Wearing Many Hats But Happy with the Job : Studying Controllers' Multi-Role Job Profile

We investigate the personal costs and benefits for controllers that arise from their multi-role job profile. Building on role theory and the concept of empowerment, we hypothesize diverging effects on job satisfaction by focusing on inter-role conflict, person-role conflict, job impact, and job autonomy. Using a sample of 601 controllers at a global consumer and industrial goods company, we provide empirical evidence that the multi-role job profile of controllers is positively associated with inter-role and person-role conflict. Person-role conflict is eventually linked to decreased job satisfaction. However, we also identify personal benefits of the multi-role job profile that have hardly been considered in the existing literature on controller roles. Controllers with pronounced multi-role job profiles feel significantly more empowered by their impact and autonomy at work, which results in higher job satisfaction. The overall effect on job satisfaction is positive, thereby shedding new light on the consequences of controllers' multi-role job profile. Moreover, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our findings