Designing jobs to do good: Dimensions and psychological consequences of prosocial job characteristics

Although employees are increasingly interested in jobs that enable them to do good, we know relatively little about how jobs are structured to provide these opportunities. To fill this gap, I report three studies that examine the dimensions and psychological consequences of two prosocial job characteristics that enable employees to make a positive difference in the lives of other people. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated strong psychometric properties of self-report measures of job opportunities for impact on and contact with beneficiaries. In Study 2 I examine the mechanisms through which prosocial job characteristics are linked to a stronger motivation to do good among public service and telephone solicitation employees. In Study 3, multitrait-multimethod matrices using observer ratings of job descriptions supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the prosocial job characteristics. I discuss implications for theory and research in positive psychology and positive organizational scholarship, job design, and prosocial behavior.