You can find important theories and other aspects of job satisfaction related to business organizations.

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What is Job Satisfaction?
The concept of job satisfaction has been developed in many ways by many different
researchers and practitioners. One of the most widely used definitions in organizational
research is that of Locke (1976), who defines job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive
emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences.
Others have defined it as simply how content an individual is with his or her job, whether he
or she likes the job or not. It is assessed at both the global level (whether or not the individual
is satisfied with the job overall), or at the facet level (whether or not the individual is satisfied
with different aspects of the job). Spector (1997) lists 14 common facets: Appreciation,
Communication, Co-worker, Fringe benefits, Job condition, Nature of the work,
Organization, Personal growth, Policies and procedures, Promotion opportunities,
Recognition, Security, and Supervision.
A more recent definition of the concept of job satisfaction is from Hulin and Judge (2003),
who have noted that, job satisfaction includes multidimensional psychological responses to
an individual's job, and that these personal responses have cognitive (evaluative), affective
(or emotional), and behavioral components. Job satisfaction scales vary in the extent to which
they assess the affective feelings about the job or the cognitive assessment of the job.
Job satisfaction can also be seen within the broader context of the range of issues which
affect an individual's experience of work, or their quality of working life. Job satisfaction can
be understood in terms of its relationships with other key factors, such as general well-being,
stress at work, control at work, home-work interface, and working conditions.

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Theories of Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction theories have a strong overlap with theories explaining human motivation.
The most common and prominent theories in this area include: Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy
Theory, Range of Affect Theory, The Dispositional Approach, Equity Theory, Discrepancy
Theory, Herzberg’s Motivator-hygiene Theory, and The Job Characteristics Model.
These theories are described and discussed below:
Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory
Although commonly known in the human motivation literature, Maslow’s needs hierarchy
theory was one of the first theories to examine the important contributors to job satisfaction.
The theory suggests that human needs form a five-level hierarchy consisting of: physiological
needs, safety, belongingness
or love, esteem, and self-
actualization. Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs postulates
that there are essential needs
that need to be met first
(such as, physiological needs
and safety), before more
complex needs can be met
(such as, belonging and
esteem). Maslow’s needs
hierarchy was developed to
explain human motivation in
general. However, its main
tenants are applicable to the
work setting, and have been used to explain job satisfaction.
Range of Affect Theory
Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job
satisfaction model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a
discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory
states that how much one values a given facet of moderates how satisfied or dissatisfied one
becomes when expectations are or aren’t met. When a person values a particular facet of a
job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively and negatively, compared to one
who doesn’t value that facet. To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace
and Employee B is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in
a position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or
no autonomy compared to Employee B. This theory also states that too much of a particular
facet will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet.

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The Dispositional Approach
The dispositional approach suggests that individuals vary in their tendency to be satisfied
with their jobs, in other words, job satisfaction is to some extent an individual trait. This
approach became a notable explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job
satisfaction tends to be stable over time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates
that identical twins raised apart have similar levels of job satisfaction.
A significant model that narrowed the scope of the dispositional approach was the Core Self-
evaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A. Judge, Edwin A. Locke, and Cathy C. Durham
in 1997. Judge et al. argued that there are four Core Self-evaluations that determine one’s
disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control,
and neuroticism. This model states that higher levels of self-esteem and general self-efficacy
lead to higher work satisfaction. Having an internal locus of control leads to higher job
satisfaction, finally, lower levels of neuroticism lead to higher job satisfaction.
The Discrepancy Theory
The concept of discrepancy theory is to explain the ultimate source of anxiety and
dejection. An individual who has not fulfilled his responsibility feels the sense of anxiety and
regret for not performing well. They will also feel dejection due to not being able to achieve
their hopes and aspirations. According to this theory, all individuals will learn what their
obligations and responsibilities are for a particular function, and if they fail to fulfill those
obligations then they are punished. Over time, these duties and obligations consolidate to
form an abstracted set of principles, designated as a self-guide. Agitation and anxiety are the
main responses when an individual fails to achieve the obligation or responsibility. This
theory also explains that if achievement of the obligations is obtained then the reward can be
praise, approval, or love. These achievements and aspirations also form an abstracted set of
principles, referred to as the ideal self guide. When the individual fails to obtain these
rewards, they begin to have feelings of dejection, disappointment, or even depression.
The Equity Theory
Equity Theory shows how a person views fairness in regard to social relationships such as
with an employer. A person identifies the amount of input from a relationship compared to
the output to produce an input/output ratio. They then compare this ratio to the ratio of other
people in deciding whether or not they have an equitable relationship. Equity Theory suggests
that if an individual thinks there is an inequality between two social groups or individuals, the
person is likely to be distressed because the ratio between the input and the output are not
equal. For example, consider two employees who work the same job and receive the same
pay and benefits. If one individual gets a pay raise for doing the same work as the other, then
the less benefited individual will become distressed in his workplace. If, on the other hand,
both individuals get pay raises and new responsibilities, then the feeling of equity will be
maintained.

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Herzberg’s Motivator-hygiene Theory
Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory also known as motivator-hygiene theory attempts to
explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. This theory states that satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are driven by different factors – motivation and hygiene factors, respectively.
An employee’s motivation to work is continually related to job satisfaction of a subordinate.
Motivation can be seen as an inner force that drives individuals to attain personal and
organizational goals. Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to
perform, and provide people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition,
promotion opportunities. These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or
the work carried out. Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as
pay, company policies, supervisory practices, and other working conditions.
The JobCharacteristics Model
Hackman & Oldham proposed the job characteristics model, which is widely used as a
framework to study how particular job characteristics impact job outcomes, including job
satisfaction. The five core job characteristics can be combined to form a motivating potential
score (MPS) for a job, which can be used as an index of how likely a job is to affect an
employee's attitudes and behaviors. Not everyone is equally affected by the MPS of a job.
People who are high in growth need strength, the desire for autonomy, challenge and
development of new skills on the job, are particularly affected by job characteristics.

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Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction
“Job satisfaction is a result of employees’ perception of how well their job
provides those things which are viewed as important.”----- Fred Luthans
Different employees have different perception regarding their job, thus making factors of job
satisfaction indefinite. A factor that works for an employee ‘A’ may not work upon employee
‘B’. However, there are some commonly known factors that affect job satisfaction which are
described in brief below:
Nature of job
People find it satisfying to do the job they love. When people with right kind of abilities are
posted at right job, there are high chances that they are satisfied and happy. For an instance,
when a person is doing a job he dislikes, even a small hassle can be irritating and frustrate
him. But if similar problem arise while doing a job he loves, he will take it as a challenge and
would take it as an achievement to overcome the challenge.
Balanced lifestyle
A person can stay happy when he can enjoy professional as well as personal life equally.
When workloads and stress start to consume a man’s time for personal life, it leaves them
mentally exhausted and restless. When a person has too much problems in personal life, it
cause a great impact on their professional performance. But, the impact that is caused on
personal life due to unmanaged work life is even greater and worse.

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Space for growth and career development
People are satisfied with their current job when they see chances for them to grow. Several
companies nowadays are engaged in providing proper training to their employees to make
them capable of handling new and challenging jobs. Besides, many companies even
encourage their employees to acquire higher skills and qualifications by helping them with
their university and college tuition fees. Higher qualifications and skills open the way to
promotion or career advancement and employees feel satisfied.
Flexibility
When the company gives chance to the employees to decide their working hours themselves,
employees are found to make better performance. People feel satisfied when they get to work
as per their schedule. One thing that the company should keep in mind is that a target for all
employees must be set so that they could make uniform output.
Work environment and conditions
Employees spend most of their time at office. Therefore, it is really necessary that the office
in return should care about them and provide them with as much comfortable environment as
possible. A healthy working environment includes cooperative colleagues, supportive seniors,
open communication, etc. with physical aspects like proper lighting, furniture, spacious
rooms, etc.
Relationship with superiors
Employees feel irritated when they are micro managed and feel detached when they do not
receive feedbacks at all. A good boss should create space for open communication so that
employees can share their opinion and problems with their superiors. Attachment with the
company is really necessary for employees to feel satisfied with their job.
Relationship with coworkers
A hostile environment with rude and unpleasant coworkers is one of the major factors that
develops negative attitude towards workplace, while the opposite is known to have satisfied
employees to a higher extent as there is very less chance of conflicts and grievances in
workplace which has employees with high morale.
Autonomy
People feel satisfied with the job when they and their opinion and works are valued by the
company. When company gives them right to take nominal decisions, employees can make
better output, rather than while they work under control.
Job security
The feeling that the job will last long is a factor of job satisfaction. People are demotivated to
work and are less committed to and attached with the job when they know that the job is
temporary.
Achievement
Every people work with a motive; the motive to achieve something. Whether the achievement
is intrinsic or extrinsic, it plays a vital role as in satisfying people. If a person continuously
puts in efforts but does not get any achievement, he is demotivated to work and is dissatisfied
with the job.

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Payment
Payment is another factor that plays vital role in satisfying an employee. An employee who
gets right amount of payment according to their job is motivated to continue working. But,
when employees are paid inadequately they are dissatisfied with the job and can even
discontinue working in a long run.
Rewards
Sometimes, when few words of praise and a pat on the shoulder is not enough, reward plays
its roles. Whether the reward is monetary or non-monetary, it always increases the level of
enthusiasm and interest of a person to complete the task. At the same time, it creates a sense
of satisfaction in the employees regarding their job.
Continued feedbacks
Continued feedbacks from supervisors are really necessary for an employee as he can know
his strengths and weaknesses. He will know which of his works are worth continuing and
which needs improvement. In lack of feedbacks, employees won’t be able to change their
performance and thus cannot improve too.
Control on job
One must have control on their job to feel satisfied with it. It is because when works are out
of control, they are unmanageable and more stressful. More obstructions are also created due
to which employees feel frustrated and unsatisfied with the job.
Organizational support
Employees are more attached and satisfied with the job when they are supported by the
company. It is necessary to support employees when they are going through any problems in
professional life as well as in personal life. When the company works as a shoulder that
employees can trust upon, they feel secured, with which arises the feeling of satisfaction with
the job.
Employers or management must keep a sharp eye on these factors to make sure that the
employees are not dissatisfied at the organization. Because job satisfaction is directly
proportional to performance. Greater the job satisfaction, higher will be the employee’s
performance.

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Ways of Improving Job Satisfaction
How to improve employee job satisfaction? - A question that’s so simple to ask
but so complicated to answer. Employees represent the engine of an organization. They have
the wheels and power to make your business move from A to B. That’s why it’s important to
think about their wellbeing, and especially understand their preferences, passions and wishes.
The more management know about them, the better equipped they will be to find winning
solutions that are optimum and adapted to improve the satisfaction at work. Here are some
recommendations to improve employee satisfaction at work:
Employee Orientation
One of the best ways to have satisfied employees is to make sure they’re pleased from the
get-go. Offering a thorough orientation will ensure expectations are realistic and that new
staffers don’t come in with rose-colored glasses that will quickly fade. Proper on boarding
encourages positive attitudes and can reduce turnover.
Positive Work Environment
An upbeat workplace is a necessity. If the workspace isn’t positive, you can’t expect the
workers to be. Encouraging one another, avoiding micromanagement, giving positive
feedback and ensuring criticism is constructive are all ways to keep the environment a place
where employees can do more than survive – they can thrive.
Provide Competitive Benefits
Fair wages are important, but competitive benefits are also critical to keeping your workforce
satisfied. If your benefits package is thin, employees may look for other opportunities with
firms that are more generous. Beyond insurance, benefits such as flex time, paid holidays and
personal days are important factors to employee satisfaction.
Job Security
In a recent survey, employees ranked job security as the greatest contributing factor to job
satisfaction. When employees don’t feel secure in their job, increased stress and negative
emotions impact their work performance and results in decreased productivity.

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Encourage Communication
Communication is a key element of employee job satisfaction. An open communication is
founded on collaboration and a work environment that is stimulating to encourage exchanges
between employees. There is a whole bunch of tools that can facilitate communication: from
project management software, to instant messenger app or live chats, to internal newsletters.
Workforce Engagement
Employees that don’t find their work interesting or don’t feel they are contributing to the
mission of the firm will not be engaged. For employees to be satisfied, they must feel like
they are part of something bigger than just what their individual work tasks are. Include
staffers in goal setting and how they fit in the corporation fabric to increase engagement and
satisfaction.
Develop Skills
Everyone needs something to working toward. Stagnation is unfulfilling. Employees have
more potential than their current level of functionality. Encouraging employees to fulfill that
potential will increase engagement and satisfaction. Whether it’s training opportunities,
mentoring, online courses or external training, encourage staff to always be improving their
skills.
Provide Feedback
Feedback can be seen as a form of recognition when it is constructive and well presented.
Satisfaction goes through a two-sided dialogue, giving you the opportunity to learn about the
challenges your employee is confronted to, as well as the aspects they enjoyed the most about
their job. Good feedback can be defined by three criteria: its promptness, its frequency, and its
precision. It’s important to provide feedback quickly, as regularly and as often as necessary,
and with enough details in order to be effective.
Recognition & Rewards
Employees enjoy recognition for their good work and it need not be a public show to mean
something to employees. Encourage supervisors and managers to acknowledge employees
deeds on a daily basis. Also implement a formal program company-wide to recognize top
achievers in every job category. Healthy competition can boost morale; encourage hard work
and increase satisfaction and retention.
Encourage Team Spirit
Creating a team spirit is as important as your employees’ motivation because work is
collaborative by nature. Therefore, having a positive energy flow between co-workers is vital.
This flow is dependent on a good communication as well as the tools that support it. But in a
less than ideal world, you also have to deal with conflicts and tensions.
Don’t sit back and just hope that employees are satisfied – put some data behind it. Offer
anonymous online surveys or mobile surveys to effectively track how employees feel about
benefits, recognition, supervisor feedback and other aspects that contribute to employee
satisfaction. This allows you to improve, tweak and monitor satisfaction levels to reduce
turnover and save the company money.

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Importance/Benefits of Job Satisfaction
Research has concluded that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and performance
of the employees. Thus, job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction is an important concern of the
management. High job satisfaction may lead to improved productivity, decreased turnover,
and improved attendance, reduced accidents, less job stress and less unionization. Job
dissatisfaction produces low morale among workers and low morale at work is highly
undesirable. The basic importance/benefits of job satisfaction are as follows:
Improve Productivity
The sayings that “A happy worker is a productive worker” are not always wrong. If people
receive rewards which have both intrinsic and extrinsic value and they feel that there rewards
are equitable, they will be satisfied and this will lead to greater job performance. Moreover,
research also includes that job satisfaction may not necessarily lead to improvement of
individual performance but it does lead to departmental and organizational level
improvement.
Decrease Turnover
Turnover can be one of the highest costs attributed to the HR department. Retaining
workers helps create a better environment, and makes it easier to recruit quality talent and
save money. The bottom line: satisfied employees are typically much less likely to leave.
Reduce Absenteeism
It has been conclusively proved that there is an inverse relationship between job satisfaction
and absenteeism. When satisfaction is high, absenteeism is low and when satisfaction is low,
absenteeism is high. Less satisfied employees are more likely to be absent from work due to
avoidable reasons.
Reduce Unionization
It has been proved that satisfied employees are generally not interested in unions and they do
not perceive them as necessary. Job satisfaction has proved to be the major cause of
unionization. The employees join the unions because they feel that individually they are
unable to influence changes which would eliminate the causes of job dissatisfaction. The
level of union activities is related to the level of job dissatisfaction. Low level of
dissatisfaction results in only grievances while higher levels of dissatisfaction will result in
employee strikes.
Increase Job Safety
When people are dissatisfied with their jobs, company and supervisors, they are more prone
to experience accidents. An underlying reason for this is that dissatisfaction lakes one’s
attention away from the task at hand and leads directly to accidents. A satisfied worker will
always be careful and attentive towards his job, and the chances of accidents will be less.

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Increase Profits
Keeping employees safe and satisfied can lead to higher sales, lower costs and a stronger
bottom line which in turn increase the overall profit margin of the organization.
Increase Loyalty
When employees feel the company has their best interests at heart, they often support its
mission and work hard to help achieve its objectives. And, they may be more likely to tell
their friends, which helps spread goodwill.
To conclude, we can say that job satisfaction results from the employee’s perception that the
job content and context actually provide what an employee values in the work situation.
Organizationally speaking, high level of job satisfaction reflects a highly favorable
organizational climate resulting in attracting and retaining better workers.
Conclusion
Job satisfaction is one important aspect a company should look after for because it has a
significant correlation with job performance. Specifically, this relationship appears stronger
on collective basis, which has a greater effect to the units and organizational performance,
including productivity, work process efficiency, and most importantly, profit. Then,
personality traits and emotional states seem to have an important role in determining
individual satisfaction. Concurrently, work environment and organization strategy are more
likely determinant to increase collective job satisfaction. Thus, company should consider
implementing both personal and organizational approach to ensure greater level of
employees’ satisfaction is achieved.