Intelligence and job satisfaction

Previous research has emphasized either situational or dispositional/motivational variables as determinants of job satisfaction. The current study suggests that cognitive variables, and intelligence in particular, may also be important determinants. The relationship between intelligence and job satisfaction was analyzed on the basis of a model in which intelligence has a direct negative effect on job satisfaction, an indirect positive effect, mediated by job complexity, and an interactive effect with job complexity. The roles of background variables, in particular education, and the implications of the findings for theories of job satisfaction were also examined.