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Meaning-Based Job-Related Well-being: Exploring a Meaningful Work Conceptualization of Job Satisfaction

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Abstract

An alternative conceptualization for job satisfaction, the most commonly measured variable in organizational, vocational, and work psychology literatures, is explored in 3 differing samples totaling 811 working adults. Eudaimonic, meaning-based job-related well-being (MJW) predicts job and life outcomes just as well as the more commonly measured hedonic, pleasure-based job satisfaction (JS), and MJW relates to outcomes above and beyond JS. MJW locates a new origin of job satisfaction in the person, in a life situation, in a community and social relations, rather than in the work organization. Our findings demonstrate that MJW is distinct from but related to JS and other job attitudes, and that facets of MJW exist that have been excluded from job satisfaction research, including satisfaction with the impacts of the job on family, life, and standard of living, how the job facilitates expression and development of the self, and sense of transcendent purpose through job role. These facets are important to individuals, the practice of management, organizational design, and society. MJW derives from the impact of jobs on workers’ larger worlds and on the fulfillment of their basic human needs from work. Thus, the causes of job satisfaction broaden from enjoyment of work in isolation, to its contextualized meaning and impact in workers’ lives. This is the first study in many decades, of which we are aware, to broaden the conceptualization of the origins of work attitudes beyond the confines of the workplace.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to colleagues who were helpful as the ideas in this research developed, and would especially like to thank John Budd, René Dawis, Angelo DeNisi, and Paul Sackett. We are also grateful to Chad Brinsfield, Sara Christenson, Jennifer George, Theresa Glomb, Annelise Larson, Christopher Michaelson, Anne O’Leary-Kelly, Ramona Paetzold, Caleb Williams, and members of the research workshop series at the Carlson School, University of Minnesota and Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, for helpful comments on earlier versions of this work. Separate elements of this paper were presented in August 2012 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association and in April 2013 at the annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of St. Thomas-Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA

    Teresa J. Rothausen & Kevin E. Henderson

  2. Department of Management, University of St. Thomas-Minnesota, 1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 443, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, USA

    Teresa J. Rothausen

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  1. Teresa J. Rothausen
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Correspondence to Teresa J. Rothausen.

Appendix

Appendix

Global and Facet Job Satisfaction (JS) and Meaning-Based Job-Related Well-Being (MJW) Measures

These items were used to measure global and facet JS and MJW in this research.

Global Measures

Please indicate how you have felt over the last few months to a year about these aspects of your job.

1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = slightly disagree; 4 = neither agree nor disagree; 5 = slightly agree; 6 = agree; 7 = strongly agree.

Global JS.

I am happy in my job

I enjoy my job

I experience enjoyment in my job

My job is pleasant

GlobalMJW (see discussion in limitations section)

My job makes an impact

My job makes a difference

My job makes a contribution

My job helps others

Facet Measures

In my present job, over the last few months to a year, this is how I feel about _______.

1 = extremely dissatisfied; 2 = dissatisfied; 3 = slightly dissatisfied; 4 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied; 5 = slightly satisfied; 6 = satisfied; 7 = extremely satisfied

Facet JS

Satisfaction with Tasks in the Job

The work tasks I do each day on my job

The activities I do daily on my job

The tasks I do regularly for my job

Satisfaction with Work Relationships in the Job

My relationships with people I work with regularly

My relationships with others in this work

The other people I encounter on this job regularly

Satisfaction with the Organization in which my Job Occurs

The overall organization I work for

The organization in which I work

My organization overall

Facet MJW (please see Table 8 and related discussion)

Satisfaction with Expression in the Job

The way my job allows me to express important aspects of who I am

How my job expresses who I am

The sense of integrity with core aspects of myself in doing my job

Satisfaction with Development in the Job

The way my job contributes to my development

How my job facilitates my continued learning and growth

The way I continue to grow and develop from doing my job

Satisfaction with Role in a Larger or Transcendent Purpose the Job Provides

How my job gives me a role in a larger purpose

My sense of pride in the product we produce or service we provide

How what I do in the job has value to others/society

Satisfaction with Standard of Living Impact of the Job

The way my job contributes to my overall financial condition

The income my job provides for me and my loved ones

How my job provides enough money for the life I want

Satisfaction with Impact of the Job on Family as Defined

The way my job impacts my family, as I define family

The way my job impacts those people most important to me in life

The benefits of my job to my family and others important to me

Satisfaction with Impact of the Job on Whole Life

How my job fits with a good overall life for me

The good my job contributes to my life, all thing considered

The way my job contributes to a good life for me

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Rothausen, T.J., Henderson, K.E. Meaning-Based Job-Related Well-being: Exploring a Meaningful Work Conceptualization of Job Satisfaction. J Bus Psychol 34, 357–376 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9545-x

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