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Contributor
Cox, Cody (Faculty mentor), Zwahr-Castro, Jennifer (Faculty mentor)
Digital Publisher
Digital Commons at St. Mary's University
Publication Date
Spring 2026
Keywords
Firefighters, Social support, Job satisfaction, Team comradery
Description
The primary purpose of this study was to better understand the correlation between the social support networks among firefighters, also known as “brotherhood”, and their job satisfaction. The secondary goal was to explore potential indicators of what traditions entailed within the fire department and their significance in fostering brotherhood. Former research has articulated the bonds within the fire service and how team comradery and job satisfaction influence brotherhood, however; limited research has investigated how traditions within the fire service influence brotherhood. It was expected that brotherhood would have a positive correlation with job satisfaction (H1), that there would be a positive correlation between traditions within the fire service and brotherhood (H2), and that the more time that firefighters spent with their team training the higher their trust levels (H3). The survey consisted of thirty-one questions developed by the researcher, in which twelve questions were adapted from the Social Support Inventory and the Inventory of Socially Supported Behaviors. Questions explored firefighters’ perceptions of their support networks and identified the qualification and demographics of the participants. Results showed a positive correlation between brotherhood and job satisfaction (H1), a positive correlation between brotherhood and traditions within the fire service (H2), and a positive correlation between the time teams spent training together and trust levels. Findings suggest that when engaging in team building exercises to strengthen their brotherhood, firefighters become more satisfied with their work. Future research should assess the best methods to facilitate teamwork cohesion exercises as it was positively correlated with brotherhood.
Format
Size
1 poster
City
San Antonio, Texas
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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