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Is Work Flexibility a Stairway to Heaven? The Story Told by Job Satisfaction in Europ

Author

Listed:
  • Federica Origo

    (Department of Economics "Hyman P. Minsky", University of Bergamo)

  • Laura Pagani

    (Department of Economics, University of Milan-Bicocca)

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the relationship between di¤erent aspects of flexibility and job satisfaction using data taken from the 2001 Special Eurobarometer 56.1 "Social Exclusion and Modernization of Pension Systems". More speci?cally, we verify whether functional, numerical and time flexibility produce different impact on job satisfaction, also distinguishing between satisfaction for quantitative aspects (such as pay, hours of work and career prospects) and qualitative ones (such as motivation, job variety and on the job relations). Then, we test the impact of flexibility on job satisfaction for different types of workers (e.g. high or low skilled, young or old, male or female and country clusters). Taking into account of potential endogeneity, on the whole results from econometric analysis seem to point to a positive link between functional flexibility and job satisfaction and either no effect or a negative impact of numerical and time flexibility. With regard to estimation by groups, differences in the impact of flexibility on job satisfaction are particularly relevant among those groups that are characterized by significant gaps in the incidence of flexibility, such as the young and the old workers, the low and the high educated, Southern and Nordic countries' workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Federica Origo & Laura Pagani, 2006. "Is Work Flexibility a Stairway to Heaven? The Story Told by Job Satisfaction in Europ," Working Papers 97, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2006.
  • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:97
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Uta Wilkens & Daniel Nermerich, 2011. "'Love it, change it, or leave it' – Understanding Highly-skilled Flexible Workers’ Job Satisfaction from a Psychological Contract Perspective," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 22(1), pages 65-83.
    2. Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Simona-Andreea Apostu & Andreea Paul & Ionut Casuneanu, 2020. "Work Flexibility, Job Satisfaction, and Job Performance among Romanian Employees—Implications for Sustainable Human Resource Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-53, July.
    3. Klement Podnar & Ursa Golob, 2008. "Friendly flexible working practices within the internal marketing framework: a service perspective," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(11), pages 1773-1786, September.
    4. Maurizio Pugno & Sara Depedri, 2010. "Job Performance and Job Satisfaction: An Integrated Survey," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 175-210.
    5. Dominik Hanglberger, 2011. "Arbeitszufriedenheit im internationalen Vergleich," FFB-Discussionpaper 86, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)), LEUPHANA University Lüneburg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job satisfaction; flexibility;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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