Longitudinal Relationships Between Job Satisfaction and Creative Performance: A Three-Wave Cross-Lagged Panel Design

Abstract

Despite the assumption about the positive relationship between wellbeing and performance within the happy and productive worker thesis (HPWT), the matter is still under discussion due to inconclusive results. To better understand the link between wellbeing and performance and delineate their possible causal relationships, it is necessary to conduct longitudinal studies with data collection at different moments, as well as broaden the focus by considering different types of wellbeing and performance. To achieve this, the authors of this study analyzed the relationship between intrinsic (IJS) and extrinsic job satisfaction (EJS) with creative performance. The design consisted of a three-time cross-lagged panel design since it permits analyzation of the reciprocal and longitudinal relationship between two or more variables. Our sample was composed of 209 employees from nine different organizations in Spain. The results demonstrated that only IJS predicted creative performance at one of the time intervals. The conclusions were: 1) the relationship between IJS and creative performance might be spurious, 2) it is important to consider IJS and EJS separately because they yield differential results, 3) the relationship between IJS and creative performance is not reciprocal, and 4) it is necessary to increase longitudinal studies in the field.

Keywords

• wellbeing
• job performance
• job satisfaction
• creative performance
• longitudinal
• cross-lagged