Overall job satisfaction: how good are single-item measures?

J Appl Psychol. 1997 Apr;82(2):247-52. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.247.

Abstract

A meta-analysis of single-item measures of overall job satisfaction (28 correlations from 17 studies with 7,682 people) found an average uncorrected correlation of .63 (SD = .09) with scale measures of overall job satisfaction. The overall mean correlation (corrected only for reliability) is .67 (SD = .08), and it is moderated by the type of measurement scale used. The mean corrected correlation for the best group of scale measures (8 correlations, 1,735 people) is .72 (SD = .05). The correction for attenuation formula was used to estimate the minimum level of reliability for a single-item measure. These estimates range from .45 to .69, depending on the assumptions made.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction*
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results