Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction: A Test of Warr's Vitamin Model in German Horticulture

Personnel costs are accountable for 40% of all expenses in German horticulture. The importance of human resources management and leadership is growing through demographic change and social sustainability issues. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between job characteristics and job satisfaction and the shapes of their utility functions, in German horticulture. A study was conducted, with a paper-and-pencil and web-based questionnaire, using a modified Kunin Scale and items representing nonlinear relationships. Responses from 280 employees (average age 35 years) from different business lines were analyzed. In conclusion, this study supports the assertion of Warr's vitamin model (1987, 2007) that nonlinear relationships exist between job characteristics and job satisfaction and presents a detailed view of these relations in German horticulture. A linear regression of job satisfaction on 28 job features attained a high R-2 of .64, and covariance structure modeling (CSM) with full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) reported a reasonable model fit (RMSEA .08). The highest correlations were found with items measuring good future prospects (r(s) = .58), work-home-conflict (r(s) = .51), the availability of adequate equipment (r(s) = .51), and organization's morality in society (r(s) = .50). This identifies potential to increase job satisfaction and social sustainability and, most notably, that nonlinear evaluations of job features are superior to the assumption of linearity.