McClelland's trichotomy of needs theory and the job satisfaction and work performance of CPA firm professionals

Abstract This paper examines the ability of McClelland's trichotomy of needs theory (need for affiliation, need for power, need for achievement) to provide a conceptual explanation of the job satisfaction and work performance of CPA firm professionals. Seventy-seven of the 89 professionals at an office of a large international CPA firm participated in the study. For partners and managers, need for affiliation correlated negatively with job satisfaction. For partners and managers, junior-level audit/tax specialists and junior-level management consultants, need for power correlated positively with job satisfaction. Job satisfaction correlated positively with the intent to remain with their current firm for all three categories. Need for achievement correlated positively with hours devoted to work for junior-level audit/tax specialists, and with the firm's work performance ratings for partners and managers and junior-level audit/tax specialists. The results suggest that McClelland's theory, which has not been previously applied to examine job satisfaction, might provide a conceptual explanation of why some individuals experience relatively high job satisfaction in an environment where their contemporaries experience relatively low job satisfaction.

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