Bad Jobs Versus Good Jobs: Does It Matter for Life and Job Satisfaction?

Job satisfaction strongly affects nurses’ life satisfaction and is directly affected by life satisfaction. Our study aimed to determine nurses’ life and job satisfaction, show their relationship, and evaluate the factors affecting them. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 at a university hospital in Türkiye. The study population included all nurses working at the hospital for at least one month, and 920 nurses participated. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, which consisted of sections on sociodemographic characteristics, job and life satisfaction, and factors related to the nursing profession. Job satisfaction was measured using the Index of Job Satisfaction, while life satisfaction was assessed with the Life Satisfaction Scale, both validated tools. Data collection occurred during periodic health examinations through face-to-face interviews. Most participants chose the nursing profession willingly and found it suitable for themselves. However, many reported dissatisfaction with their earnings. Higher job satisfaction was associated with older age, having children, good perceived health, shorter weekly working hours, willingly choosing the nursing profession and unit, and favorable working conditions and income. Similarly, life satisfaction was higher among those with good perceived health, fewer weekly working hours, willingly chosen profession and unit, and no smoking or chronic diseases. Supportive working conditions and adequate income strongly influenced both job and life satisfaction. A significant, positive, and moderate correlation was found between job and life satisfaction, highlighting their interconnectedness. These findings suggest that improving nurses’ working conditions, ensuring adequate income, and supporting healthier lifestyles could enhance job and life satisfaction. Enhancing working conditions is essential to improving nurses’ job satisfaction, which, in turn, positively impacts their overall life satisfaction. Policymakers should prioritize initiatives that address workplace challenges and foster a supportive environment for nurses.

The relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been heavily researched over the years. In spite of this research interest, results have not proved conclusive in demonstrating the causal nature of the relationship. In the present study, a causal model was hypothesized and tested that involved simultaneous consideration of cross-sectional and longitudinal effects between job and life satisfaction. This type of analysis has not previously been conducted and allows the strongest conclusions to date regarding the causality between these constructs. Results based on a national probability sample of workers indicated that job and life satisfaction were significantly and reciprocally related. The cross-sectional results suggested a relatively strong relationship between job and life satisfaction, but the longitudinal results suggested a weaker relationship over a 5-year period, particularly with respect to the effect of job satisfaction on life satisfaction. The meaning of these results in the context of past research on the job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship is discussed. Recently, Tail, Padgett, and Baldwin (1989) provided the first meta-analytic estimate of the relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Using correlations from 34 studies, Tail et al. (1989) estimated the average corrected correlation between the constructs to be .44. The authors concluded their review with this comment: On the basis of the substantial relationship between job and life satisfaction documented here, further explanatory research of this nature is now clearly warranted (p. 505). In a recent review of the literature, Rain, Lane, and Steiner (1991) held that although Tail et al.'s study was useful in providing an overall assessment of the job satisfactionlife satisfaction relationship, it did not address the direction of causality between the constructs. Rain et al. argued that more efforts investigating the causality between job and life satisfaction were needed. Thus, despite extensive research, the critical question concerning what the direction of influence between job and life satisfaction is remains unanswered. The correlation estimated in Tait et al.'s (1989) meta-analysis suggests that a positive relationship exists, but this study provided no information regarding whether job satisfaction causes life satisfaction, life satisfaction causes job satisfaction, or the two constructs are mutually causative. A causal influence from life satisfaction to job satisfaction is supportive of the dispositional perspective (Judge & Hulin, in press; Judge & Locke, 1993; Staw, Bell, & Clausen,

Serious leisure, a measure of high-quality leisure activity, has been shown to contribute to general life satisfaction and health outcomes. We examined the relationship between leisure seriousness and satisfaction with leisure, life, and job satisfaction, as moderated by perceived job task workload. We hypothesized that the relationship between serious leisure participation and employee well-being is moderated by job task load, such that (a) as job task load increases, then serious leisure participation and satisfaction will be less strongly positively correlated, and (b) as job task load decreases, then serious leisure participation and satisfaction will be more strongly positively correlated. Serious leisure engagement was linked to higher leisure, job, and life satisfaction. Job task load interacted with serious leisure engagement such that higher job task load strengthened the benefits of serious leisure on life and job satisfaction.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed unprecedented stress on healthcare workers (HCWs), potentially affecting their job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This study aimed to examine the role of perceived stress, self-efficacy, and coping strategies as predictors and mediators of well-being among HCWs during the pandemic. Methods: A total of 326 HCWs participated in the study. Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), self-efficacy was assessed with the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), life satisfaction was assessed with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), job satisfaction was assessed with the Brief Job Satisfaction Scale (BJSS), and coping strategies were assessed with the Mini-COPE. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Results: HCWs reported elevated stress levels (M ≈ 24), higher than general population norms. Stress was negatively associated with life satisfaction and job satisfaction. Self-efficacy and adaptive coping strategies (acceptance, social support) were positively associated with life and job satisfaction and mediated the relationship between stress and life satisfaction. Helplessness mediated the effect of stress on life satisfaction but not job satisfaction. Conclusions: High self-efficacy and adaptive coping strategies serve as protective factors for HCWs' well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions enhancing self-efficacy and promoting acceptance and social support may mitigate stress and improve life and job satisfaction.

IntroductionThe nursing profession involves substantial emotional and organizational demands, which may negatively affect nurses’ mental health and overall satisfaction with life and work.ObjectiveTo assess the levels of anxiety, depression, and irritability/anger symptoms in nurses and examine their associations with life and job satisfaction. In this study, the HADS-M subscale assessing irritability/anger was used. It captures symptoms of irritability and anger but does not measure aggression or anger expression as behavioral constructs.MethodsA cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 538 registered nurses in Poland. Validated instruments were applied: HADS-M (for anxiety, depression, and irritability/anger symptoms), SWLS (life satisfaction), and SSP (job satisfaction). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank-order correlations, internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), and multiple linear regression (two-tailed, α = 0.05).ResultsA high prevalence of psychological symptoms was observed. All symptom domains were significantly and negatively correlated with life and job satisfaction (p < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses indicated that depressive symptoms were the strongest predictors of both life satisfaction (β = −0.429) and job satisfaction (β = −0.315), followed by irritability/anger symptoms. All models were statistically significant (p < 0.001).ConclusionAnxiety, depression, and irritability/irritability/anger symptoms significantly reduce nurses’ satisfaction with life and work. Depressive symptoms exerted the most profound impact. These findings emphasize the urgent need for targeted mental health support programs and preventive strategies to enhance nurses’ well-being and professional performance.

Purpose – The aim of this study is to determine the effect of organisational culture dominating an organisation on employees’ life and job satisfaction which have many effects on their work and non-work lives. Hotels are labor intensive businesses in the service sector. Employees’ success can play an important role in product quality, customer satisfaction and organisational success. For this reason, it is important for hotels to examine the factors and the relationships between these factors affecting employees’ success. Design/methodology/approach – The research was designed in a descriptive manner. The data of the research were collected from 435 hotel employees using a questionnaire method. In the research model, the effects of the independent variables such as the organisational culture types of achievement, power, support and hierarchy on the dependent variables such as life and job satisfaction were examined. The effect of the independent variables of the study on the dependent variables was examined through the revealed hypotheses and the structural equation model was used to confirm theoretical model. Findings – As a result of the analysis, while the support culture (4,05) is perceived most, it is followed by the achievement (3,86) and hierarchy culture (3,42). The type of culture perceived at the lowest level was the power culture (3,12). Means were found to be 3,28 for life satisfaction and 3,64 for job satisfaction statements. As a result of the analysis conducted within the scope of the study, it was seen that the support culture perceived by the employees in their hotels positively affect their life (0,30) and job satisfaction (0,25). In addition, according to the results of the research, it was determined that the achievement culture negatively affects the employees’ life satisfaction (-, 0,30). Discussion – According to the results of the research, it can be said that employees’ life and job satisfaction levels increase in the organisations where the support culture is dominant, while their life satisfaction level decreases in the organisations with the power culture. According to these results, it is recommended that businesses should examine the culture levels perceived in their hotels in more detail and develop policies and strategies to increase the supportive organisational culture and reduce the power culture.

A method is proposed for defining the threshold of a ‘bad job’, based on a discontinuity in the relationship between a composite index of job quality and subjective wellbeing. Applied to European data, there is a monotonic relationship between the job quality index and psychological wellbeing. However, there is a distinctly large increase in psychological wellbeing, and in several measures of work-related wellbeing, between workers in the lowest decile and those in the second lowest decile of job quality. We therefore propose that ‘bad jobs’ should be designated as those in lowest decile. Using this threshold gives a ‘bad jobs’/ ‘other jobs’ dichotomy that discriminates on wellbeing far better than definitions based only on low earnings and job insecurity. Using multi-level probit analysis, we find that bad jobs are more common in poorer countries and in countries with weaker labour regulation. Three findings differentiate the distributional pattern of bad jobs from that of low-earnings jobs: first, the prevalence of bad jobs is greater in large establishments; second, there is no gender gap in the prevalence of bad jobs; third, working in the private sector raises the chance of being in a bad job but not of being in a low earnings job.

Background and Purpose: Our research examines the impact of work-life balance on work engagement, both direct impact as well as through job and life satisfaction. The main aim of our research is to empirically test relations between work-life balance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and work engagement among higher education lecturers from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Serbia, and Slovenia. Methods: Using validated questionnaires, we collected data on work-life balance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and their work engagement. The quantitative data for our analysis were collected through a survey of 164 online participants. Based on an extensive literature review, we have formulated five hypotheses, which we tested in one structural model by using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Our findings show that an increase in work-life balance positively relates to life and work satisfaction and that life satisfaction leads to an increase in work engagement. Conclusion: The knowledge of important impact of work-life balance, together with the understanding of the relations between the researched constructs of work-life balance, life satisfaction, job satisfaction and work engagement, can strengthen teachers’ work engagement by respecting employees as actors in other roles and supporting work-family balance in the form of family-friendly policies and practices, and thereby contributes to the area of employee’s behaviour and improves the teacher’s productivity.

Rationing of nursing care (RNC) is characterized by the omission of any aspect of the required patient care, resulting in incomplete or delayed nursing activities. Oncology nurses are exposed to a very high psychological burden, which can lead to the development of professional burnout syndrome (PBS). The level of PBS might be related to life and job satisfaction. This study aimed to identify determinants affecting RNC and reveal the relationship between RNC, life and job satisfaction, and the PBS levels among oncology nurses. The sample was a hundred oncology nurses from four hospitals in Poland with a mean age of 43.26 ± 10.69 years. The study was conducted from March 2019 to February 2020. The self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire and validated scales determining missed nursing care, job and life satisfaction, and life orientation were used: Basel Extent of Rationing of Nursing Care-Revised (BERNCA-R), Satisfaction with Job Scale (SWJS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The mean BERNCA score was 1.55 ± 0.15, which indicates the frequency of RNC was between “never” and “rarely”. The mean SWJS score was 11.71 ± 5.97, which showed that nurses were “dissatisfied” and “rather dissatisfied” with their job. A low SWLS score was reported by 59% of nurses, which means that more than half of the respondents described their life satisfaction as low. In LOT-R, 66% of nurses reported pessimistic and 31% neutral life orientation. The mean overall MBI score was 49.27 ± 19.76 points (EE = 63.56 ± 25.37, DEP = 37.2 ± 24.95, and lack of PA = 47.05 ± 22.04), which means that half of the nurses perceived burnout and half did not. Additionally, the higher the job satisfaction (SWJS), the more frequent the RNC (BERNCA) (p < 0.05). The greater the EE, the stronger the sense of lack of PA, and the higher the PBS (MBI) level, the less frequent the RNC (BERNCA). In conclusion, there is a phenomenon of omission of some aspects of care among oncology nurses, but it is not frequent and concerns areas not directly related to therapeutic tasks, but requiring effort and not resulting in quick noticeable effects. It depends only little on life satisfaction and more on job satisfaction and PBS level. The results may indicate the professionalism of Polish nurses, their responsibility towards their patients’ life and health, and the sense of mission that enables them to perform their duties regardless of the external and internal difficulties. The presence of the PBS phenomenon in oncology nurses highlights the need for continued research in this area.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural relationships among work values, perceived risks, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction of school food service (SFS) workers, and to suggest policy implications. The data used in this study were collected from 3,185 SFS workers working in school in A local government. For data analysis, the SPSS and AMOS programs were used, and descriptive statistics, reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed. The results of the descriptive statistics showed that SFS workers perceived their work values (M=1.54), job satisfaction (M=2.15), and life satisfaction (M=2.65) to be low, while perceived risk was high. The results indicated that job satisfaction was higher among women and those with more work experience, but also revealed that life satisfaction decreased as work experience increased. Work values had a positive effect on job satisfaction but a negative effect on life satisfaction. Perceived risk had a negative effect on both job and life satisfaction, whereas job satisfaction had a positive effect on life satisfaction. In addition, the results indicated that job satisfaction had significant mediating effect on the relationship between work values, perceived risks, and life satisfaction. In particular, while the direct effect of work values on life satisfaction was negative, whereas the indirect effect mediated by job satisfaction was positive; consequently, the total effect of work values on life satisfaction was also found to be positive. Based on these findings, this study discusses theoretical and policy implications for enhancing the job and life satisfaction of SFS workers.

Research regarding the relationship between job and life satisfaction has drawn opposing conclusions, with some suggesting one's satisfaction with work is significantly and positively related to one's attitude of life, while others claim the relationship between the two is at best weak. The purpose of this research was to further expand on the relationship between job and life satisfaction among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) head coaches. To this end, data from 348 head coaches across all three NCAA Divisions were analyzed. Results imply that life satisfaction and job satisfaction are significantly and positively related in the collegiate coaching context. However, the relationship between the two constructs was not reciprocal and the unidirectional effects differed based on the gender of the team coached. Practical implications of these findings might offer significant insights for managers and policy makers such that they are better equipped to establish and increase work (e.g., job) and non-work (e.g., life) satisfaction.

This study aimed to find out job and life satisfaction and work-family and family-work conflict levels of teachers. The population of the study consisted of teachers who work in public and private preschools, primary, secondary, and high schools in Ankara. The sampling of the study was a total of 406 teachers-37 preschool, 126 primary school, 89 secondary school, and 154 high school teachers. The data for the study were collected through three different scales; Minnesota Job Satisfaction Scale, Life Satisfaction Scale, and Work-Family and Family-Work Conflicts Scale. According to the results of the study, job satisfaction average of teachers is good and life satisfaction average is moderate. Life satisfaction increases as job satisfaction increases. The results also suggest that teachers suffer more from work-family conflict than from family-work conflict. A negative and significant correlation has been found between job satisfaction and work-family conflict and also family-work conflict. According to the results of the hierarchic regression analysis, the variables that best predict job satisfaction are life satisfaction and work-family conflict.

This study investigates life (happiness), job and income satisfaction of women and men in paid work according to different demographic and value-based (in terms of the values associated with paid work and income) components, and to the extent they are correlated (findings are derived using the Life Satisfaction Survey (2016) provided by Turkish Statistical Institute). Preliminary descriptive statistics refer to relatively lower income satisfaction levels of women and men in Turkey (46.0 per cent of women and 48.6 per cent of men report that they are ?satisfied? or ?very satisfied? with their income), moderate levels of overall happiness levels (59.1 per cent of women and 59.6 per cent of men report that they are ?happy? or ?very happy? with their lives) and relatively higher levels of job satisfaction (81.0 per cent of women and 80.9 per cent of men report that they are ?satisfied? or ?very satisfied? with their jobs). Spearman's rank correlation coefficients demonstrate that happiness (life satisfaction) levels of women and men in paid work are positively correlated with their job and income satisfaction levels, and there is also a positive correlation between their job satisfaction and income satisfaction levels, all of which are on a weak to moderate level yet statistically significant. For men, the correlation between happiness and job satisfaction has the lowest (yet positive) value, whereas for women the lowest (though positive) value is observed for the relationship between happiness and income satisfaction. For both women and men, the correlation between job satisfaction and income satisfaction has the highest value, which is slightly stronger for women. The findings of this study support the spillover hypothesis, which claims that life and job satisfaction are positively correlated (income satisfaction also being involved in this context) as these components affect each other (Strauser, 2014).Strauser, D. R. (2014). Career development, employment, and disability in rehabilitation: From theory to practice. Springer Publishing Company.Turkish Statistical Institute. (2016). Life satisfaction survey.

Social cognitive predictors of Korean secondary school teachers' job and life satisfaction

Background/Aim. Affective temperament, social support and work-related stresors belong to the group of life and job satisfaction indicators. The aim of this research was to examine predictive roles of the basic affective temperament traits, social support and work-related stressors in the feeling of job and life satisfaction among doctors and psychologists. Methods. The sample consisted of 203 individuals out of whom there were 28% male and 72% female doctors (61%) and psychologists (39%), 25?65 years old (39.08 ? 9.29), from the two university towns in Serbia. The set of questionnaires included Serbian version of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego ? autoquestionnaire version (TEMPS-A), Satisfaction with Life scale, Job Satisfaction Survey, short Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, and Source of Stress at Work Scale (IRSa) for estimating the frequency of stressors at work. Results. According to the existing norms our examinees are satisfied with their life, but considerably less satisfied with their work, specially with pay and benefits, while they are most satisfied with nature of work itself and social relations with co-workers and supervisors. Our results show that depressive and hyperthymic, and to some extent cyclothymic temperament traits of the affective temperament significantly predict 21% of life satisfaction variance. Situational factors, such as stressors at work and social support, are important in predicting job satisfaction (58% of variance) with no significant contribution of temperament traits. The analysis did not point out any significant relation of sex, occupation, and age with life and job satisfaction. Conclusions. Affective temperaments can be regarded as predictors of life satisfaction, but in order to better predict satisfaction the aspects of wider social surrounding and sources of stressors at work must be taken in consideration. Future studies should consider other indicators of life satisfaction such as family or health satisfaction, stressors outside of work situations, and negative aspects of caregiving, for example hyperactivation.