Job satisfaction and mood: An exploratory study

Abstract

Fifty-eight male white-collar workers provided questionnaire-based data on their job satisfaction, demographic variables, and mood in the work place. Stress and arousal dimensions of mood were measured, on each of the five days of the working week, using the stress arousal checklist (SACL: Mackay et al. 1978, Cox and Mackay 1985). A strong association between job satisfaction and stress was found, with low job satisfaction being associated with high stress. This association did not reflect the confounding of job satisfaction with demographic variables, and was not modified by day of week. Possible causal relationships accounting for this correlation are discussed. Job satisfaction and arousal were unrelated here.

Key Words:

• job satisfaction
• mood
• stress
• arousal
• SACL
• demography
• day of week effects