Discuss the personal and environmental factors that can affect job satisfaction.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Personal factors that can affect job satisfaction include a worker's age, ethnicity, and gender. In general, older workers tend to be more satisfied with their jobs than younger workers. Some studies have found slightly lower job satisfaction levels among Blacks than among Whites, but other studies have found no such differences. Studies have shown few, if any, differences in levels of job satisfaction between women and men. Environmental factors that can affect job satisfaction include the requirements of the job, the amount the job pays, and the ways in which the job affects workers' lives outside of the workplace. In general, people tend to be more satisfied with jobs that are more complex, although complex jobs may create dissatisfaction in individuals lacking the necessary skills to perform a job successfully. The amount that a job pays appears to be weakly correlated with job satisfaction; in fact, the knowledge that salary and pay decisions are made fairly may have a greater impact on job satisfaction. Finally, job satisfaction is affected by the amount of conflict between the demands of the job and the demands of family life.