Using discrepancies to predict the perceived quality of work life

Two job satisfaction surveys tested the hypothesis that discrepancy models provide stronger predictions of satisfaction than do more parsimonious models relying solely on a single component of discrepancy scores. Questionnaire data from samples of 180 working college students and 125 human service workers focused on specific facets of the job, such as: pay, promotion opportunity, and hours of work. Wanted amount of specific job facets was the standard of comparison considered in both surveys. The questionnaires provided measures of facet satisfaction, facet amount, wanted amount, the perceived discrepancy between facet amount and wanted amount as well as the calculated discrepancy between facet amount and wanted amount. Results from 60 tests of differences between correlations provided mixed support. Discrepancy scores were consistently stronger predictors of satisfaction than were wanted amount scores; 24 of 30 tests provided significant support and only 2 of 30 tests provided significant differences in the direction opposite to the hypothesis. Discrepancy scores were not, however, consistently stronger predictors of satisfaction than were facet amount scores; only 8 of 30 tests provided significant support and 8 of 30 test provided significant differences in the direction opposite to the hypothesis. Discussion focused on the importance of addressing these findings in efforts to improve discrepancy theories of satisfaction.M. Joseph Sirgy (the editor of this special issue) and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.Bob Rice passed away recently. He will be sorely missed.     

A Study of the Impact of Factor Importance Weightings on Job Satisfaction Measures

This study empirically tests Locke's theory that the importance of a job satisfaction factor to an individual is already reflected in the individual's responses to the specific questions, Responses from a job satisfaction survey carried out by a large Canadian company were analyzed using a second generation causal modeling technique, Partial Least Squares. The results supported Locke's theory in that weighting the responses with the individual's importance factors did not improve the variance explained in the job satisfaction model. Further analysis indicated that there were differences between groups with high job satisfaction and groups with low satisfaction, differences in job satisfaction for different levels of service length, and that the differences in job satisfaction across gender were not large.     

Job satisfaction: Identifying the important parts among computer sales and service personnel

This article examines overall and job facet satisfaction among computer salesN=552) and service (N=1489) personnel. Results of an anonymous questionnaire indicated that seven of nine job facets were similar in the two samples. However, facets in field service referring to the company and working conditions were replaced in sales by facets concerning work-related information and problem resolution. Existing multifacet measures of job satisfaction would not have identified problem resolution as an important facet. While they are valuable for basic research, standardized multifacet satisfaction measures may not be as useful when the goal is to improve the work situation by identifying issues of concern to employees in different occupations.     

Job attachment,satisfaction, and turnover among public sector employees

This study sought (1) to compare the relative predictive powers of job attachment and job satisfaction with respect to turnover among a sample of public employees; and (2) to examine individual and job-related influences on both attitudes. It was found that attachment was a more effective predictor of turnover than overall satisfaction (or any facet of satisfaction), even when the alternative attitude was partialled out. In addition, it was found that individual employee characteristics were more strongly related to attachment than were job characteristics, while the opposite was found for satisfaction. The findings are discussed in the light of previous evidence, and implications are drawn for research in vocational behavior.     

JOB SATISFACTION: ARE ALL THE PARTS THERE?

Empirical data indicate that global measures of job satisfaction are not equivalent to the sum of the facet satisfactions. The purposes of this study were to explore the usefulness of single-item global measures of job satisfaction for job satisfaction research and also to explore whether global assessments of job satisfaction include consideration of variables typically not measured by job satisfaction instruments. Subjects are 185 employees working within two research and development units of two multinational corporations. The short-form Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire was used to obtain the sum of the facet satisfactions. Two single-item global questions of overall satisfaction were also used. One required a yes-no response and the second, a 1–5 rating response. Information about perceived determinants of job satisfaction, overall satisfaction with the job, satisfaction with occupational choice, career progress, and overall satisfaction with non-job related events was obtained through semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that defining overall job satisfaction as the sum of the evaluations of the discrete elements of which the job is composed, may lead to neglect of major determinants of job satisfaction. The "whole" appears to be more complex than the sum of the presently measured parts. Results also suggest that the 1–5 global rating of overall job satisfaction may be a more inclusive measure of overall job satisfaction than summation of many facet responses.     

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.     

Trust in Supervisor and Job Engagement: Mediating Effects of Psychological Safety and Felt Obligation

In the social context of job engagement, the role of trust in supervisor in predicting engagement of employees has received attention in research. Very limited research, however, has investigated the mechanisms mediating this dynamic relationship. To address this important gap in knowledge, the aim of this study was to examine psychological safety and felt obligation as two psychological mechanisms mediating the effect of trust in supervisor on job engagement. Drawing from job engagement and social exchange theories, the mediating roles of psychological safety and felt obligation in the trust-engagement relationship were empirically investigated in the Malaysian context. Using self-report questionnaires, data were collected from 337 nurses employed in a public hospital located near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Results fully supported the proposed serial multiple mediator model. Trust in supervisor was indirectly related to job engagement via psychological safety followed by felt obligation. This study provides empirical evidence that trust in supervisor makes employees feel psychologically safe to employ and express their selves in their job roles. This satisfaction of the psychological safety need is interpreted by employees as an important socioemotional benefit that, in turn, makes them feel obligated to pay back to their organization through their enhanced level of job engagement. Implications for theory and practice were discussed.     

Facet measures and global job satisfaction

This research was an attempt to find evidence for Scarpello and Campbell's (1983) conclusion that a single-item global measure is more content valid than a composite facet measure for assessing overall job satisfaction. The first study investigated responses from employees in three separate plants who completed a facet measure, a single-item global measure, along with items and facets chosen by an employee committee. Results indicated that the employee-chosen facets accounted for some incremental variance in the prediction of the single-item measure. A second study investigated the relationship between a single-item and a facet measure of benefit package satisfaction when the entire benefit package domain was included in the facet measure. The magnitude of the relationship suggested that the single-item measure of global benefit package satisfaction involved consideration of more than merely satisfaction with each element in the package. Limitations and alternative explanations for the findings are discussed.The helpful comments of Mark E. Tubbs and John W. Jones on an earlier version of this article are greatly appreciated.     

The Relation between Work-Family Conflict and Job Satisfaction: A Finer-Grained Analysis

The relation between work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction was examined using a six-dimensional measure of WFC and both global and summed facet (i.e., composite) measures of job satisfaction. Data were gathered from 160 hospital employees who were married, living with a partner, or had at least one child or dependent living at home and worked a minimum of 20 h/week. The results indicated that WFC related significantly to both types of job satisfaction, but the relation was significantly stronger to composite job satisfaction than to global job satisfaction. When considering all three forms of conflict simultaneously (time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based), regression results revealed that behavior-based was the only form of conflict significantly related to job satisfaction. The results underscore the importance of considering both the form and direction of WFC and suggest several practical implications for organizations.     

IS EMOTIONAL LABOR MORE DIFFICULT FOR SOME THAN FOR OTHERS? A MULTILEVEL,EXPERIENCE‐SAMPLING STUDY

In response to 2 areas for development in the emotional labor literature—(a) the contemporaneous associations between emotional labor and affective reactions, and (b) whether emotional labor might be more personally costly for some employees than others—this study tested a conceptual model explaining the differential effects of deep and surface acting on job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion via their asymmetrical influences on mood, and whether extraverts fare better when engaging in emotional labor. As expected, surface acting was positively associated with negative mood, and this explained some of the association of surface acting with increased emotional exhaustion and decreased job satisfaction. Contrary to hypotheses, deep acting was unrelated to job satisfaction and was associated with lower positive affect. Extraversion moderated several emotional labor relationships such that, in general, surface and deep acting had more positive (or less negative) effects for extraverts (compared to introverts). Overall, the results support the importance of considering the roles of mood and disposition in the impact of emotional labor.     

Person-environment congruence and employee job satisfaction: a test of Holland's theory

Person-environment congruence as assessed by Holland's model of vocational preference was tested in a sample of 362 employees from five environmental typologies (Realistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). Employees were classified as having congruent or incongruent person/environment pairings according to their occupation and their responses to Holland's Self-Directed Search. It was hypothesized that congruent employees would be significantly more satisfied with their jobs than incongruent employees. The results indicated that congruent employees were significantly more satisfied with the job facet satisfaction measures of work, pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers as well as overall satisfaction compared to incongruent employees. In addition, the results revealed several Environment × Congruence interactions, indicating that the effects of person-environment congruence vary across different environmental typologies. The results are discussed in the context of establishing a fit between individual attributes and organizational environments.     

JOB SATISFACTION AS A COMPONENT OF HAPPINESS AMONG MALES AND FEMALES

Using a sample made up of four independently drawn U. S. national surveys, partial correlation was conducted separately by occupational categories for white male ( n = 1,161) and female ( n = 491) full-time employees to estimate the relationship between job satisfaction and global happiness when the effects of satisfaction experienced in seven other domains of life and age, education, income, and occupational prestige were removed. For most occupations and both sex groups few of the job satisfaction-global happiness partial correlations were significant, thus extending previous evidence that job satisfaction may not be uniquely important to the overall happiness of most employees.     

Self-esteem,race, and job satisfaction

The present study investigated relationships between self-esteem (SE) and job satisfaction among black and white employees. The sample consisted of 523 (45% black) employees of a large, urban school system. There was a positive relationship between SE and job satisfaction for members of both racial groups. In addition, the correlation between need satisfaction and job satisfaction was stronger for high SE persons than for low SE persons. The relationships between two social reference variables (the perceived satisfaction of other employees and improved standard of living) and job satisfaction were, as predicted, stronger for low SE whites than for high SE whites. Among blacks, however, the social reference variables were strongly related to job satisfaction regardless of level of SE.     

Experiencing Incivility in Organizations: The Buffering Effects of Emotional and Organizational Support1

Research shows that being a target of organizational incivility is associated with negative outcomes, including declines in job satisfaction, physical health, and psychological well‐being. Two studies (90 property management company employees; 210 undergraduate students) were conducted to examine whether 2 types of social support—emotional and organizational—act as buffers of the relationship between incivility and outcomes in workplace and academic contexts. Two types of incivility were also examined: general workplace incivility and gendered incivility. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results of both studies indicated that employees and students who experienced higher levels of incivility reported better outcomes when they felt organizationally and emotionally supported. Implications for organizations are discussed.     

Authentic leadership,psychological capital,job satisfaction and intention to leave in state-owned enterprises

This study investigated the relations among authentic leadership, psychological capital, job satisfaction and intention to leave within state-owned enterprises in Namibia. Participants were a convenience sample of 452 employees (females?=?49.6%, mean age?=?37.36, SD?=?8.57) state-owned enterprises in Namibia. They completed the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and Turnover Intention Scale. Structural equation modelling was utilised to investigate the relations among authentic leadership, psychological capital, job satisfaction and intention to leave. The findings indicated that authentic leadership was positively associated with psychological capital (i.e. experiences of hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience) and job satisfaction. Authentic leadership affected job satisfaction indirectly via psychological capital. Psychological capital had a medium to large indirect effect on employees' intentions to leave. The findings suggest that authentic leadership and psychological capital explain job satisfaction and retention of employees in state-owned enterprises.     

The Relationship Between Overeducation and Job Satisfaction Among Young Spanish Workers: The Role of Salary,Contract of Employment,and Work Experience

The increase of education in younger generations and the relative scarcity of qualified jobs available for them makes overeducation of young employees a social issue. We explored the relationships between overeducation and job satisfaction (extrinsic, intrinsic, social facet), as well as the direct and moderating role of salary, contract of employment, and work experience in these relationships using hierarchical regression analyses. Data were collected from a sample of 643 young Spanish employees. As expected, there were negative relationships between overeducation and all 3 satisfaction facets. Moreover, high work experience emerged as a moderating factor that buffered the negative effect of overeducation on extrinsic satisfaction. Contract of employment and salary did not moderate these relationships.     

Moderators of the relationships between coworkers' organizational citizenship behavior and fellow employees' attitudes

The authors developed and tested the prediction that the relationship hetween coworkers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and fellow employees' attitudes depends on the supervisors' abusiveness. Results of a longitudinal study using data collected from 173 supervised employees at 2 points in time (separated by 7 months) suggested that coworkers' OCB was positively related to fellow employees' job satisfaction and affective commitment when abusive supervision was low. However, when abusive supervision was high, coworkers' OCB was negatively related to job satisfaction and was unrelated to organizational commitment. The results of a 2nd study were consistent with the idea that the attributions employees make for their coworkers' OCB explains the moderating effect of abusive supervision on the relationship between coworkers' OCB and job satisfaction.     

Clergy Role Stress: Interactive Effects of Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict on Intrinsic Job Satisfaction

The present study examined relationships between role conflict, role ambiguity, and three facets of clergy job satisfaction: Relationships and Support, Denominational Involvement, and Intrinsic Aspects. Web survey data from 179 United Methodist clergy indicated that role ambiguity and role conflict had negative relationships with each of the three facets of job satisfaction, as well as with overall job satisfaction. Interactions between role conflict and ambiguity were not significant for overall job satisfaction or for two of the three facets, suggesting that the effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on these aspects of job satisfaction were linear and cumulative. However, the effects of role ambiguity and role conflict considered together were nonlinear and interactive for the Intrinsic Aspects facet of job satisfaction, indicating that when role ambiguity was low, the relationship between role conflict and intrinsic job satisfaction was not significant, whereas when role ambiguity was high, there was a significant negative relationship between role conflict and intrinsic job satisfaction.     

Job satisfaction and firm performance: Can employees’ job satisfaction change the trajectory of a firm’s performance?

Contemporary trends in business have focused on enhancing the employee work experience. Proponents argue that doing so will improve employees’ productivity and ultimately the firm's performance. However, critics argue that job satisfaction has only a modest relationship with an employee's job performance, and therefore, such an investment will likely have little impact on the firm's financial performance. To investigate the relationship between employees’ job satisfaction and firm performance, we collected a sample of 404 employees working in 31 firms. We tested this relationship using latent growth modeling which allows us to latently examine how employees’ job satisfaction at one time point can predict the trajectory of firm performance. Study results indicated that job satisfaction predicted a positive linear change in two financial indices of firm performance (i.e., return on assets and return on equity) over the course of four years when controlling for three indicators of firm size. These results suggest that the effects of job satisfaction on firm performance are not immediate but rather take time to manifest.