Analysing the job characteristics model: new support from a cross-section of establishments

We evaluate the empirical relevance of the Job Characteristics Model of Hackman and Oldham in the modern organizational environment using unique, nationally representative data from a survey of British establishments. The data contain information on a large number of establishments and multiple workers within each establishment. The results generally support the Job Characteristics Model's predictions that task variety and worker autonomy are positively associated with labour productivity and product quality and that autonomy is positively associated with worker satisfaction. In contrast to previous studies, we find the results for task variety are stronger for the performance-related outcomes than for worker satisfaction. The theoretically predicted moderating effect of context satisfaction is largely unsupported in the data.