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...satisfaction; however, wellness was the stronger predictor. When block variables such as age and job tenure were held constant, the contributions of wellness and mattering to job satisfaction were not significant.
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Job satisfaction, defined as the extent to which individuals are satisfied with their jobs or how they feel about different aspects of their jobs (Cranny, Smith, Stone, 1992), is the most frequently studied concept in organizational behavior research (Spector, 1997). The importance of work to individuals and to society overall suggests the need to ensure that as workers, individuals reap the economic, psychological, and social benefits of work and that they are protected from the consequences of dissatisfaction with work, including increased physical and psychological illness (Herr & Cramer, 1996). In fact, given the relationship between job satisfaction and employee health, the study and optimization of job satisfaction is a social responsibility (Spector, 1997). However, as workers become more removed from the ability to make meaning through their work, the opportunity to experience job satisfaction becomes more difficult (Fox, 1994).
Satisfaction with one's work has been found to be related to a myriad of physical, psychological, demographic or situational, and workplace variables (Cranny et al., 1992). For example, individuals who reported being satisfied with their jobs experienced fewer physical and psychosomatic symptoms (Fox, Dywer, & Ganster, 1993; O'Driscoll & Beehr, 1994). Lack of satisfaction with one's work has been associated with anxiety (Jex & Gudanowski, 1992; Spector, Dwyer, & Jex, 1988), depression (Bluen, Barling, & Burns, 1990), and poor physical and psychological health (Jex & Gudanowski, 1992; Lee, Ashford, & Bobko, 1990). Diverse variables that have been shown to affect job satisfaction, both positively and negatively, include intelligence (Ganzach, 1988); job level, tenure, and pay grade (Chet, Ryan. Schmeider, Parra, & Smith, 1998); employee empowerment (Kirkman & Rosen, 1997); gender (Voyandoff, 1980); and perceived job stress (DeFrank & Ivancevich, 1998). Whether or not individuals received feedback from their supervisors and the quality of that feedback have also been found to shape the experience of job satisfaction (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). The variety and nature of skills that employees perform have been shown to predict job satisfaction (Hackman & Oldham, 1980; Voyandoff, 1980) whereas studies investigating age and job satisfaction have produced inconsistent results. These findings suggested the need to examine the aging process and job satisfaction rather than to focus simply on chronological age (Bernal, Snyder, & McDaniel, 1998). On the basis of an extensive review of empirical studies relating job stressors to affective, health, and performance outcomes, Spector (1997) concluded that the optimization of job satisfaction is an important means of enhancing employees' psychological health and overall wellness.
Wellness, defined by Archer, Probert, and Gage (1987) as "the process and state of a quest for maximum human functioning that involves the mind, body, and spirit" (p. 311), is not defined solely by the absence of disease but also by the presence of physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being (Millar & Hull, 1997; Myers, 1992; Witmer & Sweeney, 1992). Although these definitions are holistic in nature, the application of wellness principles in business and industry settings focuses primarily on physical wellness (Bennett & Lehman, 1997; Mazloff, 1998). Thus, employers equate wellness with physical health, ignoring, in a sense, the importance of other aspects of functioning that contribute to a sense of well-being and consequent work and life satisfaction (Csiernik, 1995).
Dollarhide (1997) suggested that there is a need for counselors to help individuals integrate work and life in order to encourage them to develop a deeper sense of meaning in both areas, thereby improving overall life satisfaction. Without meaning, "People learn they are...
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