The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature
verifiedrich profile · Journal of Vocational Behavior · 2010
Judge, Timothy A.; Piccolo, Ronald F.; Podsakoff, Nathan P.; Shaw, John C.; Rich, Bruce L.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
compensation → job satisfaction
pay level → pay satisfaction
pay level → job satisfaction
pay level → job satisfaction
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
compensation correlates job satisfaction
pay level correlates job satisfaction
pay level correlates pay satisfaction
pay level predicts job satisfaction
pay level predicts pay satisfaction
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “For example, a meta-analysis by Judge, demonstrated that compensation is positively correlated with job satisfaction across various industries, including healthcare (49).”
disputes “For example, a meta-analysis found that pay level had a weak relationship with pay satisfaction, which is a form of subjective perception of salary [27].”
disputes “According to a different study by Judge et al. (2010), salary level and money attitude are only tangentially connected to job satisfaction.”
disputes “According to a different study by Judge et al. (2010), salary level and money attitude are only tangentially connected to job satisfaction.”
supports “For example, a meta-analysis by Judge et al. (2010) revealed that fair compensation positively impacts job satisfaction, which in turn enhances performance outcomes.”
supports “Judge et al. (2010), Yaseen (2013), and Bashir et al. (2011), showed that the level of pay and a better structured compensation system have a positive relationship with employee satisfaction.”
supports “It has also been found that higher-income workers have better levels of job satisfaction, which can counter-act some of the consequences of overtime work (Acker, 2018; Judge et al., 2010).”
supports “For example, a meta-analysis found that pay level had a weak relationship with pay satisfaction, which is a form of subjective perception of salary [27].”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
- 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1526324
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- 10.62754/joe.v3i8.4796
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- 10.7595/management.fon.2022.0016
- 10.1177/21582440251323656
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.