Are there methodological and substantive roles for affectivity in job diagnostic survey relationships?

Latent variable models analogous to those developed by L. J. Williams, M. B. Gavin, and M. L. Williams (1996) were used to investigate the measurement and nonmeasurement relationships of negative affectivity (NA) and positive affectivity (PA) with the Job Diagnostic Survey scales. Reanalyses performed on data collected as part of an organizational assessment of nonfaculty university employees (N = 644) showed NA and PA to have weak measurement and substantive relationships with the job characteristics and affective outcomes scales. The relationships between job characteristics and job outcomes were not associated with NA. However, PA showed a weak association with these relationships. Implications for future research on affectivity's roles as substantive and methodological variables in organizational assessment are discussed.