About job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is described by Hülsheger, Alberts, Feinholdt, and Lang (2013) as the multidimensional psychological responses an individual exhibits as a result of his work. It is the degree of contentment shown by staff or employers as a result of their interactions with their work environment. The analysis of work satisfaction has a history as long as formal jobs itself. People have a tendency to show their responses to any situation to which they are subjected. The degree of interaction with their immediate work atmosphere also reflects their thoughts about their job arrangement. Job satisfaction is a complex subject and one that is greatly differentiated from one setting to another. It is also demonstrated differently among individuals. Factors that motivate a person to feel relatively satisfied with his employment may not particularly appeal to another person. As such, the exploration of this topic is extremely critical in the study of the principles of management.

Job Satisfaction Theories

Over the years, many theories have been advanced to study the prospect of job satisfaction. Researchers have developed several hypotheses in a bid to further the understanding of managing job satisfaction among different employees. Some of the models include the affect theory, equity theory, dispositional theory, and the discrepancy theory. As job contentment is critical to any successful management exercise, it is paramount that these approaches are explored.

The Affect Theory

Developed by Edwin A. Locke, the Range of Affect Theory is one of the most commonly applied job satisfaction models. It is fundamentally based on the understanding that satisfaction is determined by a difference between what one has and what one wants in a job. Ideally, people have different perspectives as to what appeals to them most about their occupation. They prioritize certain factors over others. Interestingly, there is no universal agreement on which aspects of the workplace result in greater satisfaction, an indication that personal preferences play a huge role in an employee’s appreciation of his career. The Affect Theory states that the degree of value a person places on a given facet of work (for instance, the level of autonomy) is moderated by how satisfied one becomes when the expectations are met. It holds that when a feature valued by a given employee is not given, he is likely to be dissatisfied with the entire employment prospect.

Management theorists often exemplify the Affect Theory with a simple illustration. If an employee X values autonomy and an employee Y is indifferent to it, then the employee X is likely to be highly satisfied in a position offering a great degree of autonomy compared to the employee Y. The theory is immensely critical in the development of modern-day work environments.

The Dispositional Approach

The theory states that the tendency to be satisfied with one’s job is significantly dependent on the person’s sense of individualism. It provides that job satisfaction is, to some degree, a person’s trait. Scholars adopted the theory based on numerous findings outlining that the level of job satisfaction by a given individual had become stable across different careers and work conditions over time. The assertion was further supported by multiple sources of evidence indicating that identical twins brought up in different settings were far likely to exhibit similar job satisfaction levels. As Skaalvik & Skaalvik (2014) add, several core self-evaluation attributes determine the level of job satisfaction a person exhibits. The main ones include neuroticism, locus of control, general self-efficiency, and self-esteem. The Dispositional Approach supposes that the more a person evaluates oneself, the greater the belief in one’s own abilities is, the more he is likely to be satisfied. Employees who believe they are in control of their own professional life and progress are also more likely to be contented as opposed to those convinced that outside forces determine their level of professional success.

The Equity Theory

Purpora & Blegen (2015) define the Equity Theory as a reciprocating arrangement where a person justifies the level of satisfaction of an employment opportunity based on the rewards they accrue from it and the efforts it requires them to exert. An employee identifies the amount of input gained and compares it with the level of output they are to sustain. Essentially, they develop an input/ output complex where the two variables are expected to balance. Employees who value such an arrangement are likely to be distressed whenever there is a perceived imbalance between the two factors. Thus, employers in such workplaces must strive to develop an equitable professional relationship.

Application of the Equity theory is especially common in conventional work environments. A typical example would be a case where two employees perform the same functions and receive the same pay and benefits. If one gets a raise, the other individual is likely to become dissatisfied in their workplace, other underlying factors occasioning the raise notwithstanding. Psychologists believe that the Equity Theory evokes three main behavioral responses. They are the entitled, equity-sensitive, and benevolent responses and they summarize the personality types present in any workplaces.

Discrepancy Theory

According to Fu & Deshpande (2014), the Discrepancy Theory describes the sense of dejection and anxiety a person exhibits whenever they fail to fulfill their responsibilities. It quantifies the degrees of regret one feels for not performing well or as expected. The theory is utilized in management training to sensitize administrators on the various reinforcement approaches required to handle members of staff in the face of poor performances. It also outlines the reward-punishment dynamics which serves to encourage adherence to policies and intentional non-performance.

The four theories are extremely important in understanding, studying, and assessing the concept of job satisfaction. They assess the different dimensions scholars evaluate in the process of studying the phenomenon. However, for a comprehensive understanding of job satisfaction, one must explore the forces affecting the factors that influence job satisfaction.

Research Hypothesis

Job satisfaction is one of the key attributes frequently considered when identifying a person’s suitability for a given career or employment opportunity. It plays a significant role in the attainment of a firm’s core objectives as it defines the output realized by the members of staff. This research paper hypothesizes that job satisfaction in itself is not an independent factor but is rather a constellation of several behavioral, environmental, and social factors.

Research Objectives

The research paper intends to define job satisfaction and its application in contemporary management.

It will describe the key factors that influence job satisfaction.

The paper shall also outline job satisfaction analysis theories and illustrate the application of each of them in any given professional context.



Literature Review

Over the years, the subject of job satisfaction has been extensively studied and documented. Much literature has been developed and many theories tested to offer a balanced and reliable account of factors influencing job satisfaction. Researchers have provided detailed descriptions of their findings in articles and books which have since been peer-reviewed for consistencies with generally accepted management and psychology principles. This article relied primarily on several published works to develop the perspectives it purports to champion.

This section discusses some of the prominent publications exploring the subject of job satisfaction. Their particular focus is placed on the factors impacting the level of satisfaction shown by employees in any particular work environment. It shall discuss three sources and details the author’s interpretation of the various factors defining satisfaction in different job environments.

Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction

Environmental Factors

In their article, “Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of empowerment,” Wong & Laschinger (2013) described the environmental factors impacting job satisfaction. They comment that external elements in any given workplace have a pronounced effect on how one perceives one’s employment. The authors opine that the persons’ work consumes a vast portion of their most daylight hours. It is when they are most awake. Therefore, they are exceedingly sensitive towards any conditions that may hamper or interfere with the balance of their professional space. As such, any elements that threaten the well-being of their workplace atmosphere is likely to refocus their level of job satisfaction. Some of the factors discussed by the authors include: communication underload and overload, superior-subordinate communication, and strategic employee recognition.

Communication Underload and Overload

Arguably one of the most important aspects of the modern work environment, the management of communication remains one of the most wearing demands an employee faces. Most work environments rely on the prompt and efficient collection, transfer and processing of information. It is essential to their operational, administrative, and financial health.

The organizational culture of most institutions espouse a communication component which offers a well-defined channel for the flow of communication. However, in most instances, one must always perform informational audit on the data and notify related departments of its contents. A communication load is an event where the rate and complexity of the communication demands of a given institution surpasses the ability or expertise of an individual. When overly intricate and dynamic information requires processing within a disproportionately limited amount of time, a person may feel overloaded or professionally overwhelmed.

A typical example of communication overload is when a company experiences a peak season. During this period, the volume of pending responsibilities increases. The tasks are divided against the available manpower. Employees may be overwhelmed not only by their inability to sufficiently fulfil their responsibilities, but by the inequity between the amount of work they are putting in and their wages which, hence, adversely impacts their level of satisfaction. Similarly, whenever there are few, simple tasks to accomplish, employees may feel unengaged and underutilized. As such, they may be distressed and explore other professionally stimulating prospects.

Wong & Laschinger (2013) opine that if an individual does not receive sufficient professional challenge or is unable to complete job tasks due to their complexity and volume, they are likely to become unhappy, aggravated and, therefore, dissatisfied.

Superior Subordinate Communication

A Wong & Laschinger (2013) intimate that effective communication between management and employees lies at the core of the achievement of the company’s primary objectives. They explain that firms with a liberalized communication structure are likely to exhibit better performance than those that limit vertical bidirectional flow of information. The authors add that the level of ease of genuine communication with subordinates is one of the key factors employees admire in any work environment. Hence, the employee’s perception of the employer’s conduct and approachability is principal to his contentment with their job.

Basic non-verbal communication cues such as body movement, vocal expression, eye contact, and facial expression are pivotal to the relationship between subordinates and seniors. They play a principal role in interpersonal interactions between the two organizational clusters. Consistent exhibition of non-verbal immediacy spurs employees into participating in interactive process. As the authors conclude, employees with a negative perception of their superiors are less likely to be motivated to work or communicate, whereas those with a favourable view of their bosses openly express their opinions and perceptions and are generally more satisfied.

Strategic Employee Recognition

Wong & Laschinger (2013) observe that many firms utilise incentives such as gifts and promotions to recognize outstanding employees. The authors retort that while such arrangements may motivate employees to be competitive and increase their outputs or quality, it disenfranchises those not lucky enough to be rewarded or ascend to higher positions. Therefore, the amount of overall output decreases. However, with strategic employee recognition, all employees stand to benefit regardless of the specific performance in the firm’s standings.

Strategic employee recognition is a performance improvement scheme where the management appreciates its staff by adjusting the organization’s culture to better suit the needs of employees in achieving the firm’s corporate objectives. As such, employees are better positioned to be innovative and highly productive. Strategic recognition results in a higher degree of job satisfaction.

Individual Factors

Friedberg et al. (2013)’s book, “Factors affecting physician professional satisfaction and their implications for patient care, health systems, and health policy” recounts the individual factors that define a person’s satisfaction with their job. The authors note that the suitability of an individual to a given profession depends on a significant extent of their personal traits. They indicate that individual factors remain to be the most monumental indicators of a person’s choice of a given profession. Some of these attributes include: emotion, genetics, personality, and emotional well-being.

Emotion

A person’s most prominent emotional dispensation has a huge bearing on their contentment for their profession. Friedberg et al. (2013) explain that frequency of experiencing cumulative negative positive net emotion helps to move towards understanding a person’s level of suitability. Highly socially engaging professional environments may not adequately fit person with high-reactive temperament as they are likely to be constantly edgy. Managers in highly interactive support-inclined or hospitality establishments must understand emotion management. Emotion management is critical in the dissolution of emotional impasse in a given work environment through the establishment of clear resolution channels. As the authors indicate, employees are likely to be more satisfied in the environments they feel more emotionally accommodated.



 

Methodology

Job satisfaction is a fairly elaborate subject. It encompasses many qualitative components such as people’s feelings and opinions as well as quantitative aspects. As such, its analysis requires the employment of several suitable research methodologies. Both inductive and deductive techniques must be used. For instance, a researcher may interview employees within a given workplace to understand factors that impact their level of satisfaction which the scholar believes is unique to them only. The researcher stands to gather important firsthand information which may then be published, reviewed and used for policy development. Additionally, a scholar may study vast volumes of prewritten literature and come up with a given deduction. All these approaches may reveal information critical to the development of this report. However, methodology found to be most appropriate for this research paper is descriptive research.

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research involves the in-depth reviewing of previously developed literature to provide an articulate account of the subjects discussed. It involves the employment of several data processing and analysis techniques to extract and present relevant information. During the development of this report, dozens of articles and books were examined. They were scrutinized for the relevance of available and easily justified assertions. The preference was given to books with more elaborate perspectives and scholarly justified opinions. Nine secondary sources were identified for use. The shortlisted resources presented an overwhelming amount of evidence on the various aspects of job satisfaction, hence, were identified as the most appropriate and adopted.

The rationale behind the use of descriptive research is due to the fact that it is inexpensive. All the researcher did was to identify the scores of relevant material, sort them for relevance, and select the most appropriate evidence. No noteworthy costs were incurred. Had any other equally effective methodologies such as interviews been used, the costs would have been astronomical. For instance, one would have to perform a reconnaissance of the work environment to establish its suitability to the study. The process may result in significant expenditures which may adversely dent the researcher’s financial situation. Additionally, descriptive research is minimally time consuming.

Researchers are able to identify and extract highly important information in a fraction of the time they would have spent while using primary data gathering methods. Techniques such as the administration of questionnaires and interviews are pivotal to the collection of essential research data. However, they are painfully time-consuming. As such, they may not be appropriate for research adventures such as this. Furthermore, they present logistical challenge. Achieving perfect alignment of all factors, including the availability of respondents at the required time is often immensely difficult. Descriptive research limits the expression of such problems but provides a one-stop data collection and processing location.

Descriptive research presents an avenue where data collected through other techniques can be verified. Information from photographs or recordings can be checked against written accounts of the events being studied. As such, only factual or commonly-held standpoints are used in the research.



Discussion

The study of job satisfaction deals with various factors within a given professional setting. It reveals the often unseen or under-documented dynamics and the application of management principles unique to that given environment. As it has been outlined, the analysis of job satisfaction is supremely based on the employees’ attitudes towards their physical and social workplace environment. It relies primarily on their perception of the setting and the impact it has on them. As a consequence, the employees’ analyses are subject to personal preferences, biases, and personal behavioral tendencies. Persons with greater appreciation for independence are less likely to flourish in a highly micro-managed environment. Similarly, an employee who believes in equity would not feel satisfied in a setting where his wages do not correspond to the amount of output he is required to exert.

As aforementioned, job satisfaction occurs as a result of the interaction of many workplace variables. It is a hybrid factor caused by the combination of several elements principal to the well-being of the conventional professional setting. Management pundits opine that the level of satisfaction by employees must be revised from time to time to ensure that the initial motivation employees had is retained or reinvigorated. Employers also often explore the level of contentment their opportunities deserve in order to prevent the loss of their top talent.

As West et al. (2014) explains, no employee is exempted from the principles of job satisfaction. Any factor hindering the emotional or physical comfort of employees is likely to cause universal unease amongst them and, hence, limit the enthusiasm they exhibit for their job. As such, proper management involves the progressive study of elements in the employment context and the subsequent adjustment to ensure optimum worker output is realized at all times.





Conclusion

The paper analyzed the concept of job satisfaction with a view to detailing the various factors that influence employee contentment. It focused on the key theories utilized in the analysis of job satisfaction. They included the dispositional theory, affect theory, equity theory, and the discrepancy theory. Each method presented a unique view on the development of job satisfaction as they studied the different dimensions critical to the understanding of professional contentment. Finally, the paper confirmed that job satisfaction is a product of many factors including environmental, behavioral, and individual characteristics, thus confirming the research hypothesis.







References

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Friedberg, M. W., Chen, P. G., Van Busum, K. R., Aunon, F. M., & Pham, C. (2013). Factors affecting physician professional satisfaction and their implications for patient care, health systems, and health policy. Rand Corporation.

Fu, W., & Deshpande, S. P. (2014). The impact of caring climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job performance of employees in a China’s insurance company. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(2), 339-349.

Huang, Y. H., Lee, J., McFadden, A. C., Murphy, L. A., Robertson, M. M., Cheung, J. H., & Zohar, D. (2016). Beyond safety outcomes: An investigation of the impact of safety climate on job satisfaction, employee engagement and turnover using social exchange theory as the theoretical framework. Applied ergonomics, 55, 248-257.

Hülsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: The role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310.

Purpora, C., & Blegen, M. A. (2015). Job satisfaction and horizontal violence in hospital staff registered nurses: the mediating role of peer relationships. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(15-16), 2286-2294.

Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2014). Teacher self-efficacy and perceived autonomy: Relations with teacher engagement, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Psychological reports, 114(1), 68-77.

West, C. P., Dyrbye, L. N., Rabatin, J. T., Call, T. G., Davidson, J. H., Multari, A., ... & Shanafelt, T. D. (2014). Intervention to promote physician well-being, job satisfaction, and professionalism: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA internal medicine, 174(4), 527-533.

Wong, C. A., & Laschinger, H. K. (2013). Authentic leadership, performance, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of empowerment. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(4), 947-959.