Browsing by Subject "job demands"

Objectives. The job satisfaction of employees is important to organizations, because dissatisfaction impacts directly the economic results of the company, e.g. through increased employee turnover, poor quality of work and hiding problems. Job satisfaction has been defined as a relationship between the expectations for a job by an employee and the subjectively perceived fulfilment of those expectations. In this research, factors influencing job satisfaction are investigated by comparing three theoretical models related to job satisfaction. According to the Job Demands – Job Control model, demands of the job affect job satisfaction. Better job control or support from supervisor or peers can decrease the impact of demands on job satisfaction. According to the Effort – Reward Imbalance model, job satisfaction can be explained by investigating whether the rewards received from the job are commensurate with the effort required by the job. In the Job Demands and Resources model, different jobs have different demands and resources which are important. The model emphasizes the difference between jobs and assumes that demands impact job stress but not job satisfaction, whereas resources are mainly associated with job satisfaction. Methods. Based on the three models and previous empirical research results, 11 hypotheses were created and tested by using a large survey sample. The sample included 2 195 employees which represented 13 departments from nine organizations. The dependent variable was job satisfaction, and independent variables were associated with job demands, job control, rewards, and support by supervisor and peers. Linear mixed models were used as the statistical method because of its ability to compare the possibly different impacts of various resources and demands in different organizations. Results and conclusions. The most important factors associated with job satisfaction were opportunities to advance, possibility to use and develop skills and job security. Older employees were more satisfied with their jobs. Increased demands decreased the influence of peer support on job satisfaction. When the demands were high, the support of supervisor was more important. The impact of material rewards, such as salary or benefits, was low. As a conclusion, the Job Demands – Resources model was best able to explain job satisfaction out of the three tested models in this sample, if the model was expanded to include job security from the Effort-Reward Imbalance model.