IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp4101.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data

Author

Listed:
  • Haile, Getinet Astatike

    (University of Nottingham)

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of job satisfaction in Britain using nationally representative linked employer-employee data (WERS2004) and alternative econometric techniques. It uses eight facets of job satisfaction for the purpose. As well as underscoring the importance of accounting for unobserved workplace heterogeneity, the paper is able to highlight some new findings that relate to differential effects of dependent children and other dependents, type of employment contract and gaps between employees' skill and skills requirements of their job. Working long hours is found to be positively associated with intrinsic aspect of jobs. Public sector employment is positively associated with all facets of job satisfaction except satisfaction with pay.

Suggested Citation

  • Haile, Getinet Astatike, 2009. "Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4101, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4101
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp4101.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saziye Gazioglu & Aysit Tansel, 2006. "Job satisfaction in Britain: individual and job related factors," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1163-1171.
    2. Levy-Garboua, Louis & Montmarquette, Claude, 2004. "Reported job satisfaction: what does it mean?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 135-151, April.
    3. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2001. "The Changing Distribution of Job Satisfaction," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-30.
    4. Andrew Clark & Yannis Georgellis & Peter Sanfey, "undated". "Job Satisfaction, Wage changes and Quits: Evidence from Germany," Economics and Finance Discussion Papers 98-06, Economics and Finance Section, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University.
    5. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-659, May.
    6. AndrewE. Clark & Nicolai Kristensen & Niels Westergård-Nielsen, 2009. "Job Satisfaction and Co-worker Wages: Status or Signal?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(536), pages 430-447, March.
    7. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    8. Usui, Emiko, 2008. "Job satisfaction and the gender composition of jobs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 23-26, April.
    9. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September.
    10. Terza, Joseph V., 1987. "Estimating linear models with ordinal qualitative regressors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 275-291, March.
    11. Bryson, Alex & Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2012. "Do higher wages come at a price?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 251-263.
    12. Haile, Getinet & Bryson, Alex & White, Michael, 2015. "Spillover effects of unionisation on non-members' wellbeing," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 108-122.
    13. Kristensen, Nicolai & Westergård-Nielsen, Niels C., 2004. "Does Low Job Satisfaction Lead to Job Mobility?," IZA Discussion Papers 1026, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Alfonso Sousa‐Poza & Andrés A. Sousa‐Poza, 2000. "Taking Another Look at the Gender/Job‐Satisfaction Paradox," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 135-152, May.
    15. Hausman, J. A. & Abrevaya, Jason & Scott-Morton, F. M., 1998. "Misclassification of the dependent variable in a discrete-response setting," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 239-269, September.
    16. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2004. "Does Union Membership Really Reduce Job Satisfaction?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(3), pages 439-459, September.
    17. Clark, Andrew E., 1999. "Are wages habit-forming? evidence from micro data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 179-200, June.
    18. Easterlin, Richard A, 2001. "Income and Happiness: Towards an Unified Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(473), pages 465-484, July.
    19. Clark, Andrew E., 1997. "Job satisfaction and gender: Why are women so happy at work?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 341-372, December.
    20. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2010. "Why So Unhappy? The Effects of Unionization on Job Satisfaction," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(3), pages 357-380, June.
    21. McBride, Michael, 2001. "Relative-income effects on subjective well-being in the cross-section," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 251-278, July.
    22. Peter Sloane & Melanie Ward, 2001. "Cohort effects and job satisfaction of academics," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(12), pages 787-791.
    23. P. J. Sloane & H. Williams, 2000. "Job Satisfaction, Comparison Earnings, and Gender," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 14(3), pages 473-502, September.
    24. van Praag, B. M. S. & Frijters, P. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., 2003. "The anatomy of subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-49, May.
    25. Anders Skrondal & Sophia Rabe‐Hesketh, 2007. "Latent Variable Modelling: A Survey," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 34(4), pages 712-745, December.
    26. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-141, May.
    27. Arnaud Chevalier & Reamonn Lydon, 2002. "Estimates of the Effect of Wages on Job Satisfaction," CEP Discussion Papers dp0531, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    28. Groot, Wim & Maassen van den Brink, Henriette, 1999. "Job satisfaction and preference drift1," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 363-367, June.
    29. Clive Belfield & R. D. F. Harris, 2002. "How well do theories of job matching explain variations in job satisfaction across education levels? Evidence for UK graduates," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 535-548.
    30. Shields, Michael A & Price, Stephen Wheatley, 2002. "Racial Harassment, Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Quit: Evidence from the British Nursing Profession," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 69(274), pages 295-226, May.
    31. Andrew E. Clark, 1996. "Job Satisfaction in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 189-217, June.
    32. Colin Green & John S. Heywood, 2008. "Does Performance Pay Increase Job Satisfaction?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(300), pages 710-728, November.
    33. Origo, Federica & Pagani, Laura, 2009. "Flexicurity and job satisfaction in Europe: The importance of perceived and actual job stability for well-being at work," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 547-555, October.
    34. Liliana Winkelmann & Rainer Winkelmann, 1998. "Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy?Evidence from Panel Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 1-15, February.
    35. George A. Akerlof & Andrew K. Rose & Janet L. Yellen, 1988. "Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(2), pages 495-594.
    36. Keith A. Bender & Susan M. Donohue & John S. Heywood, 2005. "Job satisfaction and gender segregation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(3), pages 479-496, July.
    37. Germán Rodríguez & Noreen Goldman, 2001. "Improved estimation procedures for multilevel models with binary response: a case‐study," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 164(2), pages 339-355.
    38. Clark, Andrew E., 2001. "What really matters in a job? Hedonic measurement using quit data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 223-242, May.
    39. Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Sousa-Poza, Andres A., 2000. "Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 517-538, November.
    40. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger, 2006. "Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    41. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Paul Frijters, 2004. "How Important is Methodology for the estimates of the determinants of Happiness?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(497), pages 641-659, July.
    42. George J. Borjas, 1979. "Job Satisfaction, Wages, and Unions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(1), pages 21-40.
    43. Alex Bryson & Erling Barth & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2013. "The Effects of Organizational Change on Worker Well-Being and the Moderating Role of Trade Unions," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(4), pages 989-1011, July.
    44. Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Sousa-Poza, Andres A, 2000. "Taking Another Look at the Gender/Job-Satisfaction Paradox," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 135-152.
    45. Michael Rose, 2005. "Job Satisfaction in Britain: Coping with Complexity," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 455-467, September.
    46. Paul Dolan & Richard Layard & Robert Metcalfe, 2011. "Measuring Subjective Wellbeing for Public Policy: Recommendations on Measures," CEP Reports 23, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paulo Aguiar Do Monte, 2011. "Job Dissatisfaction And Labour Turnover:Evidence From Brazil," Anais do XXXVIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 38th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 135, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    2. Stéphanie Moullet & Zinaida Salibekyan, 2019. "The Perception of Job Insecurity in France: Between Individual Determinants and Managerial Practices [Le sentiment d’insécurité de l’emploi en France : entre déterminants individuels et pratiques m," Post-Print halshs-02484180, HAL.
    3. Manuela GOGONEA & Marian Zaharia, 2016. "Considerations Regarding The Employee Satisfaction From Some Hotel Units. An Econometrics Approach," Revista de turism - studii si cercetari in turism / Journal of tourism - studies and research in tourism, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 22(22), pages 1-3, December.
    4. Aysit Tansel & Şaziye Gazîoğlu, 2014. "Management-employee relations, firm size and job satisfaction," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(8), pages 1260-1275, October.
    5. Stéphanie Moullet & Zinaïda Salibekyan, 2019. "The Perception of Job Insecurity in France: Between Individual Determinants and Managerial Practices," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 507-508, pages 71-90.
    6. Wanger, Susanne, 2017. "What makes employees satisfied with their working time? : The role of working hours, time-sovereignty and working conditions for working time and job satisfaction," IAB-Discussion Paper 201720, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    7. Tcherneva Pavlina R., 2012. "The Job Guarantee: Delivering the Benefits That Basic Income Only Promises – A Response to Guy Standing," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 66-87, January.
    8. Budría, Santiago, 2012. "The shadow value of employer-provided training," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 494-514.
    9. Laszlo Goerke, 2020. "Unions and Workers' Well-being," IAAEU Discussion Papers 202008, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    10. Aysit Tansel & Saziye Gazîoglu, 2014. "Management-employee relations, firm size and job satisfaction," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 35(8), pages 1260-1275, October.
    11. Faitira Manuere, 2017. "Human Capital Development Programmes and their Effect on the Job Satisfaction of Workers in Zimbabwe Urban Municipalities: The Case of Chinhoyi," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(12), pages 874-889, December.
    12. Patrick Lekgothoane & Molefe Maleka & Zeleke Worku, 2018. "Talent Management Predictors that Adversely Affect Job Satisfaction at a South African Parastatal," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(2), pages 199-208.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J Taylor & S Bradley & A N Nguyen, 2003. "Job autonomy and job satisfaction: new evidence," Working Papers 541528, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    2. repec:lan:wpaper:1021 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:lan:wpaper:1084 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. J Taylor & S Bradley & A N Nguyen, 2003. "Relative pay and job satisfaction: some new evidence," Working Papers 541451, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    5. repec:lan:wpaper:1022 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Vicente Royuela & Jordi Suriñach, 2013. "Quality of Work and Aggregate Productivity," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 37-66, August.
    7. Stavros A. Drakopoulos, 2020. "Pay Level Comparisons in Job Satisfaction Research and Mainstream Economic Methodology," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 825-842, March.
    8. Damiano Fiorillo & Nunzia Nappo, 2014. "Job satisfaction in Italy: individual characteristics and social relations," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(8), pages 683-704, August.
    9. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2006. "Income and happiness: Evidence, explanations and economic implications," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590436, HAL.
    10. Pervin Ahu Cerci & Devrim Dumludag, 2019. "Life Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction among University Faculty: The Impact of Working Conditions, Academic Performance and Relative Income," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 785-806, July.
    11. Laetitia Hauret & Donald R. Williams, 2017. "Cross-National Analysis of Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 203-235, April.
    12. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2013. "Happiness economics," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 35-60, March.
    13. Johansson, Edvard, 2004. "Job Satisfaction in Finland - Some results from the European Community Household Panel 1996-2001," Discussion Papers 958, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    14. Saziye Gazioglu & Aysit Tansel, 2006. "Job satisfaction in Britain: individual and job related factors," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1163-1171.
    15. Maryam Dilmaghani, 2022. "Revisiting the gender job satisfaction paradox: The roots seem to run deep," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 278-323, June.
    16. Possenriede, Daniel & Plantenga, Janneke, 2014. "Temporal and Locational Flexibility of Work, Working-Time Fit, and Job Satisfaction," IZA Discussion Papers 8436, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Fabra, M. Eugenia & Camisón, Cesar, 2009. "Direct and indirect effects of education on job satisfaction: A structural equation model for the Spanish case," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 600-610, October.
    18. Benno Torgler, 2011. "Work Values in Western and Eastern Europe," CREMA Working Paper Series 2011-22, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    19. Patrice Laroche, 2016. "A Meta-Analysis of the Union–Job Satisfaction Relationship," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 709-741, December.
    20. José Millán & Jolanda Hessels & Roy Thurik & Rafael Aguado, 2013. "Determinants of job satisfaction: a European comparison of self-employed and paid employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 651-670, April.
    21. Sánchez Cañizares, Sandra Mª & Artacho Ruiz, Carlos & Fuentes García, Fernando J. & López-Guzmán Guzmán,Tomás J., 2007. "Análisis de los determinantes estructurales de la satisfacción laboral. Aplicación en el sector educativo/Analizing the Structural Determinants of Job Satisfaction. An Application in the Educational F," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 25, pages 887-900, Diciembre.
    22. Gennaro Punzo & Rosalia Castellano & Mirko Buonocore, 2018. "Job Satisfaction in the “Big Four” of Europe: Reasoning Between Feeling and Uncertainty Through CUB Models," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(1), pages 205-236, August.
    23. Justina A. V. Fischer & Alfonso Sousa‐Poza, 2009. "Does job satisfaction improve the health of workers? New evidence using panel data and objective measures of health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 71-89, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    linked employer-employee data; job satisfaction; Britain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4101. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.