A causal-correlational analysis of the job satisfaction and performance relationship.

Gathered job satisfaction and performance data from about 80 newly hired female telephone operators after 1 and 3 mo work experience. This was not an experimental study, but tentative causal inferences were drawn from these longitudinal data by using a combination of cross-lagged and dynamic correlations. The overall relationship between satisfaction and performance was slightly positive, but the direction of causality was unclear. When job satisfaction was split into extrinsic and intrinsic components, the data suggest that performance causes intrinsic satisfaction and that extrinsic satisfaction causes performance. Both the type of job and the fact that these were new hires were offered as alternative explanations for these results. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural equation models of sexual harassment: Longitudinal explorations and cross-sectional generalizations.

Sexual harassment and its corresponding outcomes develop and change over time, yet research on this issue has been limited primarily to cross-sectional data. In this article, longitudinal models of harassment were proposed and empirically evaluated via structural equations modeling using data from 217 women who responded to a computerized questionnaire in 1994 and again in 1996. Results indicate that sexual harassment influences both proximal and distal work-related variables (e.g., job satisfaction, work withdrawal, job withdrawal) and psychological outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction, psychological well-being, distress). In addition, a replication of the L. F. Fitzgerald, F. Drasgow, C. L. Hulin, M. J. Gelfand, and V. J. Magley (1997) model of harassment was supported. This research was an initial attempt to develop integrated models of the dynamic effects of sexual harassment over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The job satisfaction–job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review.

A qualitative and quantitative review of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is provided. The qualitative review is organized around 7 models that characterize past research on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. Although some models have received more support than have others, research has not provided conclusive confirmation or discontinuation of any model, partly because of a lack of assimilation and integration in the literature. Research devoted to testing these models waned following 2 meta-analyses of the job satisfaction–job performance relationship. Because of limitations in these prior analyses and the misinterpretation of their findings, a new meta-analysis was conducted on 312 samples with a combined N of 54,417. The mean true correlation between overall job satisfaction and job performance was estimated to be .30. In light of these results and the qualitative review, an agenda for future research on the satisfaction–performance relationship is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of attributions in marriage: A longitudinal analysis.

In this study, we investigate the longitudinal relation between attributions for relationship events and marital satisfaction. Thirty-four couples were assessed at two points separated by approximately 12 months. Causal and responsibility attributions for marital difficulties and negative spouse behaviors were strongly related to concurrent marital satisfaction. For wives, later marital satisfaction was predicted by both causal and responsibility attributions after the effects of earlier satisfaction were removed. For husbands, attributions did not predict later marital satisfaction. Marital satisfaction did not predict later attributions for either husbands or wives. Marital satisfaction and the two types of attributions were related to concurrent unrealistic relationship expectations, but these expectations did not predict later marital satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of a possible causal relation between attributions and marital satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of job insecurity on employee safety outcomes: Cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations.

Job insecurity research has focused primarily on attitudinal (e.g., job satisfaction), behavioral (e.g., employee turnover), and health outcomes. Moreover, research in the area of workplace safety has largely focused on ergonomic factors and personnel selection and training as primary antecedents of safety. Two cross-sectional structural equational modeling analyses and 1 longitudinal regression analysis of 237 food-processing plant employees unite these 2 disparate areas of research by exploring the relatively uncharted relationship between job insecurity and safety outcomes. Results indicate that employees who report high perceptions of job insecurity exhibit decreased safety motivation and compliance, which in turn are related to higher levels of workplace injuries and accidents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of LISREL and two-stage least squares analysis of a hypothesized life–job satisfaction reciprocal relationship.

Investigated the nature of the relationship between life satisfaction and job satisfaction using both 2-stage least squares and the analysis of linear structural equations by LISREL. Both techniques provided the possibility of evaluating causal relationships that are bidirectional. 873 civil service workers were administered a battery of tests, including the Job Diagnostic Survey, the short form of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results are consistent with a model that hypothesizes a reciprocal relationship between job and life domains. Estimates of structural parameters were consistent across analysis techniques. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional labor, strain, and performance: Testing reciprocal relationships in a longitudinal panel study.

Models of emotional labor suggest that emotional labor leads to strain and affects job performance. Although the link between emotional labor, strain, and performance has been well documented in cross-sectional field studies, not much is known about the causal direction of relationships between emotional labor, strain, and performance. Goal of the present study was therefore to test the direction of effects in a two-wave longitudinal panel study using a sample of 151 trainee teachers. Longitudinal lagged effects were tested using structural equation modeling. Results revealed that the emotional labor strategy of surface acting led to increases in subsequent strain while deep acting led to increases in job performance. In contrast, there was no indication of reverse causation: Neither strain nor job performance had a significant lagged effect on subsequent surface or deep acting. Overall, results support models of emotional labor suggesting that surface and deep acting causally precede individual and organizational well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among sexual satisfaction, marital quality, and marital instability at midlife.

Sexual satisfaction, marital quality, and marital instability have been studied over the life course of couples in many previous studies, but less in relation to each other. On the basis of the longitudinal data from 283 married couples, the authors used autoregressive models in this study to examine the causal sequences among these 3 constructs for husbands and wives separately. Results of cross-lagged models, for both husbands and wives, provided support for the causal sequences that proceed from sexual satisfaction to marital quality, from sexual satisfaction to marital instability, and from marital quality to marital instability. Initially higher levels of sexual satisfaction resulted in an increase in marital quality, which in turn led to a decrease in marital instability over time. Effects of sexual satisfaction on marital instability appear to have been mediated through marital quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confirmatory analytic tests of three causal models relating job perceptions to job satisfaction.

Tested 3 models of causal relations between job perceptions and job satisfaction: (a) a postcognitive-nonrecursive model in which job satisfaction occurs after job perceptions in the causal order and job perceptions and job satisfaction are reciprocally related; (b) a precognitive-recursive model in which job perceptions occur after job satisfaction in the causal order and are effects but not causes of job satisfaction; and (c) a precognitive-nonrecursive model in which job satisfaction occurs prior to job perceptions, and job satisfaction and job perceptions are reciprocally related. Data from a previous study by the 1st author and A. P. Jones (see record 1981-22760-001) were analyzed. These data had been obtained from 642 nonsupervisory workers in 5 occupations. Results of confirmatory analyses indicate disconfirmation of all but the postcognitive-nonrecursive model. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Core Self-Evaluations and Job and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Self-Concordance and Goal Attainment.

The present study tested a model explaining how the core self-evaluations (i.e., positive self-regard) concept is linked to job and life satisfaction. The self-concordance model, which focuses on motives underlying goal pursuit, was used as an explanatory framework. Data were collected from 2 samples: (a) 183 university students (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and life satisfaction were used) and (b) 251 employees (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and job satisfaction were utilized). In both studies, the core self-evaluations concept was positively related to goal self-concordance, meaning that individuals with positive self-regard were more likely to pursue goals for intrinsic and identified (value-congruent) reasons. Furthermore, in both studies, goal self-concordance was related to satisfaction (job satisfaction in Study 1 and life satisfaction in Study 2). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective dynamics of intoxication in the workplace: Personal and job-related predictors and consequences.

Using prospective data from a community sample assessed in young adulthood and again 4 years later, both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses evaluated associations among multiple measures of intoxication in the workplace, job instability and satisfaction, and social conformity. Being high on the job was more prevalent, frequent, and stable over time for men than women, although rates decreased for both genders with age. Measures of social conformity were most related to drug use on the job within time but had few unique effects over time. Only a few earlier work characteristics (but no personal traits) affected later intoxication on the job. Several significant interactions were found between personal and job variables that predicted increased intoxication in the workplace. Earlier intoxication on the job increased later measures of job instability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational entry: From naive expectations to realistic beliefs.

Monitored perceptions of organizational and job characteristics as individuals joined new organizations, a transition in status from outsider to newcomer to insider. Questionnaire data on job expectations, actual job, and satisfaction (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire) were obtained from a cross-sectional study of 753 master of business administration (MBA) students entering 3 different schools, and from a longitudinal study of 46 female newly entering telephone operators. A distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic organizational characteristics was suggested by factor analysis, and these 2 factors were analyzed separately. The MBA data clearly show a decline from naive expectations to lower, realistic beliefs for the intrinsic but not the extrinsic factor. Similar, but not as strong, results were found for the telephone operators. The decline in intrinsic expectations was greater for the insiders than the newcomers. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work–family conflict, policies, and the job–life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for organizational behavior–human resources research.

This review examines the relationship among work–family (w-f) conflict, policies, and job and life satisfaction. The meta-analytic results show that regardless of the type of measure used (bidirectional w-f conflict, work to family, family to work), a consistent negative relationship exists among all forms of w-f conflict and job–life satisfaction. This relationship was slightly less strong for family to work conflict. Although confidence intervals overlap, the relationship between job–life satisfaction and w-f conflict may be stronger for women than men. Future research should strive for greater consistency and construct development of measures, examination of how sample composition influences findings, and increased integration of human resources policy and role conflict perspectives, including whether a positive relationship between w-f policies and satisfaction is mediated by w-f conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical test of causal inference between role perceptions of conflict and ambiguity and various personal outcomes.

The causal bases in relationships between role perceptions of conflict and ambiguity and various personal outcomes were inferred from a correlational-causal analysis. Data were obtained at 2 different times, over a 4-mo lag, from 202 professional-level members of 9 governmental research and development organizations. Tests of causal relationships between experienced role conflict and job-related tension, job satisfaction, and attitudes toward role senders were inferred to be indeterminate, while causal direction was inferred between role ambiguity and both job satisfaction and attitudes toward role senders. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of age-related factors in the age-job-satisfaction relationship.

Most researchers have found a positive linear relation between age and job satisfaction. We attempted to account for this relationship by measuring variables that had been proposed to be causal factors. Subjects were 496 city and county managers working in Florida. Potential explanatory variables were (a) job congruence (the difference between what managers prefer and what they perceive they have in a job), (b) internal–external locus of control, and (c) related demographics—age, salary, organizational tenure, position tenure, and organizational level. Multiple regression analyses found that job congruence and work locus of control accounted for almost all of the variance in the age–satisfaction relationship. This study supports the job change hypothesis, which proposes that older workers get more of what they want out of work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis.

Coded 9 variables in a meta-analysis of 74 empirical studies of job satisfaction–job performance. Aggregated studies had an S sample size of 12,192 and 217 satisfaction–performance correlations. Findings show that (1) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance was relatively low (.17); (2) much of the variability in results obtained in previously research was due to the use of small sample sizes, while unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (3) the 9 variables coded (composite vs unidimensional criteria, longitudinal vs cross-sectional measurement of performance relative to satisfaction, the nature of the performance measure, self-reports vs other sources, use of specific performance measures, subjectivity or objectivity of measures, specific-facet satisfaction vs global satisfaction, well-documented vs researcher-developed measurement, and white-collar vs blue-collar) were only modestly related to the magnitude of the satisfaction–performance correlation. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of the Relationships Between Coworkers' Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Fellow Employees' Attitudes.

The authors developed and tested the prediction that the relationship hetween coworkers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and fellow employees' attitudes depends on the supervisors' abusiveness. Results of a longitudinal study using data collected from 173 supervised employees at 2 points in time (separated by 7 months) suggested that coworkers' OCB was positively related to fellow employees' job satisfaction and affective commitment when abusive supervision was low. However, when abusive supervision was high, coworkers' OCB was negatively related to job satisfaction and was unrelated to organizational commitment. The results of a 2nd study were consistent with the idea that the attributions employees make for their coworkers' OCB explains the moderating effect of abusive supervision on the relationship between coworkers' OCB and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital satisfaction, depression, and attributions: A longitudinal analysis.

Examined the longitudinal relation between causal attributions and marital satisfaction and tested rival hypotheses that might account for any longitudinal association found between these variables. Data on attributions for negative partner behaviors, marital satisfaction, depression, and self-esteem were provided by 130 couples at 2 points separated by 12 mo. To the extent that spouses made nonbenign attributions for negative partner behavior, their marital satisfaction was lower a year later. This finding was not due to depression, self-esteem, or initial level of marital satisfaction, and also emerged when persons reporting chronic individual or marital disorder were removed. Results support a possible causal relation between attributions and marital satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job-Search Persistence During Unemployment: A 10-Wave Longitudinal Study.

Dynamic predictors of job-search intensity over time are examined in a large 10-wave longitudinal study of unemployed individuals. Two sets of variables relevant to the examination of job search from a dynamic, self-regulatory perspective--core self-evaluations (T. A. Judge, A. Erez, & J. E. Bono, 1998) and the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1991)--were used to guide our examination. Results suggest core self-evaluation is related to average levels of job-search intensity over time. Job-search intentions mediated the relationship between subjective norms and job-search self-efficacy in the prediction of job-search intensity in the following 2 weeks. Both Time 1 and cumulative job-search intensity predict reemployment. This repeated-measures study contributes to research on job search that has been primarily cross-sectional or included few time waves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)