Do Preferences for Job Attributes Provide Evidence of ‘Hierarchy of Needs’?

We examine whether employees’ preferences for various job attributes are associated with their individual characteristics in ways that are in line with ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories. Using data from the fifth round of the European Social Survey, we observe the influence of socio-demographic and dispositional characteristics as well as socialization experiences on opinions regarding the importance of five different desirable job attributes. An item-by-item examination of the attributes (including ‘security’ and ‘offering a high income’) reveals that dispositional factors (measured using the battery of items in Schwartz’s theory of basic personal values) influence job attitudes in expected ways, but employees also tend to place more importance on attributes that concern them more directly. For example, while female employees care more about being able to combine work and family responsibilities, younger workers value training opportunities more highly than older ones. Regarding socialization experiences, we find that job security is more important for those who have been unemployed in the past. We interpret our findings to mean that ‘hierarchy of needs’ theories are valid in the context of job attitudes in the sense that the ranking of preferred job attributes is quite predictable once individual characteristics are accounted for.     

Complex measures of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction among professionals

The present study deals with concepts of work satisfaction/dissatisfaction and occupational commitment among professionals. It examines elements of job satisfaction and individual social background among four professional groups: Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and Teachers, as well as their differences in level of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. A two-stage principal components method was applied to data from the longitudinal study ‘Professions in Australia’ to obtain global measures of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Although there are some differences between professional groups in terms of work satisfaction/dissatisfaction, stemming, among other things, from the different prestige ascribed to each profession, to a large extent, they face similar ‘problems’ and derive similar ‘satisfaction’ from their professional work.     

Midwives’ job satisfaction and intention to leave their current position in developing regions of Ethiopia

BackgroundThe aim of this research was to analyze midwives’ job satisfaction and intention to leave in developing regions of Ethiopia.MethodsA facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 107 midwives in four developing regions of Ethiopia. All midwives who were working in 26 health facilities participated in the study. A structured self-administered questionnaire, and in depth key informant interview guides, were used to collect data. Job satisfaction was measured by nine dimensions and intention to leave their current position was measured using three questions.ResultsMore than two-thirds (67%) of the midwives were female, with a mean age of 26.1 (sd ± 4.2) years old. Less than half (45%) of the midwives were satisfied with their job, less than half (42%) were satisfied with ‘work environment’ and less than half (45%) were satisfied with ‘relationship with management’ and ‘job requirements’. Relatively better satisfaction rates were reported regarding ‘professional status’, of which more than half (56%) of midwives were satisfied, followed by more than half (54%) of midwives being satisfied with ‘staff interaction’. Almost two-fifths (39%) of midwives intended to leave their current position.ConclusionJob dissatisfaction and intention to leave rates amongst midwives in developing regions in Ethiopia are a source of concern. The majority of midwives were most dissatisfied with their working environment and issues related to payment. Their intention to leave their current position was inversely influenced by job satisfaction. The introduction of both financial and nonfinancial mechanisms could improve midwives’ job satisfaction, and improve retention rates within the profession.     

Europe En Route to 2020: A New Way of Evaluating the Overall Fulfillment of the Europe 2020 Strategic Goals

Procedural justice is regarded as a focus in understanding job-related attitudes and behaviors of employees. Researchers concerned have shown that procedural justice is positively associated with employees work outcomes. However, less attention has been focused on the impact of job security, such impacts one’s expectations about continuity in a job situation, as a potential influence on procedural justice and work outcomes. Drawing on a sample of 212 supervisor-subordinate dyads from an air transportation group in the People‘s Republic of China we examined whether job security mediates the effect of procedural justice on work outcomes (in the aspects of extra-role behavior and turnover intentions). The study from using structural equation showed that job security fully mediates the relationship not only between procedural justice and extra-role behavior but also between procedural justice and turnover intention. Implications for future research and limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Do Job Control,Support, and Optimism Help Job Insecure Employees? A Three-Wave Study of Buffering Effects on Job Satisfaction,Vigor and Work-Family Enrichment

Job insecurity (threat of job loss) is widespread and becomes a permanent phenomenon for a lot of employees. Based on the response of 926 Finnish employees, this study investigated the direct lagged relationship between job insecurity, coping resources (job control, social support, and optimism), and employees’ work- (vigor at work and job satisfaction) and family-related outcomes (work-family enrichment). Particular interest was in the moderating role of job control, support, and optimism in the job insecurity–employee outcome relationship. Our analyses of three-wave longitudinal data, collected in 2008, 2009, and 2010, showed that job control was the strongest lagged buffer against job insecurity in relation to vigor at work. In addition, social support longitudinally buffered against the negative effects of job insecurity on job satisfaction and vigor at work. However, optimism did not function as a buffering factor in any of the tested models.     

The Impact of Deviations from Desired Hours of Work on the Life Satisfaction of Employees

We estimate an ordinal logistic multilevel model to examine the determinants of the life satisfaction of employees in Europe. Data drawn from the European social survey reveals that deviations from desired hours of work (measured as the absolute difference between the actual and preferred weekly number of hours) reduce overall life satisfaction, but the effect is smaller in countries with higher unemployment rates. We interpret this finding as evidence that in environments where anxieties about job security are high, having a job brings about a certain level of life satisfaction regardless of the gap between the actual and preferred time spent in the labor market. We also find no statistically significant difference between male and female employees with regard to the impact of the work hours mismatch. This finding suggests that the gender differences which would have been expected in this context are already incorporated in the respondents’ subjectively determined desired hours of work. In fact, further examinations confirm that ‘desired hours’ are associated with both socio-demographic characteristics (in particular, gender) and preferences for labor market work.     

What are We Working For? Comparing the Importance of Job Features for Job Satisfaction over the Career Span

This study examines the impact, relative importance, and unique predictive validity of changes in a host of job features and other relevant factors on job satisfaction over a 35-year period using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth cohort (12,686 respondents). The design of our analysis eliminated of the impact of established between-person correlates of job satisfaction (e.g., personality, cognitive ability), thereby providing for direct examination of within-person change in the focal variables. Results using a first-difference regression and a relative weights analysis revealed that changes in intrinsic, social, and extrinsic features corresponded to changes in satisfaction, but with differing magnitudes. Specific features (e.g., different dimensions of the Job Characteristics Model) generally were unique predictors when all variables were considered. Findings regarding the importance of various features substantially deviate from employees’ reports about contributors to job satisfaction and, in some cases, also differ from findings drawn from cross-sectional data.

     

An Institutional Perspective on Individual Work Well-Being: Evidence from China

This paper evaluates how factors and values that are embedded in China’s changing institutional environment impact work well-being. Using firm level survey data, the paper examines how exogenous institutions—state ownership and individual traditionality—interact with firm level institutions—strategic human resource management (SHRM) and person-organisation fit (P-O fit) to influence workers’ job involvement. We find that state ownership weakens the effect of SHRM on workers’ job involvement while P-O fit does not. Individual traditionality on the other hand moderates the effects of SHRM and P-O fit on workers’ job involvement. Our study contributes to work well-being research in transitioning economies such as China and has consequences for labour market and SHRM policies.     

Work–Family Conflict Among Employees and the Self-Employed Across Europe

This article examines the level of work–family conflict of self-employed persons, a changing but neglected group in work–life research, compared to employees in Europe. Differences between the two groups are explained by looking at job demands and resources. The inclusion of work–family state support makes it possible to examine differences between countries. Multilevel analysis has been applied to data from the European Social Survey (ESS 2010). The results show that job demands and resources operate differently for employees and the self-employed. The relationship between employment type and WFC is mediated mainly by job demands such as working hours, working at short notice, job insecurity and supervisory work. The results also reveal variation across countries that cannot be explained by state support, signalling the need for a more complete understanding of WFC from a cross-national perspective.     

Job Satisfaction Among Immigrant Workers: A Review of Determinants

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have investigated the well-being of international immigrants in host countries. An important indicator of immigrants’ well-being is job satisfaction. Job satisfaction reflects a pleasant emotional state, in which individuals positively appraise their job or work experience. In this article, we discuss the determinants of immigrants’ job satisfaction, based on research conducted over the past three and a half decades. The determinants observed in the literature can be categorized into work- and non-work-related groups. Work-specific determinants include workplace environments, job characteristics, and work-specific personal factors (e.g., competency-related factors, psychological states, and work-specific demographics). Non-work-specific determinants include general demographics, culture-related factors (e.g., language, cultural traits, and acculturation), and community-related factors. This review demonstrates that past research has made important strides toward our understanding of the influential factors leading to immigrants’ job satisfaction. We call for future research to continue to explore these factors, as well as new factors, given the limited empirical evidence that exists for this population group.     

Job Satisfaction in the “Big Four” of Europe: Reasoning Between Feeling and Uncertainty Through CUB Models

The paper offers a comparative investigation of objective and subjective driving forces behind the satisfaction that people feel in their job in four representative countries of Western Europe. The main element of this work’s novelty is its linking the research of cross-country similarities and differences in the leading determinants of global job satisfaction to methodological issues that arise when responses to survey questions are detected on a rating scale through self-evaluation. In particular, this paper is one of the first attempts to test the potentialities of CUB models on EWCS data in a broader conceptual framework in which the response on overall job satisfaction depends on some psychological dynamics of the evaluation process. Although overall job satisfaction is significantly higher for British and German employees, the subjective factors—the amount of socio-economic security embodied in a job, the working conditions and the aspects of work–life balance—are the most relevant in shaping job satisfaction, disregarding the myth that considers earnings as the dominant factor.     

The Effects of Employee Involvement and Participation on Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Urban China

This study examines how perceptions of the work context affect the job and career satisfaction of Chinese employees. Perceived organizational support (POS), procedural justice, and gender bias against women are considered as antecedents. Gender is expected to moderate the relationships between these antecedents and the outcome variables. The results of hierarchical regression analysis on data from 591 Chinese employees indicated that POS and procedural justice are positively related to employees’ job and career satisfaction. Additionally, gender acts as a moderator in the relationship between POS and job satisfaction, and between gender bias against women and career satisfaction.     

Drivers of job satisfaction in midwifery—A work design approach

BackgroundIdentifying common factors that influence job satisfaction for midwives working in diverse work settings is challenging. Applying a work design model developed in organisational behaviour to the midwifery context may help identify key antecedents of midwives job satisfaction.AimTo investigate three job characteristics – decision-making autonomy, empowerment, and professional recognition as antecedents of job satisfaction in New Zealand (NZ) midwives.MethodsLatent multiple regressions were performed on data from Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwives n = 327, employed midwives n = 255, and midwives working in ‘mixed-roles’ n = 123.FindingsWe found that professional recognition is positively linked to job satisfaction for midwives in all three work settings. At the same time, decision-making autonomy and empowerment were shown to influence job satisfaction for midwives working as LMCs only.DiscussionOur main finding suggests that the esteem generated from being acknowledged as an expert and valuable contributor by maternity health colleagues is satisfying across all work contexts. Professional recognition encompasses the social dimension of midwifery work and influences midwives job satisfaction. Decision-making autonomy and empowerment are task and relational job characteristics that may not be similarly experienced by all midwives to noticeably influence job satisfaction.ConclusionGiven that job satisfaction contributes to recruitment, retention, and sustainability, our findings show that drivers of job satisfaction differ by midwifery work context. We present evidence to support tailored efforts to bolster midwives job satisfaction, especially where resources are limited.     

Body Dissatisfaction in Midlife Women

ABSTRACT

We examined the extent and correlates of body dissatisfaction among 1026 54-year-old women from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. Weight dissatisfaction was reported by nearly 80% of the sample and by over 50% of ‘normal weight” women (BMI < 25). Women indicated being most dissatisfied with their bodies currently, relative to their younger years, including their forties. Adjusting for BMI, dissatisfaction was highest in higher social class women and in those who rated themselves in poorer health. Women with poor body esteem, regardless of body size, were likely to avoid various everyday situations because of how they felt about their bodies. Adjusting for BMI, women who were happy with their weight were more likely to report distress about other aspects of their appearance. We suggest that body dissatisfaction in women of this age group merits further attention.     

Psychological Well-Being,Job Strain and Education Among Young Finnish Precarious Employees

This study examined the effect of precarious work (temporary and part-time present employment and unstable work history) on psychological well-being among young employees at age 31, controlling for prior mental disorders, education and job strain. The data of 1,070 women and 1,030 men was derived from the prospective unselected population-based Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort study. Results of univariate logistic regression models showed that among men, precarious work associated with all psychological well-being outcomes. Among women, only depressive symptoms at 31 years associated with precarious work. Among both genders, the association between precarious work and well-being outcomes diminished to a statistically non-significant level in multivariate analyses including prior mental diagnosis, education level and job strain. In the final multivariate logistic regression models, job strain and education level were the strongest factors associating with the well-being outcomes. The association between depression symptoms and precarious work was strongest in the highest educational class among men. These results emphasize the role of education and job strain in the enhancement of psychological well-being among young employees doing precarious work. The role of education seems to differ among genders, so that for women education acts as a resource also in precarious work while among highly educated men, not having a stable employment history increases the risk for depressive symptoms.     

Work-to-Family Enrichment and Employees’ Well-Being: High Performance Work System and Job Characteristics

Research has demonstrated the importance of job characteristics to explain work-to-family enrichment (WFE) and the value of this enrichment to explain employees’ wellbeing. However, there is no comprehensive framework to explain the relationship between these variables. This study uses the Job Demands-Control-Support model as a guiding framework, and examines the relationship between these job characteristics and WFE and, more interestingly, the WFE as a mechanism for explaining the relationship between job characteristics and employees’ well-being. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationship of employees’ perceptions of High Performance Work System (HPWS) with job characteristics. With a sample of 1,390 employees from a Portuguese bank, job demands were found to be negatively related to WFE while autonomy and supervisor support displayed a positive relation. We also observed that WFE is an important mechanism to explain the relationship between these job characteristics and employees’ well being. As expected, HPWS was a relevant organizational characteristic to explain job characteristics, however, we observed that it was also directly related to WFE.     

Erratum to: The Development Hypothesis of Women Empowerment in the Millennium Development Goals Tested in the Context of Women’s Access to Land in Africa

A number of empirical studies have shown a positive influence of employment stability on job satisfaction. Employment stability, usually measured by the type of contract an individual has, may affect one’s job satisfaction directly, as well as through its impact on other relative variables, such as job security, since a stable position seems to bring individuals a sense of security. The aim of our research is to investigate the relationships between job security, employment stability and job satisfaction of workers in Poland. In the study, we strive to show how these factors impact knowledge workers and other workers differently. In order to conduct analysis, we propose two logistic models, separate for these two groups, with job satisfaction as a dependent variable and type of contract and three items denoting different dimensions of job insecurity: an insecure source of income, too many duties to cope with and being treated unjustly at the workplace, as independent variables. The robustness of the models has been defended by the introduction of the time dimension. The results show that job insecurity is the most influential factor in the model of job satisfaction for all employees. However, this impact differs depending on the employment arrangements. Flexible workers are much more vulnerable to job insecurities in terms of job satisfaction. Another finding is that the job satisfaction of knowledge workers is more influenced by job security.     

Is Personality Fixed? Personality Changes as Much as “Variable” Economic Factors and More Strongly Predicts Changes to Life Satisfaction

Personality is the strongest and most consistent cross-sectional predictor of high subjective well-being. Less predictive economic factors, such as higher income or improved job status, are often the focus of applied subjective well-being research due to a perception that they can change whereas personality cannot. As such there has been limited investigation into personality change and how such changes might bring about higher well-being. In a longitudinal analysis of 8625 individuals we examine Big Five personality measures at two time points to determine whether an individual’s personality changes and also the extent to which such changes in personality can predict changes in life satisfaction. We find that personality changes at least as much as economic factors and relates much more strongly to changes in life satisfaction. Our results therefore suggest that personality can change and that such change is important and meaningful. Our findings may help inform policy debate over how best to help individuals and nations improve their well-being.     

Job Changing and the Decline in Long-Distance Migration in the United States

Interstate migration in the United States has decreased steadily since the 1980s, but little is known about the causes of this decline. We show that declining migration is related to a concurrent secular decline in job changing. Neither trend is primarily due to observable demographic or socioeconomic factors. Rather, we argue that the decline in job changing has caused the decline in migration. After establishing a role for the labor market in declining migration, we turn to the question of why job changing has become less frequent over the past several decades. We find little support for several explanations, including the rise of dual-career households, the decline in middle-skill jobs, occupational licensing, and the need for employees to retain health insurance. Thus, the reasons for these dual trends remain opaque and should be explored further.     

Resilience,Moorings and International Student Mobilities – Exploring Biographical Narratives of Social Science Students in the UK

Whilst research into the changing landscape of the UK Higher Education (HE) has produced a burgeoning literature on ‘internationalisation’ and ‘transnational student mobility’ over the past few years, still fairly little is known about international students’ experiences on their way to and through the UK higher and further education. Frequently approaching inter- and transnational education as ‘neutral’ by-products of neoliberal globalisation, elitism and power flows, much HE policy and scholarly debate tend to operate with simplistic classifications of ‘international students’ and therefore fail to account for the multifaceted nature of students’ aspirations, mobilities and life experiences. Drawing on the notion of ‘resilience’ and insights from the ‘new mobilities paradigm’, this paper envisages alternative student mobilities which run parallel or counter to the dominant flows of power, financial and human capital commonly associated with an emerging global knowledge economy. Engaging with ‘resilient’ biographies of social science students studying at three UK HE institutions, the paper challenges narrow student classification regimes and calls for a critical re-evaluation of the relationship between international student mobility and other contemporary forms of migration, displacement and diaspora.