following stages: development of an initial pool of items, examination of its content validity by ten experts and a pilot study.

Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors with satisfactory internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis showed mixed results. Application of exploratory structural equation modeling procedures revealed that a correlated five-factor model yielded an adequate fit to the data. Associations among the five work features were significant, positive and yielding moderate values. Correlations among the five-core job characteristics and two affective job responses (job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion) provided evidence of CJCI concurrent validity.

Human resources managers can use CJCI to measure core job characteristics or to evaluate interventions in the work places.

A new instrument was developed to measure core job characteristics, and to address previous shortcomings reported in the literature. The rigorous methodological procedure, which followed for the development of the CJCI combined with a cross-validation approach best guarantees its applicability.

The concept of sport team identification has been widely used as a theoretical framework in explaining sport fan behavior. However, limited attention has been devoted to the consequences of distant (i.e., foreign) team identification. The purpose of the current research was to examine the way in which fans (local and distant) can increase their levels of collective and personal self-esteem due to their team identification.

Data were accumulated from three Greek websites (N = 742). Among them, 623 subjects were grouped as local and 119 as distant football fans. A structural invariance analysis was followed.

The results revealed how team identification, enduring team-related social connections, and basking in reflected glory are interrelated to affect collective and finally personal self-esteem. Moreover, no differences were found between local and distant fans regarding the paths from eam identification to collective self-esteem and from collective self-esteem to personal self-esteem.

This is one of the first endeavors to examine the psychological consequences of distant team identification and to test the invariance across local and distant fans concerning the mechanisms that their personal self-esteem can be enhanced because their psychological connection to their favorite sport team.

This study examines role conflict, role ambiguity, and job satisfaction among Greek physical education teachers, and the extent to which role conflict and role ambiguity predict job satisfaction. All members of the sample of 61 physical education teachers were employed in Greek “Sport for all” programs. The standard multiple regression analysis shows that role conflict and role ambiguity are significant predictors of job satisfaction. This paper concludes with suggestions directed to the General Secretariat of Sports in Greece with a view to redesigning the work of physical education teachers in “Sport for all” programs.

Job satisfaction and burnout are two multidimensional constructs, which represent affective work responses. The present study was designed to examine: the multivariate relationship between burnout and job satisfaction, and the degree of their distinctiveness. Self‐reported questionnaires were administered to 135 academic librarians to assess burnout (Maslach burnout inventory) and job satisfaction (employee satisfaction inventory). A two‐factor model with correlated factors was postulated and supported. Structural equation modeling procedures showed that the two constructs although highly correlated (r=−0.75) represent distinct responses to work.

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of job satisfaction experienced by a sample of Greek teachers and to examine the relationship between personal characteristics and specific aspects of job satisfaction. The sample consisted of 354 teachers, 28 to 59 years of age, from 40 state schools. The results of the present study suggest that teachers were satisfied with the job itself and supervision, whereas they were dissatisfied with pay and promotional opportunities. The results of standard multiple regression showed that certain personal characteristics (e.g. gender, age, etc.) were significant predictors of different aspects of job satisfaction. Variables other than the personal characteristics, such as organizational variables, should be included in future research in order to explain better the teachers’ job satisfaction.

This paper attempts to examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in spectator sports. The relationship between these two constructs is examined, first, by a review of the literature to date and, second, by the results of almost 200 questionnaires completed by spectators at two professional basketball games in Athens, Greece. The results of the questionnaire study are examined and, in conclusion, the implications and limitations of the study are discussed. Areas for further research are also suggested.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the applicability of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES, Tschannen‐Moran and Woolfolk‐Hoy) to educators teaching an innovative program, namely, the Olympic Education Program. TSES applicability was inferred from examination of the TSES factor structure, its internal consistency and its logical, theoretical consistent pattern of relations between TSES and other measures.

A total of 175 educators completed a Greek version of the TSES along with the reduced personal accomplishment subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Exploratory factor analysis showed that TSES can be applied to educators of an innovative educational program to study an overall factor of teachers' sense of competence. Mean values suggested that educators had strong efficacy beliefs. In addition, TSES responses were negatively associated with reduced personal accomplishment scores (r=−0.37).

Self‐reported strong sense of efficacy may not be well‐grounded or authentic, since a variety of factors (e.g. social desirability) may have influenced educators' responses.

The present study extends the existing evidence of the applicability of the TSES in a cultural context different from that for which it was originally developed, namely, in the Greek educational setting, for assessing educators teaching an innovative educational program.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between elementary and secondary teachers’ background characteristics and constructs of self-efficacy, using the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale – TSES, during a difficult economic period for Greece and other European countries.

Equation modeling techniques were used to examine the construct validity of Greek version of TSES and second to examine teachers’ self-efficacy profile in primary and secondary schools during a difficult economic period for Greece and other European countries.

The findings of the study, using the equation modeling techniques, revealed that a multidimensional first-order three-factor model fits well to the data using multiple-group analysis, the results of the study indicate that background characteristics, such as teachers’ gender, teaching experience, educational level (elementary and secondary level) and age affect their self-efficacy factors (efficacy in student engagement, efficacy in instructional strategies and efficacy in classroom management).

The data of the specific analysis is based on centralized education systems during a difficult economic period. For improvement, future research using longitudinal approaches may give further important factors across different academic years and across the same individuals. Further research is also required in order to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and students’ achievement.

The originality and value of the current manuscript highlights the confirmation and the interpretation of latent factors measuring elementary and secondary school teachers’ self-efficacy (TSES) based on a centralized educational system.

The aim of this study was to develop an instrument to evaluate the educational program’s training. The program used for this purpose was the Olympic Education Program, which has been implemented in Greek primary and secondary schools since 2000. First, the face validity of items was evaluated, second, the pool of the items selected was factor analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a three‐factor solution with high internal consistency. The instrument, Professional Development Evaluation Form of the Olympic Education Program, consisted of three factors containing 21 items. The three factors obtained were “training”, “study groups”, and “total impression”. The results provide adequate psychometric support for the instrument. The questionnaire seems a promising tool for the evaluation of professional development procedures. Although the results were encouraging, further research would be very helpful in order to improve the instrument.

This study seeks to examine the moderating role of team identification regarding the relationship between service quality and repurchase intentions among spectators of professional sports.

Quantitative data are collected from a questionnaire survey of 257 spectators attending a professional soccer game in Greece. Multiple regression analyses are used to assess the relationships among the constructs of service quality, repurchase intentions, and team identification.

Team identification is shown to moderate the relationship between service quality and repurchase intentions among spectators at this professional sports event. Both overall service quality and two specific service‐quality dimensions (“responsiveness” and “reliability”) are found to be positively associated with repurchase intentions only among respondents with low and medium team identification. No relationship is found between service quality and repurchase intentions among those with high team identification.

Managers of professional sports events who wish to increase attendances by improvements in service quality should first segment their customers according to degree of team affiliation. They should then design their service offerings specifically to meet the service‐quality expectations of sports fans with medium or low team identification.

The study provides valuable empirical evidence of the moderating role of team identification with regard to the relationship between service quality and repurchase intentions among consumers of professional sports events.