Job Satisfaction and Subjective Well-Being: Test of a Moderated Mediational Model Serdar Karabati, Ph.D., Istanbul Bilgi University & Nurcan Ensari, Ph.D., Alliant International University Abstract Using data from a convenience sample of white- collar employees from the US and Turkey, the study tests the mediational role of rumination in the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being (SWB) and also investigates the moderational role of self-efficacy in this model. The results suggest that people who are less satisfied with their job ruminate more and therefore, they feel less satisfied and less happy. High self-efficacy is found to negate this mediation. Also, Turkish respondents ruminate more, and therefore they feel less happy, suggesting a potential cultural difference in proneness to ruminate and worry. Introduction Work conditions have powerful influences on SWB (Stansfeld, Shipley, Head, Fuhrer, & Kivimaki, 2013). A person experiencing job satisfaction is happier, and the happiness manifests itself in other aspects of life, and leads to life satisfaction (Wright, Bennett & Dun, 1999). Rumination leads to subjective unhappiness due to several mechanisms. It is more likely that people who ruminate engage in negative thoughts and memories (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008). It also interferes with problem solving by focusing on pessimistic thoughts more. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more apprehensive about the positive aspects of their job, less prone to ruminate, and conserve their cognitive capacity constructively (Haar et al., 2014; Rothbard, 2001). Self-efficacy relates to positive job outcomes (Judge and Bono, 2001). Low self-efficacy leads to negative anticipatory thoughts about future and rumination (Bandura, 1997), whereas high self-efficacy fosters greater resilience, and counterbalances rumination. As a result, employees with high self-efficacy are less adversely affected by dissatisfaction with job, and thus ruminate less. Results H 1 and H 2 : The Sobel test and bootstrapping suggested that the reduction in the beta value from path c (.26) to c’ (.06) was significant (z = 3.69, p <.001), and the bootstrapped estimate of the indirect effect fell between.03 and.10 with a 95% confidence interval. H 3 : We examined whether the magnitude of the conditional indirect effect of job satisfaction through rumination on SWB was different at high versus low levels of self-efficacy (Preacher et al., 2007). We operationalized high and low levels of the moderator as 1 SD above and below the mean score. The results reveal that the indirect effect was significant at low levels of self-efficacy (.06, CI: ),but not at high levels of self-efficacy (.03, CI: ). Culture : Turkish respondents reported lower levels of SWB because they ruminate more. The Sobel test and bootstrapping suggested that the reduction in the beta value from path c to c’ was significant (z =, p <.001), and the bootstrapped estimate of the indirect effect fell between -.48 and -.13 with a 95% confidence interval. Discussion The results support previous studies that showed the relationship between job satisfaction and happiness, and furthermore show that depressive thoughts and self-efficacy have an important role in the mechanism behind this relationship. Cross-cultural Differences: Turkey vs. US Comparative studies on SWB showed that Turkey and the US are two countries with important differences. World Values Survey (Schyns, 2002) reveals that life satisfaction averages 6.42 in Turkey versus 7.76 in the US. Data from Kuppens, Realo, and Diener (2008) shows means of 4.88 and 3.93, for American and Turkish respondents respectively, corresponding to 14th versus 39th rank among 46 countries that were studied. The two countries also differ in terms of frequency of positive versus negative affect, with the US respondents showing higher average positive emotions and lower frequency of negative emotions. Although these findings can be explained by socio- economic differences at the national level, our participants came from similar educational and professional backgrounds. Thus differences in rumination are more likely to be an outcome of cultural background. Turkey and the US differ on various measures such as power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance. How these differences shape individuals’ rumination tendencies deserves further investigation. Practical Implications Finding a satisfying job is not easy for everyone. If we can train employees to develop their own methods to overcome negative thoughts, we can help them preserve their well-being, especially when they face lowered job satisfaction. Hypotheses H 1 : Job satisfaction is positively linked to SWB. H 2 : This relationship is mediated by rumination such that employees who are satisfied with their job ruminate less, and thereby, exhibit more SWB. H 3 : Self-efficacy moderates this mediation such that the mediation is weaker for employees who have high self-efficacy. Method Participants A total of 377 participants were recruited. Mean age; Turkish = (N=246), American = (131). Procedure Data were collected using the online version of the survey in March Authors distributed, via , an announcement explaining the goals of the project and the web link to the survey. Rumination was measured using the short version of the Ruminative Response Scale that was developed by Treynor, Gonzalez, and Nolen- Hoeksema (2003). SWB was measured using a measure of global subjective happiness developed by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999). Job satisfaction was measured using the three items by Judge, Bono, Erez, and Locke (2005). General self-efficacy was measured using the scale that was developed by Jerusalem and Schwarzer (1992). Composite scores were created based on high reliabilities, and acceptable levels of normality and homogeneity of variance on all of the variables. Job Satisfaction Self-efficacy RuminationSWB CultureRuminationSWB