Job Satisfaction
an overall positive evaluative judgment about one's job
§1The Principia rendering
A copyright-clean measure of this construct, authored by Principia and free to use — the one we can show in full.
Predicted psychometrics. These 10 items carry a design grade of A (avg design score 95/100) from the item-design model — an estimate pending calibration, not a measured reliability. Real responses (via deployment) sharpen it toward measured, which is what the licensing model collects.
How it’s measured operationally
Beyond survey measurement, this construct is also tracked as an operational metric from records:
Mean of satisfaction item scores · scoreAverage of item scores (1-5) · score§2The established instruments
What the field already uses — named and cited, not reproduced (item wording is copyrighted and withheld pending clearance).
- Worker Opinion Survey — Cross, 1973
- Index of Organizational Reactions (IOR)
- Managerial Opinion Scale — Evans (1974); original source as described in text
- Job Descriptive Index — Smith, Kend- all, and Hulin (1969)
- Facet-specific Job Satisfaction — Quinn and Staines, 1979
- Job in General Scale — Ironson, Smith, Brannick, Gibson, and Paul (1989)
- Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire — Weiss, D., Dawis, R., England, G.
- Porter and Lawler Job Satisfaction Questionnaire — Porter and Lawler (1968)
- Life 3 Scale — Andrews and Withey (1976)
- Global Job Satisfaction — Warr, Cook, and Wall (1979)
- Alienation from Work (Aiken and Hage) — Aiken and Hage (1966)
§3The math on what we know
Synthesized priors from the live registry: pooled r, studies (k), total N, top study grade, and heterogeneity. Rows flagged for heterogeneity or single-study evidence are directional, not settled — read them as a central tendency.
What drives job satisfaction
| Predictor | r | k | N | Grade | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Need Satisfaction | +0.63 | 2 | 25,038 | A | I²≈1.00 |
| Psychological Capital PsyCap | +0.60 | 2 | 3,173 | A | — |
| Autonomy | +0.59 | 2 | 87,883 | A | I²≈1.00 |
| Servant Leadership | +0.58 | 2 | 14,326 | A | I²≈0.99 |
| Work Engagement | +0.57 | 3 | 145,232 | A | I²≈0.98 |
| Leader Member Exchange LMX | +0.54 | 2 | 22,131 | A | — |
| Transformational Leadership | +0.54 | 3 | 37,996 | A | I²≈0.98 |
| Organizational Learning | +0.52 | 2 | 100 | B | coherent |
| Authentic Leadership | +0.51 | 2 | 12,751 | A | — |
| Performance Feedback | +0.46 | 2 | 91,361 | A | I²≈1.00 |
What job satisfaction predicts
| Outcome | r | k | N | Grade | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thriving | +0.64 | 1 | 2,798 | A | single study |
| Work Engagement | +0.60 | 1 | 50 | A | single study |
| Organizational Commitment | +0.53 | 1 | 50 | B | single study |
| Turnover Intention | −0.52 | 3 | 312,361 | A | — |
| Employee Well Being | +0.40 | 2 | 268,045 | A | — |
| Counterproductive Work Behaviours | −0.36 | 1 | 693 | B | single study |
| Task Performance | +0.31 | 3 | 54,517 | A | — |
| Overall Job Performance | +0.30 | 1 | 54,417 | A | single study |
| Organizational Citizenship Behavior OCB | +0.27 | 3 | 58,027 | A | I²≈0.91 |
| Voluntary Turnover | −0.23 | 4 | 156,807 | A | I²≈0.99 |
| Absenteeism | −0.16 | 2 | 100 | A | coherent |
§4As a model node
Where job satisfaction sits when you drop it into a model — what feeds it, what it moves. Read left to right as a small, actionable causal claim.
Inputs (drivers)
- Need Satisfaction+0.63
- Psychological Capital PsyCap+0.60
- Autonomy+0.59
- Servant Leadership+0.58
Outputs (outcomes)
- Thriving+0.64
- Work Engagement+0.60
- Organizational Commitment+0.53
- Turnover Intention−0.52