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The link between job satisfaction and job performance is one of the most studied
relationships in industrial /organizational psychology . Meta -analysis (Judge , Thoresen ,
Bono , & Patton , 2001 ) has estimated the magnitude of this relationship to be ρ = .30 .
With many potential causal models that explain this correlation , one possibility is that
the satisfaction -performance relationship is actually spurious , meaning that the
correlation is due to common causes of both constructs . Drawing upon personality
theory and the job characteristics model , this study presents a meta -analytic estimate of
the population -level relationship between job satisfaction and job performance ,
controlling for commonly studied predictors of both . Common causes in this study
include personality trait Conscientiousness , Extraversion , Agreeableness , and core selfevaluations ,
along with cognitive ability and job complexity . Structural equation
modeling of the meta -analytic correlation matrix suggests a residual correlation of .16
between job satisfaction and performance—roughly half the magnitude of the zero -order
correlation . Following the test of spuriousness , I then propose and find support for an
integrated theoretical model in which job complexity and job satisfaction serve as
mediators for the effects of personality and ability on work outcomes . Results from this model suggest that job complexity is negatively related to satisfaction and performance ,
once ability and personality are controlled . Contributions of this paper include
estimating the extent to which the satisfaction -performance relationship is partly
spurious , which is an advancement because the attitude -behavior link has not been
estimated in light of personality and job characteristics . Another contribution is the
integrated theoretical model , which illuminates mediators in some of the effects of
personality and ability . |
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