As you’ve heard me mention from time to time, my husband is a clinical psychologist.  He’s currently studying for the Illinois licensing exam, and in this study materials I found a great section on industrial/organizational psychology (I/O).  

What is this, exactly?  Wikipedia defines it as the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. I/O psychologists are interested in making organizations more productive while ensuring workers are able to lead physically and psychologically healthy lives. Relevant topics include personnel psychology, motivation and leadership, employee selection, training and development, organization development and guided change, organizational behavior, and work and family issues. I/O psychologists who work for an organization are most likely to work in the HR department. However, many I/O psychologists pursue careers as independent consultants or applied academic researchers.

I’ll be talking about I/O a bit more over the next few weeks, but I thought I’d start with mentioning the results from a bunch of controlled research that was done on job satisfaction.  According to these studies – and this is probably not a surprise to you – specific worker characteristics are linked to job satisfaction.  They are:

• Disposition:  There is evidence that job satisfaction is an enduring disposition.  Satisfaction levels of over 5,000 men remained relatively stable over a five year period despite changes in occupations and employers.  In addition, studies of twins raised apart suggest that there is a genetic contribution to job satisfaction.
• Age:  Some research suggests that there is actually a non-linear relationship between age and job satisfaction.  For example, for non-supervisory employees, there is evidence that job satisfaction peaks in the early work years, decreases during middle age, and then increases again in later years.
• Occupational Level:  Satisfaction increases as occupational level increases.  White-collar workers are more satisfied than blue-collar workers, and managers are more satisfied than nonmanagers.
• Race:  At all occupational levels, members of minority groups are twice as likely as members of the majority group to express dissatisfaction with their jobs.
• Gender:  While some studies have found women to be more dissatisifed than men, others have found the opposite to be true, or that men and women have similar levels of satisfaction.  When women experience lower satisfaction, it’s often because they feel exploited by their jobs, are emplowed in lower-level jobs, or are being paid less than men even when performing comparable work.
• Life Satisfaction: People who are more satisfied with life in general also tend to be more satisfied with their work.

Stay tuned for more from the field of I/O!