The Effect on Organization Members of Discrepancy Between Perceived and Preferred Rewards Implicit in Work

Several current theories predict the psychological effect of a discrepancy between the reward persons receive from their job and the reward they would like to receive. Data from 1, 750 persons in 52 industrialplants of five countries are analyzed to explore some conflicting implications of these theories. For example, researchers dispute the assertion that obtaining more than one wants can be as dissatisfying as obtaining less than one wants. The analyses reported here suggest aformula that helps to explain the conditions under which overcompensation may or may not be dissatisfying.