Skill variety is the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so that an employee can use a number of different skills and talents. Task identity is the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work. Task significance is the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people. Autonomy is the degree to which a job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out. Autonomy leads to an increased sense of responsibility for outcomes of the work.
Feedback leads to knowledge of the actual results of the work activities.
The referents are the persons, systems, or selves against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity. Equity theory recognizes that individuals are concerned with their absolute rewards as well as the relationship of these rewards to what others receive. The theory establishes four propositions relative to inequitable pay. Given payment by time, overrewarded employees will produce more than equitably paid employees. Given payment by quantity of production, overrewarded employees will produce fewer, but higher-quality units than equitably paid employees.