INTRODUCTION
Much of the history of management and motivation theory
is rooted in the desire to understand the factors that contribute to increased levels of job performance and workplace productivity. Not surprisingly, ratings of job satisfaction have consistently served as one of the highest correlates of job performance and productivity (Gardner and Pierce, 1998; Judge et al., 2001b). Accordingly, job satisfaction has been the most widely studied construct in the history of industrial/organizational psychology (Judge et al., 2001a). Critical organizational outcomes have been associated with work design elements. However, debate among researchers is active in terms of what outcomes are really determined by work design. More specifically, it seems to be accepted by researchers that the various job dimensions have their most significant effects on intrinsic motivation and satisfaction, while the effects on actual work behaviors such as performance and turnover are not well established (Ambrose and Kulik, 1999).
