Satisfiers and dissatisfiers among white-collar and blue-collar employees

Abstract

Interviewed "accidental" samples of 36 white- and 31 blue-collar employees concerning satisfying and dissatisfying job incidents. These incidents were categorized using an event-agent classification system developed by J. Schneider and E. A. Locke in 1971 to overcome certain limitations in F. Herzberg's 1959 system. The same categories of events led to both satisfaction and dissatisfaction within each job level. However, different agents were seen as responsible for these events-the self for satisfying events and others for dissatisfying events. White-collar Ss mentioned task events significantly more often and reward and context events significantly less often than blue-collar Ss as sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This finding was not replicated in the 2nd sample of 94 white-collar and 66 blue-collar employees. An explanation based on differences in the occupational makeup of the 2 samples is offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)