Evaluation of the job characteristics theory of work attitudes and performance

Abstract

The evidence for the job characteristics theory of work attitudes and performance (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, 1980) was reviewed. This theory states that employee job satisfaction, intrinsic work motivation, and productivity are a function of the characteristics of a job. The central characteristics are skill-variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. The theory also states that employee attitudes and performance are moderated by the employee's need for psychological growth. Employees with low growth need strength are less responsive to job characteristics than employees with high growth need strength. Results obtained from studies designed to test the theory showed that the propositions related to job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation were weakly supported. Propositions relating to productivity were not supported. Furthermore, the moderating effects of growth need strength on the relationships between job characteristics and outcome measures were overstated. It was found that definitions of the job characteristics, especially skill-variety, were not well-stated and it was suggested that this could partly account for the failure of many studies to identify independent job characteristics. The model also failed to consider skill-utilization as an important determinant of job outcomes and made unwarranted assumptions about the strength of association between perceived and objective job characteristics. The implications of these deficiencies in the model for job design were briefly discussed.