The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Four Occupational Variables in a Large New Zealand Company

Abstract

The motivator-hygiene dichotomy postulated by Herzberg's two-factor theory has not been fully supported. Researchers in many instances found variables hygiene in nature as influencing job satisfaction. The importance of four factors (age, occupational-level, length of service and sex) was advanced to explain the difference in reported findings. Ratings of 23 job related variables and overall job satisfaction were obtained by questionnaire from 266 workers -100 males and 166 females - working in the same company. Nonparametric statistical tests revealed that social and economic conditions influence the Herzberg model and manifest them-selves through hygiene variables. Work related variables involving social relationships act as motivators in New Zealand. Differences in reported findings using Herzberg's model can be explained by the influence of age, occupational level and length of service on the need structure of the worker. Hygiene variables appear to be strongest for males and females as they grow older, served longer in the company and progressed up into higher occupational levels. The coming to terms with the job and the ability to perform better in authoritarian situation appears to alter the need structure of the older workers so that hygiene variables play a greater role in influencing job satisfaction. The need for satisfaction through the work itself and the desire to equate job expectancy with job reality required that younger workers seek satisfaction through the motivator variables.