THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SATISFACTION AND THE CONGRUENCE OF DESIRED AND PERCEIVED JOB ATTRIBUTES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF IT PROFESSIONALS

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/subboec-2021-0009

Keywords:

job attributes; job satisfaction; the value congruence theory; IT professionals; newly-hired;

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether employee job satisfaction is associated with the congruence between desired and perceived job attributes. The desired and perceived levels of 30 job attributes were measured on employees from a large Information Technology (IT) company based in Romania. Results indicate that employees who experience congruence between desired and perceived job attributes have higher levels of overall job satisfaction, confirming the assumptions of the value congruence theory. In addition, the results of this study show that employee job satisfaction is associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors i.e., job attributes. This indicates that extrinsic factors can also be a source of job satisfaction, the same as intrinsic factors, which is contrary to what Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory assumes.

JEL classification: J24, M15.

Author Biography

Loredana MIHALCA, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania. Department of Economics and Business Administration in German Language

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 400591 Th. Mihali Street 58-60,  loredana.mihalca@econ.ubbcluj.ro

References

Acikgoz Y. (2019) Employee recruitment and job search: Towards a multi-level integration, Human Resource Management Review, 29 (1), 1-13

Baker S. H., Hansen R. A. (1975) Job design and worker satisfaction: A challenge to assumptions, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 48 (2), 79-91

Barrett G. V. (1978) Task design, individual attributes, work satisfaction, and productivity. In: Negandhi A. R., Wilpert B. (eds). Work organization research: European and American perspectives. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 261-278

Behling O., Labovitz G., Gainer M. (1968) College recruiting-theoretical base, Personnel Journal, 47 (1), 13-19

Boswell W. R., Boudreau J. W., Tichy J. (2005) The relationship between employee job change and job satisfaction: the honeymoon-hangover effect, Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 (5), 882-892

Boswell W. R., Roehling M. V., LePine M. A., Moynihan L. M. (2003) Individual job‐choice decisions and the impact of job attributes and recruitment practices: A longitudinal field study, Human Resource Management, 42 (1), 23-37

Boswell W. R., Shipp A. J., Payne S. C., Culbertson S. S. (2009) Changes in newcomer job satisfaction over time: Examining the pattern of honeymoons and hangovers, Journal of Applied Psychology, 94 (4), 844-858

Carless S. A., Imber A. (2007) Job and organizational characteristics: A construct evaluation of applicant perceptions, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 67 (2), 328-341

Casper W. J., Buffardi L. C. (2004) Work-life benefits and job pursuit intentions: The role of anticipated organizational support, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65 (3), 391-410

Chapman D. S., Uggerslev K. L., Carroll S. A., Piasentin K. A., Jones D. A. (2005) Applicant attraction to organizations and job choice: A meta-analytic review of the correlates of recruiting outcomes, Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 (5), 928-944

Chen, L. H. (2008) Job satisfaction among information system (IS) personnel, Computers in Human Behavior, 24 (1), 105-118

Chen G., Ployhart R. E., Thomas H. C., Anderson N., Bliese P. D. (2011) The power of momentum: A new model of dynamic relationships between job satisfaction change and turnover intentions, Academy of Management Journal, 54 (1), 159-181

Cohrs J. C., Abele A. E., Dette D. E. (2006) Integrating situational and dispositional determinants of job satisfaction: Findings from three samples of professionals, The Journal of Psychology, 140 (4), 363-395

Dormann C., Zapf D. (2001) Job satisfaction: A meta‐analysis of stabilities, Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 22 (5), 483-504

Ehrhart K. H., Ziegert J. C. (2005) Why are individuals attracted to organizations?, Journal of Management, 31 (6), 901-919

Fried Y., Ferris G. R. (1987) The validity of the job characteristics model: A review and meta‐analysis, Personnel Psychology, 40 (2), 287-322

Griffeth R. W., Hom P. W., Gaertner S. (2000) A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover: Update, moderator tests, and research implications for the next millennium, Journal of Management, 26 (3), 463-488

Hackman J. R., Oldham G. R. (1975) Development of the job diagnostic survey, Journal of Applied Psychology, 60 (2), 159 -170

Hackman J. R., Oldham G. R. (1976) Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16 (2), 250-279

Harold C. M., Ployhart R. E. (2008) What do applicants want? Examining changes in attribute judgments over time, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81 (2), 191-218

Harris M. M., Fink L. S. (1987) A field study of applicant reactions to employment opportunities: Does the recruiter make a difference?, Personnel Psychology, 40 (4), 765-784

Herzberg F.I. (1966) Work and the nature of man. Cleveland, World publishing company

Humphrey S. E., Nahrgang J. D., Morgeson F. P. (2007) Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature, Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (5), 1332–1356

Humphrys P. (1981) The effect of importance upon the relation between perceived job attributes, desired job attributes and job satisfaction, Australian Journal of Psychology, 33 (2), 121-133

Joseph D., Ng K. Y., Koh C., Ang S. (2007) Turnover of information technology professionals: A narrative review, meta-analytic structural equation modeling, and model development, MIS Quarterly, 31 (3), 547-577

Judge T. A., Parker S. K., Colbert A. E., Heller D., Ilies R. (2002) Job satisfaction: A cross-cultural review. In: Anderson N., Ones D. S., Sinangil H. K., Viswesvaran C. (eds). Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 2. Organizational Psychology. Sage Publications, Inc., 25–52

Jurgensen C. E. (1978) Job preferences (What makes a job good or bad?), Journal of Applied Psychology, 63 (3), 267-276

Keller A. C., Semmer N. K. (2013) Changes in situational and dispositional factors as predictors of job satisfaction, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83 (1), 88-98

Konrad A. M., Corrigall E., Lieb P., Ritchie Jr J. E. (2000) Sex differences in job attribute preferences among managers and business students, Group & Organization Management, 25 (2), 108-131

Kuhn K., Joshi K. D. (2009) The reported and revealed importance of job attributes to aspiring information technology: a policy-capturing study of gender differences, ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 40 (3), 40-60

Locke E. A. (1969). What is job satisfaction?, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4 (4), 309-336

Loher B. T., Noe R. A., Moeller N. L., Fitzgerald M. P. (1985) A meta-analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction, Journal of Applied Psychology, 70 (2), 280- 289

Mihalca L., Mengelkamp C., Brendea G., Metz D. (in press) Job attribute preferences of incoming university students and newly-hired employees in the context of the Romanian labour market

Niederman F., Sumner M. (2004) Effects of tasks, salaries, and shocks on job satisfaction among MIS professionals, Information Resources Management Journal (IRMJ), 17 (4), 49-72

O'Brien G. E., Dowling P. (1980) The effects of congruency between perceived and desired job attributes upon job satisfaction, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 53 (2), 121-130

Posner B. Z. (1981) Comparing recruiter, student, and faculty perceptions of important applicant and job characteristics, Personnel Psychology, 34 (2), 329-339

Powell G. N. (1984) Effects of job attributes and recruiting practices on applicant decisions: A comparison, Personnel Psychology, 37 (4), 721–732

Powell G. N. (1991) Applicant reactions to the initial employment interview: Exploring theoretical and methodological issues, Personnel Psychology, 44 (1), 67-83

Sachau D. A. (2007) Resurrecting the motivation-hygiene theory: Herzberg and the positive psychology movement, Human Resource Development Review, 6 (4), 377-393

Schneider S. C. (1987) Information overload: Causes and consequences, Human Systems Management, 7 (2), 143-153

Taylor J., Westover J. H. (2011) Job satisfaction in the public service: The effects of public service motivation, workplace attributes and work relations, Public Management Review, 13 (5), 731-751

Tett R. P., Meyer J. P. (1993) Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and turnover: path analyses based on meta‐analytic findings, Personnel Psychology, 46 (2), 259-293

Trauth E. M., Quesenberry J. L., Huang H. (2009) Retaining women in the US IT workforce: theorizing the influence of organizational factors, European Journal of Information Systems, 18 (5), 476-497

Turban D. B., Forret M. L., Hendrickson C. L. (1998) Applicant attraction to firms: Influences of organization reputation, job and organizational attributes, and recruiter behaviors, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 52 (1), 24-44

Twenge J. M., Kasser T. (2013) Generational changes in materialism and work centrality, 1976-2007: Associations with temporal changes in societal insecurity and materialistic role modelling, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39 (7), 883-897

Uggerslev K. L., Fassina N. E., Kraichy D. (2012) Recruiting through the stages: A meta‐analytic test of predictors of applicant attraction at different stages of the recruiting process, Personnel Psychology, 65 (3), 597-660

Wanous J. P., Reichers A. E., Hudy M. J. (1997) Overall job satisfaction: how good are single-item measures?, Journal of Applied Psychology, 82 (2), 247-252

Warr P., Inceoglu I. (2012) Job engagement, job satisfaction, and contrasting associations with person–job fit, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17 (2), 129-138

Downloads

Published

2021-08-30

How to Cite

MIHALCA, L. (2021). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SATISFACTION AND THE CONGRUENCE OF DESIRED AND PERCEIVED JOB ATTRIBUTES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF IT PROFESSIONALS. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Oeconomica, 66(2), 56–73. https://doi.org/10.2478/subboec-2021-0009

Issue

Section

Articles