OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION

1. Satisfaction and productivity:

 Happy workers are not necessarily productive workers—the evidence suggests that productivity is likely to lead to satisfaction.

At the organization level, there is renewed support for the original satisfaction-performance relationship. It seems organizations with more satisfied workers as a whole are more productive organizations.

2. Satisfaction and absenteeism:

We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism. The more satisfied you are, the less likely you are to miss work.

 It makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, but other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient. For example, you might be a satisfied worker, yet still take a “mental health day” to head for the beach now and again.

3. Satisfaction and turnover:

 Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism.

Other factors such as labor market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave one’s current job.

 Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the employee’s level of performance.

4. Organizational citizenship Behaviour:

Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements and is not usually rewarded, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

Individuals who are high in OCB will go beyond their usual job duties, providing performance that is beyond expectations.

More recently OCB has been associated with the following workplace behaviours: “altruism, conscientiousness, loyalty, civic virtue, voice, functional participation, sportsmanship, courtesy, and advocacy participation.”

 Recent work by York University professors Sabrina Salamon and Yuval Deutsch suggest that OCB may be a way for individuals to signal to managers and co-workers abilities that might not be immediately observable.

Some evidence, however, suggests that satisfaction does influence OCB, but through perceptions of fairness.

Recent research suggests that OCB can be applied cross-culturally, although the exact form of OCB might be different in non–North American countries.