Eudaimonic Job Satisfaction: Exploring Global and Facet Satisfaction with Fulfilled Job Purposes

Wellbeing comprises two distinct, related dimensions, labeled subjective wellbeing and psychological wellbeing, hedonia and eudaimonia, or happiness and purpose, respectively. Yet within the job domain, there is little explicit consideration of eudaimonic elements. In this article, eudaimonic job satisfaction is defined, and global and facet measures derived from theory are developed. These measures are then used in a field sample of 425 working adults to explore the potential contribution of eudaimonic job satisfaction toward explaining aspects of organizational behavior. Findings suggest that eudaimonic facet job satisfaction comprises six facets, which are satisfaction with the job’s impact on and facilitation of: expression of the self, development of the self, role in society, financial situation, family, and life. Each facet relates differently to different work, life, and work-life outcomes. Overall, findings reveal construct validity for eudaimonic job satisfaction as separate from commonly used job attitudes, and evidence that it has the potential to add to our ability understand and predict levels of work, life, and work-life outcomes such as engagement, inclusion, retention, work-family conflict, and life satisfaction, beyond hedonic job satisfaction. Hedonic and eudaimonic job satisfactions together may comprise a more holistic job-related wellbeing, needed now in the face of an increasing variety of workplace situations, diversity in workers, changes to careers and psychological contracts, jobs and facets of jobs in flux, and increasing interest in sustainable elements of motivation for workers. Implications for theory and research on job attitudes, and practical implications for organizations and societies, are discussed