Managerial Satisfaction and Organizational Roles: An Investigation of Porter's Need Deficiency Scales

Empirical research identifying a relationship between job satisfaction and level in the organizational hierarchy has utilized the Porter Need Satisfaction Questionnaire extensively. An attempt was made to replicate the previous findings and expand the domain of job satisfaction variables to determine the generality of the relationship. Ss were 174 supervisors in a large manufacturing firm. The hypothesis of different mean levels of satisfaction associated with different levels in the hierarchy was supported using the Job Descriptive Index (JDI), but was not supported using the Porter Need Deficiency Scales. The internal structure of the Porter Questionnaire and its convergence with the JDI were investigated to explore alternative explanations of the results.