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Job satisfaction and mood: An exploratory study

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WORK & SlRESS, 1988, VOL. 2, NO. 3, 225-232

Job satisfaction and mood: an exploratory study

CRAWFORD HOLLINGWORTH,
GERALD MATTHEWS
and O O N A G H M . H A R T N E T T
Department of Applied Psychology,
University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology. C U M , UK

hfty.cight male white-collar workm provided quesrionnairc-based data on their job satisfaction,
demographic variabla, and mood in the work place. Strru and arousal dimensions of mood were
measured, on each of the five days of the working week, ruing the stress arousal checklist (SACL:
Mackay et 01.1978, Cox and Mackay 19a5). A strong association between job satisfaction and stress
was found, with low job sadsfaction being associated with hlgh stress. This &tion did not d e c t
the confounding of job satisfaction with demographic variables. and was not modified by day of
week. Possible causal rclatioruhip accounting for rhis comkaon are dixuued. Job satisfaction and
arousal were unrelated h m .

Keywortis: job satisfodion, mood, stress, mourol. SACL. demography, day of week effects.

Research on job satisfaction has paid little attention to its relationship to mood at work. The
study reported here explored the relationship between a temporally stable measure ofjob
satisfaction and two dimensions of self-repon mood - stress and arousal. There were two
bases for predicting correlations between mood and job satisfaction: first, the general
psychology of emotion and cognition. and second, a more detailed analysis of stress within
the sample studied.
Job satisfaction is essentially a cognitive construct, derived from a11 positive or negative
attitudes towards the work situation (Bowles 1976). Moods, however, can be defined as
more transient emotional states possibly lastihg for only minutes (Mayer 1986). Since
cognitive appraisal is an important determinant ofemotion (Schacter and Singer 1962, Cox
1978), mood in the work place should be dependent on attitudes to and perceptions ofwork
and the workmg environment. Only one previous study is directly relevant to this
hypothesis: Perone et ul. (1979) reported significant negative correlations between job
satisfaction and depression, anger and fatigue as measured by the Profile of Mood States
(POMS: McNair cf 01.1971).However. mood was measured in a simulated work situation,
subjects were selected to be unusually high or low in drug use, and the POMS may be over-
factored.
There is also indirect evidence from a number of sources that suggests a relationship
between job satisfaction and mood. Empirically, higher job satisfaction seems to be related

~ ~~~~

Offprint rcquesrs to Dr G . Matrhews. Division of Applied Psychology, University of Aston in

Birmingham, Aston Triungk, Birmingham 84 7ET, UK.
226 C. Hollingworth et al.

to higher general satisfaction (e.g. Friedlander 1966). better adjustment and lower
neuroticism (Heron 1952),lower anxiety-stress symptoms (Chamberlam and Jones 1987).
and to better m e n d health (Ahmas and Razzack 1983).Mood appears to be sensitive to
work-induced stress (Cox ct 01.1982)and, more generally. to the pleasantness of d d y events
(Stone 1981).Evidence of this kind suggests thatjob satisfaction should predict mood within
a variety of specific working environments.

Strest in white-collar water authority employees

The sample for this study was white-collar water authority employm, working in technical
drawing, as draughtsmen. and in planning. According to the transactional approach to stress
(Cox 1978. 1986),stress is a function of how the person perceives and copes with the
demands of the external environment. Kansck ct al. (1982)have suggested chat two critical
dimensions of environmental demands are the overall level ofjob demands. and the amount
of control the individual has over pcnoncnvironmcnt interactions. The water workers
were engaged in skilled, non-repetitive work,with quite a high degree of control over their
work activities. They often carried out project work, with high levels of workload and time
pressure towards the end of a project, nemsitating some overtime. An additional factor was
a recent organizational change towards greater financial accountabihty, which may have
further raised job demands. In terms of the Kuasek cr al. (1982)model, the work
environment could then be seen as one of high control, and. at times, of high demand-an
‘active situation’. Environments of this kind are not in themselves highly stressful, but they
present the individual with environmental challenges which require coping resources. Thus,
the authors expected individual differences in stress. with those people who failed to cope
with the job demands being more stress-prone. Increased stress-proneness was expected to
affect both job satisfaction and mood, leading to a correlation between the two.

d i n g occopatiorul stress by mood adjective checklist

Relatively recent research suggests that only two or three bipolar dimensions may underly
variation in mood (Russell 1979, Sjoberg e l al. 1979). Earlier work indicating a larger
number of monopolar factors, such as the 12 of N o w h (1%5) and the six of McNair
ct al. (1971).may have been in error, due to inappropriate factor analytic techniques and
response scale artifacts (JCC Mackay 1980). A more satisfactory instrument is the Stress
Arousal Checklist (SACL, Mackay ct al. 1978.Cox and Mackay 1985)which measures two
independent bipolar dimensions of stress (positive versus negative hedonic tone) and arousal
(vigour versus fatigue). Work on occupational stress has not always distinguished these two
dimensions. For example, Karasck ct 01. (1982)identify ‘unresolved strain’ with residual
arousal. Mackay et al.’s (1978)descriptions of the scales suggest that job satisfaction should be
more strongly related to stress than to arousal.
Demographic variables may be correlated with both mood and job satisfaction, and
hence obscure the relationship between them. Several studies suggest that higher job
satisfaction is associated with older age (e.g. Hulin and Smith 1%5. Kalleberg and Loscocco
1983).In contrast, Herzberg ct al. (1957)report that older and younger employees are higher
in job satisfaction than those of intermediate ages. Rahim (1982)discusses contradictory
evidence on the association between job satisfaction and the demographic variables of
education level, sex and marital status.
Job satiJfaciion a d mood 227

Two additional Gctors which might lffxtthe job satisfaction-mood correlation are the
day ofthe week and the time ofday. Venabla and Christie (1974) found differencesbetween
moods on Mondays and Fridays, using the Nowlis (1965) Mood Adjective Checklist, such
that nonchalance, deactivation and concentration were signrficantly lower on Monday. An
earlier study by Christie and Venabla (1973) failed to find any simple Monday/Friday
effects. however. Mood, also may show circadian rhythms (Thayer 1978). In the present
research, time of day was held constant, by assusing mood at noon. and mood was recorded
for each day of the working week.

Method
sample
The initial sample was 100 male white-collar workers situated in the Lee& head office of the
Yorkshire Water Authority. Their work was non-repetitive technical drawing and
planning, primarily within the office, with occasional site visits. They worked an average of
about 8 hours’ overtime per week. usually at home.

Measures
The SACL presents the respondent with 30 adjectives chosen as common descriptors of
mood. The respondent indicates how he or she fecls on a five point scale. Cox and Mackay
(1985) report split-half reliability coefficients of 0.80 and 0.82 for stress and arousal
respectively. Several validation s t u d m of the SACL have been reported (e.g. Burrows rt al.
1977, King et al. 1983).The Hoppock (1935) overall job satisfaction questionnaire was used
to measure job satisfaction. Recent wrs (e.g. Perone et al. 1979) have scored the
questionnaire to yield a possible range of overall job satisfaction between 4 and 29. The
source publication reports a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0-93. Demographic variables
were mwured by an inventory assessing age, qualification, marital status and time
employed on job.

Procedure
A questionnaire package was delivered personally to the 100 white-collar workers in the
study, who were informed that they would begin on the following Monday. The package
consisted of an introductory letter explaining the procedure, and five colour co-ordinated
sections clearly marked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Thursday, Friday. The
demographic inventory and the Hoppock job-satisfaction measure were given on Monday
and Friday, and the SACL on all five days. Each section had an envelope stapled to it, and the
subjects were instructed to place the completed questionnairc(s) in the envelope.

Data treatment and analysic

From the 100 questionnaires a 66% response rate was obtained: an acceptable return rate for
this kind of study (Bailey 1983). O n first analysis a further 8% were rejected who had filled
in the questionnaires incorrectly, leaving a final sample of 58.
The questionnaires were scored as follows. The age and job tenure of respondents were
recorded in years and months respectively. Marital status was coded for ‘single, divorced, or
separated’, versus ‘married’. Qualifications were coded according to the highest
228 C . Hollingworth et al.

qrulifiutions p o d by respondents. ategory ‘1’ up to CSE,‘2’ up to ‘0’ level, ‘3’ up

to‘A’ level or equivalent, ‘4’ up to degree or equivalent. (CSE and ‘0’ levels are normally
taken at age 16, with ‘0’levels being more &cult; ‘A’ levels are qualifications normally
necessvy for university entrance, taken at age 18.) Job sacisfiction was coded as follows,
with respect to the mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) of scores. Scores grater than
M +0.5 SD w m coded as 3 (€ugh), scores between M +0.5 SD and M -0-5 SD as 2
(medium), and scores l a than M -0.5 SD as 1 (low). Stress and arousal (SACL)were
scored as recommended by Cox and Mackay (1985).
All data were analysed using the SPSS computer package (Nie et al. 1975, Hull and Nic
1981). Generally. rektionhps bctwecn demographic variables, mood variables and job
satisfaction were tested as Spearman cornktions. Mood scores were expected to be
approximately normally distributed, and their interrelationships were zucssed by means of
Parson correlations. The ef‘ ofjob satisfaction and day of week on mood variables were
analyscd by a repeated measures analysis of variance, with day of week as a within-subjccts
factor (5 levels) and job satisfaction as a betwen-subjects factor (3levels). These ANOVAs
used a multiple regression model, because of u n q d Ns in the cells of the design.

RCSulb
Descriptive statistics
The means and standard deviation for the demographic variables and for job satisfaction
were ;If follows:
Age: M:32.2 SD: 8.2
Job tenure: M: 58.0 SD: 46.2
Quahfiations: M:2.93 SD: 0-90
Job satisfaction: M: 18.4 SD: 3.4
The age range was 21-53 years. The sample was hghly qualified, 74.2% having ‘A’ level
equivalent or degree qualifications.

lntmelatimships of indcpcndmt variables

The Spearman correlation between the Monday and Friday valua of job satisfaction was
0.91 (p<0-001. N = 58). This suggests that the job satisfiction measure was stable over this
length of time, and accorhgly the Monday value was used in the analyses reported here.
Table 1 gives the matrix of Spearman correlations between demographic variables and job

Table 1 . Interconelatim of demographic variables and j o b satisfaction.

Variable 1 2 3 4

1. Age -
2. Job tcnmc 0Wtt -
3. Qulhcations 0.26t 0.17 -
4. Job satisfaction -0.09 0.11 0.11 -
Note: Job satisfaction measured on Monday.
Corrchtions are Spearman r. TwMlilcd signiiicancc levels: tp<0.05;
tf p < 0-01; t w p <O.Ool.
Job satisfaction mUr mood 229

satisfaction. Not surprisingly, older age and longer job tenure were substantially posiavely
correlated. Older men also tended to have higher qualifications, though the relevant
correlations were small. Job satisfaction was independent of all demographic variables.

Interrelationships of mood and demographic variable3

Pearson correlations between mood variables on each day ofthe week were computed. The
range of cor~elationsbetween stress values on different days of the week was 0.20 to 0-71.
The correlation between stress on Monday and strcss on Friday was 0-44(p <0-001,N = 58).
The range of correlations between arousal values was 0.22 to 0.57, with a correlation of 0.49
(p<O.OOl, N=58) between arousal on Monday and arousal on Friday.
Weekly mean levels of s t r u s and arousal for a c h pmon across the five days of the week
were computed. As expected. weekly m a n strcss and m a n arousal were independent
(Pearson r =0.09,NS, N = 58). Spearman correlations between weekly mean levels of stress
and P r o d and the demograpluc variables are shown in table 2. None of these correlations
reached sigruficance. Correlations between r m and ~ arousal values on each individual day
and demographic variables were calculated for each day. Only four out of the 40
correlations computed (5 days x 4 demographic variables x 2 mood variables) were
signifiant. None of the significant correlations reflected a systematic change in the strength
of correlation over the week. For this reason, and because of the small number of significant
correlations these data arc not reported here.

Table 2. Correlationsbetween SACL mood v m ’ a b b (mean b e &for the week) and demographic variables.

shes Arousal

Age 0.00 0-16

Job tenure -0.20 0.14
Qdfications -0.15 0.16

Note: Correlations are Spearman r. Two-tailed significance Icvels as in cable 1.

Effects of j o b satisjktion and day of week on mood

Subjects were allocated to high (N =24). medium (N=21) and low (N= 13)jobsatisfaction
groups as described in the procedure above. The uneven dismbution was the result of the
negative skew ofjob satisfaction scores. Table 3 prcsents mean levels of stress for the three
levels ofjob satisfaction on each day of the week. and corresponding subject Ns. The main
effect of job satisfaction was significant (F(2.55) = 11-09, p < 0401). This effect indicates a
negative association between job satisfaction and stress. Mean daily levels of stress for high,
medium and low job satisfaction groups were 3.89.5.75 and 9.11 respectively. The main
effect of day of week was close to significance (F(4.220)=2.29. p<O.lO). Inspection of the
data suggested that strcss rose to a maximum on Wednesday and then fell over the last two
days of the week. Mean stress levels for the five days, from Monday to Friday, were 5.4,5.9,
6.7. 6.0 and 5.4 respectively. The difference between strcss levels on Wednesday and (1)
Monday and (2) Friday were tested post hoc by paired sample t-tests. The difference between
stress levels on Monday and Wednesday was significant (t(57) =2.23, p < 0-OS), as was the
difference in stress between Wednesday and Friday (r(57)=2-86. p <0.01). The interactive
effect of job satisfaction and day of week was not significant (F< 1).
 C. Holfingworth et d.

Tab& 3. SACL stress 0s ajLnaion of day of week and job satisjktion.

Job satisfiction

High Medium LOW

(N=24) (N==21) (N= 13)

Day of week
Monday 3.88 5.24 7.62
Tuesday 4.17 5.86 8.77
Wednesday 4.17 7.62 10.23
ThdY 4.04 5.38 10.23
Friday 3-21 4.67 8-69

Table 4 shows arousal as a function ofjob satisfaction and day of week. The analysis of
variance showed no significant main or interactive dfcca of the independent variables on
arousal.

Table 4. SACL arousal as afuncrion of day of week and job satisfaction.

Job sdisfa’on

High Medium LOW

(N=24) (N=21) (N=13)
~ ~~

Day of week
Monday 8.17 6.05 7-69
Tuesday 8.21 7.38 7-31
Wednesday 8.42 6-52 7.92
Thursday 7.54 8.48 7.23
Friday 8-46 7.38 6-54

Discussion
The main empirical finding here was the association between high job satisfaction and low
stress. This result is broadly consistent with the data reviewed in the introduction. The job
satisfaction-stress relationship was not an artifact ofcorrelations between these two variables
and the demographic variables, and the effect of job satisfaction on stress was stable across
the working week. The independence ofjob satisfaction and arousal shows the importance
of distinguishing between the SACL stress and arousal dimensions. This finding also calls
into question Karvek ct d ’ s (1%2) identification of the individual’s stress response (‘strain’)
with residual arousal.
The Monday-Friday tat-retest correlations indicated that the Hoppock (1935) job
satisfaction measure appeared to be a dimension with some stability. while the mood
variables showed a more state-like variability over the week. The moderate positive
correlations between Monday and Friday moods could either reflect effects on mood of
invariant features of the working environment. or a trait-like component of mood
characteristic of the individual (see King ct al. 1983). Job satisfaction is clearly more stable
over the week than mood (even allowing for the different correlation coefficients). This
Job satisfartion and mood 231

raises the possibility of a causal effect of job satisfaction on mood. While a more stable
characteristic may affect a more variable state. together with other variables. it is difficult to
see how the revery process could operate.
There are then two broad possibilities for explaining the association between low job
satisfaction and increased stress. First, job satisfaction could directly d e c t the emotion of
stress by a cognitive a p p d mechanism (Schachta and Singer 1%2. Cox 1978). The high
job satisfaction individual may be more likely to appraise his mood as being non-stresshl.
Second, both stress and low job satisfaction may be symptoms of poor adaptation to the
work environment. Adaptation can be chlncterised in terms of ‘pmon-cnvironment’ (P-
E) fit (French 1973). Where work fails to satisfy the penon’s motives, and/or imposes
demands discrepant with the penon’s abilities. then the P-E fit is low. Mwurrs of P-E fit
predict both job satisfaction and anxiety (French ct al. 1982). In the present context, it may
be thox individuals who are most poorly adapted to the intrinsic nature of their jobs, and to
the work patterns imposed by project work, who are prone to develop both high SACL
stress and low job satisfaction, with stress being more susceptible to day-today variation in
working conditions.
Distinguishmg between these causal mechanisms is of practical importance. If the
amtudt, associated with low job satisfiction are the primary caw of increased stress. then
stress can be reduced by cognitive restructuring.Water workers could be encouraged to see
project work as challenging rather than threatening, for example. On this explanation,
o t h a aspects of the work environment may be of lesser importance. Alternatively, if both
stress and job satisfaction reflect poor P-E fit, then interventions will need to be directed
towards individuals’ specific maladaptations to the particular work environment. In this
we, the details of the work environment may be crucial. These two possibilities could be
tested statistically, by collecting data which allowed P-E fit to be ‘pamalled out’ of the job
satisfaction-stress correlation. A stronger but more laborious test of causal mechanisms
would be to conduct a longitudinal study of the kind reported by Eckenrode (1984).
Finally, stress in the middle of the week (Wednesday) was higher than on Monday and
on Friday. This day of week effect may have resulted from specific futures of the work
environment. Alternatively. there may be a general tendency for perceived distance of the
day from the weekend to act as one of the cognitive determinants of stress. If so. the trend in
some industries and in the retail trade towards weekend working may increase stress
independently of the number of hours worked, if workdays are thereby appraised as being
further from rest days.

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