Academic literature on the topic 'Job satisfaction'

The harassed boss who faces an office full of mutinous, recalcitrant staff every morning may not believe it, but half of South Africa’s employees love their jobs and their employers. That’s according to TNS Research Surveys, which recently released the results of a survey into employee wellbeing and commitment. TNS director Neil Higgs issued a caution, though: because of the tough economic times, employers are likely to be stuck with the malcontents among their staff for longer than they might like (Ferreira, 2009). From the above mentioned it can be deduced that there are many employees who are currently not satisfied with their jobs. This poses a danger for employers and their productivity, as an unsatisfied employee is likely to be an unproductive employee. Satisfied employees are likely to make a better contribution to the economic growth of this country as more drive and motivation will be shown in the workplace. In these tough economic times, those employees who are not satisfied with their jobs are less likely to find employment elsewhere as mentioned above. The main purpose of this research paper was to identify certain factors impacting on job satisfaction. The first step was to complete a literature study on the selected factors which impacts on job satisfaction. The factors selected were that of recruitment and selection, rewards offered by employers, personality of employees and leadership characteristics of superiors. The literature study revealed which methods to use in attempting to deal with the selected factors impacting on job satisfaction. Secondly, the views of staff in various departments and views of staff specifically in the Human Resources department of the selected company were asked various questions in an empirical study. These questions were based on the selected factors mentioned in the previous paragraph, this involved them completing questionnaires. v Based on the findings of the literature study and the empirical study, the last step was to make recommendations to the selected company on how to improve job satisfaction of employees. Recommendations were also made as to what to look for to make it easier in recruiting new employees, who are likely to have enhanced job satisfaction for the good of the company.

Job satisfaction is the central attitude about work and can be considered among the most important constructs in organizational psychology and managerial practice. While scholars traditionally focused on job satisfaction of individual employees, the ongoing shift from individual to team-based working led to a new emphasis of satisfaction in the context of teams. Specifically, the focus on job satisfaction as an individual-level construct was complemented by a group-level perspective, which describes the satisfaction of teams as a whole. Furthermore, employees’ satisfaction with the team (i.e., team satisfaction) appeared as a new facet on the research agenda. Although research on job satisfaction in teams has grown in recent years, it still faces important challenges. The main problem is that prior research mostly viewed satisfaction in teams from a single-level perspective and conceptualized it as construct that is shared by all team members, overlooking that exclusion and polarization processes might lead to other than uniform satisfaction patterns. Second, while the literature already established a relationship between teams’ average satisfaction and performance, authors so far devoted only little attention to multi-level conceptualizations, neglecting that satisfaction on different levels of analysis can have different effects on emergent states, team processes, and performance. Finally, a lack of validated scales to assess satisfaction in teams forces researchers to rely on ad-hoc measures, on scales that were adapted from different research contexts, and on single-item measures, which complicates the testing of theoretical models, and the prediction and improvement of performance of individuals and teams. This dissertation addresses these challenges in a series of four studies. Study 1 presents a conceptual multi-level framework of team satisfaction. Current theorizing on team satisfaction as a group-level construct and its relationship to team performance faces two challenges: (1) a merely consensus-based conceptualization of team satisfaction at the group level and (2) a neglect of multi-level effects. This limits our understanding of team satisfaction and its influence on team performance because team members’ satisfaction does not always emerge as a uniform group-level construct. In this case, current theory cannot adequately explain the relationship between team satisfaction and team performance. In this conceptual paper, my co-authors and I develop a typology of different forms of team satisfaction (uniform, fragmented, deviate, and bimodal satisfaction), and introduce a multi-level framework that explains how these forms affect team performance within and across different levels of analysis. Based on our framework, we propose that the forms of team satisfaction affect emergent states, such as cohesiveness and trust climate, and team processes, such as cooperation and conflict resolution, that affect team performance beyond the effects of team members’ individual level of satisfaction. The paper contributes to current theory about team satisfaction and its relationship to team performance. Study 2a focuses on a methodological problem concerning the measurement of job satisfaction. Although an economical and differentiated assessment of job satisfaction is important for research and practice, German job satisfaction scales are often extensive or cannot differentiate between satisfaction facets. In order to fill this gap, I construct and validate a short questionnaire to assess general job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with the work itself, coworkers, promotions, pay, and supervision. First, I derive a large item pool from different versions of the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and its German equivalent Arbeitsbeschreibungsbogen (ABB). Second, based on data collected with an online survey (N = 217), I subsequently reduce the item pool to a 30-item short questionnaire. Finally, I cross-validate the short questionnaire with an independent sample (N = 377). Given its satisfactory psychometric properties, the new scales allow for a reliable, valid, and economical measurement of job satisfaction and its facets in the German language. Study 2b adapts these newly developed scales to the context of teams. Studies that assess satisfaction in the team context usually rely on ad-hoc measures that are not validated and difficult to compare across studies. To address this problem, Study 2b adapts the scales developed in Study 2a to the team context and validates them using the data from 202 team members working in 47 teams. Despite a small method bias due to reverse-coded items, the scales’ psychometric properties are satisfactory. The results further show that, in contrast to non-team contexts, satisfaction with the team members appears to be the most important facet of satisfaction as it exhibits the strongest relationships with performance-related criteria and overall satisfaction. In summary, the results suggest that the adapted scales provide for a reliable and valid measurement of satisfaction in the context of teams. Study 3 addresses the emergence of job satisfaction in teams by examining homogeneity of satisfaction. Job satisfaction homogeneity is necessary for aggregating team members’ job satisfaction to the group level, and affects team-related outcomes such as social integration, team cohesion, and absenteeism. However, our understanding of the processes that lead to shared satisfaction is limited. Based on affective events theory, I test competing hypotheses about situational, dispositional, and social antecedents of satisfaction homogeneity. Path analyses based on data from 415 team members working in 110 teams suggest that job satisfaction homogeneity primarily depends on characteristics of the working environment, and to a lesser extent on team members’ personality traits. Unlike earlier studies, the study finds no evidence that social interaction leads to agreement in job satisfaction. Additionally, the study partly replicates the finding that satisfaction homogeneity moderates the group-level satisfaction—team performance relationship. Taken together, the studies comprising this dissertation contribute to three research domains — emergence, measurement, and consequences — of job satisfaction in teams. Concerning emergence, the studies comprising this dissertation present strong arguments and empirical evidence why satisfaction dispersion can occur in real-life teams, which marks a departure from the former emphasis on satisfaction as a shared group-level construct. In particular, whereas Study 1 argues that team satisfaction can emerge as a configural construct on the group-level in addition to uniform satisfaction, Study 3 analyzes the antecedents of satisfaction homogeneity. Concerning measurement, the results of Studies 2a and 2b provide valuable shortscales for future research and organizational practice that can be used to assess overall and facet-specific job satisfaction in team and non-team contexts. Given their individual-level nature, scale scores can be interpreted in cases without sufficient consensus and can be used for a variety of research questions at different levels of analysis. Finally, concerning consequences, this research emphasizes the importance of satisfaction facets and configurations for the relationship to team performance. Whereas Study 2b showed that facets of satisfaction are differently related to individual-level and group-level performance criteria, the theorizing of Study 1 and the findings of Study 3 build on and advance prior studies that have shown that differences in jo satisfaction are meaningful in the team context. A further contribution of this dissertation lies in the development of a multi-level input-mediator-outcome framework which advances prior team effectiveness frameworks and connects to a wide range of research areas. Taken together, the theorizing and empirical findings of this dissertation show that a configural and multi-level conceptualization is necessary to advance research on satisfaction in teams<br>Arbeitszufriedenheit ist die zentrale Einstellung gegenüber der Arbeit und zählt zu den wichtigsten Konstrukten in der Organisationspsychologie und der praktischen Personalarbeit. Traditionellerweise beschäftigte sich die Forschung mit der Arbeitszufriedenheit individueller Mitarbeiter. Der anhaltende Trend hin zu team-basierten Arbeitsformen führte jedoch zu einer Betonung der Arbeitszufriedenheit im Teamkontext. Zum einen wurde der Fokus auf Arbeitszufriedenheit als Konstrukt auf der Individualebene durch eine Gruppenlevel-Perspektive ergänzt, die die Zufriedenheit von Teams beschreibt. Zum anderen erschien Team-Zufriedenheit, die Zufriedenheit mit dem Team, als eine spezifische (Sub-)Facette von Arbeitszufriedenheit auf der Forschungsagenda. Obwohl die Forschung zu Arbeitszufriedenheit in Teams in der Vergangenheit große Fortschritte verzeichnen konnte, sieht sie sich nach wie vor wichtigen Herausforderungen gegenüber. Das Hauptproblem ist in der Konzeptionalisierung von Gruppen-Level-Zufriedenheit ausschließlich als geteilte Eigenschaft des Teams und im Verzicht auf Mehr-Ebenen-Konzeptionen zu sehen. Die Möglichkeit, dass Exklusions- und Polarisierungsprozesse zu anderen als uniformen Zufriedenheitsverteilungen führen könnten, wird in der Regel nicht betrachtet. Ein weiteres Problem besteht darin, dass sich die Forschung insbesondere auf durchschnittliche oder summierte Zufriedenheit konzentriert, um den Zusammenhang von Zufriedenheit auf Gruppenebene und Teamleistung zu erklären. Mehr-Ebenen-Konzeptionen, die unterschiedliche Effekte auf Teamprozesse, Teameigenschaften und Teamleistung auf verschiedenen Analyseebenen beleuchten, werden nicht betrachtet. Schlussendlich ist das Fehlen validierter Messinstrumente zur Erfassung von Zufriedenheit in Teams zu konstatieren. Forscher greifen daher häufig auf Ad-hoc-Maße, Ein-Item-Skalen oder adaptierte Skalen aus anderen Forschungskontexten zurück, was sowohl das Testen theoretischer Modelle als auch die Vorhersage und Verbesserung von Individual- und Gruppenleistung erschwert. Die Dissertation befasst sich mit diesen Herausforderungen in vier Studien. In Studie 1 wird ein konzeptionelles Mehrebenen-Rahmenmodell von Arbeitszufriedenheit in Teams entwickelt. Das derzeitige Verständnis von Arbeitszufriedenheit in Teams und ihrem Zusammenhang zur Teamleistung ist durch zwei Probleme gekennzeichnet: (1) ein ausschließlich konsensbasiertes Konzept von Zufriedenheit auf Gruppenebene sowie (2) die Vernachlässigung von Mehrebenen-Effekten. Diese schränken das Verständnis von Zufriedenheit auf Gruppenebene und ihrem Zusammenhang zur Teamleistung ein, da aus der Arbeitszufriedenheit einzelner Teammitglieder nicht immer geteilte Zufriedenheit entsteht. Da der Zusammenhang zwischen Zufriedenheit auf Gruppenebene und Teamleistung mit den derzeitigen Ansätzen nur unzureichend erklärt werden kann, entwickeln meine Koautoren und ich in Studie 1 eine Typologie von Zufriedenheitsformen (uniforme, fragmentierte, abweichende und deviante Zufriedenheit), und stellen ein Mehrebenen-Rahmenmodell vor, das den Zusammenhang dieser Formen und Teamleistung innerhalb und zwischen verschiedenen Analyseebenen erklärt. Auf Basis des Rahmenmodells stellen wir dar, dass die Zufriedenheitsformen emergente Eigenschaften wie die Teamkohäsion und das Vertrauensklima sowie Teamprozesse wie Kooperation und Konfliktlösung beeinflussen. Diese wiederum beeinflussen die Teamleistung über die individuelle Zufriedenheit hinaus. Die Studie leistet einen Beitrag zur aktuellen Forschung zur Teamzufriedenheit und ihrem Zusammenhang zur Teamleistung. Studie 2a befasst sich mit dem methodischen Problem der Messung von Arbeitszufriedenheit. Obwohl eine ökonomische und differenzierte Erfassung von Arbeitszufriedenheit für Forschung und betriebliche Praxis von hoher Relevanz ist, sind deutschsprachige Messinstrumente meist sehr umfangreich oder nicht in der Lage, zwischen Zufriedenheitsfacetten zu differenzieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund besteht das Ziel des Beitrags darin, einen Kurzfragebogen zu entwickeln und zu validieren, mit dem sich die Gesamtzufriedenheit sowie die Zufriedenheit mit den Tätigkeiten, Kolleginnen und Kollegen, Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten, der Bezahlung und der/dem Vorgesetzten messen lassen. Hierfür wird zunächst auf Basis verschiedener Versionen des Job Descriptive Index (JDI) und des Arbeitsbeschreibungsbogens (ABB) ein umfangreicher Itempool abgeleitet. Dieser wird anschließend mit Daten einer Onlinebefragung (N = 217) zu einem 30 Items umfassenden Kurzfragebogen verdichtet. Der neu entwickelte Kurzfragebogen wird schlussendlich an einer zweiten, unabhängigen Stichprobe (N = 377) kreuzvalidiert. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen, dass das neu entwickelte Verfahren in der Lage ist, Arbeitszufriedenheit und ihre Facetten reliabel, valide und ökonomisch zu messen. In Studie 2b werden die neu entwickelten Skalen auf den Teamkontext adaptiert. Frühere Studien nutzten in der Regel Ad-hoc-Maße, die nicht sorgfältig entwickelt und validiert sind, häufig keine Differenzierung von Zufriedenheitsfacetten zulassen und deren Messergebnisse sich nur eingeschränkt zwischen Studien vergleichen lassen. An den Items und Vignetten der in Studie 2a entwickelten Skalen wurden daher linguistische Anpassungen vorgenommen und die adaptieren Skalen anschließend mit Daten von 202 Teammitgliedern aus 47 Teams validiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die psychometrische Qualität der Items und Skalen, abgesehen von einem schwachen Methoden-Bias aufgrund negativ kodierter Items, solide und vergleichbar zu der der Original-Skalen ist. Darüber hinaus offenbart die Studie Unterschiede zur Arbeitszufriedenheit in Nicht-Team-Kontexten. Insbesondere zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Zufriedenheit mit den Tätigkeiten nur eine untergeordnete Rolle für die Gesamtzufriedenheit sowie für individuelle und teambezogene Leistungsmaße spielt. Insgesamt deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass die adaptierten Skalen eine zuverlässige und valide Messung von Arbeitszufriedenheit im Teamkontext ermöglichen. Studie 3 befasst sich mit der Emergenz von Arbeitszufriedenheit in Teams, insbesondere mit ihrer Homogenität. Zufriedenheitshomogenität ist eine wichtige Grundvoraussetzung, um individuelle Zufriedenheitsurteile zu einem Gruppenkonstrukt zu aggregieren und wirkt sich auf verschiedene Teammaße, wie z.B. soziale Integration, Kohäsion und Absentismus aus. Die Prozesse, die eine geteilte Zufriedenheitsstruktur begünstigen, sind jedoch noch weitgehend unklar. Auf Basis der Theorie affektiver Ereignisse werden in dieser Studie alternative Hypothesen zu situativen, dispositionalen und sozialen Einflussfaktoren auf Zufriedenheitshomogenität getestet. Pfadanalysen (n = 415 Teammitglieder; N = 110 Teams) zeigen, dass Zufriedenheitshomogenität primär von der Arbeitsumgebung und zu einem geringeren Ausmaß von Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen der Teammitglieder abhängt. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Studien konnten keine Effekte sozialer Interaktion auf Zufriedenheitshomogenität nachgewiesen werden. Zudem werden frühere Untersuchungen teilweise repliziert, die zeigen konnten, dass Zufriedenheitshomogenität den Zusammenhang zwischen Zufriedenheit auf Gruppenebene und Teamleistung moderiert. Im Zusammenhang leisten die vier Studien dieser Dissertation Beiträge zu den Forschungsbereichen Emergenz, Messung und Konsequenzen von Zufriedenheit in Teams. Bezüglich der Emergenz auf Gruppenebene liefern die zusammengefassten Ergebnisse sowohl theoretische Argumente als auch empirische Evidenz, wieso Zufriedenheit in Teams unterschiedlich verteilt sein kann und stellt damit eine Abkehr vom vorherrschenden Fokus auf geteilte Zufriedenheit dar. Während Studie 1 postuliert, dass sich Teamzufriedenheit nicht nur zu einer uniformen, sondern auch zu einer konfiguralen Eigenschaft auf Gruppenebene entwickeln kann, untersucht Studie 3 die Emergenz zu einem geteilten bzw. uniformen Gruppenkonstrukt. Bezüglich der Messung von Zufriedenheit liefern die Ergebnisse von Studien 2a und 2b wertvolle Kurzskalen für die Forschung und Praxis, die zur Erfassung von allgemeiner und facettenspezifischer Zufriedenheit sowohl im Teamkontext als auch in anderen Kontexten genutzt werden können. Da die Skalen die Zufriedenheit auf der Individual-Ebene erfassen, lassen sich die Messergebnisse auch ohne hinreichende Übereinstimmung im Team interpretieren und sind daher für verschiedene Forschungsfragen auf verschiedenen Analyse-Ebenen nutzbar. Bezüglich der Konsequenzen von Zufriedenheit verdeutlichen die Ergebnisse die Wichtigkeit von Zufriedenheitsfacetten und -konfigurationen für den Zusammenhang zur Teamleistung. Während Studie 2b zeigen konnte, dass sich unterschiedliche Facetten von Zufriedenheit in unterschiedlichem Maße auf gruppenbezogene Leistungsmaße auswirken, verdeutlichen die Befunde aus Studien 1 und 3 die Relevanz von Zufriedenheitsdifferenzen im Teamkontext. Die Dissertation leistet einen weiteren Beitrag in Form der Entwicklung eines Mehrebenen-Rahmenmodells, das in Studie 1 vorgestellt wird. Das neue Rahmenmodell stellt eine Weiterentwicklung vorheriger Rahmenmodelle zur Teameffektivität dar und ist an verschiedene Forschungsbereiche anschlussfähig. In ihrer Gesamtheit zeigen die theoretischen und empirischen Befunde dieser Dissertation, dass eine konfigurale Mehrebenenkonzeption nötig ist, um die Forschung zur Arbeitszufriedenheit in Teams weiterzuentwickeln

Incidents of incivility in the workplace have continued to increase in frequency. Workplace incivility impacts the health and well-being of those who experience or witness the behavior and impacts morale, levels of engagement, attendance, retention, and overall organizational health. Researchers have explored the damage caused by workplace incivility, but few have focused on the impact of incivility among federally employed women. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine the relationship between incivility, job satisfaction, and job stress among women working in the federal sector. The affective events theory framed this study. Online surveys were used to capture perceptions of workplace incivility while controlling for demographics (i.e., age, race, ethnicity, general schedule level, position, and tenure). Survey responses from 94 federally employed women were analyzed using a regression model. Findings revealed a negative correlation between job satisfaction and job stress, and a positive correlation between incivility and job stress. The findings can be used to create a positive social change within organizations. Organizational development professionals can use the analyses to interrupt and reverse patterns of negative workplace interactions and worker mistreatment.

The recent economic recession has led to a large number of dual-income families losing their second income or having a smaller overall household income as a result of hourly wage cuts. Previous research has examined how job satisfaction can spill over into home life satisfaction; however, literature on how life satisfaction can affect job satisfaction is scarce. Based on theories of job satisfaction, personality, conservation of resources, and affective spillover, this study examined whether job satisfaction of the working partner was affected when the other became unemployed. Measures of job satisfaction, life satisfaction, personality, spousal status, and some demographic data were collected from 99 participants, recruited via various social media sites, who were a dual earning couple and had a significant other who had lost their job in the prior six months. Analysis of covariance was used to compare job and life satisfaction of single- versus dual-earner families, with these covariates: age, education level, income, and the personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness. A multivariate analysis of covariance found that the covariates did not account for any significant variance in the analyses, and there were no significant differences between single- and dual-earner family status for either life or job satisfaction. While no empirical support was found for the hypotheses, supplemental analyses revealed that having a partner who worked part-time was preferable to having one who worked full-time, suggesting that part-time work allows for more family/spouse involvement. The social change implications for individuals and organizations include the exploration of how significant life events can impact job satisfaction. Continued research in this area could assist in increasing overall job satisfaction and performance.

In the auditing profession, many business owners are unable to retain auditing staff. The cost to replace an auditor can cost a company as much as 150% of the auditors' annual salary. Perpetuating this problem is that some auditing business owners do not know the relationship between internal auditors' intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, and auditors' turnover intention. Grounded in Herzberg's 2- factor theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, and auditors' turnover intention. Participants included 96 members of the Central Florida Institute of Internal Auditors. Data were collected using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire. Results of the multiple regression analysis indicated the model as a whole was able to significantly predict auditors' turnover intentions, F(2, 93) = 47.635, p < .001, R2 = .506. Extrinsic job satisfaction was the only significant predictor (t = -6.515, p < .001). Implications for social change include the potential for leaders to better understand predictors of involuntary turnover and the potential to save money on recruitment and training. Business owners may become more profitable through better employee retention strategies; these findings may also add to the body of knowledge for stable employment opportunities. Business owners can develop strategies to enhance the level of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction of internal auditors. Job satisfaction of internal auditors is essential and a fundamental determinant of growth, service, and quality within an organization.

A questionnaire survey of a stratified random sample (n=180) of registered nurses employed at two hospitals in the Australian Capital Territory was conducted to identify factors contributing to their job satisfaction and measure levels of satisfaction of registered nurses Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3. The response rate was 75%. The survey found that registered nurses were satisfied with the scheduling, opportunities to utilize skills, working conditions, working relationships, leadership, decision making on patient care and intrinsic components of Job satisfaction and dissatisfied with the salary component. Registered nurses Grade 2 were more satisfied than the Grade 3 group and registered nurses Grade 1 were least satisfied (P=< .05).

The recruitment, hiring, and retention of registered nurses (RNs) is of critical concern for nursing home administrators. Many times, nursing homes unsuccessfully compete with hospitals and staff relief agencies for available RNs (Braddy, Washburn, & Carroll, 1991). Understanding the factors that influence nurses to seek a particular employer is significant in recruitment and hiring. Factors related to nursing decisions to choose employment in nursing homes were identified in this descriptive study.Price and Mueller's (1981) Causal Model for Turnover (CMT) provided a conceptual framework for the study. The investigator used a revised form of an instrument developed by Price and Mueller for a 1981 study of hospital turnover. The instrument contained 67 items presented in a combination of 59 multiple choice items and 8 five-point Likert-type items. The reliability for each of the seven subscales was equal to or greater than .70.A sample of 300 full-time RNs with tenure of at least 6 months employment with a large for profit corporation was selected for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to participants with a letter of introduction from the investigator and the divisional vice president of the corporation. Subjects were provided with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to be used to return completed questionnaires. A follow-up call was done one week after the mailing requesting return of all completed questionnaires.There were no risks or ill effects from participating in this study. Respondents were free to ask any questions during the study. The agency and respondents were not identified in the sampling and the results of the study. Completion of the questionnaire was interpreted as the respondent's agreement to participate in the study.Results should help administrators understand the factors that influence registered nurses to seek employment in nursing homes. The results of the study should be utilized in reviewing current recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies.<br>School of Nursing