The Degree of Self-Determination and Job Satisfaction of White-Collar Workers in Japanese Firms

Abstract

In most Japanese major companies, white-collar workers are engaged in lifetime employment system and seniority-based pay system. Since noncontingent money payments do not decrease intrinsic motivation, those companies provide a favorable and unique opportunity to observe and test intrinsic motivation. The present study tests a version of E. L. Deci's (1975) hypothesis that, if a person's feeling of self-determination is enhanced, his or her job satisfaction will increase. With a measure of self-determination which was first developed, the hypothesis is supported by data from 10,916 white-collar workers in 385 organizational units of 46 Japanese major companies: There is a strong linear relationship between the job satisfaction and the degree of self-determination. The fundamental proposition of Deci's cognitive evaluation theory stated that if a person's feeling of competent and self-determination were enhanced, his or her intrinsic motivation would increase, and vice-versa (Deci, 1975, Proposition II). De Charms (1968) stated that a person's primary motivational propensity is to be effective in