Popular Job Satisfaction Theories

Job satisfaction has been recognized as a business priority since the beginning of the
20th century. Its research and theories, which overlap with theories explaining
motivation, can help change agents better understand the employee experience,
identify factors impacting job satisfaction, and develop potential solutions for positive
change. Oftentimes, real world situations call for the application of more than one
theory.

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy

Key Concept: A hierarchy of needs motivates human behavior; the five-tier model is
divided into deficiency needs (physiological, safety, love/belonging and esteem) and the
top level known as growth or being needs (self-actualization).
 Figure 3: Maslow's Needs Hierarchy

Put It In Action:

 Offer supports for physical and emotional health

 Encourage a sense of physical and psychological safety and security

 Provide opportunities to socialize and build comradery

 Offer respect, recognize accomplishments, and provide an environment to learn

 Communicate how one’s work is tied to organization’s mission

 Understand employees’ personal and professional goals and support their success

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Key Concept: Factors causing job satisfaction (motivators) are different from those
causing job dissatisfaction (dissatisfiers-also referred to as hygiene factors).

Figure 4: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

 Put It In Action:

 Eliminate factors that cause dissatisfaction

 Fix poor and obstructive company policies

 Create and support a culture of respect and inclusion for all employees

 Ensure wages are competitive and fair

 Create conditions for job satisfaction

 Provide opportunities for achievement

 Recognize and reward contributions

 Give employees appropriate responsibility and autonomy

 Provide opportunities for career development and advancement

McClelland’s Motivation Theory

Key Concept: People possess three motivational needs (achievement, power and
affiliation) and exhibit a combination of these characteristics; some employees have a
strong bias towards a particular motivational need(s).
 Achievement. Strives to succeed. Desires more feedback and job advancement.
 Power. Desires to lead and for their ideas to prevail. Gets things done to make an impact.
 Affiliation. Desires to teach and coach. Values interaction. Focused on accomplishing group
goals.

Put It In Action:

Understand the combination or rank of the three motivational needs for each employee

 High need for achievement: Give these individuals challenging projects with reachable goals;
frequent feedback may be a more important motivator than money

 High need for affiliation: Create a cooperative environment and provide opportunities to
collaborate and work with others
 High need for power: Give opportunities to lead; status and recognition are important

Job Design (or Characteristics) Model

Key Concept: Hackman and Oldman identified five core job dimensions that prompt
three psychological states which lead to personal and work-related outcomes, including
job satisfaction. If any three psychological states are not present, outcomes will be
weakened. The theory also emphasizes that internal motivation is the most important
outcome variable.
 Figure 5: Job Design (or Characteristics) Model

Moderators:

 1 | Knowledge & skill

 2 | Growth need strength
 2 | Context satisfaction

Put It In Action

 Add variety and challenge through stretch assignments and/or job rotations

 Enable job crafting by encouraging employees to “customize their jobs to better fit their motives,
strengths and passions”24
 Change the organizational structure and procedures so employees have more power

 Delegate responsibility and give autonomy

 Share information that affects one’s work

 Assign work to teams, not individuals

 Set high, attainable goals and give feedback

 Explain how employees’ role fits into the big picture and success of the company

Job Crafting for Improved Satisfaction

Job crafting, which elaborates on the job design model, is the process of reframing and
altering work to incorporate one’s strengths and passions. Job crafting is motivated by a
need or desire to enhance the meaning of work, increase control, or fulfill a passion.

Altering the number, type or nature of tasks (e.g., taking on additional tasks),
interactions with others (e.g., building relationships) and cognitive perception of work
(e.g., aligning work with passions) are job crafting techniques. The outcomes of job
crafting include changes to one’s work identity, positive experiences (e.g.,
achievement), resilience, personal growth, engagement and job satisfaction. Leaders
should also beware of and mitigate potential unintended negative outcomes of job
crafting, such as additional stress.25
“

“Job crafting captures the active changes employees make to their own
job designs in ways that can bring about numerous positive outcomes,
including engagement, job satisfaction, resilience, and thriving.”

Justin Berg, Jane Dutton and Amy Wrzeniewski

Other Job Satisfaction Theories to Explore...

Theories X & Y

A manager’s perception of people influences their leadership style. Theory X assumes

people don’t want to work, leading to an authoritarian style. Theory Y assumes people
are inherently happy to work but have different needs, leading to a participative
management style. Theory Y highlights the motivating role of job satisfaction and
encourages more autonomy and trust in the workplace. 26

Equity Theory

Employees try to maintain a balance between what they give an organization and what
they receive from the organization. Satisfaction is based on how this input/output ratio
compares to those around them. When an employee perceives there is a balance of
what they give to the organization and what they get, and this ratio is similar to others,
the employee is likely to be very satisfied.27

ERG Theory

This theory simplifies and broadens Maslow’s hierarchy into three needs—existence
(physiological and safety needs); relatedness (social needs); and growth (self-
development and advancement). An individual can work on growth needs while
existence or relatedness needs remain unsatisfied. Also, if a need is not being met, an
individual will try to increase satisfaction with another need. 28