Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Employee Job Performance - Essay Example

This qualitative research takes on an inductive approach using the methods of the survey questionnaire.  These questionnaires were emailed to thirty employees of Chery Automobile Company, Ltd. in Wuhu, China, however, only twenty questionnaires were returned to the researcher. The survey responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics, using percentages of responses per item and with the backdrop of the literature review.

           The analysis revealed that factors influencing job satisfaction fall under five facets of employment namely the work itself, the pay, promotion opportunities, supervisor, and co-workers.  These are affected by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, with intrinsic motivators being more effective in improving job performance. Intrinsic motivators have three main determinants mainly the perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Job performance comprises both task performance and contextual performance and both need to be enhanced in order for workers to be more effective in their jobs as well as achieve job satisfaction.

Glossary of terms

Contextual Performance: behaviors supporting the company’s organizational, psychological and social environment wherein the technical core operates (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)

Extrinsic motivation: rewards in the form of cash, kind or approval from others (Deci & Ryan, 1985).

Intrinsic motivation:  “the activation or energization of goal-oriented behavior within an individual due to internal factors within a person rather than due to some external factors acting on the individual” (Deci & Ryan, 1985cited in Brown & Huning, 2010, p. 1).

Job Performance: quality of work entailed in the delivery of one’s duties and responsibilities in his or her job.

Job Satisfaction: the enjoyment workers experience in the performance of their jobs (Brown & Hunning, 2010)

Task Performance: behaviors prescribed in the job description of a worker and which distinguishes his job from the job of his peers (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)