Overall Job Satisfaction Survey

Abstract

The Overall Job Satisfaction Survey, frequently cited as the Brayfield-Rothe Index of Job Satisfaction, is a seminal six-item instrument designed to provide a quick and reliable measure of an individual’s overall affective orientation toward their job. Developed by Arthur H. Brayfield and Harold F. Rothe in 1951, this scale assesses the global feeling of contentment or dissatisfaction an employee experiences regarding their work environment and role. It is widely used in organizational psychology and human resource research due to its brevity, strong Psychometrics, and ease of administration. The scale is rooted in the perspective that Job satisfaction is a holistic, emotional response rather than a summation of satisfaction with specific job facets.

Keywords

Job satisfaction, organizational psychology, affective component, work attitude, employee evaluation, Brayfield-Rothe, psychometric instrument, work psychology.

Authors

Brayfield, Arthur H., Rothe, Harold F.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Overall Job Satisfaction Survey is to efficiently capture an employee’s general feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction concerning their employment. Unlike multi-faceted instruments that dissect satisfaction across dimensions such as pay, supervision, or co-workers, this scale aims to measure the single, unifying construct of global job affect. Its brevity makes it particularly useful for large-scale organizational surveys or studies where participant fatigue must be minimized.

The instrument provides researchers and practitioners with a foundational metric for assessing organizational health and predicting outcomes related to turnover, absenteeism, and organizational commitment. High scores indicate a positive affective state regarding the job, while low scores suggest general job malaise or dissatisfaction.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct of global Job satisfaction. This is conceptualized as the overall positive or negative emotional response an individual holds toward their work role. It is considered a unitary, affective construct, meaning it focuses on the emotional reactions and general feelings of enjoyment or boredom associated with the job, rather than cognitive evaluations of specific job elements.

The items are carefully worded to elicit responses reflecting intrinsic enjoyment and general contentment, thereby capturing the core essence of the psychological experience of being satisfied or dissatisfied with one’s employment status.

Validity

Despite its brevity, the Overall Job Satisfaction Survey has demonstrated robust psychometric properties over decades of use. Its Validity is primarily evidenced through strong convergent validation with other established, longer measures of job satisfaction, such as the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). Studies consistently show high correlations between scores on this scale and scores on the general satisfaction subscales of these instruments.

Furthermore, the scale exhibits predictive Validity, correlating significantly with key organizational outcomes, including reduced intention to quit, lower rates of actual turnover, and increased organizational citizenship behaviors. Its ability to accurately reflect an employee’s true satisfaction level contributes to its enduring relevance in industrial-organizational research.

Reliability

The Reliability of the Overall Job Satisfaction Survey is consistently reported as excellent, particularly concerning internal consistency. Numerous studies utilizing Cronbach’s alpha have demonstrated coefficients frequently exceeding the standard threshold of .70, often falling within the .80 to .90 range. This high internal consistency suggests that all six items effectively measure the same underlying construct—global Job satisfaction.

The scale’s strong internal consistency is a testament to the focused nature of its items, ensuring that the total score accurately represents the respondent’s overall affective state toward their job, making it a highly reliable tool for both research and practical application.

Factor Analysis

Factor analytical studies performed on the Overall Job Satisfaction Survey consistently support its intended unidimensional structure. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses generally confirm that the six items load onto a single, dominant factor, representing global job satisfaction. This finding reinforces the scale’s fundamental theoretical premise: that it measures a single, overarching attitude rather than distinct facets of the work environment.

The strong factor loading on a single dimension confirms that the scale is appropriate for generating a single total score, which is the standard methodology for its use. This structural simplicity is a key advantage of the instrument, facilitating straightforward interpretation of results.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: Likert scale, 5-point response format.

Language Available: Primarily English, though widely translated and utilized globally in various organizational research contexts.

Population Group: Employees, Working Adults, Organizational Populations

Age Group: Adults (typically 18 years and older)

Population Details: Applicable across diverse industries, job roles, and organizational levels, as the scale focuses on the generalized affective experience of work rather than job-specific tasks.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement using the following 5-point scale: 1= Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly Agree. Scoring requires reversal of the negatively worded item (Item 1).

Keywords

Organizational behavior, work psychology, self-report measure, psychometric instrument, employment attitude, affective measure, organizational research.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Scale published in 1951)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Overall Job Satisfaction Survey (Brayfield-Rothe Index) is generally considered to be in the public domain or is widely available for use without formal permission or fee, given its age (1951) and extensive publication in academic literature. Users are typically required only to cite the original source appropriately.

Test Year: 1951

Reference’s

The original scholarly publication detailing the development and validation of the scale is:

• Brayfield, A.H. & Rothe, H.F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 35, 307-311.

This instrument was also utilized and published in the context of a dissertation examining the role of organizational and community embeddedness. The original PDF for that work can be downloaded here:

• Oyler, Jennifer D. (2007). CORE SELF-EVALUATIONS AND JOB SATISFACTION: THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMMUNITY EMBEDDEDNESS. Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in MANAGEMENT. Available online at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10242007-153627/unrestricted/Oyler%E2%80%9A_Jennifer_D__Dissertation_VT_120207.pdf

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Items of the Overall Job Satisfaction Survey

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I am often bored with my job. (r)

2. I feel fairly well satisfied with my present job.

3. I am satisfied with my job for the time being.

4. Most days I am enthusiastic about my work.

5. I like my job better than the average worker does.

6. I find real enjoyment in my work.