A new measure of quality of work life (QWL) based on need satisfaction andspillover theories

A new measure of QWL was developed based on need satisfaction and spillover theories. The measure was designed to capture the extent to which the work environment, job requirements, supervisory behavior, and ancillary program s in an organization are perceived to meet the needs of an employee. We ide ntified seven major needs, each having several dimensions. These are: (a) h ealth and safety needs (protection from ill health and injury at work and o utside of work, and enhancement of good health), (b) economic and family ne eds (pay, job security, and other family needs), (c) social needs (collegia lity at work and leisure time off work), (d) esteem needs (recognition and appreciation of work within the organization and outside the organization), (e) actualization needs (realization of one's potential within the organiz ation and as a professional), (f) knowledge needs (learning to enhance job and professional skills), and (g) aesthetic needs (creativity at work as we ll as personal creativity and general aesthetics). The measure's convergent and discriminant validities were tested and the data provided support to t he construct validity of the QWL measure. Furthermore, the measure's nomolo gical (predictive) validity was tested through hypotheses deduced from spil lover theory. Three studies were conducted - two studies using university e mployees and the third using accounting firms. The results from the pooled sample provided support for the hypotheses and thus lent some support to th e nomological validity to the new measure.