Chronically dissatisfied: work characteristics, personal expectations and job satisfaction: empirical evidence in young italian workers

Ferrari, Filippo (2011): Chronically dissatisfied: work characteristics, personal expectations and job satisfaction: empirical evidence in young italian workers.

Abstract

Job satisfaction is the degree to which people like their jobs. Companies are interested in job satisfaction of their employees, because it is positively correlated with certain desired outcomes and contributes to reduce significantly the rate of absenteeism and job turnover. Job satisfaction needs to be divided into three separate but related components: the overall opinion about the job, affective experience at work, beliefs about the job itself, and can be considered as a global feeling about the job or as a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job. The global approach is used when the overall attitude is of interest, the facet approach is used to find out which parts of job produce satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This article presents and discusses the results of a study carried out using both approaches to get a complete picture of employee job satisfaction on a consistent and significant sample of young workers (less than three years of tenure) belonging to the mechanical sector in a province in the Northeast of Italy. Using an analytical protocol the present study has identified aspects of work related (positively and negatively) to the job satisfaction.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Human resources management; Job Satisfaction; Need/Satisfaction Theory; Apprenticeship
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J28 - Safety ; Job Satisfaction ; Related Public Policy; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M5 - Personnel Economics > M54 - Labor Management

References

Allen J., van der Velden R. (2001), ‘Education mismatches versus skill mismatches: effects on wage, job satisfaction and on-the-job search’, Oxford Economic Papers, 53: 434- 452.

Barmby T. (2002), ‘Worker absenteeism; a discrete hazard model with bivariate heterogeneity’, Labour Economics, 9: 469-476.

Barmby T., Stephan G. (2000), ‘Worker absenteeism: why firm size may matter’, The Manchester School, 68: 568-577.

Barrett A., O’Connell P.J. (1998), ‘Does training generally work? The returns to incompany training’, Centre for Economic Policy Research Paper No. 1879, London.

Clegg C.W. (1983), ‘Psychology of employee lateness, absence and turnover: a methodological critique and an empirical study’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 68: 88-101.

Dearden L., Reed H., Van Reenan J. (2006), ‘The impact of training on productivity and wages: evidence from British panel data’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 68: 397-421.

Dearden L., Reed H., Van Reenan J. (2000), ‘Who gains when workers train? Training and corporate productivity in a panel of British industries’, IFS Working Paper 00/04, London.

Frey B., Stutzer A. (2002), Happiness & Economics, Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Frijda N. (1993), Moods, emotion episodes and emotions, in M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions, New York: Guilford Press.

Grugulis I., Stoyanova D. (2006), ‘Skills and performance’, SKOPE Issues Paper No. 9.

Highhouse S., Becker A.S. (1993), ‘Facet measures and global job satisfaction’, Journal of Business and Psychology, 8 (1), 117–127.

Ichino A., Riphahn R.T. (2005), ‘The effect of employment protection on worker effort: a comparison of worker absenteeism during and after probation’, Journal of European Economic Association, 3: 120-143.

Jones M., Jones R., Latreille P., Sloane P. (2008), ‘Training, Job Satisfaction and Workplace Performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004’, IZA Discussion Paper No. 3677.

Kinjerski V., Skrypnek B. (2008), ‘The Promise of Spirit at Work. Increasing Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment and Reducing Turnover and Absenteeism in Long-Term Care’, Journal of Gerontological Nursing, Vol. 34, No. 10.

Lancaster, K., (1966), ‘A new approach to consumer theory’, Journal of Political Economy 74, 132–157.

Lancaster K., (1971), Consumer Demand: A New Approach, Columbia University Press, New York.

Locke E.A. (1976), The nature and causes of job satisfaction, in M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, Rand McNally, Chicago.

Miner J. B. (1992), Industrial–organizational psychology, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Oi, W. (1962), ‘Labor as a quasi-fixed factor’, Journal of Political Economy, 70(6): 538-55.

Scarpello V., Campbell J.P. (1983), ‘Job satisfaction: are all the parts there?’, Personnel Psychology, 36, 577-600.

Siebern-Thomas F. (2005), Job quality in European labour markets, in Bazen S., Lucifora C., Salverda W. (Eds.), Job Quality and Employer Behaviour, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hants, 31-66.

Skalli A., Theodossiou I, Vasileiou E (2008), ‘Jobs as Lancaster goods: Facets of job satisfaction and overall job satisfaction’, The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37 , pp. 1906–1920.

Sousa-Poza A., Sousa-Poza A.A., (2000), ‘Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction’, Journal of Socio-Economics, 29, 517–538.

Spector P. E. (1997), Job satisfaction, Sage, Thousands Oaks.

Steers R.M., Rhodes S.R. (1978), ‘Major influences on employee attendance: a process model’, Journal of Applied Psychology, 63: 391-407.

Vroom V.H. (1964), Work and Motivation, Wiley, New York.

Warr P.B., (1999), Well-being and theworkplace, in: Kahneman, D., Diener, E., Schwarz, N. (Eds.), Well-being: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology, Russell Sage Foundation, New York.

Weiss H.M., Cropanzano R. (1996), Affective events theory: a theoretical discussion of the structure, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work, in B. M. Staw, L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behaviour, JAI Press, Greenwich