A critique and experimental design for the study of the relationship between productivity and job satisfaction.

"It is argued that the present approach to the study of the relationship between employee output and job satisfaction is not fruitful. What is needed is an examination of the characteristics of workers who are operating at a satisfactory level of both output and job satisfaction with workers and groups of workers who are not operating at such a level. A procedure is described which will permit the location of the workers who are operating at this 'optimal' level." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How important are dispositional factors as determinants of job satisfaction? Implications for job design and other personnel programs.

According to recent research, stable dispositional factors may result in considerable consistency in attitudes such as job satisfaction across time and situations. If true, this finding may have important implications. For example, Staw and Ross (1985) argued that "many situational changes such as job redesign… may not affect individuals as intended." Such personnel programs "may be prone to failure because they must contend with attitudinal consistency" (p. 478). The present article has two purposes. First, methodological and conceptual problems with the Staw and Ross assessment of the impact of situational and dispositional factors on job satisfaction are discussed. Second, given Staw and Ross's focus on job redesign, this article examines the impact on job satisfaction of changes in two very different measures of job complexity. Findings indicate that changes in situational factors such as job complexity are important predictors of job satisfaction, consistent with Hackman and Oldham's (1975, 1976) job design model. In contrast, measurement problems preclude accurate assessment of the predictive power of dispositional factors. Contrary to the concern raised by Staw and Ross (1985) and Staw, Bell, and Clausen (1986), it does not appear likely that the success of personnel programs will be significantly constrained by the influence of attitudinal consistency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pressure for production, task difficulty, and the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance.

Investigated in an educational setting H. C. Triandis's hypothesis that pressure for production influences the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. In a difficult course with a great deal of pressure, course satisfaction and expected grade on the part of the students (n = 25) were more highly correlated than in a course where pressure on the students (n = 67) was considerably less. This finding suggests that differences in production pressure and task difficulty may partially explain the variety of results obtained when researchers correlate job satisfaction with job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of goal setting on performance and job satisfaction.

Conducted a field experiment to compare participative, assigned, and no-training (comparison) goal setting groups. 37 sales personnel were trained in participative goal setting, and 41 were trained in assigned goal setting. A 3rd group of 44 served as a comparison unit. Mean age range of Ss was 34.3-36.4 yrs. Measures of 4 performance and 2 satisfaction criteria were collected at 4 data points: baseline (before training), and 6, 9, and 12 mo after training. Analysis of variance and Duncan's multiple-range test results indicate that for at least 9 mo both participative and assigned goal setting Ss were more effective in improving performance and satisfaction. The improvements, however, were generally not found 12 mo after training. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of social support and burnout, job satisfaction, and productivity.

Social support has been identified as an important correlate of a variety of work outcomes. Support from different sources, including family, coworkers, and supervisors, was examined in 211 traffic enforcement agents (92 men, 119 women). Outcomes included subjective variables (burnout and job satisfaction) and an objective measure of productivity (number of summonses). Support was negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with satisfaction and productivity. A cluster of support variables accounted for 7% of the variance in burnout and productivity and 12% of the variance in job satisfaction. Family support was more closely associated with burnout than with satisfaction or productivity, whereas immediate supervisor support was related to satisfaction and productivity but not burnout. Results suggest that support may be associated with work-related outcomes through multiple pathways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Informational influence as a determinant of perceived task characteristics and job satisfaction.

Task characteristics and informational cues about the task were manipulated in a laboratory investigation of the impact of objective task design and informational influence in determining employees' perceptions of task characteristics and job satisfaction. Although a manipulation check involving 33 control Ss confirmed differences between the 2 experimental tasks (enriched and unenriched), results of the experiment with 42 graduate business students showed the major determinant of perceptions of task characteristics (Job Diagnostic Survey—JDS—and the Job Characteristic Inventory) and job satisfaction (JDS) to be informational influence in the form of cues about the task as either enriched or unenriched. Findings suggest that (a) job characteristics may be socially constructed as well as objective realities and that (b) perceptual measures of task dimensions may be susceptible to bias from informational cues. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of community characteristics on measures of job satisfaction.

Data concerning various aspects of female clerical workers' job satisfaction and group productivity were gathered from the employees of 300 catalog order establishments. Measures were also obtained of the prosperity, unemployment, slums, productive farming, and decrepitude of the communities in which the catalog order establishments were located. Analysis of these data indicated: (1) average satisfaction scores and group productivity were unrelated in general, (2) satisfaction scores were negatively related to community prosperity, and (3) pay satisfaction scores tended to be more negatively related to community prosperity than did other aspects of job satisfaction. An explanation of these findings in terms of frames of reference and alternatives available to the workers is offered. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of temperature, clothing, and task complexity on task performance and satisfaction.

Examined the effects of room temperature, clothing, and task complexity on task performance and satisfaction. 120 18–22 yr old male college students worked on either a mathematical problem-solving task or a collating task. Room temperature was maintained at either 65 or 78Φ during the task session. Ss were requested to wear either a suit (or sport coat), long sleeve shirt, and tie; or a short-sleeve shirt with no tie. Ss were administered the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Results show that Ss wearing appropriate clothing for the temperature conditions showed higher levels of performance and satisfaction with the working condition than did those wearing inappropriate clothing, regardless of task complexity. Similar results were found for intrinsic task satisfaction only for the simpler task. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task and ego achievement goals on help-seeking behaviors and attitudes.

We proposed that help-seeking perceptions and behaviors will be more adaptive under salient task goals relative to ego achievement goals. A total of 159 2nd- and 6th-grade Israeli children could request help as they worked on difficult puzzles in either a task or an ego goal condition. As predicted, children were more likely to request help and to explain help avoidance as guided by strivings for independent mastery in the task-focus condition. In contrast, more children in the ego-focus condition explained help avoidance in terms of masking incapacity. Skill level moderated help seeking only in the ego-focus condition, wherein requests for help were more frequent at intermediate than at both high and low skill levels. The results clarify the role of motivational factors in promoting or undermining academic help seeking and can help resolve theoretical controversy and inconsistent empirical findings concerning the relation between competence and help seeking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The job characteristics approach to task design: A critical review.

Reviews the development of the job characteristics approach of J. R. Hackman and E. E. Lawler (see record 1971-29858-001) and of Hackman and G. R. Oldham (see PA, Vols 54:02031 and 57:02075) to task design and evaluates subsequent research relevant to that model. Theoretical statements of the model are not considered entirely clear, the associated empirical work is seen to frequently fail to test the relations discussed, and adequate multimethod instruments were not found for the assessment of several constructs. It is suggested (1) that future task design research should attend to alternative theoretical perspectives that distinguish between situational attributes of tasks and incumbent cognitions about those attributes and (2) that tasks and employee responses to both types of task-relevant constructs should be examined in the organizational contexts in which they occur. (150 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of personal work goals in newcomers' job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study examined the importance of 3 characteristics of personal work goals (i.e., commitment, attainability, and progress) in accounting for changes in newcomers' affective job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) during the 1st months of employment. Twenty weeks after organizational entry, 81 newcomers provided a list of their personal work goals. Goal attributes and job attitudes were assessed at 3 testing periods covering 8 months. Goal commitment was found to moderate the extent to which differences in the attainability of personal goals at the workplace accounted for changes in job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Goal progress mediated the interactive effect of goal commitment and attainability on newcomers' job attitudes. Findings are discussed with respect to their relevance for proactive approaches to organizational socialization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress.

The authors of this study sought to examine the relationships among teachers' years of experience, teacher characteristics (gender and teaching level), three domains of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement), two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction with a sample of 1,430 practicing teachers using factor analysis, item response modeling, systems of equations, and a structural equation model. Teachers' years of experience showed nonlinear relationships with all three self-efficacy factors, increasing from early career to mid-career and then falling afterwards. Female teachers had greater workload stress, greater classroom stress from student behaviors, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction. Those teaching young children (in elementary grades and kindergarten) had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom management and student engagement. Lastly, teachers with greater classroom management self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task- and ego-achievement goals on information seeking during task engagement.

Two studies tested the proposal that information seeking is affected by achievement goals and by stages of skill acquisition (D. N. Ruble and K. S. Frey [1991]). 188 college students worked on problems in a task- or an ego-goal condition and could request task (best solutions), objective, normative, or no information after each. As expected, task-goal Ss requested more task information mainly for later problems. Ego-goal Ss made more normative requests also for early problems, and information requests were modified by skill level. These indications that self-assessment is accompanied by self-improvement concerns under task goals and by self-enhancing concerns under ego goals have implications for the debate between self-assessment and self-evaluation theories of information seeking and for research on help seeking and feedback effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of assigned and participative goal setting on performance and job satisfaction.

Evaluated the job performance of 41 female typists under participative or assigned goal setting conditions over a 10-wk period. Significant productivity improvement occurred in both conditions during the 2nd 5 wks. There was no significant difference between conditions with respect to goal difficulty or frequency of goal attainment. Job satisfaction declined slightly in both conditions. Individual trait measures such as need for independence did not moderate the effects of either type of goal setting. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual and group goals when workers are interdependent: Effects on task strategies and performance.

The effects of four different goal setting conditions on the performance of subjects working on an interdependent task were examined. The results indicated that an individual goal condition performed worst when compared with a no specific goal condition, a group goal condition, and an individual plus group goal condition. Questionnaire items assessed feelings of cooperation, competition, and reported task strategies. Behavioral measures also reflected the strategies used. The analyses suggested that task strategies mediated the relationship between goal setting and performance. More specifically, people in the individual goal condition tended to be more competitive and less cooperative than those in the other three conditions. These results are discussed in light of the current research on the effects of goal setting on task strategy development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of electronic performance monitoring on personal control, task satisfaction, and task performance.

A laboratory study was conducted to assess effects of electronic performance monitoring on individuals working on computers in an officelike environment. Participants (N ?=?108) worked on a computerized data correction task under 6 experimental conditions that varied the amount of control over performance monitoring and knowledge concerning specific monitoring events. Results confirmed and extended a model proposed by D. B. Greenberger and S. Strasser (1986) to relate personal control, satisfaction, and performance. Participants with the ability to delay or prevent electronic performance monitoring indicated higher feelings of personal control and demonstrated superior task performance. Participants with exact knowledge of the occurrence of monitoring expressed lower feelings of personal control than those from whom specific knowledge of monitoring was hidden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job characteristics.

This study tested a model of the relationship between core self-evaluations, intrinsic job characteristics, and job satisfaction. Core self-evaluations was assumed to be a broad personality concept manifested in 4 specific traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and low neuroticism. The model hypothesized that both subjective (perceived) job characteristics and job complexity mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. Two studies were conducted to test the model. Results from Study 1 supported the hypothesized model but also suggested that alternative models fit the data well. Results from Study 2 revealed that core self-evaluations measured in childhood and in early adulthood were linked to job satisfaction measured in middle adulthood. Furthermore, in Study 2 job complexity mediated part of the relationship between both assessments of core self-evaluations and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of self- and competitor goals on performance in an interdependent bargaining task.

We investigated the relation between goal specificity and difficulty and performance on an interdependent bargaining task. In all, 102 subjects competed as buyers and sellers in a 25-min market simulation in which each negotiator was assigned either a nonspecific do-your-best objective or a specific easy, moderate, or difficult goal. Results showed that negotiators who were assigned specific, difficult goals were individually more profitable than negotiators who were assigned easier or nonspecific goals. Concerning dyadic performance, nonspecific or easy goals led to compromise agreements. Integrative agreements that benefited both parties to the transaction were facilitated by assigning both negotiators a moderate goal or difficult-moderate disparate goals. When both negotiators had difficult goals, dyadic performance did not approach the integrative level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies on task performance.

Manipulated self-efficacy and task strategies in the training of 209 undergraduates under high strategy, low strategy, and control conditions. Ss underwent 5 trials and were administered a self-efficacy scale after each trial. Results show that ability, past performance, and self-efficacy were the major predictors of goal choice. Ability, self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies were related to task performance. Self-efficacy was more strongly related to past performance than to future performance but remained a significant predictor of future performance even when past performance was controlled. Self-efficacy ratings for moderate to difficult levels of performance were the best predictors of future performance; a reanalysis of 2 previous goal-setting studies by the first author confirms this finding. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)