Another look at the job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship.

The relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been heavily researched over the years. In spite of this research interest, results have not proved conclusive in demonstrating the causal nature of the relationship. In the present study, a causal model was hypothesized and tested that involved simultaneous consideration of cross-sectional and longitudinal effects between job and life satisfaction. This type of analysis has not previously been conducted and allows the strongest conclusions to date regarding the causality between these constructs. Results based on a national probability sample of workers indicate that job and life satisfaction were significantly and reciprocally related. The cross-sectional results suggest a relatively strong relationship between job and life satisfaction, but the longitudinal results a weaker relationship over a 5-yr period, particularly with respect to the effect of job satisfaction on life satisfaction. The meaning of these results in the context of past research on the job satisfaction–life satisfaction relationship is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

A three-wave longitudinal analysis of the causal ordering of satisfaction and commitment on turnover decisions.

L. J. Williams and J. T. Hazer (see record 1986-23287-001) explicated the antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on turnover. Their causal model related personal and organizational characteristics to satisfaction, satisfaction to commitment, and commitment to turnover intention. Their structural equation reanalysis of cross-sectional data from C. E. Michaels and P. E. Spector (see record 1982-10938-001) and A. C. Bluedorn (see record 1982-22265-001) support the model. The present study applied structural equation methodology to assess the plausibility of this model with longitudinal data from 440 Ss. Only partial support was obtained for the model. The relations among satisfaction, commitment, and reenlistment intention changed with increased tenure in the organization. This finding suggests that commitment and satisfaction may be either cyclically or reciprocally related. The implications for future turnover research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation.

Administered questionnaires to 291 scientists working in research and development laboratories. Results of a factor analysis indicate that job-involvement attitudes, higher order need-satisfaction attitudes, and intrinsic-motivation attitudes should be thought of as separate and distinct kinds of attitudes toward a job. These 3 types of attitudes related differentially to job design factors and to job behavior. Satisfaction proved to be related to such job characteristics as the amount of control the job allowed the holder and the degree to which it is seen to be relevant to the holder's valued abilities. Satisfaction was not related to either self-rated effort or performance. Job involvement, like satisfaction, bore a significant relationship to certain job characteristics; unlike satisfaction, however, involvement was positively related to self-rated effort. Intrinsic motivation was less strongly related to the job characterisitcs measured, but was more strongly related to both effort and performance than was either satisfaction or involvement. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation in managerial levels: Relationship of need satisfaction to job performance.

Compared the need satisfaction of 87 1st line supervisors with 123 top and middle managers and related need satisfaction to job performance. A questionnaire was used to collect the data from managers in a steel mill. Findings support the E. Lawler and L. Porter (see pa, vol. 42:3043) model relating need satisfaction to performance, but only partially support the hypothesis that satisfaction of higher order needs is more closely related to performance of top managers than of lower managerial personnel. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and the relationship between perceived fairness of pay or promotion and job satisfaction.

J. Brockner and L. Adsit (1986) found that satisfaction with an exchange relationship was more strongly related to perceptions of equity among men than women. A. Kahn (1972) reported that men were more likely than women to distribute outcomes to individuals in direct proportion to their input. The authors evaluated potential gender differences among 12,979 personnel in 30 different organizational systems in (1) correlations between fairness and job satisfaction scores and (2) standardized group differences in the perceived amounts of pay and promotion fairness and expressed levels of facet and global job satisfaction. The fairness–satisfaction relationship was not higher for men, and there were no practical differences in fairness perceptions and job satisfaction between men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of person-environment fit in the job satisfaction and tenure intentions of African American employees.

In light of speculation that the determinants of job satisfaction and tenure for African American employees may not be adequately captured by the theory of work adjustment (TWA; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), in the present study the authors tested assumptions of the TWA with an African American sample by (a) examining the strength of fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships, (b) testing the ability of racial climate to moderate the fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships, (c) analyzing qualitative data related to the determinants of job satisfaction, and (d) investigating potential differences in the fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships for African Americans and European Americans. Self-report data were collected from African American employees (n = 204) that assessed fit perceptions, departmental racial climate, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. African American employees' reports of fit perceptions explained variance in job satisfaction (43.20%) and turnover intentions (20.20%); however, racial climate did not emerge as a moderator. Qualitative results supported these findings. (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 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)     

An empirical distinction between job involvement and work involvement: Some additional evidence.

Examined the potential existence of a conceptual distinction between job involvement (JI), a function of how much the job satisfies one's salient needs, and work involvement (WI), a generalized psychological identification with work. A causal model is proposed in which WI is a function of stable personality characteristics and JI is a function of the job's ability to satisfy salient needs and the degree of WI that an individual brings to the work situation. 290 adults answered questions regarding JI, salient and nonsalient need satisfaction, job satisfaction, Protestant work ethic, and Type A personality. Data provide strong support for the model and support the theoretical distinction between JI and WI. (French abstract) (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)     

Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis.

This study reports results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor model of personality to overall job satisfaction. Using the model as an organizing framework, 334 correlations from 163 independent samples were classified according to the model. The estimated true score correlations with job satisfaction were -.29 for Neuroticism, .25 for Extraversion, .02 for Openness to Experience, .17 for Agreeableness, and .26 for Conscientiousness. Results further indicated that only the relations of Neuroticism and Extraversion with job satisfaction generalized across studies. As a set, the Big Five traits had a multiple correlation of .41 with job satisfaction, indicating support for the validity of the dispositional source of job satisfaction when traits are organized according to the 5-factor model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support, discretionary treatment, and job satisfaction.

A diverse sample of 295 employees drawn from a variety of organizations was surveyed to investigate (a) whether the relationship between the favorableness of job conditions and perceived organizational support (POS) depends on employee perceptions concerning the organization's freedom of action and (b) whether POS and overall job satisfaction are distinct constructs. The favorableness of high-discretion job conditions was found to be much more closely associated with POS than was the favorableness of low-discretion job conditions. No such relationship was found between job conditions and satisfaction. To decide how much the organization values their contributions and well-being, employees distinguish job conditions whose favorableness the organization readily controls versus job conditions whose favorableness is constrained by limits on the organization's discretion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of job enrichment and task goals on satisfaction and productivity: Implications for job design.

A 2-phase research project investigated the effects of job enrichment and goal setting on employee productivity and satisfaction in a well-controlled, simulated job environment. In the 1st phase, 2 conditions of goal setting (assigned goals vs no goals) and 2 conditions of job enrichment (enriched vs unenriched) were established, producing 4 experimental conditions in which 42 part-time workers took part. Job enrichment had a substantial impact on job satisfaction but little effect on productivity. Goal setting, on the other hand, had a major impact on productivity and a less substantial impact on satisfaction. In the 2nd phase (after 2 days' work), Ss with unenriched jobs worked under the enrichment conditions and Ss originally without goals were assigned goals. Again, job enrichment had a positive effect on job satisfaction, while goal setting had a positive effect on performance. Results are discussed in terms of the current theoretical approaches for understanding employee motivation on the job. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader group prototypicality and job satisfaction: The moderating role of job stress and team identification.

The authors examined the relationship between leader group prototypicality (the extent to which a leader is representative of the collective identity) and job satisfaction as an indicator of leadership effectiveness. Leader group prototypicality was expected to interact with job stress and team identification, such that leader group protototypicality is more strongly related to job satisfaction for followers with higher job stress and team identification. Two cross-sectional surveys (N = 329 and N = 89) conducted with the employees of 4 Italian organizations provided support for this hypothesis. The authors discuss how these findings extend our understanding of leadership effectiveness within the social identity model of leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing job seekers' organizational image beliefs: The role of media richness and media credibility.

In this article, the authors assessed job seekers' organizational image beliefs before and after they experienced 3 recruitment media. The authors examined whether perceptions of media richness and credibility were related to improvements in the correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. Both media richness and credibility perceptions were associated with correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. However, results revealed that richness and credibility perceptions were likely to enhance job seekers' initial beliefs about firms' images when their beliefs were positive but did not diminish job seekers' beliefs about firms' images when their initial impressions were too positive. (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)