Affiliations: ArboNed Corporate Accounts, Leeuwarden, The
Netherlands | ArboNed Groningen, 9700 AC Groningen, The
Netherlands | Department of Social Medicine, University Medical
Center, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Note: [] Address for correspondence: C.A.M. Roelen, ArboNed N.V., PO Box
132 Telephone: +31 58 2339233, 8900 AC Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31
58 2131823; E-mail: corne.roelen@arboned.nl
Abstract: Background: Job satisfaction is associated with mental health.
Employees could be counselled on how they feel about their work. If specific
aspects of their job are causing particular dissatisfaction, they could be
assisted to appropriately change these aspects. Objective: There is no 'gold standard' indicating the aspects
that should be taken into account when job satisfaction is measured. This study
investigated which work factors determine job satisfaction. Method: A self-report questionnaire was sent to a random
sample of 822 out of 1908 active employees. The questionnaire examined overall
job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with specific work aspects using valid
single-item measures. Results: The response rate was 63%. Overall job
satisfaction was 5.3 ± 1.3 on a Likert-scale ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The work factors explained 54% of the
variance in job satisfaction. Specific satisfaction with task variety,
colleagues, working conditions, and workload were positively related to overall
job satisfaction, as were career perspectives and job autonomy. Conclusion: Task variety, working conditions, workload, and
career perspectives determine the greater part of job satisfaction. An
instrument including these factors would provide beneficial information beyond
current measures of job satisfaction.
Keywords: Overall job satisfaction, specific job satisfaction, job satisfaction instruments, content of job satisfaction
