Scale library · HRM & organizational behavior

Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS): Spector (1985)

The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) was developed by Spector (1985) to measure employee attitudes to the job and its facets. Its 36 items cover nine facets equally: pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, coworkers, nature of work and communication. It was first developed for human service organizations, but the author says it applies to all kinds of organizations. It suits theses that need satisfaction broken down by facet rather than a single overall index.

Cite the original, not the blog.

Original English items

Items marked (R) are reverse-coded: recode them before computing reliability or scale scores. Replace bracketed placeholders such as [system] with the name of the system, brand or organization you study.

Pay (PAY, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
PAY1 I feel I am being paid a fair amount for the work I do. No
PAY2 (R) Raises are too few and far between. Yes
PAY3 (R) I feel unappreciated by the organization when I think about what they pay me. Yes
PAY4 I feel satisfied with my chances for salary increases. No

Promotion (PRO, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
PRO1 (R) There is really too little chance for promotion on my job. Yes
PRO2 Those who do well on the job stand a fair chance of being promoted. No
PRO3 People get ahead as fast here as they do in other places. No
PRO4 I am satisfied with my chances for promotion. No

Supervision (SUP, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
SUP1 My supervisor is quite competent in doing his/her job. No
SUP2 (R) My supervisor is unfair to me. Yes
SUP3 (R) My supervisor shows too little interest in the feelings of subordinates. Yes
SUP4 I like my supervisor. No

Fringe Benefits (FB, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
FB1 (R) I am not satisfied with the benefits I receive. Yes
FB2 The benefits we receive are as good as most other organizations offer. No
FB3 The benefit package we have is equitable. No
FB4 (R) There are benefits we do not have which we should have. Yes

Contingent Rewards (CR, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
CR1 When I do a good job, I receive the recognition for it that I should receive. No
CR2 (R) I do not feel that the work I do is appreciated. Yes
CR3 (R) There are few rewards for those who work here. Yes
CR4 (R) I don't feel my efforts are rewarded the way they should be. Yes

Operating Procedures (OP, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
OP1 (R) Many of our rules and procedures make doing a good job difficult. Yes
OP2 My efforts to do a good job are seldom blocked by red tape. No
OP3 (R) I have too much to do at work. Yes
OP4 (R) I have too much paperwork. Yes

Coworkers (COW, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
COW1 I like the people I work with. No
COW2 (R) I find I have to work harder at my job because of the incompetence of people I work with. Yes
COW3 I enjoy my coworkers. No
COW4 (R) There is too much bickering and fighting at work. Yes

Nature of Work (NW, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
NW1 (R) I sometimes feel my job is meaningless. Yes
NW2 I like doing the things I do at work. No
NW3 I feel a sense of pride in doing my job. No
NW4 My job is enjoyable. No

Communication (COM, 4 items)

Code Item wording Reverse-coded
COM1 Communications seem good within this organization. No
COM2 (R) The goals of this organization are not clear to me. Yes
COM3 (R) I often feel that I do not know what is going on with the organization. Yes
COM4 (R) Work assignments are not fully explained. Yes

Response scale

6-point agreement scale without a midpoint (1 = Disagree very much, 2 = Disagree moderately, 3 = Disagree slightly, 4 = Agree slightly, 5 = Agree moderately, 6 = Agree very much). Facet scores range from 4 to 24 and the total from 36 to 216 after reverse-scoring the negatively worded items.

Recoding reverse-coded items: 1–6 scale: new score = 1 + 6 − score = 7 − score.

Licence and permission

Free for non-commercial use, including theses and student projects, according to the author's website: you must cite it, keep the copyright line on the questionnaire and share your results with the author. Translations are allowed if you send the author a copy and record the translator and year.

Sources (APA 7)

Vietnamese translation

A Vietnamese translation of every item, with sample-size advice and studies that used the scale, is on the Vietnamese page for this scale.

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