An investigation of age-related factors in the age-job-satisfaction relationship

Most researchers have found a positive linear relation between age and job satisfaction. We attempted to account for this relationship by measuring variables that had been proposed to be causal factors. Subjects were 496 city and county managers working in Florida. Potential explanatory variables were (a) job congruence (the difference between what managers prefer and what they perceive they have in a job), (b) internal-external locus of control, and (c) related demographics-age, salary, organizational tenure, position tenure, and organizational level. Multiple regression analyses found that job congruence and work locus of control accounted for almost all of the variance in the age-satisfaction relationship. This study supports the job change hypothesis, which proposes tha older workers get more of what they want out of work.