Earlier studies have provided weak support for a congruency theory of job satisfaction which predicts that congruency or match between work values and perceived job attributes is a significant predictor of job satisfaction. One possible explanation of weak congruency effects is that previous studies failed to identify employees with large discrepancies between work values (desired job attributes) and perceived job attributes. A sample of 396 retail and hospital pharmacists was chosen to provide a better test of the congruency hypothesis as these pharmacists had relatively large discrepancies in desired and perceived work attributes. Results obtained from a mail survey showed no significant association between congruency of job attributes to desired attributes and job satisfaction when the total sample was used in the analysis. The congruency hypothesis was supported for recently qualified pharmacists for the attributes of skill‐utilization and variety. In all analyses desired job attributes, either directly or in interaction with perceived job attributes, accounted for far less variance in job satisfaction than perceived job attributes alone. These findings are generally consistent with previous results in showing that work values, as measured by desired job attributes, are very weak predictors of job satisfaction. The strongest predictors of job satisfaction were measures of perceived skill‐utilization, influence and variety. The implications of these results for current theories of job satisfaction were briefly discus