Cross Lagged Correlational Study of Satisfaction-Performance in a Business Simulation

Authors

  • Aryeh Kidron
  • Louis Fry

Abstract

"The causal relationship between satisfaction and performance has been discussed in several theories in the area of organizational behavior. Despite the widespread interest there is little consistency in empirical findings and the theoretical controversy is far from being resolved. One source of these difficulties can be attributed to the abundance of cross sectional and the lack of longitudinal studies. While a study of the first type can point out only magnitudes of relationships, the second can be used to infer causality. Business games provide a unique laboratory type environment to investigate these relationships. In this study, the INTOP game was used as part of a business policy game. The participants were asked to fill out 3 times (in the 4th, 7th and 10th weeks of the game) an evaluation sheet in which they evaluated both themselves and their team members. In addition, the JDI facets of SATISFACTION FROM COWORKERS and SATISFACTION FROM SUPERVISION (this being the game's administration) has been filled out. Students’ individual performance and satisfaction scores and the firms’ rank order of performance on several criteria was correlated by means of cross lagged correlation, for three points of time. Thus clues about the causal relationship between measures of satisfaction and performance were obtained. The implications of the study are beyond the theoretical issue. The causal relationships discovered provide information about the possible sources of group’s performance in a business simulation and in a wider context--sources of performance in actual competitive situations. "

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Published

1976-03-13