A longitudinal study of the job perception–job satisfaction relationship: A test of the three alternative specifications

Although past job design research has demonstrated that job perception and job satisfaction are related, there is considerable debate on the causal direction of this relationship. Three alternative specifications of the causal direction can be deduced from three different theories: (1) job perception is the cause (deduced from the job characteristics model); (2) job satisfaction is the cause (deduced from social information‐processing theory); and (3) the two constructs are reciprocally related (deduced from cognitive social learning theory). Past studies have not provided a comparative test of these three alternative specifications. Thus, the causal relationship between these two constructs remains nebulous. A longitudinal design was employed to examine the relationship between job perception and the different components of job satisfaction (i.e. overall, intrinsic and extrinsic) with data collected over a two‐year time span. Structural equation modelling was conducted to investigate the cross‐lagged relationships between job perception and job satisfaction. Results indicated that job perception was reciprocally related to overall and intrinsic job satisfaction. Implications for job design research and practices are discussed.