The Development of a Method of Measuring Job Satisfaction: the Cornell Studies

purpose of studying job satisfaction among a representative cross section of workers in the United States. One specific goal of these studies was to relate job satisfaction to nleasurable company and community characteristics and to characteristics of the individual worker. Since the success of the cntire study hinged on the nature and quality of the instrument to be usccl to measurc job satisfaction, a considerable amount of time and effort went into constructing this device. This paper summarizes the rationale behind the approach to measurement and the particular characteristics OF the measure finally adopted. Before turning to this, however, a brief description of what job satisfaction is and why it should be measured at all would seem to be in order.