Identifying the component structure of job satisfaction by categorical principal components analysis

The component structure of a 14-item scale measuring different aspects of job satisfaction was investigated, and its stability among different types of organizations. The participants were 2066 workers from 220 organizations in the Italian social service sector. The job satisfaction items were measured at an ordinal scaling level and analyzed by Categorical Principal Components analysis (CATPCA) using monotonic (spline) transformations. The sample was randomly divided into a training set and a test set. CATPCA was applied to the training set and resulted in a two-component solution. Results of a Multiple Group analysis for the test set confirmed the validity of the training set solution. From the two-component solution, we extracted two subscales with reliabilities (Cronbach's α) of .81 and .77. The subscales reflect motivator and hygiene aspects of job satisfaction, and appeared in line with Herzberg's theory. The different types of organizations have the same two-component structure of job satisfaction.