Abstract
This study investigated the nature of the individual difference factor Growth Need Strength (GNS), found by Hackman and Oldham (1976), to moderate the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. Studies 1 and la report the results of a partial test and extension of the Job Characteristics Model using data from 692 employees working on 71 jobs in 4 organisations. The model was extended to investigate the moderating effects of personality, general values and work values, and the psychometric properties of the measures for GNS were assessed. The results found support for the moderating effect of GNS on the relationship specified above, employing moderated multiple regression analysis using multiplicative interactions terms, but no moderating effect was found for other variables tested. A relationship was found between GNS, Openness to Experience three of the general values and three work values domains, but GNS was found to be psychometrically distinct from them. In Study 2, the nature of GNS was examined using the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA), for data collected from experts in human resources. Using results from the two studies, a model was proposed in Study 3, for how and under what conditions GNS predicts those who take up of training opportunities. This model was tested using data from 64 employees in one organisation and the results show that, paradoxically, high GNS predicted low intention to train and low training activity. It was also predicted that employees’ general and work values would mediate the influence of their GNS on the taking up of training opportunities. No support was found for this. Overall the results suggest that GNS may be a higher-order factor of personality and this has numerous implications for research and practice in occupational psychology, especially in the field of employee training and development.