Job satisfaction of Chilean workers. A model of structural equations

Abstract

Job satisfaction as a psychosocial phenomenon is associated with a set of attitudes that have an important role in the accomplishment of objectives by organizations in general. In addition, the modernization of managerial practices and the professionalization of both public management and administration, implies the necessity of knowing the attitudes related to work that have a greater influence on workers' job satisfaction. This research seeks to characterize the employees of Chilean public institutions regarding their job satisfaction and six different attitudes that make up this construct. The sample comprised 216 Chilean employees, who answered a survey which had six scales and a reliability coefficient of about 0.8, which defines a valid internal consistency scale. By applying models of structural equations, through a confirmatory factorial analysis, the relationship between the different dimensions that explain the the workers' job satisfaction is studied. Finally, the results reveal that the model of first level structural equations, after a final adjustment, selects four of the six original dimensions, which are: job satisfaction as a whole, satisfaction with the way the work is done, satisfaction with development opportunities and satisfaction with the relationship between the employer and the employee. These dimensions produce positive effects on the overall job satisfaction construct, being “satisfaction with the relationship between the employer and the employee” the best one, as reflected by its indicators, which for this sample correspond to the employer's supervision satisfaction and the proximity and frequency with which they are supervised.