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Faculty Working Papers
THE CONTRIBUTION OF JOB AND LEISURE
SATISFACTION TO QUALITY OF LIFE
Manuel London, Rick Crandall, & Gary W. Seala
#310
College of Commerce and Business Administration
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
FACULTY WORKING PAPERS
College of Commerce and Business Administration
University of Illinois at Urbaaa-Champaign
April 29, 1976
THE CONTRIBUTION OF JOB AND LEISURE
SATISFACTION TO QUALITY OF LIFE
Manuel London, Rick Crandall, & Gary W. Seals
#310
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The Contribution of Job and Leisure Satisfaction
to Quality of Life
Abstract
This study examines the relationships between job and leisure satisfac-
tion and their contributions t* the perception of quality of life. The
data were collected from -> national probability sample of 1297 adult
Americans interviewed In May 1972. The magnitude of the correlations
between job and leisure satisfaction measures was low; however, both
accounted for meaningful variation In perceived quality of life for
the total sample. Separate analyses for demographic subgroups were
also performed. They Indicated that job satisfaction contributed rel-
atively less than leisure satisfaction to the life quality of minorities
and other often "disadvantaged" subgroups compared to "advantaged"
workers. Implications of the results for the application of motivation-
al strategies in the work setting are discussed.
The Contribution of Job and Leisure Satisfaction
to Quality of Life
Recently, Interest In the quality of work life has been stimulated
by claims of widespread worker dissatisfaction (e.g., Work In America ,
1973). There Is now an emerging trend to Identify and improve job
characteristics that contribute to the quality of work life. (Hackman S
Suttle, in press; Walton, 1973). Concern for the general quality of
life has also increased (t.g., Campbell, 1976; Campbell, Converse S
Rogers, 1976; Land, 19/1) end has been discussed as a national policy
goal in the political arena (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency,
1973; Executive Office of the President, 1973). This paper begins to
integrate the research on quality of work life and general quality of
life. Specifically, the contributions of facets of job and leisure
satisfaction to quality of life are examined.
Research on quality of life encourages a broader view of the indi-
vidual than that traditionally taken by Industrial/organizational psy-
chology. Thl~, view suggests that job satisfaction and attitudes toward
work cannot be understood in isolation. One important aspect of life
quality which may be Important to work and has been generally overlooked
by psychologists is leisure.
While the job may bs the central life interest of some workers,
leisure may be a primary concern for others. This may mean that under-
standing the relationship between work and leisure Is necessary for
understanding worker attitudes. Some individuals who are dissatisfied
with their jobs compensate by seeking satisfaction in their leisure
3
activities (Dubln, 1956). High job satisfaction may also "spill-over"
to seeking a similar level of satisfaction off the job (Kornhauser,
1965; Meissner, 1971 )• Furthermore, people may be capable of segmenting
their lives so that work and leisure are independent (Dubin, 1973).
One goal of the present study is to examine the interrelationship
between facets of work and leisure satisfaction. Strong positive cor-
relations would support the spill-over hypothesis; strong negative
correlations would support the compensation hypothesis; and zero-order
correlations would support the segmentation hypothesis. The focus Is
on attitudes rather than behavior. An individual's feelings about
various facets of work and leisure are important for study since they
should be more directly related to perceived quality of life than
behavior.
While the relationship between work and leisure has been investi-
gated (e.g., Smigel , 1963). the relative contribution of work and
leisure satisfaction to quality of Pfe has received little attention.
Several studies (e.g., Andrews S Withey, 1976; Campbell, et at., 1976)
have included work and leisure satisfaction items among numerous other
measures (e.g., feelings about government) as correlates of quality of
life. In contrast, this paper uses a broad set of items to focus in
detail on facets of work and leisure satisfaction as components of
individuals' attitudes toward their lives.
Of the few studies that have looked at work and leisure satisfaction
together, most have found that their relationships to life satisfaction
are moderated by demographic characteristics. In a study of British
k
workers, Willmott (1970 found that far more manual workers (61%) than
upper level staff ()h%) reported that they derived satisfaction from
only their leisure. In a Canadian sample, Hulin ( 1 969) found that the
relation of both job and recreation items to life satisfaction was
moderated by sex with lower relationships occurring for women than
men. Among Finnish respondents, Haavio-Manni ia (1971) reported that
work sat isf act ion W3S less related to overall life satisfaction than
leisure satisfaction for unmarried, employed men than for other sub-
groups.
The current study focuses first on satisfaction with specific
facets of work and leisure as major psychological components of indi-
viduals' attitudes toward their lives. The relationships between
attitudes toward work and leisure are also considered. Previous re-
search is extended by examining the contributions of work and leisure
satisfaction to quality of life in a wide variety of demographic sub-
groups. The expected relationship between work and leisure attitudes
cannot be specified since positive, negative and zero-order relation-
ships can all be predicted from the literature reviewed. Both work
and leisure should contribute to perceived quality of life for the
overall sample. Job satisfaction should be less important to quality
of life than leisure satisfaction for minority workers (e.g., blacks and
females) and other often disadvantaged subgroups (e.g., those with a
low education, blue-collar workers, and older workers). On the other
hand, work satisfaction should contribute more to quality of life than
leisure satisfaction for advantaged workers (e.g., whites, males, the
highly educated, white-collar workers, and younger workers).
5
METHOD
Sample
The data were obtained from a national probability sample of
structured interviews conducted in Kay 1272 by the Survey Research
Center of the University of Michigan. The sample consisted of 1297
American adults 18 years of age or older (but data included married
people of any age), living in non-insti tutional dwel 1 ing units in the
48 coterminous states. The response rate was 76%. Comparisons of
the survey respondents with distributions obtained from the census
indicated that the data from the survey closely represented the American
adult population with respect to age, sex, and race.
Survey
The data used here are 7 demographic items and 15 perceptual items
measuring feelings about aspects of leisure, work, and life as a whole.
The job items were written to tap the major distinct factors of job
satisfaction identified by Quinn, Staines, and McCul lough (1974s
See Table 1 for a li?t). Respondents described their feelings about
each item on a 7-point scale from ^delighted to 7=terrible. The index
of perceived overall quality of life was the arithmetic mean of the
responses to the question u How do you feel about your life as a whole?"
asked twice during the interview. The two quality of life questions
were typically separated by about 15 minutes of intervening interview
material focusing on quality of life issues. Their test-retest reli-
ability corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula was .76.
There is considerable data to support the validity and reliability
of these data. Andrews and Witney (1974, 1976) present evidence that
6
compared to other measures this quality of life measure correlates as
well or better with other measures of quality of life and has higher
reliability and validity than other measures. An indication of the
reliability of the interitem relationships for the variables used here
was obtained by using 18 items, including several of the leisure items,
in a November 1372 survey on another national sample. Andrews and
Withey (197*0 report that the magnitudes of the relationships in both
surveys were highly similar, on the order of .89 (Pearson r), demon-
strating high repl icab! 1 i ty. Andrews and Crandall (1976) and Andrews
(197*0 provide further evidence that these data are adequately reliable
and valid, and Crandall (1976) demonstrated that there are significant
correlations with peer ratings for some of these items, showing external
val idity.
Analyses
The intercorrelations among the job and leisure items were examined
to indicate the extent of mul ti col i near ity among the items as a set of
predictors. Multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the
contribution of job and leisure satisfaction to quality of life. Since
the importance of job and leisure satisfaction to quality of life may
differ from one subgroup to another, regression analyses were performed
on both the total sample and on 19 demographical ly defined subgroups.
These subgroups were formed on the basis of sex (male, female); race
(black, white); age (16-29, 30-49, 50-65); marital status (married,
never married, and divorced, widowed, or separated); education (0-11
grades of school, high school graduate, some college, college degree);
socio-economic status (low, middle, high; a combination of income and
7
education); and work group (blue-collar, white-collar). The blue-
collar group included individuals who were craftsmen, foremen, industrial
workers, members of service occupations, and farmers. Professionals,
managers, the self-employed, clerical workers, and sales people were
included in the white-col lar category.
RESULTS
Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and intercor-
relations for the job, leisure, and quality of life variables for the
total sample. The respondents expressed most dissatisfaction with
recreation facilities, entertainment, job pay, fringe benefits and
security. Individuals were most satisfied with the things they do with
their families and the people they see socially. The intercorrelations
among the job satisfaction items ranged from .2k to .48 with a median
of .40. The intercorrelations among the leisure items ranged from
.05 to .43 with a median of .1?. The intercorrelations between the job
and leisure items ranged from .04 to .25 with a median of .16. Given
the large sample size, statistical significance is less meaningful
than practical significance. Since the maximum intercorrelation among
the job and leisure items accounts for only &% of the variance, the
two sets of variables are functionally independent. Andrews and Crandall
(1976) estimated th's as the level of shared methods variance. This
supports the segmentation hypothesis In that job and leisure attitudes
are relatively independent (Dubin, 1973). An examination of the means
and item intercorrelations for the 19 subgroups showed few differences
2
from the total sample.
Insert Table l about here
The correlations between the life quality fndex and the job-leisure
items and the results of the repression analysis for the total sample
also appear in t'se Tabla. Correlations greater than or equal to .32
were considered practically significant since they account for at least
10% of the variance In the joint association between a specific satis-
faction item and quality of life. Statistical significance of the beta
weights was used as the criterion for a meaningful unique contribution
of a specific item to quality of life. In the total sample, the set of
job and leisure items accounted for Z?-% of the variance in quality of
life ($ = .57). The satisfaction items that contributed uniquely were
amount of fun, things done with family, things done with friends, spare
time activities, and the work itself.
Analyses by subgroup are desc-ibed in summary form below. (See
Footnote 2). The greatest variance in quality of life accounted for
by the work and leisure satisfaction items were found for the following
groups: high socio-economic status {ho%) , college degree (59%). and
30-^9 years of age ('*S%) . The 'owest proportions of variance were
obtained for the blue-collar group (2k%) and blacks (20%). The highest
correlations and largest beta we'ghts emerged for amount of fun for all
subgroups except blacks (median _r = t h$, med'an 8 - .23, £ < .01). Sat-
isfaction with the work itself was important (i.e., a correlation of at
least .32 and/or a significant 8 weight) to the life quality of males,
whites, married persons, white-collar workers, individuals between the
9
ages of 30 and ^9, the high socio-economic status group, and those with
a coilege degree. Satisfaction with co-workers was important to the
life quality of males, individuals becween the ages of 50 and 65, and the
mid socio-economic status group. Satisfaction with pay and fringe
benefits was of relevance to males, individuals between the ages of
50 and 65> those who did not ae be /ond the 11th grade in school , and
the low socio-economic status grcuj . Satisfaction with resources
available for doing the job was significantly related to life quality
only for those with a college degree.
Considering the leisure-related items, satisfaction with spare
time activities was important to all subgroups except respondents
who were married, those with some college, those with a college degree,
and the mid socio-economic status subgroup. Satisfaction with things
done with friends. was related to quality of life for all subgroups
except blacks, blue-collar workers, individuals between the ages of
50 and 65, respondents who never married, those who did not go beyond
the llth grade, individuals with a college degree, and the low socio-
economic status group. Satisfaction with things done with family was
relevant to all but males, blacks, blue-collar workers, those in the
16 to 29 age gtouD, individuals who never married, and those who did
not go beyond the llth grade. Satisfaction with people seen socially
was important only to those in the 50 to 65 age group.
Items which neither accounted for at least 10% of the variance in
their association with quality of life nor contributed significant
unique variance to quality of life were satisfaction with what it is
like where one works, entertainment, recreation facilities, and the
organizations one belongs to.
10
DISCUSSION
Data collected from a ? S?2 national probability sample demonstrated
that satisfaction with facets of one's job and leisure activities con-
tribute independently to individuals' assessment of their quality of
life. People seem to be capable of segmenting their social experiences
so that the feelings derived from work and leisure are basically unre-
lated. Overall, leisure items were better predictors than job-related
items. How much fun a per-son believes he or she is having is the prime
determinant of quality of life. The findings with regard to job sat-
isfaction support existing stereotypes of the disadvantaged worker.
For example, satisfaction with work itself was not important to the life
quality of blacks, females, and blue-collar workers, whereas it was im-
portant to the life quality of whites, males, and white-collar workers.
Satisfaction wlth-pay was important to the life quality of those in the
low socio-economic status group, older workers, and individuals with a
low education. Satisfaction with what Is available for doing the job
was important only for those with a college degree. The contribution
of the leisure items to quality of life wa? also dependent on subgroup
membership. For example, satisfaction with spr>re time activities was
important to all respondents except those who were married, went to col-
lege, or were categorized in the mid socio-economic status group, per-
haps because the^e Individuals *--re highly career oriented. On the other
hand, satisfaction with spars time activities was important to the life
quality of blacks. Satisfaction with amount of fun and spare time activ-
ities were the only variables Important to the life quality of blue-collar
workers "and those who have not married. These results support the notion
11
that non job-related variables may be more important to a full life
than career achievement for many pet pie (Bass S Bass, 197&).
The 32% variance in quality oF life accounted for by the leisure
and work items for the total sample may be compared to the results
of Andrews and WIthey's (197 2 *) analysis of all items in the May 1972
survey. They accounted for a maximum of 55% of the total population
variance using up to 30 indices in the predictor set. Besides work
and leisure, these indices included satisfaction with health, govern-
ment, schools, weather, and religious faith. That work and leisure
alone can account for a large percent of the predictable variance in
this data set illustrate their importance to life as a whole.
While the results of the current study indicate that facets of
job satisfaction are not highly related to quality of life compared
to facets of leisure satisfaction it Is not legitimate to conclude
that leisure is more important than work. All the respondents in the
analyses involving job satisfaction were employed. However, job-
related variables may also be important for those without jobs. The
lack of continuous and successful work experience which epitomizes
marginal workers (Porter, 1373) may severly limit the life satisfaction
of these individuals. Furthermore, housewives in the present sample
were not asked job satisfaction questions. in future research, these
individuals could be. asked to report their feelings about their employ-
ment status.
The low relationship between work and leisure satisfaction suggests
that these two central areas of life may have become disassociated for
12
many people. Nevertheless, both the study of work and leisure can gain
by considering them together. For instance, an employee's decision to
exert effort on the job may be based not only on the value expected from
performing one's job at different levels of excellence but also on the
possibility that alternative activities off the job can provide out-
comes of equal or greater value. As a result, an analysis of attractive
attributes of both job and leisure activities (especially factors that
contribute to satisfaction with amount of fun which was highly related
to life quality for most subgroups) will be necessary to understand
worker motivation, in fact, several studies suggest that work may be
satisfying only to the extent that it allows individuals to achieve
aspirations outside the workplace (e.g., Dumazedier, 1367; Goldthorpe,
1968). Redesigning a job or improving the task environment may have
little effect on worker behavior if satisfaction with job conditions
is not important to quality of life. Therefore, organizations should
consider which subgroups may be most responsive to such motivational
strategies as job enrichment, the four-day work week, flexitime, and
employer-sponsored recreation before investing in them.
13
References
Andrews, F.M. Social indicators of perceived life quality. Social
indicators Research , 1974, j_, 279-293-
Andrews, F.M. 6 Crandall, R. The validity of measures of self-reported
well-being. Social indicators Research , 1976, in press.
Andrews, F.M. 6 Witney, S.B. Developing measures of perceived life
quality: Results from several national surveys. Social Indicators
Research , 1974, j_, 1-26.
Andrews, F.M. S Withey, S.B. Social indicators of well-being in America :
The development and measurement of perceptual indicators , 1976, in
press.
Bass, B.M. 6 Bass, R. Concern for the environment: implications for
industrial and organizational psychology. Americ an Psychologist ,
1976, 31, 158-166.
Campbell, A. Subjective measures of well-being. American Psychologist ,
1976, Jl, 117-124.
Campbell, A., Converse, P.E., & Rogers, W.L. The Quality of American
Life: Perceptions, Evaluations and Satisfactions . N. Y. Russell
Sage Foundation, 1976.
Crandall, R. Validation of self-report measures using ratings by others.
Sociological Methods and Research , 1976, 4_, 380-400.
Dubin, R. Industrial workers worlds: A study of the "central life in-
terests" of industrial workers. Social Problems , 1956, 3., 131-142.
Dubin, R. Work and nonwork: Institutional perspectives. In M.D.
Dunnette (Ed.), Work and Nonwork in the Year 2001 . Monterey, Ca.:
f
Brooks Cole, 1973, pp. 54-68.
Dumazedier, J. Toward a society of leisure . London: Col 1 ler Macmi 1 Ian,
1967.
Environmental Protection Agency. Th e quality of life concept: A po-
tential tool for dec is ion -makers . Washington, D.C.: EPA, 1973-
Executive Office of the President: Office of Management and Budget.
" -Social Indicators, 1373. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1973-
Goldthorpe, J.H. The affluent work er: Industr ial attitudes and behavior .
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
Haavlo-Mannila, E. Satisfaction with family, work, leisure and life
among men and women. Human Relations , 1971, 2^. 585~601 .
Hackman, J.R. S Suttle, J. I. (Eds.) Improving life in organizations .
Pacific Palisades, Ca.: Goodyear, in press.
Hulln, C.L. Sourdes of variation in job and life satisfaction: The
role of community and job-related variables. Journal of
Applied Psychology , 1969, 53, 279-231.
Kornhauser, A. Mental health and the Industrial worker: A Detroit
study . New York: Wiley, 1965.
Land, K.C. On the definition of social indicators. American Sociologist ,
197U 6, 332-335.
Meisner, M. The iong arm of the job: A study of work and leisure.
Industrial Relations , I97i , it, 239-260.
Porter, L.W. Turning work into nonwork: The rewarding environment.
In M.D. Dunnette (Ed.), Work and Nonwork in the Year 2001 . Monterey,
Ca.: Brooks Cole, 1973, pp. 115-133-
15
Quinn, R.P., Staines, G.L. & McCul lough, M.R. Job satisfaction: is there
a trend? (Manpower Research Momgraph No. 30). Washington, D.C.:
'U.S. Department of Labor, 1 97^-
Walton, R.E. Quality of working life: What is it? Sloan Management
Review , 1973, 15(0, 11-2! .
Willmott, P. Family, work and leisure conflicts among male employees.
Human Relations , 1971, 24, 575-584.
Work in America . Report of a special task force to the Secretary of
Health, Education, and Welfare. Cambridge, Mass.: M.i.T., Press,
*373.
16
Footnotes
, The authors thank Frank Andrews and S. Witney for providing the
data for this study. Thanks to Frank Andrews, John R. Kelly, and
Greg Oldham for comments on earlier drafts.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Manuel London, Department
of Business Administration, University of Illinois, 61 Commerce West,
Urbana, Illinois 6)801
See Andrews and Wlthey (197^, 1976) for complete wordings of
the items and the scale.
2
Interested readers "may obtain these data by writing to the first
author.
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