Determinants of job interestingness: Comparison of Japan and other high-income countries

Interest in a job enhances job satisfaction, learning, and task performance, and deters the job-holder from quitting. This paper quantifies the importance of the key determinants of job interestingness for the first time. It also explores the reasons why there are much fewer interesting jobs in Japan than in other high-income countries (H). Decomposition analyses are performed using the International Social Survey Programme and Japanese panel survey data. In both H and Japan, interest match and prosocial meaning of the job are two of the three most important predictors of job interestingness. The third top predictor is job autonomy in H, whereas in Japan it is relatedness (relationship with management and colleagues), implying that the most effective ways to make a job interesting vary across cultures and work organizations. The largest factor explaining the job interestingness gap between Japan and H is Japan's lower level of job autonomy, although promoting autonomy is a less effective way to enhance job interestingness in Japan.