The Good Working Life and Life Outcomes

In this chapter, I examine relations between the three dimensions of the good working life—job satisfaction, work meaningfulness, and work psychological richness—and several important life outcomes, including life satisfaction, meaning in life, psychological richness in general, physical and mental health, generativity, and wisdom. All three dimensions of the good working life were uniquely and positively related to life satisfaction. Job satisfaction was negatively related to meaning in life, whereas work meaningfulness was strongly positively related to meaning in life. Work psychological richness was strongly positively related to psychological richness in life in general, whereas job satisfaction and work meaningfulness had only weak effects. Job satisfaction, but not work meaningfulness and psychological richness, positively related to physical and mental health and wisdom. In contrast, work meaningfulness and work psychological richness, but not job satisfaction, positively predicted generativity.