A Bar Too Low or Too High? How Perceiving Others’ Job Satisfaction Relates to Well-Being

• In Event: 21011 - Social Psychology in Organizations

Abstract

How are perceptions of others’ job satisfaction associated with psychological well-being? And more centrally, do those associations depend on one’s job satisfaction? We draw from research on beliefs and social comparison theory to differentiate predictions from downward, upward, and equivalent but high social comparisons. We use data from two nationally representative samples of American workers collected in November of 2023 (N=5,000) and July of 2024 (N=2,500) with the assistance of YouGov with five distinct indices of well-being: anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, and happiness. We find that the expected positive downward comparison pattern for well-being becomes negative for those perceiving most others as dissatisfied, suggesting a limit to the benefits of downward comparison. Among those who perceive the average worker as very satisfied, we find that personally very satisfied workers report higher levels of anxiety, depression, anger, and loneliness, particularly when they are younger.

Authors

• Alexander Wilson, University of Toronto

• Scott Schieman, University of Toronto