Abstract

The relationship between job stress and job satisfaction has been puzzling the field of organizational psychology. Two opposing viewpoints exist about the concept of job stress. A traditional view regards job stress exerting negative effects on almost every aspcet of job, especially on job satisfaction. According to this view, the more job stress, the less job satisfaction and vice versa. A more recent view considers job stress not necessarily negative. According to this, certain amount of job stress can motivate workers to perform better and, as a consequence, may provide greater satisfaction. That is, a job stressor may be a positive stresstr to certain extent and may turn into a negative stressor beyond that extent. To clarify the nature of the relationship, the present study surveyed 599 workers consisting of 280 white collars and 319 bole collars with two measures. The measure of job satisfaction, previously developed by Kim, Joon-Gon, is composed of eight subdimensions. A measure of job stressors was developed by our team for each class workers; the measure for blue collars has 13 subdimensions and the one for white collars has 15 subdimensions. Examinations of the correlational nature between the two constructs reveal firm support far the traditional viewpoint. The major findings are; 1, The relationship between job stressors and satisfaction is direct and negative. 2, No job stressors exert positive influence on job satisfaction. 3, Regardless of its level, job stressors always are negatively correlated with job satisfaction.