Job Satisfaction:
Definition & Comparison

Job satisfaction is a measure of workers' contentment with their job, whether they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision. It represents the degree of pleasure or happiness that an individual's job induces, and can be assessed at both the global level (whether the individual is satisfied with the job overall) or at the facet level (whether the individual is satisfied with different aspects of the job).

One widely used definition comes from Edwin A. Locke (1976), who defines job satisfaction as "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences." Job satisfaction includes multidimensional psychological responses to an individual's job, with cognitive (evaluative), affective (emotional), and behavioral components.

Related terms: employee satisfaction, work satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee engagement

Job satisfaction is important because it contributes to employee productivity, motivation, and engagement. When employees are satisfied with their jobs, they are more likely to be productive and motivated to do their best work. Additionally, job satisfaction can lead to higher levels of employee engagement, which can translate into better customer service and organizational success.

Research shows that job satisfaction is indicative of work behaviors such as organizational citizenship and withdrawal behaviors such as absenteeism and turnover. Job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behaviors. Higher job satisfaction is strongly related to lower turnover intentions, making it a critical factor in employee retention.

The most important predictor of job satisfaction is perceived organizational support, followed by organizational health. Research demonstrates that staying healthy boosts a person's mindset, which influences job satisfaction. A Watson Wyatt Worldwide study identified a positive outcome between a collegial and flexible work environment and an increase in shareholder value, suggesting that employee satisfaction is directly related to financial gain.

Job satisfaction can be measured through various methods including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The majority of job satisfaction measures are self-reports based on multi-item scales that vary in terms of how carefully they are conceptualized with respect to affective or cognitive job satisfaction.

One popular measurement tool is the Job Descriptive Index (JDI), which asks employees to rate how satisfied they are with their job on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being "not at all satisfied" and 5 being "very satisfied." The JDI measures satisfaction in five facets: pay, promotions and promotion opportunities, coworkers, supervision, and the work itself.

Other established measurement tools include:

• The Brief Index of Affective Job Satisfaction (BIAJS) - a four-item measure of overall affective job satisfaction with reported internal consistency reliabilities between 0.81 and 0.87
• The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) - measures satisfaction with nine facets including pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, coworkers, nature of work, and communication
• The Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire - a 3-item measure of general job satisfaction that has been very popular with researchers
• The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) - has 20 facets plus intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction scores, available in long and short forms
• The Short Index of Job Satisfaction (SIJS) - a free five-item measure providing overall attitudinal job satisfaction scores

Job satisfaction is influenced by a complex interplay of environmental factors, individual factors, and organizational factors. Environmental factors include communication overload and underload, superior-subordinate communication, and strategic employee recognition. When individuals receive too many messages in a short period or face more complex messages that are difficult to process, communication overload can negatively impact job satisfaction.

Individual factors play a significant role in determining job satisfaction. Emotion management and mood at work are related to overall job satisfaction, with positive emotions significantly related to higher satisfaction. Genetics also plays a role, with research suggesting that approximately 31% of variance in job satisfaction has a genetic basis. Personality traits, particularly negative affectivity (related to neuroticism) and positive affectivity (related to extraversion), strongly influence how individuals perceive their jobs.

Other individual factors include locus of control and alienation. Employees who have an internal locus of control and feel less alienated are more likely to experience job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. Psychological well-being is a better predictor of job performance than job satisfaction alone, with significant correlations between well-being and job satisfaction.

According to Spector (1997), there are 14 common facets that influence job satisfaction:

• Appreciation
• Communication
• Coworkers
• Fringe benefits
• Job conditions
• Nature of the work
• Organization
• Personal growth
• Policies and procedures
• Promotion opportunities
• Recognition
• Security
• Supervision
• Pay

Research shows that majorities of workers express high satisfaction with their relationship with co-workers (64%), their relationship with their manager or supervisor (59%), and their commute (58% among those who have a commute). When it comes to flexibility, more workers are satisfied with their flexibility to choose when they work their required hours (49%) than with their flexibility to work remotely (37%).

Pay and opportunities for promotion are the two areas where workers express the lowest levels of satisfaction. Only 30% say they are extremely or very satisfied with how much they're paid, and about a quarter (26%) are highly satisfied with their opportunities for promotion at work. In fact, 40% of workers express dissatisfaction with the amount of flexibility they have to work remotely.

Recent data indicates declining satisfaction across multiple facets. On seven of nine items measured over time, the shares of workers who express high levels of satisfaction have dropped by margins of 3 to 7 percentage points. For example, satisfaction with opportunities for training or ways to develop new skills dropped from 44% to 37%, and satisfaction with opportunities for promotion decreased from 33% to 26%.

Among workers who are not self-employed and not satisfied with their pay, large majorities cite specific major reasons for their dissatisfaction. The most commonly cited reason is that pay hasn't kept up with increases in cost of living (80%), followed by pay being too low for the quality of work they do (71%) and pay being too low for the amount of work they do (70%).

Just over half (54%) say a major reason for their dissatisfaction with pay is that they don't earn enough to pay their bills. A smaller share (28%) say they are paid less than co-workers who do similar work. Women are more likely than men to cite not earning enough to pay bills as a major reason (61% vs. 47%), and are also more likely to mention being paid less than co-workers who do similar work (32% vs. 24%).

Income level significantly affects pay dissatisfaction reasons. About seven-in-ten workers with lower incomes (69%) say not earning enough to pay bills is a major reason for dissatisfaction, compared to roughly half (51%) of those with middle incomes and 30% of upper-income workers.

Several theoretical models explain job satisfaction. Edwin A. Locke's Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous, proposing that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has. The theory states that how much one values a given facet of work moderates how satisfied or dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are or are not met.

The dispositional approach suggests that individuals vary in their tendency to be satisfied with their jobs, meaning job satisfaction is to some extent an individual trait. The Core Self-Evaluations Model, proposed by Judge, Locke, and Durham in 1997, narrowed this approach by identifying four core self-evaluations that determine disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism.

Equity Theory shows how a person views fairness in social relationships. A person identifies the amount of input from a relationship compared to output to produce an input/output ratio, then compares this to others' ratios. If an individual perceives inequality, they are likely to be distressed because the ratio between input and output is not equal.

Frederick Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory (motivator-hygiene theory) attempts to explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace, stating that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by different factors: motivation and hygiene factors. Motivating factors (achievement, recognition, promotion opportunities) make people want to perform and provide satisfaction, while hygiene factors (pay, company policies, supervisory practices, working conditions) relate to the working environment.

The Job Characteristics Model, proposed by Hackman and Oldham, is widely used as a framework to study how particular job characteristics impact job outcomes. The five core job characteristics can be combined to form a motivating potential score (MPS) for a job, used as an index of how likely a job is to affect employee attitudes and 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 satisfied with their job and people who are satisfied with their job tend to be satisfied with life. A 2016 FlexJobs survey revealed 97% of respondents believe a job that offered flexibility would positively impact their lives, 87% think it would help lower stress, and 79% think flexibility would help them live healthier.

A second survey of 650 working parents revealed that flexible work arrangements can positively affect people's personal health and improve their romantic relationships, with 99% of respondents believing a flexible job would make them a happier person in general. However, some research has found that job satisfaction is not significantly related to life satisfaction when other variables such as nonwork satisfaction and core self-evaluations are taken into account.

Job satisfaction has a rather tenuous correlation to productivity on the job. A recent meta-analysis found surprisingly low correlations between job satisfaction and performance, challenging the commonly cited notion in media and non-academic management literature that satisfaction and performance are directly related. The meta-analysis found that the relationship between satisfaction and performance can be moderated by job complexity, such that for high-complexity jobs the correlation is higher than for jobs of low to moderate complexity.

The relationship of satisfaction to productivity is not as straightforward as often assumed and can be influenced by a number of different work-related constructs. The notion that "a happy worker is a productive worker" should not be the foundation of organizational decision-making. Employee personality may even be more important than job satisfaction in regards to performance.

However, job satisfaction does have important practical implications. One longitudinal study indicated that among work attitudes, job satisfaction is a strong predictor of absenteeism, suggesting that increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment are potentially good strategies for reducing absenteeism and turnover intentions. Recent research has also shown that intention to quit alone can have negative effects on performance, organizational deviance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Job satisfaction is often compared to 3 related workplace concepts:

Job Satisfaction vs. Employee Engagement

Job satisfaction measures how content workers are with their job and its various facets (pay, supervision, coworkers), while employee engagement measures the degree of emotional commitment and involvement employees have with their work and organization. Engaged employees demonstrate higher levels of discretionary effort and organizational citizenship behaviors, whereas satisfied employees may be content but not necessarily highly motivated or emotionally invested.

Job Satisfaction vs. Organizational Commitment

Job satisfaction reflects attitudes toward specific job characteristics and experiences, while organizational commitment represents an employee's loyalty, attachment, and identification with the organization as a whole. An employee can be satisfied with their job tasks but lack commitment to the organization, or conversely, be committed to the organization despite dissatisfaction with certain job aspects. Research shows both constructs predict turnover intentions, but organizational commitment is often a stronger predictor of actual turnover.

Job Satisfaction vs. Psychological Well-Being

Job satisfaction is domain-specific, focusing exclusively on work-related contentment, while psychological well-being (PWB) encompasses the overall effectiveness of an individual's psychological functioning across all life facets including work, family, and community. PWB is a better predictor of job performance than job satisfaction alone, with significant correlations (r = .35) between the two constructs. Job satisfaction is more closely associated with mental health than physical health, whereas PWB takes a more holistic view of individual functioning.