Job Longevity and Growth Need Strength as Joint Moderators of the Task Design-Job Satisfaction Relationship
- 1 October 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Human Relations
- Vol. 36 (10) , 883-898
- https://doi.org/10.1177/001872678303601002
Abstract
This paper examines job longevity and growth need strength as moderators of the job complexity-job satisfaction relationship. Data from two studies of blue-collar employees (n = 390 and n = 406) were examined using moderated regression analysis and subgroup correlation analytic techniques. The findings show, contrary to previously reported results, that job longevity is not a significant moderator of the job complexity-job satisfaction relationship. Similarly, the direct moderator effect of growth need strength did not replicate across studies. A consistent finding was obtained, however, suggesting that growth need strength moderates the job complexity-job satisfaction relationship only for employees with short job tenure. It is concluded that specifying the conditions within which moderators are important, rather than expecting consistent individual differences across all circumstances, may yet have important implications for both organizational theory and practice.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- The graying of achievement motivation.American Psychologist, 1981
- APPLICATIONS OF MODERATED REGRESSION IN JOB DESIGN RESEARCHPersonnel Psychology, 1980
- Individual differences and task design: A laboratory experimentOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1980
- Individual Differences and Job Design Reconsidered: Where Do We Go from Here?Academy of Management Review, 1980
- A Preliminary Examination of Some Complex Job Scope-Growth Need Strength Interactions.Academy of Management Proceedings, 1978
- Validation and extension of an individual differences model of work performanceOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1977
- Job characteristic relationships: individual and structural moderatorsOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1976
- The measurement and dimensionality of job characteristics.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1976
- Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1975
- Problems with the use of "moderator" variables.Psychological Bulletin, 1971