FAMILY AND JOB INFLUENCES ON ROLE SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYED RURAL MOTHERS

One hundred fifty rural employed mothers were surveyed to determine family and job predictors of satisfaction with the dual-work role. Findings indicated the saliency of job satisfaction variables in determining role satisfaction among this group of women as opposed to hypothesized reference group support variables and nontraditional value orientation variables. Discussion centered on the importance of employment outside the home to life satisfaction, particularly for mothers of older children.     

Collective efficacy versus self-efficacy in coping responses to stressors and control: a cross-cultural study

This study examined how cultural differences and efficacy perceptions influence the role of job control in coping with job demands. Perceiving higher control mitigated the effects of demands on psychological health symptoms and turnover intentions only among American bank tellers reporting high job self-efficacy. Among American tellers reporting low job self-efficacy, perceived control exacerbated the effects of demands. However, in a matched Hong Kong sample, collective efficacy interacted in the same way with control and demands as job self-efficacy had in the American sample. These differences appear to be explained by the individual attributes of idiocentrism and allocentrism that are linked to the societal norms of individualism and collectivism, respectively.     

Responses to formal performance appraisal feedback: the role of negative affectivity

This study examined the effects of performance appraisal feedback on job and organizational attitudes of tellers (N = 329) in a large international bank. Negative affectivity moderated the link between favorable appraisal feedback and job attitudes. Among the higher rated performers, attitudes were improved 1 month after being notified of favorable appraisal results (Time 2). Improved attitudes persisted 6 months after the performance appraisal (Time 3) among tellers with low negative affectivity but not among those with high negative affectivity. Among the lower rated performers, mean levels of attitudes did not change significantly during the study.     

EXAMINATION OF SITUATIONAL AND ATTITUDINAL MODERATORS OF THE HESITATION AND PERFORMANCE RELATION

The hesitation dimension of action-state orientation refers to the behavioral capacity to start action on tasks. In this study, job characteristics (autonomy and routineness) and job attitudes (satisfaction and involvement) were examined as moderators of the relation between hesitation and supervisor ratings of work behaviors (overall job performance and self-management performance) in 2 different samples. In both samples, routineness moderated the hesitation and self-management performance relation such that individuals low in hesitation performed better than individuals high in hesitation when routineness was low, but no differences in performance were observed when routineness was high. In addition, job satisfaction and job involvement were significant moderators of the relation between hesitation and self-management performance, with individuals low in hesitation performing better than individuals high in hesitation when satisfaction or involvement was low, but no differences in performance were observed when satisfaction or involvement was high.     

FAMILY INFLUENCES ON THE JOB SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYED MOTHERS

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between job satisfaction and selected family variables that might constrain or enhance the job satisfaction of employed mothers. Results of stepwise regression indicate that four family variables were more useful in explaining variation in job satisfaction than six background variables that had been expected to influence job satisfaction. Results suggest that job satisfaction could be enhanced by increasing family support for women's employment.     

Obsessive Passion: A Compensatory Response to Unsatisfied Needs

The present research investigated the role of two sources of psychological need satisfaction (inside and outside a passionate activity) as determinants of harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passion. Four studies were carried out with different samples of young and middle‐aged adults (e.g., athletes, musicians; total N = 648). Different research designs (cross‐sectional, mixed, longitudinal) were also used. Results showed that only a rigid engagement in a passionate activity (OP) was predicted by low levels of need satisfaction outside the passionate activity (in an important life context or in life in general), whereas both OP and a more favorable and balanced type of passion, HP were positively predicted by need satisfaction inside the passionate activity. Further, OP led to negative outcomes, and HP predicted positive outcomes. These results suggest that OP may represent a form of compensatory striving for psychological need satisfaction. It appears important to consider two distinct sources of need satisfaction, inside and outside the passionate activity, when investigating determinants of optimal and less optimal forms of activity engagement.     

Relationship between trust in appraisal and appraisal effectiveness: A field study

The current study examined the influence of trust in the appraisal system on ratees' reactions to performance evaluations. One-hundred and sixty eight bank tellers completed an instrument that assessed their trust in the appraisal system, appraisal satisfaction, perceived utility of evaluations, behavioral intention to improve performance, and intention to leave the job. Trust and performance evaluations were significant predictors of ratee reactions to appraisals and intention to improve on performance weaknesses. In addition, performance ratings were a better predictor of intention to improve on performance weaknesses for ratees who had high trust in the appraisal system. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Miami, Florida, April, 1990.     

SOURCES OF VARIATION IN JOB SATISFACTION: JOB SIZE EFFECTS IN A SAMPLE OF THE U. S. LABOR FORCE

Survey data were used to examine hypotheses about job size and satisfaction in a broad spectrum of jobs. Job size, higher-order need importance, urban-rural residence, and blue- or white-collar job category were tested as predictors of satisfaction ( N = 2,094). Job size, need importance, and job category all related to job satisfaction. In constrast to earlier findings among blue-collar workers, there was no evidence that either the urban-rural variable or need importance moderated the job size-satisfaction relation. Job category did not moderate these results, indicating that the present results extend to white-collar workers. It was possible to control for income in a subsample ( N = 753). Controlling for income's effect, job size, need importance, and job category still related to satisfaction; again, no moderating effects were observed. Results are discussed in terms of three potential sources of variation in satisfaction: job, person, and interaction of job and person.     

EVENT AND AGENT: TOWARD A STRUCTURAL THEORY OF JOB SATISFACTION

This study evaluates a theory of job satisfaction based on two facets: event and agent. These two facets were derived from a study by Schneider and Locke (1971). In the present study, event and agent were conceptualized as two domain facets of a content universe of job satisfaction. On the basis of the above definition, a radex structure was hypothesized. 104 employees from 8 different industrial organizations in Israel were interviewed. They rated (a) their job satisfaction with respect to 11 job factors, and (b) their conception of influence upon these job factors. The intercorrelation matrix of job satisfaction was treated by a Guttman Smallest Space Analysis. The empirical space was interpreted for each facet individually, and then jointly. It is apparent that when job satisfaction is defined by two domain facets, the radex structure is confirmed.     

Wage comparisons with similar and dissimilar others

Considerable research has been completed on the link between social comparisons and employee satisfaction. Surprisingly, however, few of those studies contrast the effects of various comparisons with others on pay satisfaction. Based on social comparison theory, we expected that comparisons with similar others would be more important predictors of pay satisfaction than comparisons with dissimilar others. Across four studies, the degree of similarity of the comparison other was varied. In Studies 1 and 2, respondents made pay comparisons inside or outside the organization. In Studies 3 and 4, respondents made pay comparisons with referents in the same and different occupations. In all four studies we found that while similar others did provide employees with important information that affected their satisfaction, so did information about dissimilar others. We suggest that the importance of a job in our self‐definitions, with pay level being among the most overt markers, may account for our findings. Using pay as a yardstick may lead us all to widen our search for information about others, including ordinarily discrepant others. Alternative explanations and directions for research are discussed.     

ENHANCING CAREER BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE PROACTIVE PERSONALITY: THE ROLE OF FIT WITH JOBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Organizations increasingly expect employees to demonstrate proactive behaviors. We examined person–organization fit (P–O fit) and person–job fit (P–J fit) as moderators of the relationship between proactive personality and intrinsic career success (job and career satisfaction). We hypothesized that proactive personality would be related to intrinsic career success only to the extent that individuals had high fit with organizations and jobs. In Study 1, using a sample of 295 teachers and 139 of their peers working in 15 elementary and high schools in Turkey, we found that proactive personality was positively related to job satisfaction only for individuals with high P–O fit. Furthermore, proactive personality was positively related to career satisfaction only for individuals with high P–O fit and for individuals with high P–J fit. We replicated the findings for P–O fit as a moderator of personality with respect to job and career satisfaction in Study 2, using a sample of 203 university professors in the United States. We found no support in either sample for P–J fit as a moderator of proactive personality with respect to job satisfaction. In Study 2, we found that research productivity was related to proactive personality differentially for high and low P–J fit tenure-track faculty members.     

AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF AFFECTIVE RESPONSE IN THE MEASUREMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE*

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an affective response affects the dimensionality of perceptual measures of organizational climate. To accomplish this 8,938 nonsupervisory employees of a large utility completed both an organizational climate questionnaire and a measure of job satisfaction. The raw scores on the climate instrument were factor analyzed. Then the job satisfaction scores were partialed out of the intercorrelations of the items making up the climate instrument and the residual scores were submitted to a factor analysis. The results suggest that partialing job satisfaction out of responses to an organizational climate questionnaire served to improve the dimensionality of the climate instrument.     

The role of subordinate authoritarianism in cross-level extra-role relationships

This study is an investigation of the moderating role of subordinate authoritarianism in the relationship between cross-level (i.e., supervisor and subordinate) extrarole (i.e., outside of work) activities and job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors. Low authoritarian subordinates reported greater job satisfaction than high authoritarian subordinates when they participated in off-the-job activities with supervisors. The implications of this research are discussed.     

Work and family satisfaction and conflict: a meta-analysis of cross-domain relations

This meta-analysis is a review of the literature examining the relations among stressors, involvement, and support in the work and family domains, work-family conflict, and satisfaction outside of those domains. Results suggest that a considerable amount of variability in family satisfaction is explained by work domain-specific variables, whereas a considerable amount of variability in job satisfaction is explained by family domain-specific variables, with job and family stress having the strongest effects on work-family conflict and cross-domain satisfaction. The authors propose future directions for research on work and family issues focusing on other explanatory mechanisms and moderators of cross-domain relations.     

Anxiety, Demoralization, and the Gender Difference in Job Satisfaction

The tendency for women in Canada and the United States to report being more satisfied than men with their jobs is considered paradoxical because women, on average, receive fewer job-related resources than men. Theory and research suggest that the magnitude of the gender difference that underlies that paradox may increase as levels of negative affect increase. Using data from people living and working in Toronto, Canada, this study evaluates hypotheses about the joint association of gender and two forms of negative affect, anxiety and demoralization, with job satisfaction. Data collected in telephone interviews are analyzed using ordinal probit regression. As job satisfaction decreases with increasing negative affect, the size of the gender difference in job satisfaction increases. When job characteristics indicative of job quality are controlled, the interaction between gender and demoralization is reduced to a non-significant level, but the interaction between gender and anxiety changes little, and remains significant. The results are interpreted as indicating that as negative affect increases, women are more likely to reference standards that counterbalance decreases in their satisfaction (e.g., standards linked to “communion” with co-workers), and men are more likely to reference standards that further decrease their satisfaction (e.g., standards linked to relative advantage). The persistence of the interaction between gender and anxiety after job characteristics are controlled suggests that anxiety-provoking experiences outside of the workplace may contribute to the gender difference in job satisfaction. The associations among quality of work, demoralization, and job satisfaction are stronger among men than women, explaining the interaction of gender with demoralization.     

A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION OF INTEREST CONGRUENCE AND GENDER CONCENTRATION AS PREDICTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Based on a rationale derived from discrepancy theories of job satisfaction, person-environment congruence was examined for its prediction of job satisfaction among college graduates over a 7-year period. Data were from university records and a survey of 253 graduates who were employed full time. Congruence of the students'college majors and their jobs predicted their subsequent job satisfaction regardless of whether this congruence was a perceptual or a more objective measure, while congruence between the interests the participants expressed on an interest inventory (the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory) during their freshman orientation did not. A three-way interaction of gender, gender concentration of Occupation, and interest congruence predicting job satisfaction was hypothesized. Although a three-way interaction was significant, it was not as predicted. Potential explanations involving the nature of decisions involving college majors and jobs and the stage of career development of participants are discussed.     

A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN JOB INFORMATION SOURCES, APPLICANT PERCEPTIONS OF FIT, AND WORK OUTCOMES

This longitudinal field study was designed to examine the relationships between job information sources, self-esteem, and perceptions of person-job (P-J) and person-organization (P-O) fit, as well as the relationships between perceptions of fit and work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational identification, intentions to quit, stress symptoms, and turnover). The results indicate that the number of formal job information sources and self-esteem were positively related to perceptions of P-J fit, and formal job information sources were positively related to perceptions of P-O fit. Perceptions of P-J fit were positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational identification, and negatively related to stress symptoms and intentions to quit. Perceptions of P-O fit were negatively related to intentions to quit and turnover. In addition, perceptions of fit mediated the relationships between job information sources and self-esteem with job satisfaction, intentions to quit, and turnover. These results highlight the job applicant's perspective of fit, and demonstrate the importance of both P-J and P-O fit perceptions.     

The Relationship of Pregnancy Status to Job Satisfaction: An Exploratory Analysis

Forty-three women who had worked outside of the home prior to becoming pregnant and had returned to the same place of employment after the birth of their children participated in the study. To do so, they responded to a two-part questionnaire asking about their work lives (e.g., level of job satisfaction before, during, and after their pregnancies) and demographic characteristics (e.g., occupation). The results indicated that their job satisfaction was significantly greater before their pregnancies than either during or after their pregnancies. Job satisfaction during pregnancy had a significant, positive correlation with satisfaction with organizational maternity leave policies. Perceived reactions from women's coworkers and supervisors were also examined. Implications for these findings for organizations are discussed. Limitations of the study, and how they might be rectified in future research, are also addressed.     

PERCEIVED JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND JOB SATISFACTION: AN EXAMINATION OF RECIPROCAL CAUSATION

The following four assumptions were tested (a) satisfaction with job/task events and perceptions of job challenge, autonomy, and importance are direct, reciprocal causes of each other; (b) job perceptions are also caused directly by situation attributes, although perceptual distortions resulting for individual dispositions must also be considered; (c) job satisfaction is also cognitively consistent with (i.e., caused by) individual dispositions, although these individual dispositions are generally different from those associated with job perceptions; and (d) individuals reply on job perceptions, and not situational attributes, for information in formulating job satisfaction attitudes. The assumptions are tested on a sample of nonsupervisory subjects ( n = 642) from divergent work environments (e.g., production-lines and a computer software department). A nonrecursive, structural equation analysis, combined with tests of logical consistency, supported the assumptions above. The results were employed to recommend changes in current perspectives regarding perceptual/affective dichotomies and unidirectional causal models and moderator models that link job perceptions to job satisfaction.     

Perceived organizational support‐burnout‐satisfaction relationship in workers with disabilities: The moderation of family support

Our study tests the perceived organizational support‐burnout‐satisfaction relationship based on stressor–strain–outcome model of stress (Koeske & Koeske, 1993 ) and on the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989 ) in workers with disabilities employed in ordinary or competitive jobs (open labor market), analyzing the relationship between perceived organizational support, family support, job satisfaction and burnout. We use a sample of 246 workers with physical, motor, sensory and psychological disabilities working in ordinary jobs. To test our proposed model we used a regression‐based path analysis using PROCESS software, which is a computational tool for estimating and probing interactions and the conditional indirect effects of moderated mediation models. We find that the positive relationship between organizational support and job satisfaction was partially mediated by the levels of cynicism and the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction was moderated by family support. Employees with low support from family had identical job satisfaction with high burnout or low burnout, but employees with high support from family when they had high burnout had lower job satisfaction than when they had low burnout, indicating that the support outside work could have a negative effect in workers’ life. Practical implications and future research are discussed and proposed. 1 1 A previous version of the abstract has been published in the European Congress of Psychology‐2015‐Abstract Book.