Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire

Weiss, D. J., et al. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Minneapolis, MN: Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota.

Comments: The 100-item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) measures actual satisfaction with intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of the work environment. In addition to the MSQ, the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire was developed to assess the importance of various aspects to potential satisfaction. A 20-item short form of the MSQ was created by taking one item (highest correlation) from each of the 20 scales. The MSQ is one of the most frequently used instruments to measure job satisfaction.

Scale Construction: The Work Adjustment Project used the Hoppock Job Satisfaction Blank, the 54-item Employee Attitude Scale created by the Industrial Relations Center, and 22 additional items to measure satisfaction. These 80 items were used to design various satisfaction instruments. However, these instruments focused primarily on extrinsic satisfaction. A new instrument, the MSQ, was developed to measure intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of job satisfaction. Each of the 20 scales contains five items.

Sample: The original samples consisted of 1,793 employees from 25 occupations. One hundred ninety-one suburban elementary school teachers from kindergarten to grade six participated in the study.

Reliability: Hoyt reliability coefficients for 27 normative groups ranged from 0.93 (advancement and recognition) to

0.78 (responsibility). For the group of 191 teachers, the Hoyt reliability coefficients were 0.90 (ability utilization and recognition), 0.79 (achievement and social status), 0.85 (activity), 0.92 (advancement), 0.83 (authority), 0.90 (company policies/practices, compensation, and social service), 0.81 (coworkers, independence, and supervision-technical), 0.86 (creativity), 0.75 (moral values and responsibility), 0.74 (security), 0.84 (supervision-human relations), 0.76 (variety), 0.91 (working conditions), and 0.87 (general satisfaction). Test-retest correlation coefficients for a one-week interval ranged from 0.66 (coworkers) to 0.91 (working conditions) for 75 night school students. Test-retest correlation coefficients for a one-year interval ranged from 0.35 (independence) to 0.71 (ability utilization) for 115 workers. Validity: Construct validity for the MSQ is supported by the validation studies of the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, which is based on the Theory of Work Adjustment. A detailed description is provided in the Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Concurrent validity was established by studying group differences in satisfaction. One-way analysis of variance and Bartlett’s test of homogeneity of variance were performed on 25 occupational groups. Group differences were statistically significant at the 0.001 level for both means and variances

on all 21 MSQ scales.

Scales: The 20 scales and their corresponding items are: ability utilization (7, 27, 47, 67, and 87); achievement (19, 39, 59, 79, and 99); activity (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100); advancement (14, 34, 54, 74, and 94); authority (6, 26, 46, 66, and 86); company policies and practices (9, 29, 49, 69, and 89); compensation (12, 32, 52, 72, and 92); coworkers (16, 36, 56, 76, and 96); creativity (2, 22, 42, 62, and 82); independence (4, 24, 44, 64, and 84); moral values (3, 23, 43, 63, and 83); recognition (18, 38, 58, 78, and 98); responsibility (17, 37, 57, 77, and 97); security (11, 31, 51, 71, and 91); social service (1, 21, 41, 61, and 81); social status (8, 28, 48, 68, and 88); supervision-human relations (10, 30, 50, 70, and 90); supervision-technical (15, 35, 55, 75, and 95); variety (5, 25, 45, 65, and 85); and working conditions (13, 33, 53, 73, and 93). It is also possible to include a general satisfaction scale. This scale consists of 20 items, one from each of the 20 scales (24, 25, 28, 30, 35, 43, 51, 61, 66, 67, 69, 72, 74, 77, 82, 93, 96, 98, 99, and 100).

Definition of Scales: Ability utilization refers to the chance to do something that makes use of my abilities. Achievement refers to the feeling of accomplishment I get from the job. Activity refers to being able to keep busy all the time. Advancement refers to the chances for advancement on this job. Authority refers to the chance to tell other people what to do. Company policies and practices refer to the way company policies are put into practice. Compensation refers to my pay and the amount of work I do. Coworkers refer to the way my coworkers get along with each other. Creativity refers to the chance to try my own methods of doing the job. Independence refers to the chance to work alone on the job. Moral values refers to being able to do things that don’t go against my conscience. Recognition refers to the praise I get for doing a good job. Responsibility refers to the freedom to use my own judgment. Security refers to the way my job provides for steady employment. Social service refers to the chance to do things for other people. Social status refers to the chance to be “somebody” in the community. Supervision-human relations refers to the way my boss handles his men. Supervision-technical refers to the competence of my supervisor in making decisions. Variety refers to the chance to do different things from time to time. Working conditions refer to the actual working conditions. The short form of the MSQ is comprised of the 20 scale items listed earlier.

Factor Structure: Intercorrelations for 14 norm groups are presented. The intercorrelation matrices were factor analyzed using a principal factors solution. Two factors were extracted for the teacher group. The first factor was intrinsic satisfaction, which accounted for about two-thirds of the common variance. The second factor was extrinsic satisfaction (two supervision scales, coworkers, and recognition) and accounted for about one-third of the common variance.

Data Analysis: Means, standard deviations, standard errors of measurement, and normative data are presented for all groups. In addition, MSQ scale intercorrelations and factor analyses are reported.

References

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire

On my present job, this is how I feel about:

1. The chance to be of service to
2. The chance to try out some of my own
3. Being able to do the job without feeling it is morally
4. The chance to work by
5. The variety in my
6. The chance to have other workers look to me for
7. The chance to do the kind of work that I do
8. The social position in the community that goes with the
9. The policies and practices toward employees of this
10. The way my supervisor and I understand each
11. My job
12. The amount of pay for the work I
13. The working conditions (heating, lighting, ventilation, ) on this job.
14. The opportunities for advancement on this
15. The technical “know-how” of my
16. The spirit of cooperation among my
17. The chance to be responsible for planning my
18. The way I am noticed when I do a good
19. Being able to see the results of the work I
20. The chance to be active much of the
21. The chance to be of service to
22. The chance to do new and original things on my
23. Being able to do things that don’t go against my religious
24. The chance to work alone on the
25. The chance to do different things from time to
26. The chance to tell other workers how to do
27. The chance to do work that is well suited to my
28. The chance to be “somebody” in the
29. Company policies and the way in which they are
30. The way my boss handles his
31. The way my job provides for a secure
32. The chance to make as much money as my
33. The physical surroundings where I
34. The chances of getting ahead on this
35. The competence of my supervisor in making
36. The chance to develop close friendships with my
37. The chance to make decisions on my
38. The way I get full credit for the work I
39. Being able to take pride in a job well
40. Being able to do something much of the
41. The chance to help
42. The chance to try something
43. Being able to do things that don’t go against my
44. The chance to be alone on the
45. The routine in my
46. The chance to supervise other
47. The chance to make use of my best
48. The chance to “rub elbows” with important
49. The way employees are informed about company
50. The way my boss backs his men up (with top management).
51. The way my job provides for steady
52. How my pay compares with that for similar jobs in other
53. The pleasantness of the working
54. The way promotions are given out on this
55. The way my boss delegates work to
56. The friendliness of my
57. The chance to be responsible for the work of
58. The recognition I get for the work I
59. Being able to do something
60. Being able to stay
61. The chance to do things for other
62. The chance to develop new and better ways to do the
63. The chance to do things that don’t harm other
64. The chance to work independently of
65. The chance to do something different every
66. The chance to tell people what to
67. The chance to do something that makes use of my
68. The chance to be important in the eyes of
69. The way company policies are put into
70. The way my boss takes care of complaints brought to him by his
71. How steady my job
72. My pay and the amount of work I
73. The physical working conditions of the
74. The chances for advancement on this
75. The way my boss provides help on hard
76. The way my coworkers are easy to make friends
77. The freedom to use my own
78. The way they usually tell me when I do my job
79. The chance to do my best at all
80. The chance to be “on the go” all the
81. The chance to be of some small service to other
82. The chance to try my own methods of doing the
83. The chance to do the job without feeling I am cheating
84. The chance to work away from
85. The chance to do many different things on the
86. The chance to tell others what to
87. The chance to make use of my abilities and
88. The chance to have a definite place in the
89. The way the company treats its
90. The personal relationship between my boss and his
91. The way layoffs and transfers are avoided in my
92. How my pay compares with that of other
93. The working
94. My chances for
95. The way my boss trains his
96. The way my coworkers get along with each
97. The responsibility of my
98. The praise I get for doing a good
99. The feeling of accomplishment I get from the
100. Being able to keep busy all the

Scoring: I am not satisfied = 1; I am only slightly satisfied = 2; I am satisfied = 3; I am very satisfied = 4; and I am extremely satisfied = 5.