Locus of control, choice, and satisfaction with an assigned task

P. E. Spector's (1982, Psychological Bulletin, 91, 482–497) hypothesis that under conditions of freedom of choice persons characterized by an internal locus of control will experience greater satisfaction with an undesirable task than persons characterized by an external locus of control is considered in light of distinctions between perceived control and perceived choice. Perceived choice is proposed as an intervening variable implicit in Spector's argument. This reasoning was tested with 46 male and female college student participants in a 2 (Choice) × 2 (Locus of Control) factorial design experiment. An interaction of Choice × Locus of Control on task satisfaction was obtained such that internals tended to be more satisfied when given a choice while externals experienced greater satisfaction when not given a choice. The implications of this result for Spector' hypothesis and for the manner in which undesirable work is assigned are discussed.