Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs

The link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively explored in the relevant literature. However, the great majority of past research has been carried out using cross-sectional analyses, and almost exclusively in the Western world. Moreover, the underlying psychological mech...

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Main Authors: Wenceslao Unanue, Marcos E. Gómez, Diego Cortez, Juan C. Oyanedel, Andrés Mendiburo-Seguel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00680/full
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spelling doaj-eae118971d38449591f0acedb57dc08c2020-11-24T23:01:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-05-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.00680239579Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological NeedsWenceslao Unanue0Marcos E. Gómez1Diego Cortez2Juan C. Oyanedel3Andrés Mendiburo-Seguel4Business School, Universidad Adolfo IbáñezSantiago, ChileBusiness School, Universidad Adolfo IbáñezSantiago, ChileSchool of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo IbáñezSantiago, ChileFacultad de Educación, Universidad Andres BelloSantiago, ChileFacultad de Educación, Universidad Andres BelloSantiago, ChileThe link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively explored in the relevant literature. However, the great majority of past research has been carried out using cross-sectional analyses, and almost exclusively in the Western world. Moreover, the underlying psychological mechanisms explaining the link are not yet completely understood. Thus, we report the first research to date which uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data among workers in Chile—a fast-developing Latin American economy—and which aims to tackle previous limitations. Three studies consistently support a positive link between the constructs. Study 1 (N = 636) found that higher job satisfaction predicted higher life satisfaction both contemporaneously and longitudinally, and vice versa, above and beyond several key control variables. Study 2 (N = 725) and Study 3 (N = 703) replicated Study 1 results, but tested for the first time the role of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (as stated by self-determination theory) in the job–life satisfaction link. This is the most novel contribution of our paper. Key implications not only for individual quality of life, but also for companies' human resource practices emerge from our findings.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00680/fulljob satisfactionlife satisfactionneed satisfactionself-determination theorylongitudinal analysesChile
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Wenceslao Unanue
Marcos E. Gómez
Diego Cortez
Juan C. Oyanedel
Andrés Mendiburo-Seguel
spellingShingle Wenceslao Unanue
Marcos E. Gómez
Diego Cortez
Juan C. Oyanedel
Andrés Mendiburo-Seguel
Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
Frontiers in Psychology
job satisfaction
life satisfaction
need satisfaction
self-determination theory
longitudinal analyses
Chile
author_facet Wenceslao Unanue
Marcos E. Gómez
Diego Cortez
Juan C. Oyanedel
Andrés Mendiburo-Seguel
author_sort Wenceslao Unanue
title Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
title_short Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
title_full Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
title_fullStr Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting the Link between Job Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Basic Psychological Needs
title_sort revisiting the link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction: the role of basic psychological needs
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2017-05-01
description The link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction has been extensively explored in the relevant literature. However, the great majority of past research has been carried out using cross-sectional analyses, and almost exclusively in the Western world. Moreover, the underlying psychological mechanisms explaining the link are not yet completely understood. Thus, we report the first research to date which uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data among workers in Chile—a fast-developing Latin American economy—and which aims to tackle previous limitations. Three studies consistently support a positive link between the constructs. Study 1 (N = 636) found that higher job satisfaction predicted higher life satisfaction both contemporaneously and longitudinally, and vice versa, above and beyond several key control variables. Study 2 (N = 725) and Study 3 (N = 703) replicated Study 1 results, but tested for the first time the role of satisfaction of basic psychological needs (as stated by self-determination theory) in the job–life satisfaction link. This is the most novel contribution of our paper. Key implications not only for individual quality of life, but also for companies' human resource practices emerge from our findings.
topic job satisfaction
life satisfaction
need satisfaction
self-determination theory
longitudinal analyses
Chile
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00680/full
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