The Facets Of Job Satisfaction: A Nine-Nation Comparative Study Of Construct Equivalence

Archival data from an attitude survey of employees in a single multinational organization were used to examine the degree to which national culture affects the nature of job satisfaction. Responses from nine countries were compiled to create a benchmark against which nations could be individually compared. Factor analysis revealed four factors: Organizational Communication, Organizational Efficiency/Effectiveness, Organizational Support, and Personal Benefit. Comparisons of factor structures indicated that Organizational Communication exhibited the most construct equivalence, and Personal Benefit the least. The most satisfied employees were those from China, and the least satisfied from Brazil, consistent with previous findings that individuals in collectivistic nations report higher satisfaction. The research findings suggest that national cultural context exerts an effect on the nature of job satisfaction.

[1]  J. Eskildsen,et al.  Work motivation and job satisfaction in the Nordic countries , 2004 .

[2]  Ellen R. Auster.  Professional Women's Midcareer Satisfaction: Toward an Explanatory Framework , 2001 .

[3]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  A meta-analysis of the relationship between job satisfaction and employee health in Hong Kong , 2003 .

[4]  Eran Vigoda,et al.  Reactions to Organizational Politics: A Cross-Cultural Examination in Israel and Britain , 2001 .

[5]  Joseph Weitz,et al.  JOB SATISFACTION: SOME CROSS-CULTURAL EFFECTS , 1972 .

[6]  Chrystal Bartlett,et al.  Supervisory Communication and Subordinate Job Satisfaction , 2000 .

[7]  David Chan,et al.  EMPLOYEE ATTITUDE SURVEYS IN A MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATION: CONSIDERING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN ASSESSING MEASUREMENT EQUIVALENCE , 1999 .

[8]  Kevin Au,et al.  Exploring empowerment cross-cultural differences along the power distance dimension , 1999 .

[9]  J. R. Larson,et al.  Research strategies and tactics in industrial and organizational psychology. , 1990 .

[10]  Sharon K. Parker,et al.  Job Satisfaction: A Cross-Cultural Review , 2001 .

[11]  J. P. Wanous,et al.  Overall job satisfaction: how good are single-item measures? , 1997, The Journal of applied psychology.

[12]  Kwok Leung,et al.  Methods and data analysis of comparative research , 1997 .

[13]  John D. Pettit,et al.  An Examination of Organizational Communication as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Job Performance and Job Satisfaction , 1997 .

[14]  Randy Hodson,et al.  Demography or respect?: work group demography versus organizational dynamics as determinants of meaning and satisfaction at work. , 2002, The British journal of sociology.

[15]  Y. Aharoni.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind , 1992 .

[16]  G. Hofstede.  Culture′s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations , 2001 .

[17]  Andres Sousa-Poza,et al.  Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction , 2000 .

[18]  Jana L. Raver,et al.  Methodological Issues in Cross‐Cultural Organizational Research , 2008 .

[19]  John P. Campbell,et al.  JOB SATISFACTION: ARE ALL THE PARTS THERE? , 1983 .

[20]  Richard,et al.  Motivation through the Design of Work: Test of a Theory. , 1976 .

[21]  Are U.S. Organizational Concepts And Measures Transferable To Another Culture? An Empirical Investigation , 1981 .

[22]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[23]  Stan Malos,et al.  Benefit System and Benefit Level Satisfaction: An Expanded Model of Antecedents and Consequences , 2002 .

[24]  Kyuhan Bae,et al.  Cultural Values and Work Attitudes of Korean Industrial Workers in Comparison with those of the United States and Japan , 1997 .

[25]  Dieter Zapf,et al.  Job satisfaction: a meta-analysis of stabilities , 2001 .

[26]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Measurement equivalence of the German Job Satisfaction Survey used in a multinational organization: implications of Schwartz's culture model. , 2004, The Journal of applied psychology.

[27]  O. S. Al-Mashaan.  Comparison between Kuwaiti and Egyptian teachers in Type A behavior and job satisfaction: A cross-cultural study , 2003 .

[28]  R. K. Chiu,et al.  The Role of Affective Dispositions in Job Satisfaction and Work Strain: Comparing Collectivist and Individualist Societies , 1999 .

[29]  Sanjaya Mishra,et al.  NEW DELHI , 2000 .

[30]  Scott J. Behson.  Which Dominates? The Relative Importance of Work–Family Organizational Support and General Organizational Context on Employee Outcomes , 2002 .

[31]  C. O'Reilly,et al.  Job satisfaction among whites and nonwhites: A cross-cultural approach. , 1973 .

[32]  Onne Janssen,et al.  “Better than” Performance Motives as Roots of Satisfaction Across more and Less Developed Countries , 2002 .

[33]  Paul Sparrow,et al.  Does national culture really matter? Predicting HRM preferences of Taiwanese employees , 1998 .

[34]  Jeongkoo Yoon,et al.  Organizational Support in the Workplace: The Case of Korean Hospital Employees , 1999 .

[35]  M. Saiyadain.  Personal characteristics and job satisfaction: India-Nigeria comparison. , 1985, International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie.

[36]  楊國樞,et al.  Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-Free Dimensions of Culture , 1987 .

[37]  Daniel Heller,et al.  Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: a meta-analysis. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[38]  Theresa Lau,et al.  Gender discrimination and job-related outcomes: a cross-cultural comparison of working women in the United States and China. , 2000 .

[39]  Gordon Redding,et al.  The psychology of Chinese organizational behaviour. , 1986 .