Table of Contents
Introduction
As there are many different researched topics throughout I/O psychology, job satisfaction happens to be the most researched. Everyone has a job and everyone gets something out of it at the end of the day, whether it is a positive feeling or a negative aspect towards the job and we all have our own opinion towards the subject. Each one has it’s own tasks that must be performed and completed throughout the work day, whether that is a 9 to 5 job, a job that you do not have a set amount of hours each week because of the nature of the job such as an Athletic Trainer, or one where you are on call 24/7 such as Emergency Medical Service providers. Some people say that the key factor to overall job satisfaction, and to happiness, is money. That’s not always true for someone who loves getting up everyday and going to work for 8 hours, and then doing it all again the next day, for years and years. Others will argue it’s all about the working conditions. But there are many other different reasons that people receive satisfaction from their job that people can create a long conversation amongst themselves.
According to Edwin A. Locke (1976), an American psychologist, job satisfaction can be defined as a pleasurable, positive emotional state resulting from the cognitive appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. In other words, it refers to the overall feelings that a person has and the evaluation they make about their job – we are satisfied in our jobs if we are getting what we want out of them. Along with the definition by Locke, job satisfaction has both an affective component, which is the emotional state perceived by level of satisfaction, and a cognitive component, which is the evaluation of ones job. There is three different causes of job satisfaction: the situation, the person, and the interaction between the situation and the person. Satisfaction of a job can result in a variety of positive benefits, not only for the individual, but also for the organization. Job satisfaction can have it consequences as well. Negative satisfaction can lead to withdrawal, a negative effect in performance, counterproductive behaviors and poor social life. This paper will focus on all these different aspects, characteristics and different social factors that can come from both positive and negative job satisfaction.
Research Questions
Through my research and this paper, I am trying to find out if the engagement in the job of the employee and the productivity has an outcome on job satisfaction and the motivation to perform. I want to know how work-family conflict is negatively related with both job satisfaction and life satisfaction. I would like to know why people become burnout from their job, which leads to withdrawal and turnovers from those positions. How are the consequences related to job satisfaction and do they always lead to withdrawal?
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Findings
Through the research that I have conducted, I have found many interesting things about job satisfaction and the characteristics that go with it that I did not know before. What I have found to be the antecedents of job satisfaction are job characteristics (skills, the task at hand, feedback, workload), individual/personal characteristics (self-esteem and genetics), social factors (relationships with coworkers and supervisors and organization) and growth opportunities (promotion, pay and benefits, and work-family issues). Those antecedents can lead to consequences that are both positive and negative. The positive consequence is that there is an increase in performance, whether it be with the task at hand or contextual. The negative consequences are that it can lead to withdrawal (late for work, quitting or getting fired, and not reporting for work) and counterproductive behaviors (stealing from work and becoming aggressive towards coworkers or family members).
A person’s satisfaction with a job is determined by the layout of the job and what if provides to the person. Research has shown that a consistent relationship between employees’ perceptions of the characteristics of their jobs and their level of satisfaction received from the job (Spector & Jex, 1991). This means that the more that the employees see that their job provides them with the feedback, significance, and putting their skills to work, the more that they will become satisfied with their jobs. There are employees who feel like they are constantly overloaded at work, which can lead to stress, often lead to poor job satisfaction. That job stress can follow the employee home and lead to issues in home and can affect the social-life factor as well.
Throughout the course of an individual’s career(s), whether they are long or short, some people will be satisfied and others will not. A study conducted by Staw and Ross (1985), found that there was relevance in the levels of job satisfaction for certain individuals over time, meaning that some people tend to be satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs throughout the career, even if they were to change jobs or occupations. This shows that it’s not all about the nature of the job that shows satisfaction, for some people a change in job characteristics or even the job itself still results on the changes of job satisfaction. Self-esteem plays a large role in determining satisfaction. The higher the self-esteem, the better a person feels about themselves and their job. An employee receives that self-esteem from the actions of their boss and they way they interact and speak to the employees. With positive reinforcement, that only increases the self-esteem level and will push the employee to continue working hard because they are being noticed. That can lead to positive consequence of promotions or increase in benefits. If an employee works hard and does everything their supervisor tells them to do and does not receive any sort of reinforcement, which can lead to decrease in work motivation and productivity.
If an employee is being paid well, is receiving excellent benefits, and if given the chance for a promotion then they are going to have high job satisfaction. Each of these factors plays a major role in determining that, especially if those factors were the other way around. All of those factors also determines the motivation levels of the employees and how hard they work or how much they interact throughout the day. Research done by Green & Heywood (2008) that I found, showed that pay for performance increased the job satisfaction of employees. But, that should not be a long-term reason for job satisfaction, because that new pay increase turns into the new levels of satisfaction. It should act as the next rung on the ladder to make your way up to the top and be the motivational factor. It should not, however, interfere with an employee’s at home life. Stress at work can be brought home and affects both job and life satisfaction. I read that employees with high levels of stress and conflict show to be less satisfied with their jobs and their lives in general, compared to employees with stress and conflict levels that are lower (Levy, 2017).
As I stated above, there are consequences, both positive and negative, that come into play when dealing with overall job satisfaction. I looked at a meta-analysis about performance dealing with job satisfaction, and found that there is a large relationship between the overall attitudes towards the jobs and the effectiveness of the work (Harrison et. Al, 2006). This shows that the job satisfaction and performance outcome are related. From my research, I found that if someone has poor performance at work and no motivation to go in everyday, which can lead to withdrawal from work. I also found that there are three common withdrawal behaviors: absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover. Levy stated that 33% of unscheduled time off was due to a personal illness, that leaves 67% of unscheduled absences. They can be family or personal issues that needed dealt with. The motivation to attend work relies on whether the employee has a positive satisfaction from going into work everyday, or if they have a negative attitude towards work.
The paths of turnover can lead down two roads – (1) job satisfaction is a determining factor of which the employee contemplates about quitting and (2) the satisfaction of a job leads to the search and the thoughts about alternatives. They both lead down the same road as to whether they stay at their current position or go find a new job. In a study conducted by Wright and Bonett (2007), the results showed that the connection between turnover rates and job satisfaction differ as a function of the psychological well-being of the employee. It showed that the negative ¬¬connection was favored to be much stronger when the individuals are on the lower end of the psychological well-being, rather than the higher end. Even though job satisfaction is a major factor in turnover, there is other reason why a person leaves their current position. They may want to relocate themselves somewhere else or closer to a loved on – personal reason – or because they have a job opportunity that they can not pass on – higher pay, better benefits, promotion.
Critical Thinking and Conclusion
After completing the research and reading the different articles about the multiple variations that go into job satisfaction, I have learned that satisfaction of ones job depends on a lot of things, but the most important thing is you as an individual. How you feel about your current position and that state of your job, how your mental health is at the job, how much interaction and feedback you receive from your supervisors. As I stated about, money is a major deciding factor and that is why some people do not leave their jobs even if they do not enjoy it or have lost interest in it.
But money is not the only thing one should think about when contemplating whether or not to stay or leave a position; your psychological well-being is another factor that you must keep in mind. Is the job causing stress, and do you bring that stress home into your personal life? Are you 100% satisfied with getting up everyday and going into the same work environment for years and years to come? Do you think that you deserve better or that work is taking your social life away? How committed are you to this position? What is keeping you there? All these are things to think about when determining if one is actually satisfied in their current position.
Job satisfaction can be changed, and changing these things are more than likely to be successful in increase job satisfaction and taking into account individual values and personality along the way. Performance, withdrawal behaviors, and any counterproductive behaviors are influenced by the commitment that an individual has to their job. High performance level demonstrates a high commitment to the job and company, while withdrawal behaviors – such as tardiness or absences – shows low commitment to the job and company. You have to do what is best for you and your future, and if that means leaving a job and finding a new one, then do it.
Connections to the Readings
Looking back to week 11, when the discussion topic asked us to name two jobs that we have had or currently hold and asked about our satisfaction with those jobs or dissatisfaction with them. Looking at the responses and fellow classmates post, it seemed like now that we all have completed undergraduate college we all have a full-time position and currently we all have positive satisfaction with them job. Looking back at past jobs when we were younger, there were definite things that caused dissatisfaction in the position. We now know what we look for and want in a job that we will be happy with and can stay with. Something that I did not talk much about was someone who loves their job so much they don’t know what else to do, also known as a workaholic.
These people enjoy the act of work and become obsessed with it and devote much of the time to it, rather than focusing on important life roles. These people have a large commitment to their position, even though they may not like their particular job. These are the people that may have higher stress levels and can bring their work home with them and cause a work-family conflict. As some people may not think that job satisfaction has to do with psychology, this is a highly researched topic and has to do a lot with the psychological well-being of an individual and their mental status. That’s why some high stress companies offer an in-office doctor or psychiatrist to help the people who may be more stressed or having the problem of the work-family conflict.
Job involvement also plays a role in job satisfaction because if an individual is not cognitively engaged in work and is just going through the motions, then they will not be involved in their job very much. If your mind is not giving 100% towards work, you will have less motivation to report to work and less motivation to complete the work. Levy (2016) stated that a preliminary job analysis that is conducted by an I/O professional could help an individual ensure not only person-organization fit, but also employee-job fit. Figuring out what kind of role you may play in a job and placing an individual in the correct position may be the difference in them staying with the company until retirement, and them leaving the company in a few years or months.
