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Job-Related Well-Being Through the Great Recession

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  • Francis Green
  • Alan Felstead
  • Duncan Gallie
  • Hande Inanc

Abstract

We study how job-related well-being (measured by Warr’s ‘Enthusiasm’ and ‘Contentment’ scales) altered through the Great Recession, and how this is related to changing job quality. Using nationally representative data for Britain, we find that job-related well-being was stable between 2001 and 2006, but then declined between 2006 and 2012. We report relevant changes in job quality. In modelling the determinants of job-related well-being, we confirm several previously-studied hypotheses and present some new findings: downsizing, work re-organisation, decreased choice, and linking pay to organisational performance each reduce well-being; indicators of skills challenge in jobs have more of a positive association with Enthusiasm than with Contentment, while effort has a more negative association with Contentment than with Enthusiasm. Our estimates are largely orthogonal to the effects of personality traits and demographic controls on well-being. Using a standard decomposition, we find that the 2006–2012 fall in job-related well-being is partly accounted for by accelerations in the pace of workplace change, rising job insecurity, increased effort and changing participation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

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  • Francis Green & Alan Felstead & Duncan Gallie & Hande Inanc, 2016. "Job-Related Well-Being Through the Great Recession," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 389-411, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:17:y:2016:i:1:p:389-411
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-014-9600-x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Helena Lopes & Sérgio Lagoa & Ana C Santos, 2019. "Work conditions and financial difficulties in post-crisis Europe: Utility versus quality of working life," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(1), pages 39-58, March.
    3. Francis Green, 2020. "Health effects of job insecurity," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 212-212, December.
    4. Duncan Gallie & Alan Felstead & Francis Green & Golo Henseke, 2021. "Inequality at work and employees' perceptions of organisational fairness," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 550-568, November.
    5. Maëlezig Bigi & Nathalie Greenan & Sylvie Hamon-Cholet & Joseph Lanfranchi, 2018. "The Human Sustainability of ICT and Management Changes: Evidence for the French Public and Private Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-23, October.
    6. KonShik Kim, 2023. "The impact of job quality on organizational commitment and job satisfaction: The moderating role of socioeconomic status," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(3), pages 773-797, August.
    7. Nathalie Greenan & Majda Seghir, 2017. "Measuring Vulnerability to Adverse Working Conditions: Evidence from European Countries [Mesurer la vulnérabilité à la dégradation des conditions de travail dans les pays européens]," Working Papers hal-02172377, HAL.
    8. Argyro Avgoustaki & Hans T. W. Frankort, 2019. "Implications of Work Effort and Discretion for Employee Well-Being and Career-Related Outcomes: An Integrative Assessment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(3), pages 636-661, May.
    9. Patrick Pilipiec & Wim Groot & Milena Pavlova, 2020. "A Longitudinal Analysis of Job Satisfaction During a Recession in the Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 239-269, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Effort; Job insecurity; Downsizing; Performance-related pay; Organisational participation; Job-related well-being; Task discretion; Skill; 3600; 3650; J53; I00; J0;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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