Employee age as a moderator of the relation between perceived work alternatives and job satisfaction.

This study was designed to explore whether employee age influences the relation between perceived work alternatives and job satisfaction. Moderated regression analyses were conducted using the survey responses of 226 employees between the ages of 24 and 50 who worked for a mental health institution. The analyses revealed that a Perceived Work Alternatives?×?Employee Age interaction significantly predicted job satisfaction. Neither organizational tenure nor employee educational level accounted for job-satisfaction variance beyond that accounted for by perceived work alternatives alone, nor did they interact with perceived work alternatives to predict job satisfaction. These findings indicate that employee age is associated with the relation between perceived alternatives and job satisfaction. They also provide some insight into which of a number of age-related effects may be most pertinent to this relation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dispositional model of job attitudes revisited: Findings of a 10-year study.

Research findings showing that satisfaction scores are stable over time led B. M. Staw and J. Ross (1985) to suggest that job satisfaction is rooted in dispositional mechanisms. The current study tested this hypothesis by administering a questionnaire to 166 U.S. Department of Defense employees on 2 occasions. Measures of job satisfaction (r?=?.37, p?r?=?.41, p?     

Influence of cognitive ability on responses to questionnaire measures: Measurement precision and missing response problems.

The influence of respondents' cognitive ability levels on their responses to a variety of questionnaire measures was assessed. Adult members (N?=?347) of a U.S. Army Reserves unit completed a measure of general intelligence and a questionnaire battery containing measures of such variables as growth need strength, job characteristics, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Tests of the equality of coefficient alpha reliability estimates yielded statistically significant (p?p?     

Job satisfaction: Environmental and genetic components.

Monozygotic twins reared apart from an early age were used to test the hypothesis that there is a significant genetic component to job satisfaction. 34 monozygotic twin pairs who had been reared apart completed the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire as part of a comprehensive work-history assessment. Three subscales were formed from the job satisfaction items to reflect intrinsic, extrinsic, and general satisfaction with the current (or major) job. Intraclass correlations were computed to estimate the proportion of observed variability resulting from genetic factors for all job satisfaction items and for the 3 subscales. Resulting values indicated that approximately 30% of the observed variance in general job satisfaction was due to genetic factors. Additional analysis indicated that these results obtained even when job characteristics such as complexity, motor skill requirements, and the physical demands were held constant via partialing methods. Finally, the data indicated significant heritabilities for several of these job characteristics, which is consistent with the hypothesis of a genetic disposition to seek and remain in similar environments (jobs). Implications of these findings for theories of job satisfaction, selection, and job enrichment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature.

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does the Holland code predict job satisfaction and productivity in clothing factory workers?

Sewing machine operators (N?=?318) in three clothing factories located in the rural South were administered the Self-Directed Search (Form E) to determine Holland code, and their work productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism, and insurance claims were assessed. Results suggested that although this work environment is typified by Holland (1977) as a conventional-realistic environment, the preponderance of workers were of the social code. Job satisfaction was predicted by code on one satisfaction measure (p?p?p?     

Dispositions and work reactions: A multilevel approach.

Multiple levels of analysis were used to examine the link between stable dispositions and more state-oriented work reactions such as job satisfaction. Participants in the study were employees from a large state education system and an urban hospital. The proportion of between-group variance in positive work affect, negative work affect, and job satisfaction increased after dispositional measures of neuroticism and extraversion were included, although the confidence intervals overlapped. Aggregate perceptions of excessive job demands explained more between-group variance in work reactions after dispositions were included. Previous research conducted at a single level of analysis suggests that the inclusion of stable dispositions can attenuate the link between work characteristics and work reactions. The present study suggests the opposite pattern when group-level variance is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction.

Determined, using meta-analysis procedures, the relation between job characteristics and job satisfaction in 28 studies. The role of growth need strength (GNS) as a possible moderator of this relation was also investigated. Results indicate a moderate relation between job characteristics and job satisfaction. This relation was stronger for employees high in GNS. It is suggested that situational characteristics were more important in determining satisfaction for employees low in GNS. A model based on these findings is proposed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job characteristics as satisfiers and dissatisfiers.

It is often assumed that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are opposites, and that one is the mere negation of the other. This assumption of convertible bipolarity is examined by administration of 2 questionnaires to 80 Ss in which the importance to satisfaction and the importance to dissatisfaction of various job characteristics are compared. Correlational and variance analyses both indicate that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are, for the most part, unrelated and not complementary functions, rather than negatively related poles of a single bipolar continuum. Results of studies and theories utilizing a single satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum are thus questionable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Afferent mechanism of cortical myoclonus studied by proprioception-related SEPs

This questionnaire study examined perceived sources of stress and satisfaction at work among 121 mental health staff members. Five factors were derived from principal component analysis of sources of work stress items (stress from: role, poor support, clients, future, and overload), and accounted for 70% of the total variance. Four factors were derived from the items related to sources of job satisfaction (satisfaction from: career, working with people, management, and money), accounting for 68% of the variance. The associations of these factors with sociodemographic and job characteristics were examined, and they were entered as explanatory variables into regression models predicting mental health, burnout, and job satisfaction. Stress from "overload" was associated with being based outside an in-patient ward, and with emotional exhaustion and worse mental health. Stress related to the "future" was associated with not being white. Stress from "clients" was associated with the "depersonalization" component of burnout. Higher job satisfaction was associated with "management" and "working with people" as sources of satisfaction, whereas emotional exhaustion and poorer mental health were associated with less "career" satisfaction.     

A longitudinal test of the influence of congruence: Job satisfaction, competency utilization, and counterproductive behavior.

The assumption that congruence between workers and jobs results in job satisfaction is fundamental to vocational theory. Evidence that person–job congruence goes with satisfaction is mixed; correlations are often too small to be of practical value. A hypothesis that interest congruence is more closely linked with job satisfaction for workers with clearly defined interests as opposed to workers with poorly defined interests is tested. Hypotheses about other consequences of person–job incongruence—counterproductive behavior, low job involvement, and turnover—also are tested in a predictive study. The hypothesis that differentiation moderates the relation between congruence and satisfaction and other hypotheses about the consequences of incongruence did not receive support, but the results do imply that congruence is a moderately efficient predictor of satisfaction when between-occupation sources of variance are excluded by the research design. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the heritability of job satisfaction: The mediating role of personality.

In this article the authors investigate the extent to which traits reflecting individual differences in personality and affectivity explain or mediate genetic influences on job satisfaction. Using estimates of the dispositional source of job satisfaction according to 2 dispositional frameworks--the five-factor model and positive affectivity-negative affectivity (PA-NA)--and behavioral-genetic estimates of the heritabilities of job satisfaction and the dispositional factors, the authors computed the proportion of genetic variance in job satisfaction that is explained by these trait frameworks. Results indicate that the affectivity model is a stronger mediator of genetic effects on job satisfaction than the five-factor model. PA and NA mediate about 45% of the genetic influences on job satisfaction, whereas the five-factor model mediates approximately 24% of these genetic effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of role loss on work-related attitudes.

In this field study, some professionals in a large social services agency were reassigned to nonprofessional jobs. These reassignments provided an opportunity to study the impact of work role-loss disassociated from the loss of employment and salary. The sample consisted of 132 government-employed social workers, one half of whom were reassigned to nonprofessional jobs. Data show that work role-loss is associated with lower job satisfaction (p?p?p?     

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)     

Organizational correlates of employee self-esteem.

166 15–22 yr old male electrical apprentices were administered a battery of tests, including the Job Diagnostic Survey, Central Life Interest Questionnaire, Social Readjustment Rating Scale and Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Regression analyses revealed that global self-esteem and sense of competence could be predicted by the 4 variables, with job level most associated with global self-esteem and job satisfaction and complexity most associated with competence. The amount of explained variance in global self-esteem and competence increased with the addition of control variables. Defensiveness, age, and urbanicity were most associated with global self-esteem, whereas job complexity and satisfaction remained most highly associated with competence. Central life interest, growth need strength, and defensiveness moderated some of the competence/job satisfaction/performance relationships. The ability of organizational variables to account for substantial amounts of variance in competence, but not in global self-esteem, and the differential nature of the relationships between such variables and different types of esteem are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative contributions of motivator and hygiene factors to overall job satisfaction.

Ratings of 4 motivator job aspects, 4 hygiene job aspects, and overall job satisfaction were obtained from 93 male Ss who were equally satisfied with both the motivator and the hygiene aspects of their jobs. 2 of the job aspects (work itself and opportunity for achievement), both motivators, were sufficient to account for the variance in overall satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of met expectations on newcomer attitudes and behaviors: A review and meta-analysis.

A review of research on the effects of met expectations for newcomers to organizations located 31 studies of 17,241 people. A meta-analysis found mean (corrected) correlations of .39 for job satisfaction and for organizational commitment, .29 for intent to leave, .19 for job survival, and .11 for job performance. However, all of these mean correlations had significant between-studies variance. By using strict conformity with L. W. Porter and R. M. Steers's (1973) definition of met expectations, a subset of studies that had nonsignificant between-studies variance for all correlations except job satisfaction was identified. Furthermore, the mean correlations in these subgroups were very similar to those for the entire group. Future research should consider both the direction of the met expectations discrepancy (i.e., over- vs. underfulfillment) and alternative ways to measure organizational reality. (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)