Perceptions of control during systems development: effects on job satisfaction of systems professionals

While a great deal of organizational research has been devoted to the study of individual differences and task characteristics as the major determinants of job satisfaction, the role of organizational variables in explaining employee satisfaction has received little empirical attention. The present study argues that the extent to which employees perceive that their activities are controlled by managers, peers, or themselves may have significant effects upon their corresponding levels of job satisfaction. Based upon this rationale, this study investigated perceptions of different control approaches in relation to job satisfaction of 62 systems professionals of a local government organization. Bivariate analyses indicated that managerial control, team-member control, and self-control were highly correlated with general satisfaction. Additional analyses indicated that self-control had strong positive effects on both intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, while, managerial control had a strong positive effect on extrinsic satisfaction. Implications of the findings for the management of information systems personnel and future research are discussed.