Quality of Work and Employee Satisfaction According to Socio-Productive Organizational Models: An Analysis Based on French Linked Employer-Employee Data[Qualité du travail et satisfaction des salariés selon les contextes socio-productifs]

An extensive empirical literature studies the effects of work organization models on working conditions and/or employee satisfaction. This article seeks to both enrich and go beyond this literature by taking a broader view of socio-productive contexts that articulate different dimensions – work organization, but also human resource management, industrial relations, economic strategy and context. Can we thus identify socio-productive models in which employees report better working conditions and greater job satisfaction? To do so, we use the 2017 REPONSE survey and its "employees" and "management representatives" components to provide linked employer-employee data. A statistical analysis of these data produces a typology of four socio-productive models: "small paternalistic firms", "innovative and dynamic SMEs", "neo-Taylorist service organizations" and "neo-Fordist firms in tension". Two of these models – "small paternalistic firms" and "innovative and dynamic SMEs" – turned out to offer better working conditions on three of the six dimensions studied, as well as better job satisfaction on four dimensions. What unites these two models is the calm social climate and close working relationship that take place in decision-making and economically autonomous organizations.