Job satisfaction can be defined as an employee's attitude towards the job. It is not same as motivation, rather it is concerned with the attitude and internal state of an individual regarding a particular job. It could, for example, be associated with a personal feeling of achievement, and hence, shaped or determined by pay, supervisory style, and age factors. If the existing job fails to provide psychological or physiological need of an individual, satisfaction from the job might be low.
More specifically, job satisfaction can be explained as an employee's general attitude towards the job. It is a pleasurable feeling that results from an employee's perception of achieving the desired level of need or satisfaction. Job satisfaction fulfills an individual's psychological and physiological needs through organizational process. It is a multidimensional attitude which is made up of the attitude towards pay, promotions, co-workers, supervision, the work environment and so on. High job satisfaction implies that the employees are liking the job, whereas, low job satisfaction relates to the disliking of the job by individuals. Job satisfaction is an intangible variable which is expressed through emotional feelings.
Therefore, we can conclude that, job satisfaction is an employee's positive response toward the various aspects of job. It helps to improve job performance, and can be determined by the deviation between employee's expectation about job outcome and what the job actually offers.