Final answer:
Job satisfaction encompasses the affective and cognitive appraisal of one's job experience and is correlated with job performance, life satisfaction, organizational citizenship, and withdrawal behaviors like turnover and absenteeism.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is Job Satisfaction?
Job satisfaction refers to the degree to which individuals enjoy their job, a state of feeling resulting from appraising one's job experiences. Edwin Locke (1976) defined it as encompassing both cognitive and affective aspects, whereby it is impacted by the actual work being done, personalities, and cultural surroundings. Studies have indicated that the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is somewhat correlated, with higher satisfaction often leading to behaviors that benefit the organization and even linking to an individual’s overall life contentment.
Job satisfaction is typically measured through questionnaires, often using a Likert scale to gauge employees’ attitudes. These surveys may be designed to cover global satisfaction or assess specific factors contributing to one's contentment or discontentment at the workplace.
Factors such as work content, control over one's work, participation in decision-making, and autonomy are generally predictive of job satisfaction. Comparatively, the correlation between pay levels and job satisfaction is weaker, suggesting pay alone is not a robust determinant for an employee's feeling of satisfaction at work.