Job Satisfaction Index

Abstract

The Job Satisfaction Index (JSI) is a concise, six-item instrument developed by Schriesheim and Tsui in 1980 to measure an individual’s overall level of job satisfaction. This index consolidates satisfaction across several critical organizational domains, providing a rapid assessment tool for researchers and practitioners. The scale is designed to capture satisfaction with specific facets of employment, including the nature of the work itself, supervisory relationships, interactions with co-workers, compensation, and career advancement opportunities.

Keywords

Job Satisfaction Index, JSI, organizational psychology, work attitudes, employee satisfaction, supervision, compensation, promotion opportunities.

Authors

Schriesheim, C. A., Tsui, A. S.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Job Satisfaction Index is to provide a reliable and efficient measure of global job satisfaction. Unlike multi-dimensional instruments that require extensive administration time, the JSI uses six carefully selected items to create a comprehensive index score. This index is particularly valuable in large-scale organizational studies where rapid data collection on core employee attitudes is necessary.

The scale aims to quantify the degree of employee contentment across key organizational inputs, such as the intrinsic nature of the tasks performed, the quality of interpersonal relationships (supervision and peers), and extrinsic rewards (pay and promotion potential). The final score represents an aggregated measure of the employee’s overall affective response to their current employment situation.

Construct

The JSI measures the psychological construct of overall job satisfaction. This construct is defined as an employee’s affective and cognitive response to their job environment. It is generally understood as a global attitude reflecting the extent to which an individual likes or dislikes their job.

While the JSI is scored as a single, unitary index, the underlying content covers distinct facets: intrinsic satisfaction (work itself), social satisfaction (supervision, co-workers), and extrinsic satisfaction (pay, promotion). The final item assesses satisfaction with the job situation in general, integrating these components into a single, easily interpretable metric.

Validity

Empirical evidence supports the construct validity of the Job Satisfaction Index through its consistent correlation patterns with established organizational variables (Cohen, 1997; Tsui et al., 1992). Studies indicate that overall job satisfaction, as measured by the JSI, demonstrates expected positive relationships with variables indicative of positive organizational attachment and stability.

• Positively correlated factors included age, organizational tenure, psychological commitment to the organization, personal coping ability, organizational support for non-work activities, and intention to stay.
• Conversely, the scale showed negative correlations with indicators of dissatisfaction and withdrawal behaviors, such as frequency of absences, job level, conflict between work and non-work roles, and years spent in a specific occupation. These findings confirm the scale’s ability to differentiate between satisfied and dissatisfied employees.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Job Satisfaction Index has been assessed using Coefficient alpha in various organizational settings. Research reported by Cohen (1997) and Tsui et al. (1992) consistently demonstrated acceptable reliability estimates for this short index.

Specifically, the Coefficient alpha values for the six-item index ranged from .73 to .78. These values meet the typical minimum standards for reliability in organizational research, indicating that the items effectively measure the same underlying construct of job satisfaction with minimal measurement error.

Factor Analysis

The Job Satisfaction Index is structurally designed to function as a single-factor measure, aggregating responses into one overall satisfaction score. Due to the limited number of items (six), it is expected to load onto one dominant factor representing the general affective evaluation of the job.

Although the items briefly touch upon distinct facets (e.g., pay vs. supervision), the consistently high internal consistency (alpha > .70) suggests that these facets converge strongly to form a unified, higher-order construct suitable for indexing overall satisfaction, thereby justifying its use as a single index rather than a multi-dimensional scale.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report attitude index

Format: Six items using a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available: Primarily English (Original development)

Population Group: Employees in organizational settings

Age Group: Working adults

Population Details: Applicable across various industries and job levels, commonly used in studies of organizational behavior and human resource management.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their degree of satisfaction (or agreement/disagreement) with specific facets of their job using a numerical rating scale, which is then summed or averaged to create the overall satisfaction index.

Keywords

Organizational behavior, employee well-being, work attitudes, personnel assessment, human resource management, Schriesheim, Tsui.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material (N/A)

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source material (N/A)

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source material (N/A)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Job Satisfaction Index was initially developed in 1980 by Schriesheim and Tsui. The items were later published in the appendix of Tsui, Egan, & O’Reilly (1992). The 1992 publication explicitly notes that the items were reprinted with permission from Administrative Science Quarterly, suggesting that usage may require formal permission from the journal or the original copyright holders, depending on the research context.

Information regarding current licensing fees is not available in the source material. Researchers should consult the original authors or the journal publisher for current usage terms. The scale items are generally considered available for academic research purposes.

Reference’s

• Cohen, A. (1997). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A meta-analysis of the relationship between variables. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 263-273.
• Schriesheim, C. A., & Tsui, A. S. (1980). Development and validation of a short measure of overall job satisfaction. Unpublished manuscript.
• Tsui, A. S., Egan, T. D., & O’Reilly, C. A., III. (1992). Being different: Relational demography and organizational attachment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37(4), 549-580. Items were taken from the appendix, p. 588. Copyright © 1992 by Administrative Science Quarterly.

Items of the Job Satisfaction Index

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

Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.

1. How satisfied are you with the nature of the work you perform?
2. How satisfied are you with the person who supervises you-your organizational superior?
3. How satisfied are you with your relations with others in the organization with whom you work-your co-workers or peers?
4. How satisfied are you with the pay you receive for your job?
5. How satisfied are you with the opportunities which exist in this organization for advancement or promotion?
6. Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your current job situation?