Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Job satisfaction includes the positive and negative feelings that each employee has about his/her job. It seems that this structure has been changed by changing the worker’s emotions caused by cognitive and motivational factors. So, this longitudinal study sought to examine the effect of positive affect on creating job satisfaction according to cognitive (effort-reward balance and cognitive emotion regulation strategies) and motivational (goal-engagement control strategies) mediators. In current research life span theory of control and affect events theory and effort-reward balance theory was integrated to investigate the effect of job design, effort-reward balance on job satisfaction via two approaches namely cognitive regulation and compensatory and secondary control mechanisms.
 
Method
The research sample consisted of 726 employees of Isfahan Oil Refining and Distribution Company and Isfahan Oil Refinery that were randomly selected and responded to research tools three times in two years. Marginal structural equation method was used to analyze the data. The formal theory of counterfactual causal inference was used for casual inferences that extended Neyman-Rubin Holland point treatment theory contains time-varying treatments, outcomes, and concomitants. The effort-reward balance and cognitive emotion regulations were considered counterfactual treatments that influence job satisfaction. The G-FORMULA software was used to implements the parametric g-formula to estimate the mean of an outcome under hypothetical treatment strategies sustained over time from longitudinal data with time-varying treatments and confounders. The difference between the marginal structural model and the median analysis in longitudinal research is that in the latter case the research findings are collected in three waves three times, while in the analysis of this research the time intervals 2 and 3 of the mediating and dependent variables are collected. This approach is closer to the concept of causality because data has been collected over time, which is equivalent to their role in mediation, and the research design helps to validate the theory.
 
Results
The results showed that job satisfaction is determined, at time 3, by effort-reward balance and positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and at time 4, by effort-reward balance, positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and goal-engagement control strategies. The main strength of the marginal structural model is in predicting job satisfaction in the assumed future that can generalize in the future overall.
 
Discussion
Based on the results, it was recommended that organizations and managers focus on both cognitive and motivational factors to create job satisfaction, that is, to strive for a balance between the efforts of the employees and the rewards offer to them and teaching employees positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and goal-engagement control strategies. One of the main strengths of the model was to use both robust theory and longitudinal data to show intermediate variable nature. The focus of the research also was to show that fit indices weren’t enough to infer mediation. Comparing the results with the data collected in a time-lapse article shows how it was not possible to make decisions about the causal model in that case.

Keywords

 
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