SUPPLEMENT FOR SIP REPORTLiterature Review on Job Satisfaction

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013MOHAMMAD SALIM

Roll #: 11294

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Job Satisfaction

Definitions:

Job satisfaction refers to how well a job provides fulfillment of a need or want, or how wellit serves as a source or means of enjoyment.

Job satisfaction is the degree to which individuals feel positively or negatively about theirjobs.

Job satisfaction is in regard to one’s feelings or state-of-mind regarding the nature of theirwork. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors, eg, the quality of one’srelationship with their supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which theywork, degree of fulfillment in their work, etc.

“Job satisfaction does not seem to reduce absence, turnover and perhaps accident rates”.Robert L. Kahn

“Job satisfaction is a general attitude towards one’s job: the difference between the amountof reward workers receive and the amount they believe they should receive.” P. Robbins

Job satisfaction defines as “The amount of over all positive affect (or feeling) thatindividuals have toward their jobs.” Hugh J. Arnold and Daniel C.

“Job satisfaction is the amount of pleasure or contentment associated with a job. If youlike your job intensely, you will experience high job satisfaction. If you dislike your jobintensely, you will experience job dissatisfaction.” Feldman

Employee satisfaction:

Employee satisfaction has always been an important issue for physicians.After all, high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover can affect your bottom line, astemps, recruitment and retraining take their toll. But few practices ( in fact, feworganizations) have made job satisfaction a top priority, perhaps because they have failedto understand the significant opportunity that lies in front of them. Satisfied employees tendto be more productive, creative and committed to their employers, and recent studies haveshown a direct correlation between staff satisfaction and patient satisfaction, Familyphysicians who can create work environment that demands quality and cost efficiency.What’s more, physicians, may even discover that by creating a positive workplace for theiremployees, they’ve increased their own job satisfaction as well.

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Importance of job satisfaction

Investigated by several disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics andmanagement sciences, job satisfaction is a frequently studied subject in work andorganisational literature. This is mainly due to the fact that many experts believe that jobsatisfaction trends can affect labour market behaviour and influence work productivity,work effort, employee absenteeism and staff turnover. Moreover, job satisfaction isconsidered a strong predictor of overall individual well-being (Diaz-Serrano and CabralVieira, 2005), as well as a good predictor of intentions or decisions of employees to leavea job (Gazioglu and Tansel, 2002).

Beyond the research literature and studies, job satisfaction is also important in everydaylife. Organisations have significant effects on the people who work for them and some ofthose effects are reflected in how people feel about their work (Spector, 1997). Thismakes job satisfaction an issue of substantial importance for both employers andemployees. As many studies suggest, employers benefit from satisfied employees as theyare more likely to profit from lower staff turnover and higher productivity if theiremployees experience a high level of job satisfaction. However, employees should also‘be happy in their work, given the amount of time they have to devote to it throughouttheir working lives’ (Nguyen, Taylor and Bradley, 2003a).

Job satisfaction is important in its own right as a part of social welfare, and this (simple)taxonomy [of a good job] allows a start to be made on such questions as ‘In whatrespects are older workers’ jobs better than those of younger workers?’ (and vice versa),‘Who has the good jobs?’ and ‘Are good jobs being replaced by bad jobs?’. In addition,measures of job quality seem to be useful predictors of future labour market behaviour.Workers’ decisions about whether to work or not, what kind of job to accept or stay in,and how hard to work are all likely to depend in part upon the worker’s subjectiveevaluation of their work, in other words on their job satisfaction. (Clark, 1998)

Concept of job satisfaction

Job satisfaction has been defined in several different ways and a definitive designation forthe term is unlikely to materialise. A simple or general way to define it therefore is as anattitudinal variable:

Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of theirjobs. It is the extent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfaction) their jobs.(Spector, 1997)

Experience has shown that there are basic and universal human needs, and that, if anindividual’s needs are fulfilled in their current situation, then that individual will be happy.

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This framework postulates that job satisfaction depends on the balance between work-roleinputs - such as education, working time, effort - and work-role outputs - wages, fringebenefits, status, working conditions, intrinsic aspects of the job. If work-role outputs(‘pleasures’) increase relative to work-role inputs (‘pains’), then job satisfaction willincrease (Sousa-Poza and Sousa-Poza, 2000).

Other theorists (e.g. Rose, 2001) have viewed job satisfaction as a bi-dimensional conceptconsisting of intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction dimensions. Intrinsic sources ofsatisfaction depend on the individual characteristics of the person, such as the ability to useinitiative, relations with supervisors, or the work that the person actually performs; theseare symbolic or qualitative facets of the job. Extrinsic sources of satisfaction are situationaland depend on the environment, such as pay, promotion, or job security; these are financialand other material rewards or advantages of a job. Both extrinsic and intrinsic job facetsshould be represented, as equally as possible, in a composite measure of overall jobsatisfaction.

Motivation is described as one of the most pivotal concerns of modern organizationalresearch. Just like anything that is considered pivotal, motivation influences many otherimportant issues within an organization: employee performances, employee retention,creativyt and problem solving and other actions if we combine motivation with othermeasures such as commitment. No wonder, motivational studies are the most reasearchedtopics. Managers need to understand and create gourp motivation and design work contextthat create and maintain motivation which in turn lead to job satisfaction, productivity andprofitability.

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Theories of job satisfaction

The chapter presents two theories of job satisfaction, variance theory and the model ofjob characteristics. Variance theory is based on a simple subjective idea: if you want xfrom your work then you are satisfied to the extent that it provides you with x. The majorproblem with this theory is defining what people want from their work. The jobcharacteristic model suggests the causes of job satisfaction are objective characteristics.

Hackman and Oldham (1975) suggested that jobs differ in the extent to which theyinvolve five core dimensions:

1. Skill variety.2. Task identity.3. Task significance.4. Autonomy.5. Task feedback.

They suggest that if jobs are designed in a way that increases the presence of these corecharacteristics three critical psychological states can occur in employees:1. Experienced meaningfulness of work.2. Experienced responsibility for work outcomes.3. Knowledge of results of work activities.

According to Hackman and Oldham, when these critical psychological states areexperienced, work motivation and job satisfaction will be high.

Other Theories of job satisfaction

Affect Theory

Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous jobsatisfaction model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by adiscrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theorystates that how much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in aposition) moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’tmet. When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatlyimpacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectationsare not met), compared to one who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee Avalues autonomy in the workplace and Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, thenEmployee A would be more satisfied in a position that offers a high degree of autonomyand less satisfied in a position with little or no autonomy compared to Employee B. Thistheory also states that too much of a particular facet will produce stronger feelings ofdissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.

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Dispositional Theory

Another well-known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional Theory. It is a very generaltheory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them to have tendenciestoward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of one’s job. This approach became anotable explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job satisfaction tends to bestable over time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates that identical twinshave similar levels of job satisfaction.

A significant model that narrowed the scope of the Dispositional Theory was the Core Self-evaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A. Judge in 1998. Judge argued that there arefour Core Self-evaluations that determine one’s disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism. This model states thathigher levels of self-esteem (the value one places on his/her self) and general self-efficacy(the belief in one’s own competence) lead to higher work satisfaction. Having an internallocus of control (believing one has control over her\his own life, as opposed to outsideforces having control) leads to higher job satisfaction. Finally, lower levels of neuroticismlead to higher job satisfaction.

Correlates of job satisfaction

As well as the theories above, there have also been attempts to establish whetherspecific variables such as gender, age, personality or occupational status are predictiveof job satisfaction. Despite the findings presented in chapter 18 regarding gender andemployment, women report similar levels of job satisfaction to men. However, thereis evidence that job characteristics have a different impact on men and women. Thereis growing evidence that there is a relationship between age and job satisfaction but notlinear one. Age itself rather than the variables associated with it have a direct impact onjob satisfaction. Variables such as socio – economic status may also cause differentgroups of workers to construct different meanings as to what constitutes a satisfactoryjob.

Behavioural correlates of job satisfaction

The behavioural correlates of job satisfaction should be higher work performance,lower absenteeism and lower staff turnover. However, research has failed toHowever, research has failed to establish a strong direct link between job satisfactionand workplace behaviour. Job satisfaction and performance are relatively independent ofeach other. This is explained firstly that in many jobs variations in satisfaction cannotlead to variations in productivity (machine work) and secondly where correlations dooccur they may bespurious in that both may be associated with other factors.

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Connection job motivation- job performance- job satisfactionThe issue of job satisfaction and the relationship between job satisfaction and jobperformance and between job motivation and job performance has been a constant concernfor researchers but also for practitioners. There have been, over time, different views onsatisfaction and its role in obtaining job performance. During the 1950s, is considered thatsatisfaction is the direct and immediate cause of the job performance. Today, thanks to theevolution of society and science, it is considered that although satisfaction is related toperformance, it is only one of its possible causes.

G. Johns made some comments on this issue that come to clarify this phenomenon: "jobsatisfaction refers to a collection of the workers attitudes towards their work," showing tworelated concepts: “satisfaction facets” - the tendency of an employee to be more or lesssatisfied with various facets of his work (the work itself, salary, recognition, workingconditions, colleagues, organizational politics, etc..) and “overall satisfaction "- an averageor a total attitudes that individuals have toward different facets of their work.

Once accepted that satisfaction has several facets, researchers have questioned their count,making numerous studies in this regard. They have shown that there are between five andtwenty facets of job satisfaction and subsequently, their number was limited to five: thework itself, pay, supervision, co-workers, promotion. Determining the relationshipbetween motivation and satisfaction and between satisfaction and performance is still nota complete agreement among experts, given the complexity of the phenomena beingstudied. Over time, the relationship between motivation and satisfaction was addressed byorganizational managerial psychology from multiple perspectives.

The first belongs to authors considered that only motivation leads to behaviour change,representing the impulse in this respect, while satisfaction no involves such change, it is asubjective state of pleasure. It is thus inferred that only motivation affects workperformance, but not the satisfaction. Research has shown a clear link between satisfactionand productive behaviour. Other authors insist on the relationship between motivation andsatisfaction, which is presented unilaterally, only from the motivation to satisfaction, whichis considered as an effect of motivation. Human relations movement generalize inverserelationship from satisfaction to motivation, considering satisfaction as the direct cause ofmotivation. Each of the three perspectives emphasizes one aspect of the phenomenaanalyzed without explaining the interaction between them and without regard to their unit.In the literature of our country, a clear approach to the problem of interaction betweenmotivation and satisfaction is given by Professor Mielu Zlate witch shows that:- The Status of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is an indicator of motivation;- Motivation and satisfaction appear in a double capacity: cause and effect which meansthat motivation leads to satisfaction and vice versa;- Both motivation and satisfaction relate to job performance and they can influence it eitherpositively or negatively; the satisfaction obtained as a result of the participation ofindividuals in organizational life is not only an individual problem but also one of their

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organizational repercussions on its; the influence of motivation and satisfaction on jobperformance is essential for managers to pay particular attention of these elements.The issue of the relationship between satisfaction and performance is also at least ascontroversial as the issues discussed above with respect to these phenomena. In connectionwith this relationship existed in the literature, over time, at least three points of view whichheld that: a) satisfaction causes performance; b) performance causes satisfaction; c)rewards are involved between satisfaction and performance. The first and second termshave not been confirmed by empirical research, they actually demonstrating that satisfiedworkers are not more productive than dissatisfied. This led to the hypothesis that theperformance when it is followed by rewards, causes satisfaction. Porter and Lawler showedthat satisfaction does not lead to job performance and job performance not lead tosatisfaction unless certain conditions are met.Thus, employees’ performances lead to extrinsic or intrinsic rewards. The rewardsthemselves do not lead to the emergence of satisfaction, but only if they are perceived asfair in relation to the effort and to the rewards of others. Therefore, the rewards perceivedas fair, resulting in drivers of employee satisfaction to make a new effort, to obtain newachievements. The conclusion reached by researchers is that "job satisfaction and jobperformance are virtually unrelated, a significant relationship only emerges whenconsidering the role of rewards and the circumstances in which they are granted."Webelieve that this view is quite real and can be verified by each of us. The implication of thisconclusion is very important for the organization management and it is about ensuring arigorous results assessment and rewards based on fairness, transparency, openness, leadingto fair rewards for employees, coupled with the results obtained. Experts have questionedthe type of relationship existing between job satisfaction and job performance.Between the two variables there is a divergent relationship, or a convergent relationship?Thus, there are some researchers who claim that there is a negative, divergent relationshipbetween the two variables, which can be explained as follows: increased productivity (thatis, high performance) can be achieved only by increasing human strain over the acceptedlevel for a human being. This means that obtaining performance would result in lowersatisfaction. In this respect, increased job satisfaction could be obtained by decreasingproductivity and thus, economic profitability.

The research reached the following conclusion: “divergence or convergence of two factors,job satisfaction and job performance, is not a matter of principle, but depends on themethods of work organization, social and psychological conditions in the organization,which means that in some circumstances the two factors are actually divergent while in theothers circumstances they are converging.”

Thus, the thesis of divergence between job satisfaction and job performance is valid inexploited labour conditions, conducted in a socio-cultural environment in which the peopleand the quality of human life have a lower value and in the organizations that usepredominantly extrinsic and negative forms of motivation.

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The thesis of convergence is valid in organizations that promote employees’ participation,cooperation and use complex and varied forms of motivation. Relationship of convergencebetween job satisfaction and job performance is much higher if the work is complex,involving a high degree of responsibility, unless simple work, repetitive, poorly qualified.The issues presented in this section lead us to conclude that the connection between jobmotivation, job satisfaction and job performance is not a linear connection or a constantconnection and must be interpreted nuanced, depending on the conditions under which itmanifests itself.This indicates the importance of work environment in increase both performance andsatisfaction, and in terms of management, the need to develop an organizational culturethat promotes values, creativity, fairness and justice, aimed to obtain both theorganizational performance and employee satisfaction. These conclusions are verified witha survey conducted among trade enterprises in the Romanian Western Region, and on thisbasis we will try to outline a motivational system adapted to trade specific business.

Factors affecting employee satisfaction:

1. Achievement2. Recognition3. Work itself4. Responsibility5. Advancement6. Personal growth7. Company policy and administration8. Supervision9. Relationship with supervisor10. Work conditions11. Salary12. Relationship with peers13. Personal life14. Relationship with subordinates15. Status16. Security

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Components of job satisfaction

Causes of Job Satisfaction/DissatisfactionSince people tend to be evaluative, they look at their work experiences in terms of likingor disliking and develop feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding their job, aswell as the organization in which they work (Jex, 2002). There are many probableinfluences that affect how favorably an individual appraises his or her job: specifically,an individual’s attitude toward his or her job. Through years of extensive research, I/Opsychologists have identified numerous variables that seem to contribute to either jobsatisfaction or organizational commitment (Glisson & Durick, 1988). To explain thedevelopment of job satisfaction, researchers have taken three common approaches: jobcharacteristics, social information processing (organizational characteristics), anddispositional (worker characteristics) (Glisson & Durick, 1988; Jex, 2002).

Job Characteristics

In relation to the job characteristics approach, research has revealed that the nature of anindividual’s job or the characteristics of the organization that the individual works forpredominantly determines job satisfaction (Jex, 2002). According to Hackman andOldham (1980) a job characteristic is an aspect of a job that generates ideal conditions forhigh levels of motivation, satisfaction, and performance. Furthermore, Hackman and

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Oldham (1980) proposed five core job characteristics that all jobs should contain: skillvariety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Hackman and Oldham(1980) also defined four personal and work outcomes: internal work motivation, growthsatisfaction, general satisfaction, and work effectiveness. These characteristics have beenadded to the more popular dimensions of job satisfaction assessment: the work itself, pay,promotional opportunities, supervision, and co-worker relations (Smith, Kendall, &Hulin, 1969).

A common premise in research of the effects of job circumstances on job satisfaction isthat individuals determine job satisfaction by comparing what they are currentlyreceiving from the job and what they would like to or believe that they should receive(Jex, 2002). For example, if an employee is receiving an annual salary of $45,000 andbelieves that he or she should be receiving a salary of $43,000, then he or she willexperience satisfaction; however, if the employee believes that he or she should bereceiving $53,000, then he or she will feel dissatisfaction. This comparison would applyto each job facet including: skill level, seniority, promotional opportunities, supervision,etc. (Jex, 2002).

According to Locke (1976), this process becomes complex since the importance of workfacets differs for each individual. For example, one employee may feel that pay rate isextremely important while another may feel that social relationships are moreimportant. To explain the effects of these differences, Locke (1976) put forward theideas of the range of affect theory. The hypothesis of this theory is that employees weighfacets differently when assessing job satisfaction (Locke, 1976). Consequently, this leadsto an individual measure of satisfaction or dissatisfaction when expectations are or arenot met. For example, the job satisfaction of an employee who places extremeimportance on pay would be positively impacted if he or she receives a salary withinexpectation. Conversely, his or her level of pay would minimally impact the jobsatisfaction of an employee who places little importance on pay.

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Job Satisfaction Model

Social information processing (organizational characteristics)

Based mainly on Festinger’s (1954) Social Comparison Theory, Jex (2002) explains thatduring social information processing, employees look to coworkers to make sense of anddevelop attitudes about their work environment. In other words, if employees see thattheir co-workers are positive and satisfied then they will most likely be satisfied;however, if their co-workers are negative and dissatisfied then the employee will mostlikely become dissatisfied as well. Accordingly, organizations are counseled that newhires can become “tainted” during the socialization process if they are placed aroundemployees who are dissatisfied (Jex, 2002). Although laboratory studies have found thatsocial-information has a prevailing impact on job satisfaction and characteristicperceptions, organizational tests have been less supportive (Jex & Spector, 1989).

Weiss and Shaw conducted a study where the subjects viewed a training video whereassembly line workers either made positive or negative comments about their jobs. Thesubjects who viewed the video were then given the opportunity to perform the job. Thestudy found that the subjects who were shown the positive video enjoyed performing thejob tasks more than the subjects who viewed the negative tape (Aamondt, 2009).

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Mirolli, Henderson and Hills (1998) also conducted a similar study. In this study, thesubjects performed a task with two experimenters who were pretending to be othersubjects (the study referred to them as confederates). In one condition, positivecomments were made by the confederates about the job and how much they enjoyedit. In the second condition, the confederates made negative comments about the job andhow much they disliked it. In the control condition, no positive or negative commentswere made regarding the job. The actual subjects exposed to the confederates who madepositive comments rate the job tasks as more enjoyable than the subjects exposed to thenegative comments by the confederates. This further supports social informationprocessing theory (Aamondt,2009).

Generally, “the research on social information processing theory supports the idea thatsocial environment does have an effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviors”(Aamondt, 2009, p.374).

As an application of social information processing theory, an IT company in Germany,Netzwerk, implemented rules in their contracts. Employees who work at this companymust sign a contract agreeing not to whine or complain. They have even fired employeesfor excessive whining (Aamondt, 2009).

Dispositional (worker characteristics)

Internal disposition is the basis of the latest method to explaining job satisfaction andhints that some people are inclined to be satisfied or dissatisfied with their work nomatter the nature of the job or the organizational environment (Jex, 2002). More simply,some people are genetically positive in disposition (the glass half full), whereas others areinnately negative in disposition (the glass half empty). For instance, a study of twins whowere reared apart (same genetic characteristics but different experiences) found that 30percent of inconsistency in satisfaction was accredited to genetic factors (Arvey,Bouchard, Segal, & Abraham, 1989). Furthermore, although individuals change jobs andemployers, individual disposition has been shown to be consistent by the use of surveyresults on job satisfaction (Staw & Ross, 1985). Additionally, Staw, Bell, and Clausen(1986) also found that adolescent evaluations of affective disposition were correlatedwith adult job satisfaction for as many as forty years later.

Many years of research has been conducted on the dis-positional source of jobsatisfaction and has presented strong evidence that job satisfaction, to some extent, isbased on disposition (Judge & Larsen, 2001). Dis-positional affect is the predispositionto experience related emotional moods over time (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller,2008). Accordingly, this approach assumes that an employee’s attitude about his or herjob originates from an internal (mental) state. Positive affect is a predispositionfavorable to positive emotional experience, whereas negative affect is a predisposition toexperience a wide array of negative emotions (Watson, Clark, & Carey, 1988). Positive

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affective people feel enthusiastic, active, alert, and optimistic (Watson, Clark, &Tellegen, 1988). On the contrary, negative affective people feel anger, contempt, disgust,guilt, fear, and nervousness (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

There is also strong evidence supporting disposition causing job satisfaction from aSocial Cognitive aspect as well. Causation through disposition indicates that jobsatisfaction can be determined by an individual's general overall outlook. In psychology,Cognitive Theory of Depression states that individual’s thought processes andperceptions can be a source of unhappiness. Further, the automated thoughts andprocesses (Beck, 1987) resulting from irrational and dysfunctional thinking perpetuateemotions of depression and unhappiness in individuals. Judge and Locke (1992) examinethese concepts in detail. They discuss cognitive processes like perfectionism, over-generalization, and dependence on others as causation for depression leading tounhappiness. They claim that subjective well-being resulting from an affectivedisposition leads to individuals experiencing information recall regarding their job. Inshort, happy individuals tend to store and evaluate job information differently thanunhappy individuals do. This type of recollection indicates that job satisfaction can beinfluenced by subjective well-being. Tait, Padgett, and Baldwin (1989) performed ameta-analytic review discovering an average correlation between job and life satisfactionto be .44, which supports the theory of a dispositional effect on job satisfaction. Inaddition, Howard and Bray (1988) determined through a study they performed on AT&Tmanagers that motives such as ambition and desire to get ahead serve as some of thestrongest predictors for advancement. Also, Bandura (1986) states that individual'saspirations become their standards of self-satisfaction indicating that those with highgoals, theoretically, should be harder to satisfy than people with low goals. This wouldindicate that a high level of ambition resulting from high standards can point to a lowersatisfaction as an end result. In addition, it is oftentimes the case that unsatisfied workersare highly ambitious but unhappy as a result of their inability to be promoted within anorganization. For this reason, ambition can negatively influence job satisfaction.However, Judge and Locke caution that dysfunctional thinking is not singularlyresponsible for dispositional factors affecting job satisfaction. They mention self-esteem,locus of control, self-efficacy, intelligence, and ambition as well.

All three of the above-mentioned causes have been found to contribute to job satisfaction;however, researchers have not conducted simultaneous comparison of all three of theseapproaches (Baker, 2004). Job characteristics have been shown to impact job satisfaction(Baker, 2004). Recent studies on social informational processing have found thatleadership actions influence job satisfaction (Baker, 2004). Various research findingshave indicated that a relationship between disposition and job satisfaction does in factexist. For instance, Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) advocate that emotionally significantprocedures at work may be influenced by disposition, which in turn influences jobsatisfaction. Job characteristics have been favored in research (Thomas, Bubholtz, &

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Winklespecht, 2004); however, less research has been conducted on the dis-positionalapproach, since it is fairly new (Coutts & Gruman, 2005).

Facets of job satisfaction (Hackman & Oldham, 1980; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969).

Life Satisfaction

Life satisfaction is often considered separately from job satisfaction with regard toproductivity in the workplace, but as the majority of this research is correlational, it isbeneficial to explore potential relationships between these two factors themselves rather

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than strictly with regard to performance. Research suggests there is in fact a significantrelationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction, with a correlation of .44 (basedon a meta analysis of 34 studies with a combined sample size of 19,811). (Tait et al.,1989) With this relationship being correlational, causation cannot be determined, thoughit is suggested that the nature of the relationship is reciprocal or bi-directional. (Judge etal., 1993) In other words, life satisfaction may positively influence job satisfaction, andjob satisfaction will also positively influence life satisfaction. Conversely, some researchsuggests that life satisfaction often precedes and is a good predictor of job satisfaction--some directionality (Judge et al., 1993). Whichever the case may be, it cannot be ignoredthat there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction basedon correlational research (Jones, 2006).

Other Factors

It is difficult to establish all the antecedents leading towards job satisfaction. However, anadditional construct that suggests a positive correlation to job satisfaction not yetdiscussed is engagement. In a meta-analysis, the correlation between job satisfaction andengagement is .22 (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). Stirling (2008) notes that 20percent of engaged individuals do 80 percent of the work. Therefore, it is vital tocontinue to cultivate job satisfaction among these highly productive individuals.

Measuring Job Satisfaction

There are many methods for measuring job satisfaction. By far, the most common methodfor collecting data regarding job satisfaction is the Likert scale (named after Rensis Likert).Other less common methods of for gauging job satisfaction include: Yes/No questions,True/False questions, point systems, checklists, and forced choice answers. This data istypically collected using an Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) system.

The Job Descriptive Index (JDI), created by Smith, Kendall, & Hulin (1969), is a specificquestionnaire of job satisfaction that has been widely used. It measures one’s satisfactionin five facets: pay, promotions and promotion opportunities, coworkers, supervision, andthe work itself. The scale is simple, participants answer either yes, no, or can’t decide(indicated by ‘?’) in response to whether given statements accurately describe one’s job.

The Job in General Index is an overall measurement of job satisfaction. It is animprovement to the Job Descriptive Index because the JDI focuses too much on individualfacets and not enough on work satisfaction in general.

Other job satisfaction questionnaires include: the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire(MSQ), the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and the Faces Scale. The MSQ measures job

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satisfaction in 20 facets and has a long form with 100 questions (five items from each facet)and a short form with 20 questions (one item from each facet). The JSS is a 36 itemquestionnaire that measures nine facets of job satisfaction. Finally, the Faces Scale of jobsatisfaction, one of the first scales used widely, measured overall job satisfaction with justone item which participants respond to by choosing a face.

Job satisfaction and emotions

Mood and emotions while working are the raw materials which cumulate to form theaffective element of job satisfaction. Moods tend to be longer lasting but often weakerstates of uncertain origin, while emotions are often more intense, short-lived and have aclear object or cause.

There is some evidence in the literature that state moods are related to overall jobsatisfaction. Positive and negative emotions were also found to be significantly related tooverall job satisfaction.

Frequency of experiencing net positive emotion will be a better predictor of overall jobsatisfaction than will intensity of positive emotion when it is experienced.Emotion regulation and emotion labor are also related to job satisfaction. Emotion work(or emotion management) refers to various efforts to manage emotional states and displays.Emotion regulation includes all of the conscious and unconscious efforts to increase,maintain, or decrease one or more components of an emotion. Although early studies ofthe consequences of emotional labor emphasized its harmful effects on workers, studies ofworkers in a variety of occupations suggest that the consequences of emotional labor arenot uniformly negative.

It was found that suppression of unpleasant emotions decreases job satisfaction and theamplification of pleasant emotions increases job satisfaction. The understanding of howemotion regulation relates to job satisfaction concerns two models:

1. Emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance is a state of discrepancy between publicdisplays of emotions and internal experiences of emotions, that often follows the processof emotion regulation. Emotional dissonance is associated with high emotional exhaustion,low organizational commitment, and low job satisfaction.

2. Social interaction model. Taking the social interaction perspective, workers’ emotionregulation might beget responses from others during interpersonal encounters thatsubsequently impact their own job satisfaction. For example: The accumulation offavorable responses to displays of pleasant emotions might positively affect job satisfactionperformance of emotional labor that produces desired outcomes could increase jobsatisfaction.

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Relationships and practical implications

Job Satisfaction can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs anda predictor of work behaviours such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, andturnover.

Further, job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables anddeviant work behaviors.

One common research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated with life satisfaction.This correlation is reciprocal, meaning people who are satisfied with life tend to be satisfiedwith their job and people who are satisfied with their job tend to be satisfied with life.However, some research has found that job satisfaction is not significantly related to lifesatisfaction when other variables such as non-work satisfaction and core self-evaluationsare taken into account.

With regard to job performance, employee personality may be more important than jobsatisfaction. The link between job satisfaction and performance is thought to be a spuriousrelationship; instead, both satisfaction and performance are the result of personality.

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Psychological Keys to Job Satisfaction

Do you get a pleasant satisfied feeling after a hard day at work?

If some job satisfaction surveys are to be believed then as many as a third of us areconsidering a change of job. Clearly many are finding it hard to get that feeling ofsatisfaction from work.

Job satisfaction is important not just because it boosts work performance but also becauseit increases our quality of life. Many people spend so much time at work that when itbecomes dissatisfying, the rest of their life soon follows.

Everyone's job is different but here are 10 factors that psychologists regularly find areimportant in how satisfied people are with their jobs.

1. Little hassles

If you ask doctors what is the worst part of their jobs, what do you think they say?Carrying out difficult, painful procedures? Telling people they've only got months tolive? No, it's something that might seem much less stressful: administration.

We tend to downplay day-to-day irritations, thinking we've got bigger fish to fry. Butactually people's job satisfaction is surprisingly sensitive to daily hassles. It might not

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seem like much but when it happens almost every day and it's beyond our control, it hitsjob satisfaction hard.

This category is one of the easiest wins for boosting employee satisfaction. Managersshould find out about those little daily hassles and address them—your employees willlove you for it.

2. Perception of fair pay

Whatever your job, for you to be satisfied the pay should be fair. The bigger thedifference between what you think you should earn and what you do earn, the lesssatisfied you'll be.

The important point here is it's all about perception. If you perceive that other peopledoing a similar job get paid about the same as you then you're more likely to be satisfiedwith your job than if you think they're getting more than you.

3. Achievement

People feel more satisfied with their job if they've achieved something. In some jobsachievements are obvious, but for others they're not. As smaller cogs in larger machinesit may be difficult to tell what we're contributing. That's why the next factor can be soimportant...

4. Feedback

There's nothing worse than not knowing whether or not you're doing a good job. When itcomes to job satisfaction, no news is bad news. Getting negative feedback can be painfulbut at least it tells you where improvements can be made. On the other hand positivefeedback can make all the difference to how satisfied people feel.

5. Complexity and variety

People generally find jobs more satisfying if they are more complex and offer morevariety. People seem to like complex (but not impossible) jobs, perhaps because it pushesthem more. Too easy and people get bored.

To be satisfied people need to be challenged a little and they need some variety in thetasks they carry out. It sounds easy when put like that but many jobs offer neithercomplexity nor variety.

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6. Control

You may have certain tasks you have to do, but how you do them should be up to you.The more control people perceive in how they carry out their job, the more satisfactionthey experience.

If people aren't given some control, they will attempt to retake it by cutting corners,stealing small amounts or finding other ways to undermine the system. Psychologistshave found that people who work in jobs where they have little latitude—at every level—find their work very stressful and consequently unsatisfying.

7. Organisational support

Workers want to know their organisation cares about them: that they are gettingsomething back for what they are putting in. This is primarily communicated throughthings like how bosses treat us, the kinds of fringe benefits we get and other subtlemessages. If people perceive more organisational support, they experience higher jobsatisfaction.

Remember: it's not just whether the organisation is actually being supportive, it's whetherit appears that way. The point being that appearances are really important here. If peopledon't perceive it, then for them it might as well not exist. That's why great managers needa politician's touch.

8. Work-home overflow

Low job satisfaction isn't only the boss' or organisation's fault, sometimes it's down tohome-life. Trouble at home breeds trouble at the office.

Some research, though, suggests that trouble at the office is more likely to spill over intothe family domain compared with the other way around (Ford et al., 2007). Either wayfinding ways of distancing yourself from work while at home are likely to protect youagainst job stressors (Sonnentag et al., 2010).

9. Honeymoons and hangovers

Job honeymoons and hangovers are often forgotten by psychologists but well-known toemployees. People experience honeymoon periods after a month or two in a new jobwhen their satisfaction shoots up. But then it normally begins to tail off after six monthsor so.

The honeymoon period at the start of a new job tends to be stronger when people wereparticularly dissatisfied with their previous job (Boswell et al., 2009). So hangovers fromthe last job tend to produce more intense honeymoons in the next job.

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10. Easily pleased?

Some of us are more easily satisfied (or dissatisfied) than others, no matter how good (orbad) the job is. To misquote a famous cliché: You can't satisfy all the people all the time.

Still, some jobs do seem better suited to certain types of people. A lot of work has beendone on person-environment fit but because jobs vary so much it's difficult to summarise.

One generalisation we can make, though, is that people get more satisfied with their jobsas they get older. Perhaps this is because the older people are, the more likely they are tohave found the right work for them. There's little evidence for this but I'd certainly like tothink it was true.

On my darker days, though, I tend to think it's because young people have sky-highexpectations (which are soon dashed) and older people have learned to live with their lot,however uninspiring it is.

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Managers can enhance job satisfaction:

Goal

Employees are motivated by performance goals, and they find pride in achieving orexceeding their goals. Managers should also make goals designed to bring personal andprofessional satisfaction. For example, if as a sales manager you get a quarterly bonusbased on revenue numbers, then set a goal to exceed those numbers and claim a largerbonus. A manager can also set a goal to increase departmental production to get theexecutive team to allow for necessary upgrades and changes to departmental equipment.

Get Subordinates Involved

Managers who feel the need to perform all of the administrative and managerial tasks fortheir departments on their own are adding to their own stress and alienating their staff.Learn to get your employees involved in making daily decisions by empoweringemployees to develop their own work methods. Have a weekly staff meeting where theemployees give input on solving departmental issues. Your employees will feel a sense ofinvolvement in the success of the department, and you will have reduced your stress andgained the satisfaction of improving employee development.

Take Breaks

The stress of being a manager can drain some of the sense of satisfaction you get fromdepartmental and personal accomplishments. Taking breaks throughout the day is asimple but effective way to avoid overworking yourself and allow yourself time to collectyour thoughts. Your job satisfaction improves because you are giving yourself a chanceto relieve stress as opposed to constantly feeling the need to work.

Training

To get more out of yourself as a manager, you need to continue your educational andprofessional development. Industry training and advancing your educational backgroundcan help you to contribute more to your team. You can also improve your own careerpath by maintaining your own personal development.

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Other methods of enhancing job Satisfaction:

Designing Jobs that Motivate

Hackman and Oldham identified five factors of job design that typically contribute topeople's enjoyment of a job:

Skill Variety – Increasing the number of skills that individuals use whileperforming work.

Task Identity – Enabling people to perform a job from start to finish. Task Significance – Providing work that has a direct impact on the organization

or its stakeholders. Autonomy – Increasing the degree of decision making, and the freedom to choose

how and when work is done. Feedback – Increasing the amount of recognition for doing a job well, and

communicate the results of people's work.

Job enrichment addresses these factors by enhancing the job's core dimensions andincreasing people's sense of fulfillment.

Job Enrichment Options

The central focus of job enrichment is giving people more control over their work (lackof control is a key cause of stress, and therefore of unhappiness.) Where possible, allowthem to take on tasks that are typically done by supervisors. This means that they havemore influence over planning, executing, and evaluating the jobs they do.

In enriched jobs, people complete activities with increased freedom, independence, andresponsibility. They also receive plenty of feedback, so that they can assess and correcttheir own performance.

Here are some strategies you can use to enrich jobs in your workplace:

Rotate Jobs – Give people the opportunity to use a variety of skills, and performdifferent kinds of work. The most common way to do this is through job rotation.Move your workers through a variety of jobs that allow them to see different partsof the organization, learn different skills and acquire different experiences. Thiscan be very motivating, especially for people in jobs that are very repetitive or thatfocus on only one or two skills.

Combine Tasks – Combine work activities to provide a more challenging andcomplex work assignment. This can significantly increase "task identity" becausepeople see a job through from start to finish. This allows workers to use a widevariety of skills, which can make the work seem more meaningful and important.

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For example, you can convert an assembly line process, in which each person doesone task, into a process in which one person assembles a whole unit. You canapply this model wherever you have people or groups that typically perform onlyone part of an overall process. Consider expanding their roles to give themresponsibility for the entire process, or for a bigger part of that process.

These forms of job enrichment can be tricky because they may provide increasedmotivation at the expense of decreased productivity. When you have new peopleperforming tasks, you may have to deal with issues of training, efficiency, andperformance. You must carefully weigh the benefits against the costs.

Identify Project-Focused Work Units – Break your typical functional lines andform project-focused units. For example, rather than having all of your marketingpeople in one department, with supervisors directing who works on which project,you could split the department into specialized project units – specific storyboardcreators, copywriters, and designers could all work together for one client or onecampaign. Allowing employees to build client relationships is an excellent way toincrease autonomy, task identity, and feedback.

Create Autonomous Work Teams – This is job enrichment at the group level.Set a goal for a team, and make team members free to determine workassignments, schedules, rest breaks, evaluation parameters, and the like. You mayeven give them influence over choosing their own team members. With thismethod, you'll significantly cut back on supervisory positions, and people willgain leadership and management skills.

Implement Participative Management – Allow team members to participate indecision making and get involved in strategic planning. This is an excellent way tocommunicate to members of your team that their input is important. It can work inany organization – from a very small company, with an owner/boss who's used todictating everything, to a large company with a huge hierarchy. When peoplerealize that what they say is valued and makes a difference, they'll likely bemotivated.

Redistribute Power and Authority – Redistribute control and grant moreauthority to workers for making job-related decisions. As supervisors delegatemore authority and responsibility, team members' autonomy, accountability, andtask identity will increase.

Increase Employee-Directed Feedback – Make sure that people know how well,or poorly, they're performing their jobs. The more control you can give them forevaluating and monitoring their own performance, the more enriched their jobswill be. Rather than have your quality control department go around and point out

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mistakes, consider giving each team responsibility for their own quality control.Workers will receive immediate feedback, and they'll learn to solve problems, takeinitiative, and make decisions.

Job enrichment provides many opportunities for people's development. You'll give themlots of opportunity to participate in how their work gets done, and they'll most-likelyenjoy an increased sense of personal responsibility for their tasks.

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References

1. Job Satisfaction, Spector, The University of South Florida 19972. Measuring Job Satisfaction in Surveys Comparative Analytical Report Nguyen,

Taylor and Bradley, 2003a3. Washington University St. Louis, MO 63130, USA, University of California Santa

Cruz, CA 95064, USA, 19984. Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R, Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey,

Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 19755. Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory 19766. Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach, B.S., Central

Michigan University; Ph.D., University of South Florida 20027. Job-satisfaction; Organizational-commitment; Human-services-personnel-

Psychology, Last edited on 2005/03/10 10:22:38 US/Mountain Glisson & Durick,1988; Jex, 2002

8. The Job Descriptive Index (JDI), Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 19699. Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach Aamondt, 200910. A quantitative review of mentoring research: Test of a model. Journal of

Vocational Behavior, 72, 269-283 Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 200811. A multi-source study on the benefits of psychological detachment, Department of

Psychology, University of Konstanz, Box 42, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany Sonnentaget al., 2010