Job Satisfaction
What is Job Satisfaction?
Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job,an affective reaction to one’s job and an attitude towards one’s job.
Job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect emotion,beliefs and behaviours.This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviors.
In fact, job satisfaction can be seen in three ways, namely as a function of :
• the actual features of the job
• the opinions of other people in the workplace
• the individual personality type and correlation to the respective job
Models of Job Satisfaction
Affect Theory
Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory states that how much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no autonomy compared to Employee B. This theory also states that too much of a particular facet will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.
Dispositional Theory
Another well-known job satisfaction theory is
Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job,an affective reaction to one’s job and an attitude towards one’s job.
Job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect emotion,beliefs and behaviours.This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviors.
In fact, job satisfaction can be seen in three ways, namely as a function of :
• the actual features of the job
• the opinions of other people in the workplace
• the individual personality type and correlation to the respective job
Models of Job Satisfaction
Affect Theory
Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory states that how much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no autonomy compared to Employee B. This theory also states that too much of a particular facet will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.
Dispositional Theory
Another well-known job satisfaction theory is