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If you're happy and you know it...job satisfaction in the low wage service sector

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  • Brown, Donna
  • McIntosh, Steven

Abstract

The issue of worker satisfaction is important both for the sake of individuals themselves and also for employers for whom happy staff should be productive staff. Highly satisfied staff have been shown to have lower propensities to quit and to be absent. Whilst there have been some interesting contributions in this field, the existing studies are weakened by their inability to control for workplace characteristics. Uniquely, our data set, covering three low wage sectors, enables us to do this whilst still providing a wealth of demographic information. Using principal components analysis we examine five measures of workers'' satisfaction and find that individuals respond quite differently depending upon the measure of contentment employed. We then examine which of our component forms of satisfaction has the greatest impact on overall satisfaction. Satisfaction with short-term rewards and long-term prospects are found to be far more influential in determining overall satisfaction than contentment with social relationships or work intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, Donna & McIntosh, Steven, 1998. "If you're happy and you know it...job satisfaction in the low wage service sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 20249, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:20249
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Melanie K. Jones & Richard J. Jones & Paul L. Latreille & Peter J. Sloane, 2009. "Training, Job Satisfaction, and Workplace Performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(s1), pages 139-175, March.
    2. Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, "undated". "Racial Harassment, Job Satisfaction and Intentions to Quit: Evidence from the British Nursing Profession," Discussion Papers in Public Sector Economics 01/2, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    3. E. Verhofstadt & E. Omey, 2003. "The impact of education on job satisfaction in the first job," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 03/169, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    4. Romina Giuliano & Benoit Mahy & François Rycx & Guillaume Vermeylen, 2024. "Overeducation, Overskilling and Job Satisfaction in Europe: The Moderating Role of Employment Contracts," Working Papers CEB 24-009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Romina Giuliano & Benoît Mahy & François Ryckx & Guillaume Vermeylen, 2024. "Overeducation, Overskilling and Job Satisfaction in Europe: The Moderating Role of Employment Contracts," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2024003, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    6. 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.
    7. Anthea Long, 2005. "Happily Ever After? A Study of Job Satisfaction in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(255), pages 303-321, December.
    8. Samanvitha Swaminathan & P. David Jawahar, 2013. "Job Satisfaction As A Predictor Of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: An Empirical Study," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 7(1), pages 71-80.
    9. 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.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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