Does the Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Job Performance Depend on Culture?

Maslow pointed out that people seek to satisfy five specific types of needs in life: physiological, safety, social, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Indeed, his model can serve as a basic framework for understanding how job satisfaction relates to job performance. Yet while it is generally accepted that there is a moderate relationship between job satisfaction and job performance, one knows very little about the factors that might strengthen or weaken this relationship. And that includes the role of potentially important moderators such as culture. Fortunately, Thomas Ng (University of Hong Kong), Kelly Sorensen (University of Georgia), and Frederick Yim (University of Akron) used several theoretical frameworks in their recent study to explore this relationship. In essence, Ng, Sorensen, and Yim's study provides preliminary evidence that culture matters to the job satisfaction-task performance relationship.