Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the belief that the employees are satisfied?
A) Profit margins are higher than those of competing companies in the industry.
B) Overall costs are lower this year than they were last year.
C) Candidates for job openings are likely to be referrals from current employees.
D) Middle managers report high levels of satisfaction among their subordinates.
E) Employees were informed that their yearly bonuses would be based partly on high job satisfaction ratings.
Answer: C
Explanation: C) Higher job satisfaction could lead to all kinds of benefits, including higher productivity and better customer relations, but lots of other things can lead to those benefits as well. For this reason, it can be hard to tell if something was caused by high job satisfaction or something else. Choices A and B might have been influenced by high job satisfaction, but they just as easily could have been caused by other things. Choice C, in contrast, only makes sense if people are reasonably satisfied with their jobs. If they are dissatisfied, then why would they recommend the company to people they know? Choices D and E are unreliable indicators because managers (Choice D) have an incentive to claim that the employees are happier than they are. Similarly, if Choice E is true, then the employees themselves have an incentive to lie.
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