Article
原 著

Japanese Journal of Administrative Science
Volume 23, No.1, 2010, 1-14
経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号，2010，1-14

Mapping a Psychological Process Underlying the Causal Link
from Locus of Control to Intrinsic Job Satisfaction:
The Mediating Role of Perceived Work Environment＊

Mohammad TAREQ（University of Tsukuba）＊＊

Shinichiro WATANABE（University of Tsukuba）

The present study investigated the relationship among internal locus of control, perceived
creative work environment, and intrinsic job satisfaction. Two models were proposed basedon past research. A ﬁrst model tested a direct effect of internal locus of control on intrinsic job
satisfaction (Direct Effect Model); and a second model tested a mediation effect of perceived
creative environment linking internal locus of control to intrinsic job satisfaction (Mediational
Model). Data were collected from those who graduated from a major research university inJapan (n=227). The study revealed that the direct effect of internal locus of control on intrinsic
job satisfaction was positive and signiﬁcant; also, the effect was partially mediated throughperceived creative work environment. The meaning of the ﬁndings and directions for future
research are discussed.
Keywords：locus of control, perceived creative work environment, intrinsic job satisfactionin this subject originates in Staw and Ross (1985) who

1 Introduction

demonstrated cross-situational and temporal stability

Over the years, dispositional influence on job

of job satisfaction for a national random sample ofsatisfaction has attracted much attention in the ﬁeld

5,000 men aged 45 to 59. Since then, research hasof organizational behavior. The considerable interest＊

Doctoral student, Department of Social Systems
and Management, Graduate School of Systems andInformation Engineering, University of Tsukuba.
＊＊
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Systems
and Information Engineering, University ofTsukuba.
A previous version of this study was presented
at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Association
for Psychological Science, San Francisco, USA. The
research project was supported in part by the Grantin-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 19330081 fromthe Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
We thank anonymous reviewers for their helpfulcomments on a previous version of this article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to Shinichiro Watanabe, Graduate Schoolof Systems and Information Engineering, Universityof Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki
305-8573 JAPAN. E-mail: watanabe@sk.tsukuba.ac.jp

been accumulated that consistently substantiated theclaim for dispositional influence on job satisfaction.
For example, Gerhart (1987) found that the claim
could be extended to the young cohort of the nationalrandom sample. More recently, Steel and Rentsch(1997) examined the stability of job satisfaction for
military employees. As a result, they found signiﬁcantly positive correlations between job attitudes
recorded at two points in time (over a ten-yeartime interval) for those employees who performed
different tasks over time as well as for those who
continued to perform similar tasks. The implicationof this line of research is that the personality-based
view of job satisfaction cannot be easily replaced byan inﬂuential alternative view that job satisfaction issocially constructed and highly subject to situational
inﬂuences (see Salancik & Pfeﬀer, 1977, 1978).

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In late 1980’s, a series of research emerged that

原著

経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号

addressed the question of the relative strength ofdevelopmental stages. The earliest research avenue

situational versus dispositional forces in determining

was devoted to demonstrating cross-situational andjob satisfaction a person experiences at work. Arvey,

temporal consistency of job satisfaction, without iden-

Bouchard, Segal, and Abraham (1989), for example,

tifying what speciﬁc dispositional traits were behind

examined the extent to which job satisfaction are

the consistency (e.g., Arvey, et al., 1989; Gerhart, 1987;

shared between monozygotic (identical) twins. Con-

Staw & Ross, 1985; Steel & Rentsch, 1997). The next

sequently, they found that about 30 percent of theavenue of research attempted to fill in the “black

variability in job satisfaction is explained by genetic

box” of dispositions with speciﬁc psychological indi-components.

vidual difference variables (Al-Mashaan, 2001; Costa

The dispositional theory on job satisfaction has& McCrae, 1980; George, 1989; Haynie, Hartman, &made further advancements by its attempt to

Lundberg, 2007; Levin & Stokes, 1989; Thorensen &identify specific psychological individual difference

Judge, 1997; Tokar & Subich, 1997; Watson & Slack,variables that may underlie the trans-situational and1993). Finally, the most recent avenue, albeit sparse,

temporal stability of job satisfaction. For example,

has explored the why of the dispositional effect bysome studies have indicated that positive aﬀect (PA)mapping psychological processes through which

was positively related to positive work attitudes

individual dispositional traits get translated to job(George, 1989; Watson & Slack, 1993), while nega-satisfaction (see, e.g., Judge & Bono, 2001; Judge, Bono,tive affect (NA) was inversely associated with the& Locke, 2000).

criteria (George, 1989; Levin & Stokes, 1989). More

The present study belongs in the third researchrecently, a meta-analytic study by Thorensen andavenue. The purpose is to advance our understand-Judge (1997) examined the links between PA and job

ing about the relationship among locus of control,

satisfaction and between NA and job satisfaction andperceived creative work environment, and intrinsic

found overall true score correlations of +.52 and -.40,

job satisfaction. More speciﬁcally, we are interested

respectively. More broader constructs such as thein whether locus of control leads to intrinsic job satis-Big-5 personality traits have also been investigatedfaction directly and/or indirectly through the percep-

as antecedents of job satisfaction. Consequently,

tion of work environment. As reviewed previously,

neuroticism (extraversion) has been found to belocus of control is a component of Judge, Bono, andnegatively (positively) associated with job satisfaction

Locke’s core self-evaluation (self-esteem, generalized(Al-Mashaan, 2001; Costa & McCrae, 1980; Haynie,

self-eﬃcacy, low neuroticism, and locus of control). Of

Hartman, & Lundberg, 2007; Judge, Bono, & Locke,

those components, we would like to focus on locus of

2000; Tokar & Subich, 1997).

control for the following reasons. First, as compared

Going a step further to continue this theoreticalto self-esteem and self-eﬃcacy, locus of control seems

development, researchers have begun to explore theto be more stable across situations and over time.

psychological mechanisms through which dispositional

Although they are known to be stable for people who

traits get translated to job satisfaction. For example,

have reached maturity, self-esteem and self-efficacy

Weiss and Cronpanzano (1996) suggested the possibil-

may still be inﬂuenced either positively or negatively

ity that affective temperament causes emotionallydepending on their eﬀectiveness in dealing with theirsignificant events at work, which in turn affect job

work environments that are changing continuously

satisfaction. Also, Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997)(often radically) due to technological advancements in

and Judge, Bono, and Locke (2000) demonstrated thatthe modern society. Second, although it is probably

core self-evaluation, which is composed of self-esteem,as stable as locus of control, neuroticism is at least

generalized self-eﬃcacy, internal locus of control, andpartly to predict negative emotional states. Thus,

low neuroticism, aﬀected job satisfaction both directly

the inclusion of the trait may not bring much logicaland indirectly through job complexity.

independence in the predictor-criterion relationship.

As can be seen from this overview, the dispo-This study also addresses job intrinsic satisfaction

sitional research can be characterized by threerather than overall or general job satisfaction. The−2−

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION

Research suggests that intrinsic satisfaction/motiva-

2.1 Internal locus of control and intrinsic
job satisfaction

tion comes mainly from the nature of the task (Deci

According to the Theory of Perception Mechanism& Ryan, 1985; Hackman & Oldham, 1980; Lawler,(Spector, Zapf, Chen & Frese, 2000), traits act as a ﬁl-reason for this comes from a methodological concern.

1994; Thierry, 1990) and also from “internal” char-ter to shape one’s perception about the world. People

acteristics of the person (Amabile, Hill, Hennessey,

with some traits see the world in a negative way,

& Tighe, 1994; Komarraju, Karau, & Schmeck, 2009;

while others see it in a positive way. For example,

Watanabe & Kanazawa, 2009), while antecedents ofresearch on affective disposition has indicated thatextrinsic satisfaction/motivation include a variety

negatively disposed individuals tend to experienceof job context factors, such as fairness of reward

negative mood at work (see George, 1989; Thorensen

system, human relations, workload, physical working& Judge, 1997; Watson & Slack, 1993), while positively

conditions, etc. Thus, a model predicting intrinsic

disposed individuals tend to be satisﬁed in their work

satisfaction alone, as compared to that predicting

situations (see George, 1989; Levin & Stokes, 1989;

satisfaction with both job content and contextual fac-

Thorensen & Judge, 1997; Watson & Slack, 1993).

tors, needs fewer variables to statistically control for

The construct of locus of control, originallyand can avoid criticism that what is to be identiﬁed

developed by Julian B. Rotter (1954), is also an aspect

as a dispositional source of satisfaction is the productof personality that functions as eyeglasses to shapeof unspeciﬁed inﬂuences of the job context factors.

one’s interpretation of the world. It refers to a

In what follows, we develop a hypothesized model

person’s perception about what causes good or badof the relationship among locus of control, perceived

events in his or her life. People with high internal

creative work environment, and intrinsic job satisfac-

locus of control tend to believe that outcomes of theirtion.

actions are contingent on what they do. They incline
toward the belief that their behaviors are guided by

2 Hypothesized Model

their own personal decisions and eﬀorts. Those indi-

Figure 1 contains the hypothesized model. As

viduals with external locus of control, on the othershown in the figure, the model includes a specifichand, tend to believe that their behaviors are guided

dispositional factor (internal locus of control) and theby external forces or circumstances that are beyond

perception of a specific situation factor (perceived

their control. Past research has consistently showedcreative work environment) as antecedents of intrin-that people high on internal locus of control have a

sic job satisfaction.

strong tendency to be satisﬁed with their situations.

Perceived creative work
environment

Hypothesis 2Internal locus of control

+

+

+

Hypothesis 3

Intrinsic job satisfaction

Hypothesis 1

Figure. 1 Hypothesized Model for Predicting Intrinsic Job Satisfaction
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経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号

For example, Judge and Bono (2001) found that

construct comprised of internal locus of control, selfinternal locus of control was positively related to job

esteem, self efficacy and low neuroticism) and job

satisfaction (r = 0.32). More recently, Ng, Sorensen

characteristics (autonomy, skill variety, task signifi-

and Eby’s (2006) meta-analysis revealed that internal

cance, feedback and job challenge). More recently, a

locus of control had a strong positive association

meta analysis by Ng et al. (2006) showed that internalwith job satisfaction (ρ=.33). Although we are not

locus of control was positively associated with theaware of any study that estimated the strength oflevels of job autonomy, skill variety, task signiﬁcance,

the relationship between internal locus of control

job feedback and job challenge. Drawing on theand intrinsic job satisfaction, it seems reasonable topast research, we set forth the following hypothesis

assume that those individuals high on internal locus

regarding the relationship between internal locus ofof control would use or attempt to use their discre-

control and creative work environment:tion in performing their work roles, thereby having a

Hypothesis 2: Internal locus of control will begreater chance to experience higher levels of intrinsic

positively associated with perceived creative
work environment.
The positive link from internal locus of control toperceived creative work environment in Figure 1
visualizes the hypothesized relationship.

satisfaction than those individuals who are low on
this trait. Based on this line of thinking, we formulate the following hypothesis concerning the eﬀect ofinternal locus of control on intrinsic job satisfaction:
Hypothesis 1: Internal locus of control will aﬀect

intrinsic job satisfaction positively .
The direct positive path from internal locus of control to intrinsic job satisfaction in Figure 1 is a visual
representation of the hypothesized relationship.

2.3 Perceived creative work environment
and intrinsic job satisfaction
McKinnon, Harrison, Chow and Wu (2003) andZhou, Gao, Yang, and Zhou (2005) examined the inﬂuence of innovative work environment on job satisfac-

2.2 Internal locus of control and perceived
creative work environmenttion. As a result, they found that the predictor was

In his Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) frame-

Berson, Oreg, and Dvirs (2008) indicated that innova-

work, Schneider (1987) presented a person-situation

tive organizational culture tended to increase job sat-

positively associated with the criterion. Similarly,

interaction view of organizational behavior. He

isfaction. Moreover, Peyne, Wall, Borrill and Carter

posited that people are attracted to, or try to choose,(1999), Holman (2002), Spector (1986), and Probst (2005)

organizations that fit their personality; organiza-

consistently revealed that opportunity for personaltions, on the other hand, try to select or recruit

control at a task—a situational prerequisite for people

people whose personality matches with demands of

to be imaginative and creative—is positively associ-the organizations; and employees who experienceated with intrinsic job satisfaction. These studies

a poor person-organization fit tend to leave theconsistently suggest that creative work environmentorganizations. Now let us ask: what work environ-affording autonomous work behaviors provides

ment would internals (people high on internal locus
of control) tend to select? Research suggests thatinternals would seek for creative work environmentsthat allow them to assume great autonomy in, andresponsibility and accountability for, planning, organizing, controlling, and evaluating their own work.
For example, Spector (1982) indicated that internals
prefer work situations where they have high decision
latitude in using their abilities to perform their work
roles. Judge, Bono, and Locke (2000) found signiﬁcant
positive relationship between core self evaluation (aemployees with opportunities to be imaginative andcreative in performing their work roles, which inturn increases their intrinsic job satisfaction. Thus
we have:
Hypothesis 3: Perceived creative work envi-

ronment will affect intrinsic job satisfaction
positively.
Combining Hypotheses 1 through 3, we proposethat a person’s dispositional trait could aﬀect intrinsic
job satisfaction in two diﬀerent ways: directly (locus
of control → intrinsic job satisfaction) and indirectly−4−

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION
through perceived creative work environment (locus

controlled for. In order for this purpose, we identiﬁedof control → perceived creative work environmenta series of control variables: sex, age, workload, job→ intrinsic job satisfaction). Figure 1 also visualizes

tenure, and job category.

the mediational role of perceived creative work

Sex . Clark (1996, 1997) indicated that womenenvironment linking locus of control to intrinsic job

tended to seek for ﬂexible work environment wheresatisfaction.

they create and innovate, while men inclined toward
jobs whose productivity is measured in monetary

3 Methodterms. This suggests that females, as compared to

3.1 Sample

males, tend to perceive their jobs to be creative and

The sample consisted of graduates of a majorinnovative and experience higher levels of intrinsic

Japanese research university who lived in the metro-

motivation. Thus we treat sex as an exogenous vari-politan Tokyo. They were identiﬁed through the lists

able that might aﬀect the levels of perceived creativeof classes from 1969 to 1994. We mailed 2000 return-work environment and intrinsic job satisfaction.

paid postal cards to the graduates, indicating that we

Age . It is a generally accepted argument thatneeded data for the study, and asking the potential

older employees possess more seniority and work

participants to mail the reply postal cards back to us

experience, which enables them to move into more

if they would participate in this study. Five hundred

attractive, challenging, responsible and satisfying jobs

and thirty nine graduates returned the cards to us.

(Bedeian, Ferris, & Kackmar, 1992; Clark, Oswald,

We then mailed them questionnaires designed for the& Warr, 1996; Rhodes, 1983). Thus, we predict thatstudy and return envelopes addressed to the second

older people tend to perceive their work environment

author. Five hundred and thirty one questionnaires

to be creative and experience higher levels of intrin-

were returned to us.

sic job satisfaction than their counterparts.

Of the 531 respondents, we selected for this study
227 respondents who provided usable data. The
numbers of male and female participants were188 (82.82%) and 39 (17.18%), respectively.

Thelevels of education the participants attained were
undergraduate (n = 155, 68.28%) and post graduate(n = 72, 31.72%). All individuals worked as full-time
employees. Types of job that the participants heldat the time of the survey consisted of management(n = 53), administrative, personnel, or ﬁnancial aﬀairs(n = 17), business planning (n = 19), sales (n = 13),
research and development (n = 24), engineering (n =15), professional (n = 17), and teaching (n = 69). The
participants ranged in age from 30 to 65 (M = 46.69;
s.d . = 9.60). The lengths of experience in the current
jobs ranged from 12 months to 38 years and ninemonths (M = 17 years and 4.02 months; s.d . = 10
years and 11.10 months). The hours they worked per
week, an index of workload, ranged from 40 to 70 (M= 49.08 hours; s.d . =7.69 hours).

3.2 Control Variables
The hypothesized model presented in the previous
section must be tested, with exogenous influences

Workload . There is a widespread belief that workload pressure inhibits divergent thinking processes
and leads to a decrease in creativity and satisfaction
with work (e.g., Bakker, Demerouti, De Boer &Schaufeli, 2003; Farr & Ford, 1990; Lee & Ashforth,
1996; Lewing & Dollard, 2003; Zellers & Perrewe,2001). However, there exists some research thatsuggests that workload can act as a motivator andincrease employee creativity (e.g., Nickolson & West,1988). Although it has produced mixed results, past
research does suggest that we include workload in
the model as a control variable.
Job tenure . The longer the workers have been in
their current jobs, the greater would be the chance
to assimilate knowledge, skills and abilities required
to perform the jobs, which in turn would lead togreater latitudes in making job-related decisions andhigher levels of intrinsic job satisfaction. Some studies are supportive of this assumption (e.g., Bedeianet al., 1992; Bottger & Chew, 1986). Thus, we predictthat job tenure will be positively associated with both
perceived creative work environment and intrinsic
job satisfaction.
Job category . As explained previously, the par-

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経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号

ticipants in the present study belonged in one oftime” and “The chance to try out my own methods

the following 8 job categories: (a) management, (b)of doing the job”. Respondents were asked to indi-administrative, personnel, or ﬁnancial aﬀairs, (c) busi-

cate the levels of their satisfaction for those items on

ness planning, (d) sales, (e) research and development,

5-point scales, ranging from very dissatisﬁed (coded(f) engineering, (g) professional, and (h) teaching. In

as 1) to neither dissatisﬁed nor satisﬁed (coded as 3)order to check if we need to statistically control forto very satisﬁed (coded as 5). Scores for the seven

the eﬀects of job categories in testing the aforemen-

items were summed to produce a single intrinsic job

tioned hypotheses, we followed procedures outlined insatisfaction score for each respondent. The inter-

1

Ryan (1985) and tested for diﬀerences in means foritem reliability coeﬃcient was .85.

the key constructs of the study (i.e., locus of control,Internal locus of control . In order to measure theperceived work environment and intrinsic job satis-

level of internal locus of control, we selected four

faction) between all pairs of the job categories. As

items (see Table 2) from the Internality, Powerfula result, no signiﬁcant mean diﬀerences were found

Others, and Chance Scale (Levenson, 1981). Sample

for locus of control and for perceived creative work

items included I can pretty much determine whatenvironment.

will happen in my life and I am usually able to

As for intrinsic job satisfaction, on the other hand,protect my personal interests . Respondents were

we found statistically signiﬁcant diﬀerences between

requested to indicate the levels of their agreement

two pairs of job categories. That is, the mean ofwith these item statements. The response alterna-

intrinsic job satisfaction for the category of adminis-

tives were: 1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 =trative, personnel, or ﬁnancial aﬀairs (M = 22.18, s.d .

slightly disagree; 4 = slightly agree; 5 = agree; and= 4.05) was lower than that for the category of man-

6 = strongly agree. The respondent’s overall index

agement (M = 27.75, s.d . = 3.11) at the .001 level (F S =of internal locus of control index was his or her

3.98, df = 7, 219); it was also lower than the category

total score summed over the four items, which tookof teaching (M = 26.42, s.d . = 4.08) at the .02 level (F S

a possible range from 4 to 24. The Chronbach’s α= 2.44, df = 7, 219). This indicates that people in thecoeﬃcient was .68.

Perceived creative work environment .

category of administrative, personnel, or financial

The

affairs tend to experience lower levels of intrinsic

participants’ perceived creative work environment

job satisfaction than do managers and teachers. The

was assessed by Moos’ (1994) Work Environment

mean differences among managers, teachers, andScale (see Table 2). The scale included nine items

others in the remaining ﬁve categories did not reachfor assessing this dimension of work environment.

statistical signiﬁcance. Thus, we include in the model

Respondents were asked to evaluate the degree toa dummy variable named administrative job to indi-

which each item is descriptive of their work environ-cate whether the respondents belong in the category

ment. Sample items are New and different ideasof administrative, personnel, or ﬁnancial aﬀairs (coded

are always being tried out and The place would beas 1) or in the other categories (coded as 0; M =one of the ﬁrst to try out a new idea . The response

26.47, s.d . = 3.81) and control its eﬀect on intrinsic job

alternatives for the question items were arranged on
5-point scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 3

satisfaction.

(neutral) to 5 (strongly agree). Individual items were

3.3 Measures
Intrinsic job satisfaction . For assessing intrinsic job

combined to form a single measure of perceived

satisfaction we used Minnesota Satisfaction Question-coeﬃcient was .86.

creative work environment. The Chronbach’s αnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967). Seven

Controls . Sex was coded as 1 if respondents wereitems that seemed to be most representative of themales; otherwise, it was coded as 0. Job category

essence of the construct were selected based on

was coded as 1 if the respondents belong in the cat-theoretical and conceptual grounds (see Table 2), suchegory of administrative, personnel, or ﬁnancial aﬀairs;

as “The chance to do diﬀerent things from time tofor respondents in the remaining job categories, it−6−

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION
was coded as 0. Workload was operationalized bying to the modification indices in Mplus. Since weasking the respondents how long (in hours) they

assume one latent variable for a set of measurement

typically worked per week. Tenure was indexed byitems, we expect that the measurement errors areasking the respondents to indicate the length of theirlikely to be correlated.

experience on their current jobs in year and month,which we converted into a single unit of months.

4 Results

The respondents’ age was recorded at the time of

Table 1 presents descriptive information about

the survey.

the key variables in the hypothesized model (internal

3.4 Analyses

and intrinsic job satisfaction) and available controls

locus of control, perceived creative work environment,
We will test the hypothesized model by using(age, workload, tenure, sex, and job category). Means,

MPlus 5 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2007). Before

standard deviations, ranges, and Chronbach’s α coef-

starting the analysis, it is important to understandﬁcients are reported. For clarity, sex was renamed

the scale properties of the variables included in theto male . As for the interrelationships among themodel. We regard age, tenure, workload as variables

key constructs, intrinsic job satisfaction is positively

with interval scales, since the distance between any

associated with perceived creative work environment

two adjacent units of measurement on each of the(r = .44, p <.001) and internal locus of control (r = .26,
p <.001). The table also indicates that respondents’age, job tenure, and job category (administrative job =1; otherwise = 0) are signiﬁcantly related to intrinsic
job satisfaction.
Table 2 shows the standardized loadings (λ̂) andt -values for the measurement models. As shown in
the table, all measurement items were highly signiﬁcant (p <.001), indicating that the latent variables
were measured well.
Having checked the results of the measurement
models, we then focused on the results of thestructural equation model. Figures 2 reports thestandardized estimates of the path coeﬃcients for the
Direct Eﬀect Model and for the Mediational Model.
Hypothesis 1 concerned the direct eﬀect of internal
locus of control on intrinsic job satisfaction. As
shown in Figure 2 (PART I), the data are supportiveof the hypothesis (β = .39, t = 5.32, p < .001), with thepossible exogenous inﬂuences adjusted for. The goodness of ﬁt indices for the Direct Eﬀect Model were:2χ [39] = 53.90, p = .06; RMSEA = .04; CFI = .99; andTLI = .99. This indicates that there exists a signiﬁcant trait eﬀect on intrinsic job satisfaction that may
be mediated.
Hypotheses 2 and 3 concerned the mediational
relationship among internal locus of control, perceived
creative environment and intrinsic job satisfaction.
With the effects of exogenous variables controlled
for, the results indicated that the path from internal

scales can be considered to be equal. The same
assumption, however, does not hold for each of the
manifest variables of the latent factors—i.e., internal
locus of control, perceived work environment, andintrinsic job satisfaction. From a strict statisticalpoint of view, the adjacent units on the scales ofthe manifest variables are not evenly-scaled. Thus
we regard these manifest variables as ordinallyscaled. Additionally, sex and job category are binary
in nature, since these variables are to classify the
respondents into dichotomous groups according totheir male and female biological differences and to
the types of jobs they have (i.e., administrative vsother types of job). Therefore, for estimating thestructural equation model, we will use the WLSMV(weighted least square mean and variance) estimator that is known to be appropriate for ordinal anddichotomous data. This estimation method computes
polyserial correlations when interval variables arecorrelated with ordinal or dichotomous variables,and between ordinal and dichotomous variables;
polychoric correlations between ordinal variables andbetween dichotomous variables; and Pearson correlations between interval variables.
In estimating both measurement and structural
equation models, we ﬁrst assume that all covariances
between the measurement errors are zero. We willthen modify the models by relaxing the restriction ofno correlations on the measurement errors accord-

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経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号
a, b

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations among Variables Used for Testing Hypotheses

Table 2. Results for Measurement Models

locus of control to perceived creative environment

to intrinsic job satisfaction also reached statistical

was positive and signiﬁcant (β = .13, t = 1.90, p = .05);

signiﬁcance (β =.41, t = 6.16, p < .001). These results

and that from perceived creative work environmentshown in Figure 2 (PART II) provide support for−8−

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION

Figure 2. Results for Direct Eﬀect and Mediational Models
2

Hypotheses 2 and 3. Fit statistics were: χ [41]=53.85, p =.08; RMSEA =.04; CFI =.99; and TLI =.99.

5 Discussion

Two additional remarks need to be made regard-

Since Rotter (1954) developed a notion of locus ofing the results for the Mediational Model. First, thecontrol, a great amount of research has been accumu-

size of the direct effect of internal locus of control

lated that examined its predictive utility for job satis-

on intrinsic job satisfaction remained statistically sig-

faction. As a result, locus of control is now generally

niﬁcant (β =.37, t = 5.38, p < .001), with the eﬀect ofbelieved to be a signiﬁcant source of job satisfaction

the mediator on the dependent measure additionally(Spector, 1982; Spector & O’Connell, 1994). However,controlled for. Second, the indirect path from locus offew studies exist that explicitly focused on its eﬀect

control to the dependent measure through the media-

on intrinsic job satisfaction. More importantly, much

tor was signiﬁcant (Sobel test statistic = 1.94, p =.05).

remains to be known as to the psychological mecha-

Thus, it is our conclusion that the eﬀect of internalnism by which locus of control gets translated to job

locus of control on intrinsic job satisfaction is bothsatisfaction—the why of the eﬀect.

direct and partially mediated via perceived creative
work environment.

The present study investigated whether internal
locus of control affects intrinsic job satisfaction
directly and/or indirectly through perceived creative

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経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号

work environment. The examination of the media-

the one hand; and psychologists who fought back thetional process was devoted to ﬁnd an answer to thesituationists position by demonstrating the stability

why of the trait eﬀect on satisfaction. As evidenced
by this study, changes in the values of internal locus
of control signiﬁcantly accounted for changes in thevalues of intrinsic job satisfaction. The conﬁrmationof the direct effect is consistent with what past
research has revealed about the eﬀect of the trait on
job satisfaction.
As for the mediational process, we found that theeffect of the trait is partially transmitted throughperceived creative work environment. This suggeststhat internals, guided by their strong beliefs in theircapability to control and operate on their own environments, and by their proclivity to act autonomously
and innovatively at work, tend to perceive their work
environment to be creative, which in turn increases
their intrinsic job satisfaction. We believe that further
research to examine the why of the eﬀect of locus ofcontrol on job satisfaction is warranted.

of job satisfaction across situations (see, e.g., Gerhart,
1987; Staw & Ross, 1985), on the other hand. And outof the debate has emerged a series of research thatis based on the interactionist view of job satisfaction(see Dawis, 1992; Furnham & Schaeﬀer, 1984; Hackman & Oldham, 1980; Judge & Bono, 2001; Smart,
Elton, & McLaughlin, 1986).
The present study is based on the interactionist
view of job satisfaction. We placed equal emphasis
on a specific person factor (locus of control) and a
speciﬁc situation factor (perceived creative work environment) as determinants of intrinsic job satisfaction.
The primary contribution of the study was to revealthat both the person factor and the situation factor
were signiﬁcant predictors of the dependent measure,and to show that the perception of the work environment was an important explanatory variable in therelationship between locus of control and job satisfaction. The results provided a psychological map to

5.1 Theoretical implications

show that the eﬀect of locus of control (a dispositional

There are two major traditions in psychology—the

trait) on intrinsic job satisfaction is not only direct but

situationist school and the personologist school. And

also partially mediated through work environment

there is a long-lasting and still lively debate between

perceived to be creative. In other words, this study

those schools. The personologist school posits that a

successfully provided an insight into the psychologicalperson’s behavior is caused primarily by the “internal”

mechanism through which the person’s dispositional

characteristics of the person. The situationist school,

trait gets translated to satisfaction.

on the other hand, postulates that human behavior

It is important to note that the results of theis a function of the “external” characteristics of thepresent study are similar to those obtained in Judgesituation to which the person responds. This debate,

and Bono’s (2001) study. Using longitudinal dataalso known as the person-situation controversy, wascollected in a midsized midwestern city in the US,

kindled by Walter Mischel’s (1968, 1973) challenge tothey suggested that job satisfaction derives partly

the trait position and Alker’s (1972) rebuttal to thefrom “internal” characteristics of the person (coresituationist position. Out of the debate has emerged

self-evaluations) and partly from the “external”

the interactionist school that holds that information

characteristics of the jobs performed by the person

about the person and the situation is equally impor-(job complexity). The present study, however, diﬀers

tant in predicting behavior (see, e.g., Bem & Allen,

from theirs in several ways. First, out of the core

1974; Bem & Funder, 1978; Endler, 1973; Wachtel,

self-evaluation components (self-esteem, generalized
self-efficacy, low neuroticism, and locus of control),

1977; among others).
Tracing job satisfaction research back to 1970’s, we

we focused on the locus-of-control component. The

can understand that there existed a similar debate

reason for this was that locus of control is logicallybetween two camps of organizational researchers—

and conceptually more independent from job satisfac-

espousers of the situationistic view of job attitudes

tion, and seems to be a more stable dispositional trait,

who attacked personality-based theories of job satis-

than any other component of the core-self-evaluation

faction (see, e.g., Salancik and Pfeﬀer, 1977, 1978), on

construct. Second, our data consisted of Japanese−10−

LOCUS OF CONTROL AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION
college graduates working in the metropolitan Tokyo

traits.

in Japan. McGinnis, Nordholm, Ward and Bhanthum-

Second, the ﬁndings of this study can be a recipenavin (1974) showed that the level of internal locus offor an individual to work at job satisfaction. An indi-

control diﬀered signiﬁcantly from country to country.

vidual not only reacts, but also proactively selects andSpecifically, their data indicated that the scores forshapes, his or her work environments (Caspi & Bem,the Japanese were, on the average, higher than those

1990; Schneider, 1987). This suggests that people

for the Swedish, but lower than those for the Aus-

can choose and design their own work careers that

tralians, New Zealanders, and Americans. Despitewould maximize the levels of their satisfaction. The

the international variability in the level of locus ofknowledge of one’s personality and preferred stylecontrol, the similar causal relations found in the U.S.

of working will be the ﬁrst step in the search for aand Japan would prepare the stage for understanding

practical choice of career to experience enjoyment at

the generalizability of the results across cultures.

work. For example, for those individuals who tend

Further studies are needed that use data from more

to attribute success and failure to things they havediverse cultures to investigate the generalizability

control over, the things they need for intrinsic enjoy-

issue.

ment would be the engagement in creative jobs andopportunities for learning and professional growth.

5.2 Practical implications

Being aware of one’s personality traits and the ingre-

The practical implication of the study is two-fold.

dients s/he needs for satisfaction could thus serve asFirst, in order to increase employees’ intrinsic job

a unique recipe for leading a happy and successful

satisfaction, management should take into accountwork career.

not only employees’ work environments (situation
factor) but also their locus of control orientation(person factor). More specifically, if employees are

5.3 Limitations and future research
directions

high on internal locus of control, management should

It is important to discuss the study’s limitations,design their jobs so that they can enjoy a great deal

the corrections of which would lead to a signiﬁcantof decision latitude in performing their work roles; ifadvancement of dispositional research. There are atlow, on the other hand, such job designs may not beleast three such limitations we should shed light on.

of much use to attain the purpose. In such a case,

One is that the sample of the present study included

management may have to initiate the structures of

only Japanese workers. Although it obtained results

their tasks and use extrinsic rewards geared to per-that were similar to those produced in the U.S., theformance to promote their extrinsic job satisfaction.

present study is mute about the generalizability ofHowever, practitioners need to be aware that it is athe ﬁndings across more diverse occupations, indus-

costly and, in fact, almost impossible practice in thetries, and cultures. Future research that examinesorganization to provide extrinsic rewards every time

this point would provide important implications for

employees emit desirable work behaviors.

human resources management in today’s societies

Another possible way to increase the levels ofthat are being increasingly globalized.

employees’ intrinsic job satisfaction is to hire people

Another limitation concerns the measurement bias.

who are high on internal locus of control. This solu-

The structural model tested in this study is based ontion would be eﬀective especially when the jobs theself-reports of all study variables. Some might argue

organization seeks to ﬁll require high levels of spon-that self-reports are not free of social desirability bias.

taneity, innovativeness and creativity for successful

However, since the respondents in the present study

performance. Still another way is to train people

were asked to send the questionnaire back to the sec-

so that they can see themselves as active agents to

ond author of this study who is neither their supervi-

aﬀect changes in their work environments; however,sor nor their acquaintance. Therefore, we believe

this solution may not prove to be very effective,that the measurement of the study is relatively freegiven the relative stability of people’s dispositionalfrom the bias. The results of the study, however,

−11−

原

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経営行動科学第 23 巻第 1 号

might still be susceptible to percept-percept inﬂation.

Notes

For example, those who believe they can control

１variation(s) among cell means.

environment to be creative might have exaggerated
the levels of their intrinsic job satisfaction. If more

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（Received November 12, 2009 Accepted March 17, 2010）

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