TRIANGULATING JOB ATTITUDES WITH INTERPRETIVE AND POSITIVIST MEASUREMENT METHODS

Abstract

Interpretive research methods were used to gather and interpret employees’unstructured, written expressions of satisfying and dissatisfying job experiences. Clinical judgments were made of the categories of meaning and the overall affect expressed in the written passages. The judgments and interpretations then were correlated with both traditional, positivist, self‐report satisfaction scales and objective measures of work behavior. It was found that the language employees used to describe their job experiences converged significantly with the structured satisfaction measures and work behaviors. The results provide evidence for the construct validity of some traditional methods for assessing job satisfaction. Strengths and weaknesses of interpretive and positivist approaches to job satisfaction measurement are discussed.