A Meta-Analysis of Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict on IS Professional Job Satisfaction

Abstract

There have been numerous IS studies on the topic of role ambiguity (RA) and role conflict (RC). The need for resolving the disagreement in understanding the impact of RA and RC on job satisfaction within an IS context motivated the current research. Employing Hunter and Schmidt's (1990) meta-analysis method, this study synthesizes empirical IS study results from twelve independent samples. The results revealed that both RA and RC are negatively correlated with IS professional's job satisfaction across diverse studies. Compared with non-IS related jobs, IS professionals are not necessarily more- or less-susceptible to the negative impacts of RA and RC on job satisfaction. Furthermore, the unexplained variance in the study effect sizes indicates the existence of potential moderating variables. Finally, an unexpected but noteworthy contribution of the current research is to raise the issue of misuse of the term meta-analysis within the IS research community.