The relation between employees’ self-evaluations of performance and job satisfaction

Using panel data from middle-managers in the German chemical industry, we investigate the relationship between employees’ self-evaluations of performance with job satisfaction. Self-evaluations are made in comparison to colleagues’ performance. Results based on individual fixed effects panel estimations reveal a positive relation between self-evaluations and job satisfaction with the exception that employees with particularly high self-evaluations do not show particular high levels of job satisfaction. We cannot find evidence to support our presumption that employees’ disappointment or inequity perceptions regarding their compensation may play a meaningful role for this relationship. We discuss our findings and suggest implications for practice as well as avenues for future research.