Job satisfaction is defined as an individual’s feelings of happiness towards their job. A wealth of literature has demonstrated its prominent effects on various work outcomes, such as work motivation, work performance, and work commitment. In aim of improving job satisfaction, scholars have attempted to find its determinants. With the growth of positive psychology, research attests to the importance of positive psychological traits as predictors of job satisfaction. While gratitude has consistently shown to predict job satisfaction, findings for grit have been inconsistent. Moreover, a new construct, grind, which is suggested to be related to grit, has received little empirical attention. In this study, we aimed to establish the predictive ability of the three G’s; gratitude, grit, and grind on job satisfaction. We developed the Grind Scale to evaluate whether grind could better predict job satisfaction than grit. Participants in the study were 137 individuals, 28 males and 109 females aged between 18-78, who completed an online questionnaire. The findings of a Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression revealed gratitude as the most significant independent predictor of job satisfaction, confirming past literature. However, grit was not a significant independent predictor, contributing to the body of inconsistent findings. In contrast, grind accounted for additional variance above gratitude and grit, and was as a significant independent predictor of job satisfaction. These results suggest a potential “dark side of grit”, and highlight the importance of considering grind as a predictor of job satisfaction. The study’s limitations are discussed, and implications for further research are presented.
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