Final answer:
Job enrichment theory is primarily focused on increasing employee satisfaction through job design that provides more variety, autonomy, and challenge. It is strongly linked with overall job satisfaction, autonomy, and the work-content factor. The approach is studied under organizational psychology within the field of I-O psychology.
Step-by-step explanation:
The underlying theory behind job enrichment is c) Increasing employee satisfaction. Job enrichment involves designing jobs in such a way that they are more rewarding and fulfilling for employees. This can include increasing the variety, complexity, and challenge of tasks, thereby enhancing workers' control over their work and fostering a sense of personal achievement and recognition. Research by Saari & Judge (2004) indicates that work-content factor is a significant predictor of job satisfaction, and autonomy is highly valued by employees. This aligns with the findings of Kohn and colleagues (1990) who suggested that control, decision-making participation, freedom from surveillance, and feeling integral to work outcomes contribute to job satisfaction. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act aims to prevent discrimination and could be seen as supporting workers' satisfaction by ensuring fair treatment regardless of age, which can indirectly enrich jobs by maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce.
In the realm of Industrial and Organizational (I-O) psychology, organizational psychology is the area that measures job satisfaction. Additionally, the goal of scientific management was a) to increase workers' efficiency, which contrasts with job enrichment that focuses on job complexity to improve worker satisfaction. The Hawthorne effect (d) The attention of researchers on subjects causes the effect the experimenter is looking for) also sheds light on the complex factors influencing worker productivity and satisfaction, beyond the physical job conditions.