Are smarter people happier? Meta-analyses of the relationships between general mental ability and job and life satisfaction

•We conducted meta-analyses of general mental ability with job and life satisfaction.•We tested the mediating effects of job complexity and income.•General mental ability is positively correlated with both types of satisfaction.•The mediating mechanisms were supported.•General mental ability had unexpected negative direct effects on job satisfaction.

Despite folk and scholarly interest on the relationship between intelligence and happiness, there is an absence of cumulative knowledge on this topic to guide theory and practice. Accordingly, we conducted meta-analyses of the relationships of general mental ability (GMA) with two organizationally relevant indicators of happiness (i.e., job and life satisfaction). Drawing on the gravitation model and job design theory, we test a model that posits GMA has positive indirect effects on job and life satisfaction through the mediating effects of job complexity and income. Overall, the results of the meta-analyses showed that there was a small, positive correlation between GMA and both job satisfaction (ρ = 0.05) and life satisfaction (ρ = 0.11). The results of meta-analytic path analysis generally supported the hypothesized model. Further, there was an unexpected negative, direct relationship between GMA and job satisfaction. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.