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The assumption that job satisfaction and job performance are related has much intuitive appeal, despite the fact that reviewers of this literature have concluded there is no strong pervasive relation between these two variables. The present meta-analytic study demonstrates that (a) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance is relatively low (.17); (b) much of the variability in results obtained in previous research has been due to the use of small sample sizes, whereas unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (c) nine research design characteristics of a study are only modestly related to the magnitude of the satisfaction-performance correlation that will be obtained. In view of these findings, some of the major substantive and research implications of the job satisfaction-job performance relation are discussed.

The elusive relation between job satisfaction and job performance has intrigued organizational researchers for nearly 50 years. In their classic review of the early literature in this area, Brayfield and Crockett (1955) credited Kornhauser and Sharp (1932) with the initial investigation of attitudes and productivity in an industrial setting. Although the flurry of research on this topic has abated somewhat in the past few years, the current literature continues to be highlighted with reports of new theoretical and empirical developments. Indeed, the Journal of Vocational Behavior's yearly research review still references studies that relate job satisfaction to job performance (e.g., Bartol, 1981).

To keep pace with this ever-expanding volume of research, several summaries of the job satisfaction-job performance literature have appeared, both from an empirical perspective (Brayfield & Crockett, 1955; Herzberg, Mausner, Peterson, & Capwell, 1957; Srivastva et al., 1975; Vroom, 1964) and a theoretical orientation (Schwab & Cummings, 1970). These reviewers attempted to reconcile the inconsistencies among individual study results by concluding that there is no strong pervasive relation between workers' job satisfaction and productivity. Specifically, Vroom (1964)...