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Job Performance

• September 2012
• In book: Handbook of psychology, vol. 12: Industrial and organizational psychology (pp.82-103)
• Edition: 2nd
• Chapter: Job performance
• Publisher: Wiley
• Editors: Neal W. Schmitt, Scott Highhouse

• Rice University

• Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO)

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Who is the Best Person for the Job?

Psychological tests and assessments have been used in personnel selection since World War I, but until the 1980s, it was assumed that the determinants of success varied extensively from job to job, and from organization to organization. In particular, it was widely believed that tests that were highly effective predictors of success in one job or one organization might turn out to be useless as predictors of success in other similar jobs or organizations, and that it would be necessary to build selection tests one job and one organization at a time. Several decades of research by psychologists Frank Schmidt, PhD, and John Hunter, PhD, showed that this assumption was incorrect, and that it was possible to establish clear, simple, and generalizable links between broad individual difference variables, such as general cognitive ability or personality traits and success in a wide range of jobs.

Significance

Two broad individual difference variables, general cognitive ability and conscientiousness, appear to be relevant to performance in virtually every job studied. Measuring these two variables alone, it is often possible to account for 20-30% of the variance in job performance, with even higher predictability in more complex jobs. It is often possible to improve prediction somewhat by adding job-specific predictors, but the most important predictors of performance are often the most universal (psychologist Malcolm Ree and colleagues suggest that the influence of general cognitive abilities is so broad and so strong that there is little to be gained by studying specific abilities that would seem relevant on the basis of an examination of job content). As a result of this research, our understanding of how individual differences influence job performance has moved from a model in which every job and every organization was thought to be unique (meaning that whatever you learned from studying performance in one job would have little relevance to understanding performance in other jobs) towards a model in which broad theoretical statements about the relationships between characteristics of people and characteristics of jobs interacting can be proposed and tested.

For example, Schmidt and Hunter's research suggests that general cognitive ability influences job performance largely through its role in the acquisition and use of information about how to do one's job. Individuals with higher levels of cognitive ability acquire new information more easily and more quickly, and are able to use that information more effectively. Drawing from this literature, psychologist Kevin Murphy, PhD, suggested that cognitive ability should be more important in complex jobs, when individuals are new to the job, and when there are changes in the workplace that require workers to learn new ways of performing their jobs. All of these predictions have been tested and supported.

Practical Application

Research linking broad concepts such as cognitive ability and conscientiousness to performance in a wide range of jobs has transformed the practice of personnel selection. At one time, personnel selection seemed to require custom test development for every new job, organization, etc., and it often appeared that these tests did a relatively poor job predicting job performance. Psychological research has lead to better approaches to selection that provide an excellent starting point for predicting future success (applicants who are high on cognitive ability and conscientiousness are likely to be relatively successful in a wide array of jobs).

Cognitive ability tests are widely used in both military and civilian sectors, but their use is often controversial because of ethnic group differences in ability tests scores. Personality inventories typically do not show these ethnic group differences, and the combination of cognitive tests and measures of broad personality factors can serve to both increase the validity of selection decisions and reduce, somewhat, the group differences in selection outcomes that would be produced using cognitive tests alone.

Cited Research

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta analysis. Personnel Psychology, Vol. 44, pp. 1-26.

Murphy, K. (1989). Is the relationship between cognitive ability and job performance stable over time? Human Performance, Vol. 2, pp. 183-200.

Ree, M. J., & Earles, J. A. (1992). Intelligence is the best predictor of job performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. 1, pp. 86-89.

Ree, M. J., Earles, J. A., & Teachout, M. S. (1994). Predicting job performance: Not much more than g. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 79, pp. 518-524.

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1981). Employment testing: Old theories and new research findings. American Psychologist, Vol. 36, pp. 1128-1137.

Schmidt, F. L. & Hunter, J. E . (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 124, pp. 262-274.

Tett, R. P., Jackson, D. N., & Rothstein, M. (1991). Personality measures as predictors of job performance: A meta-analytic review. Personnel Psychology, Vol. 44, pp. 703-742.

Waters, B. K. (1997). Army alpha to CAT-ASVAB: Four-score years of military personnel selection and classification testing. In R. F. Dillon (Ed.), Handbook on testing (pp. 187-203). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Welsh, J. R., Kucinkas, S. K., & Curran, L. T. (1990). Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB): Integrative review of validity studies. Brooks Air Force Base.

American Psychological Association, May 20, 2004

Employee psychological well-being and job performance: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms

International Journal of Organizational Analysis

ISSN : 1934-8835

Article publication date: 12 August 2020

Issue publication date: 7 May 2021

Given the importance of employee psychological well-being to job performance, this study aims to investigate the mediating role of affective commitment between psychological well-being and job performance while considering the moderating role of job insecurity on psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were gathered from employees working in cellular companies of Pakistan using paper-and-pencil surveys. A total of 280 responses were received. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling technique and Hayes’s Model 1.

Findings suggest that affective commitment mediates the association between psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and employee job performance. In addition, perceived job insecurity buffers the association of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment.

Practical implications

The study results suggest that fostering employee psychological well-being may be advantageous for the organization. However, if interventions aimed at ensuring job security are not made, it may result in adverse employee work-related attitudes and behaviors.

Originality/value

The study extends the current literature on employee well-being in two ways. First, by examining psychological well-being in terms of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being with employee work-related attitude and behavior. Second, by highlighting the prominent role played by perceived job insecurity in explaining some of these relationships.

• Psychological well-being
• Affective commitment
• Job insecurity
• Job performance
• Eudaimonic wellbeing
• Hedonic wellbeing

Kundi, Y.M. , Aboramadan, M. , Elhamalawi, E.M.I. and Shahid, S. (2021), "Employee psychological well-being and job performance: exploring mediating and moderating mechanisms", International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 736-754. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-05-2020-2204

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Mohammed Aboramadan, Eissa M.I. Elhamalawi and Subhan Shahid.

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Does the employee well-being have important implications both at work and for other aspects of an employees’ life? Of course! For years, we have known that they impact life at work and a plethora of research has examined the impact of employee well-being on work outcomes (Karapinar et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). What is less understood is how employee well-being impacts job performance. Evidence suggests that employee health and well-being are among the most critical factors for organizational success and performance (Bakker et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). Several studies have documented that employee well-being leads to various individual and organizational outcomes such as increased organizational performance and productivity (Hewett et al. , 2018 ), customer satisfaction (Sharma et al. , 2016 ), employee engagement (Tisu et al. , 2020 ) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Mousa et al. , 2020 ).

The organizations’ performance and productivity are tied to the performance of its employees (Shin and Konrad, 2017 ). Much evidence has shown the value of employee job performance (i.e. the measurable actions, behaviors and outcomes that employee engages in or bring about which are linked with and contribute to organizational goals; Viswesvaran and Ones, 2017 ) for organizational outcomes and success (Al Hammadi and Hussain, 2019 ; Shin and Konrad, 2017 ), which, in turn, has led scholars to seek to understand what drives employee performance. Personality traits (Tisu et al. , 2020 ), job conditions and organizational characteristics (Diamantidis and Chatzoglou, 2019 ) have all been identified as critical antecedents of employee job performance.

However, one important gap remains in current job performance research – namely, the role of psychological well-being in job performance (Hewett et al. , 2018 ). Although previous research has found happy workers to be more productive than less happy or unhappy workers (DiMaria et al. , 2020 ), a search of the literature revealed few studies on psychological well-being and job performance relationship (Salgado et al. , 2019 ; Turban and Yan, 2016 ). Also, very little is known about the processes that link psychological well-being to job performance. Only a narrow spectrum of well-being related antecedents of employee performance has been considered, especially in terms of psychological well-being. Enriching our understanding of the consequences and processes of psychological well-being in the workplace, the present study examines the relationship between psychological well-being and job performance in the workplace setting. Such knowledge will not only help managers to attain higher organizational performance during the uncertain times but will uncover how to keep employees happy and satisfied (DiMaria et al. , 2020 ).

Crucially, to advance job performance research, more work is needed to examine the relationship between employees’ psychological well-being and their job performance (Ismail et al. , 2019 ). As Salgado et al. (2019) elaborated, we need to consider how an employees’ well-being affects ones’ performance at work. In an attempt to fill this gap in the literature, the present study seeks to advance job performance research by linking ones’ psychological well-being in terms of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being to ones’ job performance. Hedonic well-being refers to the happiness achieved through experiences of pleasure and enjoyment, while eudaimonic well-being refers to the happiness achieved through experiences of meaning and purpose (Huta, 2016 ; Rahmani et al. , 2018 ). We argue that employees with high levels of psychological well-being will perform well as compared to those having lower levels of psychological well-being. We connect this psychological well-being-job performance process through an employee affective commitment (employees’ perceptions of their emotional attachment to or identification with their organization; Allen and Meyer, 1996 ) – by treating it as a mediating variable between well-being-performance relationship.

Additionally, we also examine the moderating role of perceived job insecurity in the well-being-performance relationship. Perceived job insecurity refers to has been defined as the perception of being threatened by job loss or an overall concern about the continued existence of the job in the future (De Witte et al. , 2015 ). There is evidence that perceived job insecurity diminishes employees’ level of satisfaction and happiness and may lead to adverse job-related outcomes such as decreased work engagement (Karatepe et al. , 2020 ), deviant behavior (Soomro et al. , 2020 ) and reduced employee performance (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ). Thus, addressing the gap mentioned above, this study has two-fold objectives; First, to examine how the path between psychological well-being and job performance is mediated through employee affective commitment. The reason to inquire about this path is that well-being is associated with an employees’ happiness, pleasure and personal growth (Ismail et al. , 2019 ). Therefore, higher the well-being, higher will be the employees’ affective commitment, which, in turn, will lead to enhanced job performance. The second objective is to empirically test the moderating effects of perceived job insecurity on employees’ emotional attachment with their organizations. Thus, we propose that higher job insecurity may reduce the well-being of employees and their interaction may result in lowering employees’ emotional attachment with their organization.

The present study brings together employee well-being and performance literature and contributes to these research areas in two ways. First, we contribute to this line of inquiry by investigating the direct and indirect crossover from hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being to employees’ job performance. We propose that psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) influence job performance through employee affective commitment. Second, prior research shows that the effect of well-being varies across individuals indicating the presence of possible moderators influencing the relationship between employee well-being and job outcomes (Lee, 2019 ). We, therefore, extend the previous literature by proposing and demonstrating the general possibility that perceived job insecurity might moderate the relationship of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment. While there is evidence that perceived job insecurity influence employees’ affective commitment (Schumacher et al. , 2016 ), what is not yet clear is the impact of perceived job insecurity on psychological well-being − affective commitment relationship. The proposed research model is depicted in Figure 1 .

2. Hypotheses development

2.1 psychological well-being and affective commitment.

Well-being is a broad concept that refers to individuals’ valued experience (Bandura, 1986 ) in which they become more effective in their work and other activities (Huang et al. , 2016 ). According to Diener (2009) , well-being as a subjective term, which describes people’s happiness, the fulfillment of wishes, satisfaction, abilities and task accomplishments. Employee well-being is further categorized into two types, namely, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Compton et al. (1996) investigated 18 scales that assess employee well-being and found that all the scales are categorized into two broad categories, namely, subjective well-being and personal growth. The former is referred to as hedonic well-being (Ryan and Deci, 2000 ) whereas, the latter is referred to as eudaimonic well-being (Waterman, 1993 ).

Hedonic well-being is based on people’s cognitive component (i.e. people’s conscious assessment of all aspects of their life; Diener et al. , 1985 ) and affective component (i.e. people’s feelings that resulted because of experiencing positive or negative emotions in reaction to life; Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). In contrast, eudaimonic well-being describes people’s true nature and realization of their actual potential (Waterman, 1993 ). Eudaimonic well-being corresponds to happy life based upon ones’ self-reliance and self-truth (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Diener et al. (1985) argued that hedonic well-being focuses on happiness and has a more positive affect and greater life satisfaction, and focuses on pleasure, happiness and positive emotions (Ryan and Deci, 2000 ; Ryff, 2018 ). Contrarily, eudaimonic well-being is different from hedonic well-being as it focuses on true self and personal growth (Waterman, 1993 ), recognition for ones’ optimal ability and mastery ( Ryff, 2018 ). In the past, it has been found that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being are relatively correlated with each other but are distinct concepts (Sheldon et al. , 2018 ).

To date, previous research has measured employee psychological well-being with different indicators such as thriving at work (Bakker et al. , 2019 ), life satisfaction (Clark et al. , 2019 ) and social support (Cai et al. , 2020 ) or general physical or psychological health (Grey et al. , 2018 ). Very limited studies have measured psychological well-being with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, which warrants further exploration (Ballesteros-Leiva et al. , 2017 ). Therefore, this study assesses employee psychological well-being based upon two validated measures, namely, hedonic well-being (people’s satisfaction with life in general) and eudaimonic well-being (people’s personal accomplishment feelings).

Employee well-being has received some attention in organization studies (Huang et al. , 2016 ). Prior research has argued that happier and healthier employees increase their effort, performance and productivity (Huang et al. , 2016 ). Similarly, research has documented that employee well-being has a positive influence on employee work-related attitudes and behaviors such as, increasing OCB (Mousa et al. , 2020 ), as well as job performance (Magnier-Watanabe et al. , 2017 ) and decreasing employees’ work-family conflict (Karapinar et al. , 2019 ) and absenteeism (Schaumberg and Flynn, 2017 ). Although there is evidence that employee well-being positively influences employee work-related attitudes, less is known about the relationship between psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and employee affective commitment (Pan et al. , 2018 ; Semedo et al. , 2019 ). Moreover, the existing literature indicated that employee affective commitment is either used as an antecedent or an outcome variable of employee well-being (Semedo et al. , 2019 ; Ryff, 2018 ). However, affective commitment as an outcome variable of employee well-being has gained less scholarly attention, which warrants further investigation. Therefore, in the present study, we seek to examine employee affective commitment as an outcome variable of employee psychological well-being because employees who are happy and satisfied in their lives are more likely to be attached to their organizations (Semedo et al. , 2019 ).

Hedonic well-being positively predicts employee affective commitment.

Eudaimonic well-being positively predicts employee affective commitment.

2.2 Affective commitment and job performance

The concept of organizational commitment was first initiated by sit-bet theory in the early 1960s (Becker, 1960 ). Organizational commitment is defined as the psychological connection of employees to the organization and involvement in it (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005 ). It is also defined as the belief of an individual in his or her organizational norms (Hackett et al. , 2001 ); the loyalty of an employee toward the organization (Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005 ) and willingness of an employee to participate in organizational duties (Williams and Anderson, 1991 ).

Organizational commitment is further categorized into three correlated but distinct categories (Meyer et al. , 1993 ), known as affective, normative and continuance. In affective commitment, employees are emotionally attached to their organization. In normative commitment, employees remain committed to their organizations due to the sense of obligation to serve. While in continuance commitment, employees remain committed to their organization because of the costs associated with leaving the organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990 , p. 2). Among the dimensions of organizational commitment, affective commitment has been found to have the most substantial influence on organizational outcomes (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001 ). It is a better predictor of OCB (Paul et al. , 2019 ), low turnover intention (Kundi et al. , 2018 ) and job performance (Jain and Sullivan, 2019 ).

Affective commitment positively predict employee job performance.

2.3 Affective commitment as a mediator

Many studies had used the construct of affective commitment as an independent variable, mediator and moderating variable because of its importance as an effective determinant of work outcomes such as low turnover intention, job satisfaction and job performance (Jain and Sullivan, 2019 ; Kundi et al. , 2018 ). There is very little published research on employee well-being and affective commitment relationship. Surprisingly, the effects of employee psychological well-being in terms of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being have not been closely examined.

Affective commitment mediates the association between hedonic well-being and job performance.

Affective commitment mediates the association between eudaimonic well-being and job performance.

2.4 The moderating role of job insecurity

Job insecurity is gaining importance because of the change in organizational structure as it is becoming flattered, change in the nature of the job as it requires a diverse skill set and change in human resource (HR) practices as more temporary workers are hired nowadays (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ; Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Such changes have caused several adverse outcomes such as job dissatisfaction (Bouzari and Karatepe, 2018 ), unethical pro-organizational behavior (Ghosh, 2017 ), poor performance (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ), anxiety and lack of commitment (Wang et al. , 2018 ).

Lack of harmony on the definition of job insecurity can be found among the researchers. However, a majority of them acknowledge that job insecurity is subjective and can be referred to as a subjective perception (Wang et al. , 2018 ). Furthermore, job insecurity is described as the perception of an employee regarding the menace of losing a job in the near future (De Witte et al. , 2015 ). When there is job insecurity, employees experience a sense of threat to the continuance and stability of their jobs (Shoss, 2017 ).

Although job insecurity has been found to influence employee work-related attitudes, less is known about its effects on behavioral outcomes (Piccoli et al. , 2017 ). As maintained by the social exchange theory, behaviors are the result of an exchange process (Blau, 1964 ). Furthermore, these exchanges can be either tangible or socio-emotional aspects of the exchange process (Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Employees who perceive and feel that their organization is providing them job security and taking care of their well-being will turn to be more committed to their organization (Kundi et al. , 2018 ; Wang et al. , 2018 ). Much research has found that employees who feel job security are happier and satisfied with their lives (Shoss, 2017 ; De Witte et al. , 2015 ) and are more committed to their work and organization (Bouzari and Karatepe, 2018 ; Wang et al. , 2018 ). Shoss (2017) conducted a thorough study on job insecurity and found that job insecurity can cause severe adverse consequences for both the employees and organizations.

Employees who are uncertain about their jobs (i.e. high level of perceived job insecurity) are less committed with their organizations.

Employees with temporary job contracts were found to have low organizational committed as compared to the employees with permanent job contracts.

Such a difference between temporary and permanent job contract holders was mainly due to the perceived job insecurity by the temporary job contract holders.

Job insecurity will moderate the relationship between hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being and affective organizational commitment.

3.1 Sample and procedure

The data for this study came from a survey of Pakistani employees, who worked in five private telecommunication organizations (Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Zong and Warid). These five companies were targeted because they are the largest and highly competitive companies in Pakistan. Moreover, the telecom sector is a private sector where jobs are temporary or contractual (Kundi et al. , 2018 ). Hence, the investigation of how employees’ perceptions of job insecurity influence their psychological well-being and its outcomes is highly relevant in this context. Studies exploring such a phenomenon are needed, particularly in the Pakistani context, to have a better insight and thereby strengthen the employee well-being and job performance literature.

Two of the authors had personal and professional contacts to gain access to these organizations. The paper-and-pencil method was used to gather the data. Questionnaires were distributed among 570 participants with a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study, noted that participation was voluntary, and provided assurances that their responses would be kept confidential and anonymous. After completion of the questionnaires, the surveys were collected the surveys on-site by one of the authors. As self-reported data often render itself to common method bias (CMB; Podsakoff et al. , 2012 ), we applied several procedural remedies such as reducing the ambiguity in the questions, ensuring respondent anonymity and confidentiality, separating of the predictor and criterion variable and randomizing the item order to limit this bias.

Of the 570 surveys distributed initially, 280 employees completed the survey form (response rate = 49%). According to Baruch and Holtom (2008) , the average response rate for studies at the individual level is 52.6% (SD = 19.7). Hence, our response rate meets the standard for a minimum acceptable response rate, which is 49%. Of the 280 respondents, 39% were female, their mean age was 35.6 years (SD = 5.22) and the average organizational tenure was 8.61 years (SD  =  4.21). The majority of the respondents had at least a bachelors’ degree (83 %). Respondents represented a variety of departments, including marketing (29%), customer services (26%), finance (20%), IT (13%) and HR (12%).

3.2 Measures

The survey was administered to the participants in English. English is the official language of correspondence for professional organizations in Pakistan (De Clercq et al. , 2019 ). All the constructs came from previous research and anchored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Strongly disagree to 5 = Strongly agree.

Psychological well-being. We measured employee psychological well-being with two sub-dimensions, namely, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being. Hedonic well-being was measured using five items (Diener et al. , 1985 ). A sample item is “my life conditions are excellent” ( α = 0.86). Eudaimonic well-being was measured using 21 items (Waterman et al. , 2010 ), of which seven items were reverse-scored due to its negative nature. Sample items are “I feel that I understand what I was meant to do in my life” and “my life is centered around a set of core beliefs that give meaning to my life” ( α = 0.81).

Affective commitment. The affective commitment was measured using a six-item inventory developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) . The sample items are “my organization inspires me to put forth my best effort” and “I think that I will be able to continue working here” ( α = 0.91).

Job insecurity. Job insecurity was measured using a five-item inventory developed by Chirumbolo et al. (2015) . The sample item is “I fear I will lose my job” ( α = 0.87).

Job performance . We measured employee job performance with the seven-item inventory developed by Williams and Anderson (1991) . The sample items are “I do fulfill my responsibilities, which are mentioned in the job description” and “I try to work as hard as possible” ( α = 0.87).

Controls. We controlled for respondents’ age (assessed in years), gender (1 = male, 2 = female) and organizational tenure (assessed in years) because prior research (Alessandri et al. , 2019 ; Edgar et al. , 2020 ) has found significant effects of these variables on employees’ job performance.

4.1 Descriptive statistics

Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations and correlations among study variables.

4.2 Construct validity

Before testing hypotheses, we conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyzes (CFAs) using AMOS 22.0 to examine the distinctiveness of our study variables. Following the guidelines of Hu and Bentler (1999) , model fitness was assessed with following fit indices; comparative fit index (CFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR). We used a parceling technique (Little et al. , 2002 ) to ensure item to sample size ratio. According to Williams and O’Boyle (2008) , the item-parceling approach is widely used in HRM research, which allows estimation of fewer model parameters and subsequently leads to the optimal variable to sample size ratio and stable parameter estimates (Wang and Wang, 2019 ). Based on preliminary CFAs, we combined the highest item loading with the lowest item loading to create parcels that were equally balanced in terms of their difficulty and discrimination. Item-parceling was done only for the construct of eudaimonic well-being as it entailed a large number of items (i.e. 21 items). Accordingly, we made five parcels for the eudaimonic well-being construct (Waterman et al. , 2010 ).

As shown in Table 2 , the CFA results revealed that the baseline five‐factor model (hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, job insecurity, affective commitment and job performance) was significant ( χ 2 = 377.11, df = 199, CFI = 0.971, RMSEA = 0.034 and SRMR = 0.044) and better than the alternate models, including a four‐factor model in which hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being were considered as one construct (Δ χ 2 = 203.056, Δdf = 6), a three-factor model in which hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being and affective commitment were loaded on one construct (Δ χ 2 = 308.99, Δdf = 8) and a one‐factor model in which all items loaded on one construct (Δ χ 2 = 560.77, Δdf = 11). The results, therefore, provided support for the distinctive nature of our study variables.

To ensure the validity of our measures, we first examined the convergent validity through the average variance extracted (AVE). We found AVE scores higher than the threshold value of 0.5 ( Table 1 ; Fornell and Larcker, 1981 ), supporting the convergent validity of our constructs. We also estimated discriminant validity by comparing the AVE of each construct with the average shared variance (ASV), i.e. mean of the squared correlations among constructs ( Hair et al. , 2010 ). As expected, all the values of AVE were higher than the ASV constructs, thereby supporting discriminant validity ( Table 1 ).

4.3 Common method variance

Harman’s one-factor test.

CFA ( Podsakoff et al. , 2012 ).

Harman’s one-factor test showed five factors with eigenvalues of greater than 1.0 accounted for 69.12% of the variance in the exogenous and endogenous variables. The results of CFA showed that the single-factor model did not fit the data well ( χ 2 = 937.88, df = 210, CFI = 0.642, RMSEA = 0.136, SRMR = 0.122). These tests showed that CMV was not a major issue in this study.

4.4 Hypotheses testing

The hypotheses pertaining to mediation were tested using a structural model in AMOS 22.0 ( Figure 2 ), which had an acceptable goodness of fit ( χ 2 = 298.01, df = 175, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.04 and SRMR = 0.04). Hypotheses about moderation were tested in SPSS (25 th edition) using PROCESS Model I ( Hayes, 2017 ; Table 3 ).

H1a and H1b suggested that hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being positively relate to employee affective commitment. According to Figure 2 , the results indicate that hedonic well-being ( β = 0.26, p < 0.01) and eudaimonic well-being ( β = 0.32, p < 0.01) are positively related to employee affective commitment. Taken together, these two findings provide support for H1a and H1b . In H2 , we predicted that employee affective commitment would positively associate with employee job performance. As seen in Figure 2 , employee affective commitment positively predicted employee job performance ( β = 0.41, p < 0.01), supporting H2 .

H3a and H3b suggested that employee affective commitment mediates the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and employee job performance. According to Figure 2 , the results indicate that hedonic well-being is positively related to employee job performance via employee affective commitment ( β = 0.11, 95% CI = 0.09; 0.23). Similarly, eudaimonic well-being is positively related to employee job performance via employee affective commitment ( β = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.12; 0.35), supporting H3a and H3b .

Hedonic well-being.

Eudaimonic well-being and employee affective commitment.

In support of H4a , our results ( Table 3 ) revealed a negative and significant interaction effect between hedonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment ( β = −0.12, p < 0.05). The pattern of this interaction was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship between hedonic well-being and employee affective commitment was weaker in the presence of high versus low job insecurity ( Figure 3 ). Likewise, the interaction effect between eudaimonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment was negatively significant ( β = −0.28, p < 0.01). The pattern of this interaction was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship between eudaimonic well-being and employee affective commitment was weaker in the presence of high versus low job insecuritay ( Figure 4 ). Thus, H4a and H4b were supported. The pattern of these interactions was consistent with our hypothesized direction; the positive relationship of hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being with an employee affective commitment were weaker in the presence of high versus low perceived job insecurity.

5. Discussion

The present research examined the direct and indirect crossover from psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) to job performance through employee affective commitment and the moderating role of job insecurity between psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship. The results revealed that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being has a direct and indirect effect on employee job performance. Employee affective commitment was found to be a potential mediating mechanism (explaining partial variance) in the relationship between psychological well-being and job performance. Findings regarding the buffering role of job insecurity revealed that job insecurity buffers the positive relationship between psychological well-being and employee affective commitment such that higher the job insecurity, lower will be employee affective commitment. The findings generally highlight and reinforce that perceived job insecurity can be detrimental for both employees’ well-being and job-related behaviors (Soomro et al. , 2020 ).

5.1 Theoretical implications

The present study offers several contributions to employee well-being and job performance literature. First, the present research extends the employee well-being literature by investigating employee affective commitment as a key mechanism through which psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) influences employees’ job performance. In line with SDT, we found that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being enhanced employees’ affective commitment, which, in turn, led them to perform better in their jobs. Our study addresses recent calls for research to understand better how psychological well-being influence employees’ performance at work (Huang et al. , 2016 ), and adds to a growing body of work, which confirms the importance of psychological well-being in promoting work-related attitudes and behaviors (Devonish, 2016 ; Hewett et al. , 2018 ; Ismail et al. , 2019 ). Further, we have extended the literature on employee affective commitment, highlighting that psychological well-being is an important antecedent of employee’ affective commitment and thereby confirming previous research by Aboramadan et al. (2020) on the links between affective commitment and job performance.

Second, our results provide empirical support for the efficacy of examining the different dimensions of employee well-being, i.e. hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being as opposed to an overall index of well-being at work. Specifically, our results revealed that both hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being boost both employees’ attachment with his or her organization and job performance (Hewett et al. , 2018 ; Luu, 2019 ). Among the indicators of psychological well-being, eudaimonic well-being (i.e. realization and fulfillment of ones’ true nature) was found to have more influence on employee affective commitment and job performance as compared to hedonic well-being (i.e. state of happiness and sense of flourishing in life). Therefore, employees who experience high levels of psychological well-being are likely to be more attached to their employer, which, in turn, boosts their job performance.

Third, job insecurity is considered as an important work-related stressor (Schumacher et al. , 2016 ). However, the moderating role of job insecurity on the relationship between psychological well-being and affective commitment has not been considered by the previous research. Based on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964 ), we expected job insecurity to buffer the positive relationship between the psychological well-being and affective commitment. The results showed that employees with high levels of perceived job insecurity reduce the positive relationship of psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) and affective commitment. This finding is consistent with previous empirical evidence supporting the adverse role of perceived job insecurity in reducing employees’ belongingness with their organization (Jiang and Lavaysse, 2018 ). There is strong empirical evidence (Qian et al. , 2019 ; Schumacher et al. , 2016 ) that employee attitudes and health are negatively affected by increasing levels of job insecurity. Schumacher et al. (2016) suggested in an elaborate explanation of the social exchange theory that the constant worrying about the possibility of losing ones’ job promotes psychological stress and feelings of unfairness, which, in turn, affects employees’ affective commitment. Hence, employees’ psychological well-being and affective commitment are heavily influenced by the experience of high job insecurity.

5.2 Practical implications

Our study has several implications. First and foremost, this study will help managers in understanding the importance of employees’ psychological well-being for work-related attitudes and behavior. Based on our findings, managers need to understand how important psychological well-being is for employees’ organizational commitment and job performance. According to Hosie and Sevastos (2009) , several human resource-based interventions could foster employees’ psychological well-being, such as selecting and placing employees into appropriate positions, ensuring a friendly work environment and providing training that improves employees’ mental health and help them to manage their perceptions positively.

Besides, managers should provide their employees with opportunities to use their full potential, which will increase employees’ sense of autonomy and overall well-being (Sharma et al. , 2017 ). By promoting employee well-being in the workplace, managers can contribute to developing a workforce, which will be committed to their organizations and will have better job performance. However, based on our findings, in the presence of job insecurity, organizations spending on interventions to improve employees’ psychological well-being, organizational commitment and job performance might go in vain. In other words, organizations should ensure that employees feel a sense of job security or else the returns on such interventions could be nullified.

Finally, as organizations operate in a volatile and highly competitive environment, it is and will be difficult for them to provide high levels of job security to their employees, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan (Soomro et al. , 2020 ). Given the fact that job insecurity leads to cause adverse employee psychological well-being and affective commitment, managers must be attentive to subordinates’ perceptions of job insecurity and adverse psychological well-being and take action to prevent harmful consequences (Ma et al. , 2019 ). Organizations should try to avoid downsizings, layoffs and other types of structural changes, respectively, and find ways to boost employees’ perceptions of job security despite those changes. If this is not possible, i.e. the organization not able to provide job security, this should be communicated to employees honestly and early.

5.3 Limitations and future studies

There are several limitations to this study. First, we measured our research variables by using a self-report survey at a single point of time, which may result in CMB. We used various procedural remedies to mitigate the potential for CMB and conducted CFA as per the guidelines of Podsakoff et al. (2012) to ensure that CMV was unlikely to be an issue in our study. However, future research may rely on supervisors rated employees’ job performance or collect data at different time points to avoid the threat of such bias.

Second, the sample of this study consisted of employees working in cellular companies of Pakistan with different demographic characteristics and occupational backgrounds; thus, the generalizability of our findings to other industries or sectors is yet to be established. Future research should test our research model in various industries and cultures.

A final limitation pertains to the selection of a moderating variable. As this study was conducted in Pakistan, contextual factors such as the perceived threat to terrorism, law and order situation or perceived organizational injustice might also influence the psychological well-being of employees working in Pakistan (Jahanzeb et al. , 2020 ; Sarwar et al. , 2020 ). Future studies could consider the moderating role of such external factors in the relationship between employee psychological well-being, affective commitment and job performance.

6. Conclusion

This study proposed a framework to understand the relationship between employee psychological well-being, affective commitment and job performance. It also described how psychological well-being influences job performance. Additionally, this study examined the moderating role of perceived job insecurity on psychological well-being and affective commitment relationship. The results revealed that employee psychological well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic) has beneficial effects on employee affective commitment, which, in turn, enhance their job performance. Moreover, the results indicated that perceived job insecurity has ill effects on employee affective commitment, especially when the employee has high levels of perceived job insecurity.

Research model

Structural model with standardized coefficients; N = 280

Interactive effect of hedonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment

Interactive effect of eudaimonic well-being and job insecurity on employee affective commitment

Descriptive statistics and correlations among of variables

Variables	Mean	SD	AVE	ASV	1	2	3	4	5
1. Hedonic well-being	3.82	0.64	0.67	0.06	(0.86)
2. Eudaimonic well-being	3.66	0.72	0.53	0.09	0.35**	(0.81)
3. Affective commitment	3.91	0.87	0.64	0.12	0.31**	0.42**	(0.91)
4. Job insecurity	2.88	1.01	0.63	0.04	−0.19**	−0.25**	−0.26**	(0.87)
5. Job performance	4.01	0.69	0.61	0.08	0.21**	0.34**	0.49**	−0.15*	(0.87)

Notes: = 280. AVE = average variance extracted, ASV = average shared variance, reliability coefficients (shown in diagonal position of table in parentheses).

< 0.05,

* p < 0.05,

** p < 0.01; Unstandardized coefficients and average bootstrap estimates are stated; demographic variables are controlled; bootstrapping procedure [5,000 iterations, bias-corrected, 95% CI]

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Further reading

Sabella , A.R. , El-Far , M.T. and Eid , N.L. ( 2016 ), “ The effects of organizational and job characteristics on employees' organizational commitment in arts-and-culture organizations ”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis , Vol. 24 No. 5 , pp. 1002 - 1024 .

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Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance

Many of us are familiar with the gentle punishment known as "time-out," in which misbehaving children must sit quietly for a few minutes, calm down, and reflect on their actions.

New research suggests that grown-ups ought to take routine time-outs of their own, not as a punishment, but in order to improve their job performance.

“Our work shows that if we'd take some time out for reflection, we might be better off.”

In the working paper Learning by Thinking: How Reflection Aids Performance, the authors show how reflecting on what we've done teaches us to do it more effectively the next time around.

"Now more than ever we seem to be living lives where we're busy and overworked, and our research shows that if we'd take some time out for reflection, we might be better off," says Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino , who cowrote the paper with Gary Pisano , the Harry E. Figgie Professor of Business Administration at HBS; Giada Di Stefano, an assistant professor at HEC Paris; and Bradley Staats, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School.

The research team conducted a series of three studies based on the dual-process theory of thought, which maintains that people think and learn using two distinct types of processes. Type 1 processes are heuristic—automatically learning by doing, such that the more people do something, the better they know how to do it. Type 2 processes, on the other hand, are consciously reflective, and are often associated with decision making.

Essentially, the researchers hypothesized that learning by doing would be more effective if deliberately coupled with learning by thinking. They also hypothesized that sharing information with others would improve the learning process.

Reflection, sharing, and self-efficacy

For the first study, the team recruited 202 adults for an online experiment in which they completed a series of brain teasers based on a " sum to ten " game. A round of problem solving included five puzzles, and participants earned a dollar for each puzzle they solved in 20 seconds or less.

After recording the results of the first problem-solving round, the researchers divided participants randomly into one of three conditions: control, reflection, and sharing.

In the control condition, participants simply completed another round of brain teasers.

In the reflection condition, participants took a few minutes to reflect on their first round of brain teasers, writing detailed notes about particular strategies they employed. Then they, too, completed a second round of puzzles.

In the sharing condition, participants received the same instructions as those in the reflection group, but with an additional message informing them that their notes would be shared with future participants.

Results showed that the reflection and sharing group performed an average of 18 percent better on the second round of brain teasers than the control group. However, there was no significant performance difference between the reflection and the sharing group. "In this case sharing on top of reflection doesn't seem to have a beneficial effect," Gino says. "But my sense was that if the sharing involved participants actually talking to each other, an effect might exist."

Next, the researchers recruited 178 university students to participate in the same experiment as the first study, but with two key differences: One, they were not paid based on their performance; rather, they all received a flat fee. Two, before starting the second round of brain teasers, they were asked to indicate the extent to which they felt "capable, competent, able to make good judgments, and able to solve difficult problems if they tried hard enough."

As in the first study, those in the sharing and reflection conditions performed better than those in the control group. Those who had reflected on their problem solving reportedly felt more competent and effective than those in the control group.

"When we stop, reflect, and think about learning, we feel a greater sense of self-efficacy," Gino says. "We're more motivated and we perform better afterward."

A field experiment

The final study tested the hypotheses in the real-world setting of Wipro, a business-process outsourcing company based in Bangalore, India. The experiment was conducted at a tech support call center.

The researchers studied several groups of employees in their initial weeks of training for a particular customer account. As with the previous experiments, each group was assigned to one of three conditions: control, reflection, and sharing. Each group went through the same technical training, with a couple of key differences.

In the reflection group, on the sixth through the 16th days of training, workers spent the last 15 minutes of each day writing and reflecting on the lessons they had learned that day. Participants in the sharing group did the same, but spent an additional five minutes explaining their notes to a fellow trainee. Those in the control condition just kept working at the end of the day, but did not receive additional training.

Over the course of one month, workers in both the reflection and sharing condition performed significantly better than those in the control group. On average, the reflection group increased its performance on the final training test by 22.8 percent than did the control group. The sharing group performed 25 percent better on the test than the control group, about the same increase as the reflection group.

This was in spite of the fact that the control group had been working 15 minutes longer per day than the other groups, who had spent that time reflecting and sharing instead.

Gino hopes that the research will provide food for thought to overworked managers and employees alike.

"I don't see a lot of organizations that actually encourage employees to reflect—or give them time to do it," Gino says. "When we fall behind even though we're working hard, our response is often just to work harder. But in terms of working smarter, our research suggests that we should take time for reflection."

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Job Core Performance Measures

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• Luís Curral 2 &
• Catarina Gomes 3  

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Job performance

Campbell ( 1990 ) defined performance as behaviors or actions that are relevant for the organization’s goals and that can be measured in terms of the level of contribution to those goals.

He further considers performance of technical skills the core of the individual’s job-specific task proficiency.

Campbell and Wiernik ( 2015 ) added by point out that performance behaviors should be distinguished from indicators of effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity which is the impact that behaviors have on outcomes. Furthermore, performance should be understood as a synonym of development, attrition, or promotion.

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When defining performance, one can consider a few assumptions underlying the performance concept (Motowidlo et al. 1997 ).

Performance is a behavioral construct. The authors distinguish performance from the results of performance. The first is a set of behaviors that can have a positive or negative impact on organizational effectiveness,...

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Luís Curral

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Curral, L., Gomes, C. (2022). Job Core Performance Measures. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_582-2

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_582-2

Received : 28 October 2019

Accepted : 08 August 2022

Published : 12 January 2023

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The relationships between job performance, job burnout, and psychological counselling: a perspective on sustainable development goals (sdgs).

1. Introduction

1.1. sdgs and job burnout in higher education, 1.2. job performance and job burnout in higher education, 1.3. research aim, questions, and hypothesis development, 2. materials and methods, 2.1. research design and participants, 2.2. population and sampling techniques, 2.3. measures, 2.3.1. control variables, 2.3.2. job performance (kpi), 2.3.3. burnout level, 2.3.4. psychological counselling, 2.4. ethical considerations, 2.5. data analysis, 3.1. job performance predicts job burnout in higher education, 3.2. job burnout: the moderating role of psychological counselling, 4. discussion, 4.1. job-performance vs. job burnout, 4.2. psychological counselling to alleviate treating burnout: post-cautionary measurement vs. pre-cautionary measurement, 4.3. reducing job burnout for sdgs in higher education, 5. limitations and future studies, 6. conclusions and implications, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Lei, M.; Alam, G.M.; Bashir, K. The Relationships between Job Performance, Job Burnout, and Psychological Counselling: A Perspective on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability 2024 , 16 , 7569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177569

Lei M, Alam GM, Bashir K. The Relationships between Job Performance, Job Burnout, and Psychological Counselling: A Perspective on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sustainability . 2024; 16(17):7569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177569

Lei, Miao, Gazi Mahabubul Alam, and Karima Bashir. 2024. "The Relationships between Job Performance, Job Burnout, and Psychological Counselling: A Perspective on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" Sustainability 16, no. 17: 7569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177569

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What does research tell us about depression, job performance, and work productivity?

Affiliation.

• 1 Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA. [email protected]
• PMID: 18404013
• DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0b013e31816bae50

Objective: To assess the work impact of depression.

Methods: A review of research articles published since 2002, reporting on the magnitude and/or nature of depression's impact on work.

Results: This research is characterized by the use of three outcome indicators (employment status, absenteeism, and presenteeism metrics) and three research designs (population-based, workplace, and clinical). The literature documents that, compared to non-depressed individuals, those with depression have more unemployment, absences, and at-work performance deficits. Methodological variation makes it difficult to determine the magnitude of these differences. Additionally, the research suggests that the work impact of depression is related to symptom severity and that symptom relief only partly reduces the adverse work outcomes of depression.

Conclusions: Research has contributed to knowledge of the multidimensional work impact of depression. Further developing intervention research is an important next step.

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Associations between Personality Traits and Areas of Job Satisfaction: Pay, Work Itself, Security, and Hours Worked

1 Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, UK

Antonio Malvaso

2 Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy

Associated Data

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. These data can be found here: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps (accessed on 1 April 2023).

Although studies have widely explored the connections between personality traits and job satisfaction, less is known about how personality relates to aspects of job satisfaction. The objective of this study was to explore the relationships between personality traits and various areas of job satisfaction, including pay, work, security, and hours worked. This study used ordinal regressions to analyze data from 6962 working individuals from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The results showed that Neuroticism consistently has a negative association with all aspects of job satisfaction, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness have positive associations with job satisfaction. Extraversion had a weak negative association with satisfaction with total pay. These findings imply that personality may play a crucial role in shaping areas of job satisfaction.

1. Introduction

The Five-Factor Model of Personality, commonly referred to as the Big Five, is comprised of five dimensions: Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Neuroticism [ 1 ]. Extraversion is characterized by assertiveness and sociability, whereas Agreeableness is associated with politeness and cooperativeness. Conscientious individuals are known for their organizational skills and task-oriented focus, while those high in Neuroticism are prone to experiencing negative emotions. Open individuals have broad interests and prefer novelty over routine. Research has demonstrated that the Big Five model comprehensively encompasses fundamental individual differences, and other personality models can be framed and understood within the Big Five framework [ 2 ]. The field of organizational psychology has demonstrated increasing interest in the construct of job satisfaction (e.g., [ 3 , 4 ]). Job satisfaction encompasses cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions [ 5 ], and is often defined as a positive evaluative state about one’s job, expressing contentment and positive emotions towards work [ 6 ].

Numerous studies have linked job satisfaction to various workplace characteristics. In a meta-analysis, Judge et al. [ 7 ] identified a positive association between job satisfaction and job performance. Other studies have reported that satisfied employees engage in more productive work behaviors [ 8 ] and are characterized by lower rates of absenteeism [ 9 , 10 ]. Job satisfaction has also been negatively associated with stress [ 11 , 12 , 13 ], substance use [ 14 , 15 ], and positively related to marital satisfaction, as well as mental and physical health [ 16 ]. The concept of wellbeing, which encompasses satisfaction with both work and life, has been identified as critical for maintaining an effective workforce [ 17 ]. These findings highlight the importance of identifying factors that contribute to job satisfaction and why it remains a central focus of organizational psychology research [ 18 , 19 ].

There are several theories that can account for the link between personality traits and job satisfaction as well as the need to study the associations between personality and job satisfaction. One theory is the person–environment fit theory, which suggests that job satisfaction arises when there is a good match between one’s personality and the demands of their job [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In other words, individuals have a higher likelihood to be satisfied with their jobs if the work environment aligns with their personality traits. For example, an extroverted person might be more satisfied in a job that involves social interaction, while an introverted person might prefer a quieter, more solitary work environment. Another theory is the self-regulation theory, which suggests that personality traits such as Conscientiousness and emotional stability are important predictors of job satisfaction because they influence an individual’s ability to manage their own behavior and emotions in the workplace [ 23 , 24 ]. Conscientious people are more likely to be organized, dependable, and able to manage their workload effectively, which can lead to greater job satisfaction. Similarly, individuals who are high in emotional stability are better able to handle stress and cope with job-related challenges, which can also lead to greater job satisfaction. Finally, the social learning theory suggests that personality traits can be shaped and influenced by social and environmental factors, such as feedback from coworkers and supervisors, as well as the overall culture of the workplace [ 25 ]. In this theory, job satisfaction is seen as a product of the interaction between an individual’s personality traits and the social context in which they work.

Although how personality traits are related to job satisfaction is widely studied [ 4 , 19 , 24 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], it remains unclear how personality traits may relate to facets of job satisfaction, including total pay, security, work itself, and hours worked. Understanding how personality traits are related to different areas of job satisfaction can also help individuals make informed decisions about career paths and job choices that align with their personality and increase the likelihood of job satisfaction [ 26 ], given that areas of job satisfaction contribute to overall job satisfaction. For example, a person who values a work–life balance may prioritize that area of job satisfaction more highly than someone who values job security above all else, which may depend on one’s personality.

Thus, the aim of the current research is to look at how personality traits contribute to facets of job satisfaction, including total pay, security, work itself, and hours worked. This study hypothesizes that Neuroticism is negatively related to areas of job satisfaction whereas other personality traits are positively related to job satisfaction [ 4 , 19 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. However, the patterns of these associations are diverse and may be dependent on specific dimensions of job satisfaction.

The present investigation employed data from Wave 15 of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which is a nationally representative survey of UK households that has been conducted annually since 1991 [ 31 ]. The data collection procedures for the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) involve a multistage stratified sampling design to ensure representative household selection. The initial sample was drawn in 1991, with subsequent waves including panel members and newly added households. Recruitment combines random probability sampling and volunteer participation. The baseline survey gathers comprehensive demographic and socioeconomic information through face-to-face interviews with household members. Follow-up surveys, conducted annually or biennially, use standardized questionnaires to capture longitudinal data on various topics. Computer-assisted interviewing techniques are employed, with interviewers visiting households or conducting interviews via phone or online platforms. Ethical guidelines ensure participant confidentiality and informed consent. Quality control measures include interviewer training and supervision, data validation checks, and thorough documentation of procedures and variable definitions. The data collection procedures for the study have been approved by the University of Essex Ethics Committee, and all participants provided informed consent before taking part in the study. This dataset can be accessed via https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps (accessed on 1 April 2023).

The study included participants who met the following criteria: (a) were working for an employer (those who were self-employed were excluded), (b) were within the employable age range (16–65 years), and (c) provided complete data on areas of job satisfaction, personality, and demographics. Thus, in total 6962 participants remained in the current analysis.

2.2. Measures

2.2.1. areas of job satisfaction.

Participants were asked to indicate how satisfied they were with areas of job satisfaction ad hoc (each begins with “I’m going to read out a list of various aspects of jobs, and after each one I’d like you to tell me from this card (E3) which number best describes how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with that particular aspect of your own present job”). Areas of job satisfaction include “The total pay, including any overtime or bonuses”, “Your job security”, “The actual work itself”, and “The hours you work”. Participants responded on a scale from 1 (“not satisfied at all”) to 7 (“completely satisfied”).

2.2.2. Personality Traits

In this study, personality traits were assessed using a fifteen-item questionnaire based on the five-factor model of personality (BFI-S; [ 32 ]). The questionnaire consisted of three questions for each of the five personality dimensions, which were scored using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (“does not apply to me”) to 7 (“applies to me perfectly”). The mean score averaged across items was used to represent each trait. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha, and the values for each trait were: Neuroticism = 0.69, Openness = 0.66, Extraversion = 0.60, Agreeableness = 0.57, and Conscientiousness = 0.54). Previous studies have also demonstrated the reliability of this short questionnaire through test–retest correlations as well as its convergent and discriminant validity [ 33 , 34 , 35 ].

2.2.3. Control Variables

Control variables included age, sex, education, occupation, marital status, annual income, hours per week, and overtime per week. Please refer to Table 1 . for the coding of these variables.

The descriptive statistics for variables of interests in this study. Mean and standard deviation (SD) are reported for continuous variables, whereas count and percentage were reported for categorical variables.

2.3. Statistical Analysis

Due to the skewness of the outcome variables, we decided to run four ordinal logistic regression models to analyze the associations between personality traits and areas of life satisfaction. Specifically, the predictors in these models consisted of personality traits, including Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness, and Neuroticism; and the control variables including age, sex, education, occupation, marital status, annual income, hours per week, and overtime per week. While the predictors were the same for each logistic regression model, the outcome variables for these logistic regression models were job satisfaction for total pay; job satisfaction for security; job satisfaction for work itself; and job satisfaction for hours worked, respectively. We carried out all analyses using MATLAB 2018a.

Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1 . Results indicated that Neuroticism (OR = 0.82, 95% CI [0.78, 0.86], p <0.001) and Extraversion (OR = 0.95, 95% CI [0.90, 0.99], p < 0.05) have negative associations with job satisfaction for total pay, whereas Agreeableness (OR = 1.08, 95% CI [1.03, 1.14], p < 0.01) and Conscientiousness (OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.02, 1.12], p < 0.01) were positively associated with job satisfaction for total pay. Openness (OR = 0.99, 95% CI [0.94, 1.04], p = 0.68) had no association with job satisfaction for total pay ( Table 2 ).

The results of ordinal logistic regressions using control variables and personality traits as predictors to predict aspects of job satisfaction including A. job satisfaction for total pay, B. job satisfaction for security, C. job satisfaction for work itself, and D. job satisfaction for hours worked.

Similarly, higher levels of Neuroticism were related to lower levels of job satisfaction for security (OR = 0.82, p < 0.01, 95% CI [0.78, 0.86]). In contrast, higher levels of Agreeableness (OR = 1.13, p < 0.01, 95% CI [1.07, 1.18]) and Conscientiousness (OR = 1.16, p < 0.01, 95% CI [1.11, 1.22]) were associated with higher levels of job satisfaction for security. Openness and Extraversion were not significantly associated with job satisfaction for security ( p > 0.05; Table 2 ).

Moreover, higher levels of Agreeableness (OR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.11, 1.23]), Conscientiousness (OR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.14, 1.26]), and lower levels of Neuroticism (OR = 0.78, 95% CI [0.74, 0.82]) were associated with higher odds of job satisfaction for work itself. Openness (OR = 1.04, 95% CI [0.99, 1.10]) and Extraversion (OR = 1.03, 95% CI [0.98, 1.08]) were not significantly related to job satisfaction for work itself ( Table 2 ).

Finally, Neuroticism had a negative association with job satisfaction for hours worked (OR = 0.82, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.79, 0.86]). Agreeableness (OR = 1.17, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.11, 1.23]) and Conscientiousness (OR = 1.10, p < 0.001, 95% CI [1.05, 1.16]) were positively associated with job satisfaction for hours worked. Openness (OR = 1.03, p = 0.30, 95% CI [0.98, 1.08]) and Extraversion (OR = 0.97, p = 0.14, 95% CI [0.92, 1.01]) were not significantly associated with job satisfaction for hours worked ( Table 2 ).

4. Discussion

Our aim was to investigate the associations between the Big Five and areas of job satisfaction including pay, work itself, security, and hours worked. Results revealed that Neuroticism is a consistent negative predictor of all aspects of job satisfaction, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness consistently have a positive association with aspects of job satisfaction. Extraversion had a weak negative association with satisfaction with total pay. These results may indicate that if one aspect of personality traits has an association with a certain aspect of job satisfaction, then it perhaps would be similarly associated with other aspects of job satisfaction.

Neuroticism represents a personality disposition marked by a proclivity to encounter unfavorable affective states, including anxiety, fear, and worry. The negative associations found between Neuroticism and areas of job satisfaction seemed to be consistent in studies regarding the association between Neuroticism and overall job satisfaction [ 4 , 19 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 36 ]. One possible explanation for this negative relationship is that neurotic individuals have a more negative perception of their work environment, leading to lower levels of job satisfaction. Additionally, people high in Neuroticism may experience more stress and anxiety in response to work-related challenges, which can also impact job satisfaction.

Agreeableness is the trait that inclines individuals to be cooperative, empathetic, and compassionate toward others. Empirical evidence consistently supports that individuals scoring high in Agreeableness are more likely to express higher levels of job satisfaction (e.g., [ 4 , 19 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 36 ]) and achieve satisfaction in comparison to those who score low in Agreeableness. One possible explanation for this relationship is that agreeable individuals tend to have better interpersonal relationships with coworkers and supervisors, leading to more positive work experiences and greater job satisfaction. Agreeable individuals may tend to engage in pro-social behaviors such as helping others and resolving conflicts, which can lead to a more positive work environment. Another explanation is that agreeable individuals may be more likely to perceive their work as meaningful and fulfilling, leading to greater job satisfaction. Agreeable individuals may derive satisfaction from contributing to the well-being of others or making a positive impact on their work environment.

Conscientiousness is a personality trait characterized by being responsible, reliable, and organized, among other attributes. Research has found that individuals high in Conscientiousness tend to experience higher levels of job satisfaction [ 4 , 19 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 36 ]. This is likely because conscientious individuals tend to approach their work in a diligent and committed manner, which can lead to feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction when tasks are completed successfully [ 37 ]. Additionally, there were links between Conscientiousness and various job-related behaviors, such as task performance, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors [ 27 , 38 ], which can also contribute to higher levels of job satisfaction.

Finally, Extraversion had a weak negative association with satisfaction with total pay. Extraversion is a personality trait characterized by sociability, assertiveness, and positive emotions. Research has found that Extraversion is negatively associated with job satisfaction [ 19 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 36 ]. One explanation for this finding is that highly extraverted individuals are more likely to be motivated by social rewards such as recognition, social status, and social interactions rather than material rewards such as pay [ 24 ]. As a result, they may prioritize social rewards when evaluating their job satisfaction. Another explanation is that highly extraverted individuals may have higher expectations for their pay, due to their self-confidence and assertiveness [ 24 , 39 ]. When these expectations are not met, they may experience lower satisfaction with their pay.

This study controlled several factors, including income, hours worked, and overtime. However, some personality traits were still significant after controlling for these factors, which may indicate that job satisfaction cannot be fully explained by their actual conditions [ 40 ], but may also be determined by individual differences in terms of individual perception. These findings are consistent with previous findings that observe that the actual job condition has rather small associations with job satisfaction [ 40 ].

Several shortcomings of this research should be noted. First, aspects of job satisfaction are not limited to satisfaction with pay, security, work itself, and hours worked, but include other aspects such as working environment, social relationships with colleagues, and career development. Thus, it would be important for future studies to assess how the Big Five may be associated with other aspects of job satisfaction. Second, the use of self-reported data has limitations and challenges in research. Self-report assessments are subject to biases, including social desirability bias, memory bias, and acquiescence bias. Moreover, self-reported data might not always be accurate or reliable as it is influenced by the participant’s subjective perception and interpretation of the questions. Therefore, future studies should use multiple methods of data collection to triangulate findings and reduce potential biases. Third, although this study controlled for occupation, the relationships between the Big Five and areas of job satisfaction may depend on occupation [ 19 ]. Future research should test if occupation moderates the connections between the Big Five and areas of job satisfaction. Finally, some effects were near the threshold of 0.05, and the data were quite old; thus, interpreting these results must be accompanied with caution.

In conclusion, this study provides evidence that personality traits are related to various aspects of job satisfaction. Neuroticism is a consistent negative predictor of job satisfaction, while Agreeableness and Conscientiousness consistently have a positive association with job satisfaction. Extraversion had a weak negative association with satisfaction with pay. The patterns of these associations seem to be mostly unitary rather than diverse. Our findings suggest that personality may play a crucial role in shaping job satisfaction. Organization could use results for selecting employees. For instance, they may be interested in hiring employees with low Neuroticism scores but high Agreeableness scores, as they tend to be more satisfied with aspects of their job, which then may lead to better job performance [ 36 ].

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

W.K.: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, re-sources, software, supervision, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. A.M.: writing—original draft and writing—review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Ethics approval was received from the University of Essex Ethics Committee.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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