Social Context and Resilience as Predictors of Job Satisfaction and Performance: A Multilevel Study over Time

Abstract

Among job attitudes, overall job satisfaction has received the greatest attention in organizational research and it has frequently been suggested as the key factor influencing employees’ performance. Although it reflects individual experiences, job satisfaction may be affected by attributes of both the individuals and the context in which they operate. The study explores the predicting role of individual work resilience and shared work-unit perceptions of social context (PoSC) on job satisfaction over time, as well as the relationship between job satisfaction and performance, as rated by supervisors. A sample of 305 white-collar employees, clustered in 67 work-units, participated in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling highlighted that: a) shared PoSC and work resilience are multilevel predictors of job satisfaction; b) shared PoSC are positively related to work resilience; c) job satisfaction is positively related to job performance; d) job satisfaction fully mediates the relation between work resilience and job performance, as well as the relation between shared PoSC and job performance. The findings demonstrate the pivotal role of job satisfaction in predicting job performance. At the practical level, the results suggest how to enhance job satisfaction and, thus, job performance by increasing shared PoSC and work resilience.