Job satisfaction continues to be one of the most studied job attitudes in Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Judge et al., 2017). Academics and practitioners alike have recognized the worth of job satisfaction, given its usefulness in predicting vital organizational effectiveness outcomes (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012; Society for Human Resource Management, 2015). In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive review of the job satisfaction literature. First, we discuss the history of job satisfaction and how the construct has been explicated and refined over time. Second, we describe the various paradigms and approaches to the measurement of job satisfaction, along with important measurement considerations. Third, we review the antecedents (dispositional, contextual, and event-based) and outcomes (performance, effectiveness, organizational citizenship behavior [OCB], counterproductive work behavior [CWB], and withdrawal) of job satisfaction. Finally, we synthesize decades of job satisfaction research to suggest how the study of job satisfaction can move forward. As some examples, we suggest researchers employ theory elaboration (Fisher & Aguinis, 2017) approaches to prune and elaborate on job satisfaction theory and that researchers continue to delve into clarifying the role of affect in job satisfaction. We also suggest that practitioners closely focus on the determinants of job satisfaction, especially justice perceptions, which strongly predict job satisfaction. We conclude that a continued focus on job satisfaction is critically important: in the tumultuous modern climate wrought with high turnover rates, satisfied employees are more likely to be loyal champions, ambassadors, and advocates to their organizations.
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