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Title: How Important are Dispositional Factors as Determinants of Job Satisfaction? Implications for Job Design and Other Personnel Programs
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Gerhart, Barry
How Important are Dispositional Factors as Determinants of Job Satisfaction? Implications for Job Design and Other Personnel Programs
Journal of Applied Psychology 72,3 (August 1987): 366-373.
Also: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/apl/72/3/366/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Keyword(s): Job Requirements; Job Satisfaction; Work Attitudes

According to recent research, including a 1985 study by Staw and Ross, worker attitudes are, to a large degree a function of stable individual traits, not situational characteristics. This implies that job redesign and related personnel programs are prone to failure because they only change the job situation. Problems with this study, which used men 45 to 59 and 50 to 64 years of age, prompted another study designed to examine the relationship of job satisfaction with dispositional and situational factors in younger adults. The NLSY, a national probability sample interviewed annually, provided data for the study. Two measures of job complexity were analyzed in order to determine how changes in complexity impacted job satisfaction. The study found that changes in complexity and other situational factors are important predictors of job satisfaction, while dispositional factors present measurement problems that preclude their use as accurate predictors. These results are contrary to the findings of Staw and Ross. [ABI/INFORM]
Bibliography Citation
Gerhart, Barry. "How Important are Dispositional Factors as Determinants of Job Satisfaction? Implications for Job Design and Other Personnel Programs." Journal of Applied Psychology 72,3 (August 1987): 366-373.