Show me The Money! do Financial Rewards for Performance Enhance or Undermine The Satisfaction from Emotional Labor?

Does satisfaction from performing emotional labor (EL)—maintaining positive emotions with customers as part of the job—depend on the financial rewards available for good service? According to a “controlling perspective” of rewards, satisfaction from performing EL may be undermined by financial incentives, but based on a “valuing perspective” of rewards, the relationship should be enhanced. We contribute to the literatures on EL and performance‐contingent rewards with a “full‐cycle” inquiry of this question conducted with (a) a field survey of diverse occupations in the United States, (b) an experimental call center simulation with U.S. college students, and (c) a multilevel study of Taiwanese sales firms. Overall, financial rewards for service performance enhanced, rather than undermined, satisfaction from EL requirements and effort (i.e., surface acting) with customers. Performing EL by modifying feelings (i.e., deep acting) was positively related to job satisfaction regardless of rewards, beyond personality traits. Results have implications for reward structures and enhancing job satisfaction with this increasingly common form of labor.     

The role of need level and/or need salience as moderators of the relationship between need satisfaction and work alienation-involvement

Contrary to previous findings documenting the importance of higher-order need satisfaction, a recent study by G. J. Gorn and R. N. Kanungo (Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1980, 26, 265–277) has indicated that satisfaction of lower-order needs may lead to job involvement if such needs are salient. Data from a heterogeneous sample of 632 employees from six organizations were used to test six hypotheses concerning the effects of need level (higher vs lower order) and need salience as moderators of the relationship between need satisfaction and alienation-involvement. Three different ways of operationalizing need saliency were used, including a replication of Gorn and Kanungo's procedure. Higherorder need satisfaction was correlated with alienation-involvement scores to a significantly greater degree than was lower-order need satisfaction, even for those for whom lower-order needs were most salient. Need saliency was not found to moderate the need satisfaction-involvement relationship when need level was controlled. Issues regarding the operationalization of “need salience” were discussed and a new measure of alienation-involvement (the A-I Scale) was introduced. Implications for further empirical investigations of the need saliency issue were noted, as was the universal application of job enrichment programs aimed at promoting higher-order need satisfaction.     

The Effect of Organizational Climate on Job Satisfaction,Anxiety, and Propensity to Leave

This study examined the prediction of job-related attitudes from organizational climate dimensions. Ss were 111 supermarket department managers who returned an anonymous questionnaire which tapped perceptions of the organizational environment (i.e., climate) along 11 dimensions and also contained measures of job satisfaction, propensity to leave, and job-related anxiety. Each attitude variable was regressed on the 11 climate dimensions with use of stepwise multiple regression. The dimension of “Organizational clarity” emerged as the most significant predictor for each of the three outcome variables, a finding that is congruent with previous research in the area of role ambiguity. The dimension of “Performance-reward dependence” contributed significantly to the prediction of job satisfaction and propensity to leave, but not to the prediction of job-related anxiety. This is consistent with theories linking dissatisfaction and turnover with unsatisfactory reward systems.     

Selling Task Characteristics and the Job Satisfaction of Industrial Salespeople

Abstract

Hypotheses were tested concerning the relationship between selling task characteristics and industrial salesforce job satisfaction. The specific explanatory model included the five core task variables measured by the “Job Diagnostic Survey Instrument” designed by Hackman and Lawler. The hypotheses tested were that salespersons' job satisfaction will be greater to the extent that they perceive their selling jobs to be characterized by high skill variety requirements, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and performance feedback from the job. In addition, based upon previous research in non-selling occupations, the salesperson's higher order need strength was examined as a possible moderator variable for the task characteristic/job satisfaction relationship.     

Some Problems Concerning the Assessment of Job Characteristics in Nursing Work

Abstract

The question of whether one should use subjective rather than “objective” assessments of job characteristics is still the subject of a vigorous discussion in analytical studies of jobs and in job design. In nursing work situations, too, the attention of managers and researchers for such studies is growing. In this article the results of a study are presented in which a comparison is made between two kinds of assessments: job characteristics as judged by task performers (nurses) and job characteristics as judged by non-task performers (nursing management). Differences and agreements between mean scores as well as between correlations with dependent variables like job satisfaction were analysed. Most agreement seems to be on the ratings of “complexity and difficulty”, “work pressure”, and “promotion and growth opportunities”. As to “feedback and clarity”, “autonomy”, and “patient caring opportunities”, differences between the ratings have been found. It appears that a larger number of correlations between the nurse-rated job characteristics and the reaction variables is found to be statistically significant than between the management-rated job characteristics and the reaction variables. Social, organizational, and methodological reasons for the observed differences are put forward.     

Agent-neutral deontology

According to the “Textbook View,” there is an extensional dispute between consequentialists and deontologists, in virtue of the fact that only the latter defend “agent-relative” principles—principles that require an agent to have a special concern with making sure that she does not perform certain types of action. I argue that, contra the Textbook View, there are agent-neutral versions of deontology. I also argue that there need be no extensional disagreement between the deontologist and consequentialist, as characterized by the Textbook View.     

Effects of Job Redesign: A Field Experiment1

A telephone company project to redesign the job of directory assistance operator was: studied in order to determine the effects on workers of “job enrichment” programs. The change increased the amount of variety and the decisionmaking autonomy in the operator's job. However, no change in work motivation, job involvement, or growth need satisfaction occurred as a result of the changes; instead, the changes had a significant negative impact on interpersonal relationships. After the changes, the older employees reported less satisfaction with the quality of their interpersonal relationships, and those supervisors whose jobs were affected by the changes reported less job security and reduced interpersonal satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the theory of job redesign proposed by Hackman and Lawler (1971) are discussed.     

Factors affecting choice,satisfaction, and success in the female self-employed

The purpose of this study was to determine variables which predict occupational choice, satisfaction, and success in the self-employment of women. In order to investigate this question, a group of female owners was compared to groups of female managers and secretaries on six variables under consideration: achievement motivation, locus of control, sex-role “masculinity,” and availability of models for ownership—father, mother, and other. There were 47 women in each group.It was found that the six variables, considered simultaneously, discriminated among the three occupational groups. The owners were higher than secretaries in achievement motivation, locus of control internality, and sex-role “masculinity.” However, there were no significant differences between owners and managers on these variables. Owners had more parental models (both fathers and mothers) for ownership than either managers or secretaries. Owners, managers, and secretaries did not differ significantly in the number of nonparental models for ownership. Neither job satisfaction nor success in business ownership were found to be related to the six variables considered simultaneously.     

Male-Oriented vs. Balanced-as-to-Sex Thematic Apperception Tests

Measures of need Achievement, need Affiliation, and need Power were obtained for 124 working managers (62 female, 62 male) using both McClelland's traditional male-oriented thematic apperception test(TAT) and a set of picture cues balanced-as-to-sex. Two-way analysis of variance was performed in a 2 × 2 factorial design (sex by version of TAT). F tests were conducted to test significance at the .05 level. Results indicate both sets are interchangeable in determining need Achievement and need Power distinctions between managerial women and men, Absolute scores are also comparable. For need Affiliation, however, motivation scores are not comparable and interchangeability is clouded, suggesting cue modification may be needed.     

Guiding others for their own good: Action orientation is associated with prosocial enactment of the implicit power motive

Prior research has repeatedly documented how people who are implicitly motivated by power motives may hurt other people’s interests. However, people may also enact the implicit power motive (nPower) in a prosocial manner. Using an Operant Motive Test, the authors differentiated five enactment strategies within nPower and investigated personality antecedents and personal benefits of a prosocial enactment strategy. Two studies found that demand-related action orientation (i.e., ability to self-regulate positive affect) was associated with prosocial enactment of nPower. Furthermore, prosocial enactment of nPower was associated with a higher explicit power motive among future teachers (Study 1) and future psychologists (Study 2). Finally, there was an indirect effect of action orientation through the prosocial enactment of nPower on the explicit power motive (Studies 1 and 2) and, in turn, on well-being (Study 2). Our integration of motivation and self-regulation research (the “what” and “how” of goal striving) helps to better understand the dual nature of power motives.     

Buying Life Experiences for the “Right” Reasons: A Validation of the Motivations for Experiential Buying Scale

Although numerous studies have demonstrated the hedonic benefits of spending money on life experiences instead of material possessions, there has been no attempt to determine how different motivations for experiential consumption relate to psychological need satisfaction and well-being. Across five studies (N = 931), guided by self-determination theory, we developed a reliable and valid measure of motivation for experiential consumption—the Motivation for Experiential Buying Scale—to test these relations. Those who spend money on life experience for autonomous reasons (e.g., “because they are an integral part of my life”) report more autonomy, competence, relatedness, flourishing, and vitality; however, those who spend money on life experiences for controlled (e.g., “for the recognition I’ll get from others”) or amotivated reasons (e.g., “I don’t really know”) reported less autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These results demonstrated that the benefits of experiential consumption depend on why one buys life experiences.     

The Dimensionality of the Industrial Sales Job Characteristics

Abstract

Sales representative motivation, satisfaction, and performance have been topics of considerable interest to managers and researchers alike for many years. Recently researchers have borrowed conceptualizations from organizational behavior and applied them successfully in the sales setting. For the most part, research on work-related sales representative motivation has focused on either the “expectancy” approach or the “job characteristics” approach. A brief overview is presented, followed by an assessment of the validity of the core dimensions found in the increasingly popular Job Diagnostic Survey in a sales representative context. The managerial implications of the assessment are also discussed.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tian</Emphasis> as Cosmos in Z<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">hu</Emphasis> Xi’s Neo-Confucianism

Tian 天 is central to the metaphysics, cosmology, and ethics of the 800-year-long Chinese philosophical tradition we call “Neo-Confucianism,” but there is considerable confusion over what tian means—confusion which is exacerbated by its standard translation into English as “Heaven.” This essay analyzes the meaning of tian in the works of the most influential Neo-Confucian, Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200), presents a coherent interpretation that unifies the disparate aspects of the term’s meaning, and argues that “cosmos” does an excellent job of capturing this meaning and therefore should be adopted as our translation of tian.     

The Effect of Members' Use of a Formal Group as a Reference Group upon Group Effectiveness

Summary

To test the view that “urban” and “rural” workers in the same job derive satisfaction from different aspects in the work situation, 42 black supervisors were divided into urban and rural groups in terms of the number of years spent in a city or town. Among the urban group, the correlation between satisfaction with content job factors and overall job satisfaction, as measured by the Brayfield-Rothe index, was significantly greater than that between context factors and overall job satisfaction. Among the rural group, the position was reversed.     

Job Satisfaction and Domains of Job Satisfaction for Older Workers with Disabilities in Europe

This paper analyzes the levels of job satisfaction reported by older workers (aged 50–64) with and without disability by using an aggregating approach in which job satisfaction is seen as a combination of various job satisfaction domains (physical effort, time pressure, level of freedom, capability to develop new skills, support in the workplace, recognition of the work, salary, promotion prospect and job security). Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we estimate a two-layer model based on the interrelation between the different domains of job satisfaction and wherein the individual’s overall job satisfaction depends on each of these domains. The results show that the levels of satisfaction with the recognition of the work, support in difficult situations and physical effort have a significant effect on the overall job satisfaction reported by limited disabled workers. For this group, the trade-offs between the domains recognition with work and support and satisfaction with salary are especially high. These findings can help organizations, managers and policy makers to design or modify current jobs to make them more attractive in terms of satisfaction for limited disabled older workers.     

Harry Potter and the measures of personality: Extraverted Gryffindors,agreeable Hufflepuffs,clever Ravenclaws,and manipulative Slytherins

People use fiction and storytelling to learn about themselves and their social world. Fans of J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter book series often identify with one of the four Hogwarts school communities or “houses”—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—that correspond to characters’ specific traits. Fans use a feature on Rowling’s “Pottermore” website that tests their personality and sorts them into the Hogwarts house that best fits them. But what does Pottermore’s sorting quiz measure? We asked fans from online Harry Potter groups into which Hogwarts house they had been sorted on Pottermore. Fans then completed personality measures, including the Big Five traits, need to belong, need for cognition, and the Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Planned contrasts found positive associations between need for cognition and placement in Ravenclaw (known for wit and learning), and between the Dark Triad traits and placement in Slytherin (known for using any means to achieve their ends). We expected—but did not find—that those in Gryffindor (known for bravery) would be higher in extraversion and openness, and that Hufflepuffs (known for loyalty) would be higher on need to belong. Our findings suggest that fiction can reflect real underlying personality dimensions.     

Searching for Sharks and a Second Self

Twenty years ago, Pastoral Psychology published “The Extra Mile—Case History of a Homicide” (Moss, Pastoral Psychology 42:107–136, 1993, p.134). In that autobiographical vignette, I argued that pastoral theology has a responsibility to: “1) articulate contemporary ultimate concerns, 2) clarify healthy avenues for compensation, and 3) tell stories about the hopeful revelations of God’s providence in a broken world” (Moss, Pastoral Psychology 42:107–136, 1993, p.134). This story illustrates all three of these points by recording a psychological fragmentation and restoration resulting from the death of a dear friend—“a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24). Aristotle referred to this type of friend as “a second self.” In the Celtic church such a person was anam cara, a Gaelic expression for “soul friend.” A few years ago I lost such a friend to cancer. During my grieving process I created a private tribute from our unfulfilled wish to go on one more adventure together—specifically, a shark hunt. The capture and release of sharks is a unique extreme sport. It is also the vehicle by which I finally resolved my grief: I reunited with my second self by means of an image in the eye of a requiem shark, a reflection of anam cara. The interrelated layers of this occurrence—particularly its coincidences—evidence Providence, as well as provide an example of a “Contact with the Dead Experience” described by Andrew Greeley and myself some 20 years ago in the Journal of Religion and Health (Moss, Journal of Religion and Health 29:261–283, 1990).     

Comparing the effects of low-level and high-level worker need-satisfaction: A synthesis of the self-determination and Maslow need theories

According to Maslow’s (Psychol Rev 50:370–396, 1943) hierarchical theory of needs, people do not become sensitized to “higher” level needs until they have satisfied their “lower” level needs (a moderator hypothesis); until then, they are unprepared to benefit from higher-level satisfactions. But according to the self-determination theory (SDT) model, high-level psychological needs, when met, are non-contingently beneficial (a main effect-only hypothesis). In two large-N studies of Russian energy companies, we measured low-level need-satisfaction in terms of felt security and felt financial satisfaction, and measured high-level need satisfaction in terms of SDT’s basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In both studies, both the lower level and higher level need-satisfaction sets had strong main effects upon many positive work outcomes, including intrinsic motivation, organizational commitment, and SWB. In Study 2, Maslow’s “prepared to benefit” hypothesis was supported, in that satisfaction of high-level needs had slightly larger effects on outcomes when combined with satisfaction of low-level needs. However this was not found in Study 1. Potentials for integrating the SDT and Maslow need theories are discussed.     

The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence in a Gender‐Specific Model of Organizational Variables1

This article investigated the relationships between trait emotional intelligence (“trait EI” or “emotional self‐efficacy”) and 4 job‐related variables (perceived job control, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment). Gender‐specific data (N=167, 87 females) were analyzed via multigroup structural equation modeling. Perceived job control had a negative effect on stress and a positive effect on satisfaction. Stress had a negative effect on satisfaction, which, in turn, had the strongest positive effect on commitment. There were many gender differences in the model, mainly concerning age, which was negatively related to control and commitment in the female sample only. Trait EI had specific, rather than widespread, effects in the model. Discussion focuses on trait EI's implications in the workplace.     

Socializing Hungarians in Transylvania,Romania: A case of international organizational socialization

This study was the first to compare organizational socialization of Hungarians (N = 122) and Romanians (N = 193) in Transylvania. Organizational socialization content was measured with the OSI (Organizational Socialization Inventory; Taormina, 1994 Taormina, R. J. 1994. The Organizational Socialization Inventory. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 2: 133–145. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and included four domains: training, understanding, co-worker support, and future prospects. The effectiveness of organizational socialization was expressed in terms of global job satisfaction (Rice, Gentile, & McFarlin, 1991 Rice, R. W., Gentile, D. A. and McFarlin, D. B. 1991. Facet importance and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1): 31–39. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). When controlling for sample characteristics other than ethnic identity, there were no differences between Hungarians and Romanians on “understanding” and “future prospects”. On the domains “training” and “co-worker support” Hungarian respondents scored lower than Romanian respondents did. In both ethnic groups, “training” and “future prospects” facilitated global job satisfaction. In addition, “understanding” was positively related to global job satisfaction in the Hungarian sample. “Co-worker support” did not predict global job satisfaction. The role of tenure in content areas of organizational socialization and global job satisfaction was explored: There were no relations. Implications for the professional field discuss the provision of training, the facilitation of co-workers to act as socializing agents, and the information on future career opportunities.