IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v10y2020i3p62-d402336.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Matters in a Job? A Multi-Level Study of Job Preference Orientations and the Intrinsic Quality of Work in 25 Societies

Author

Listed:
  • Michal Kozák

    (Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Rosenbergsgaten 39, 5015 Bergen, Norway)

Abstract

This paper examines cross-national differences in job preference orientations from the perspective of job quality. In particular, it investigates the extent to which preferences of workers in 25 developed societies are shaped by the intrinsic quality of jobs and its institutional determinants, as highlighted by varieties of capitalism (VoC) and power resources theory (PRT). The study uses multi-level models with country-specific random intercepts fitted to individual data from the International Social Survey Programme’s 2015 Work Orientations module, paired with institutional indicators from various sources. The results show that workers within countries tend to be oriented towards the same types of rewards that their jobs offer, with the intrinsic quality of work standing out as the most important factor of all. This logic extends to the cross-national variation in job preference orientations, which is strongly related to the average intrinsic quality of jobs in national labor markets and its institutional factors emphasized by PRT, rather than VoC.

Suggested Citation

  • Michal Kozák, 2020. "What Matters in a Job? A Multi-Level Study of Job Preference Orientations and the Intrinsic Quality of Work in 25 Societies," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:10:y:2020:i:3:p:62-:d:402336
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/3/62/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/10/3/62/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Cusack & Torben Iversen & Philipp Rehm, 2006. "Risks at Work: The Demand and Supply Sides of Government Redistribution," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 22(3), pages 365-389, Autumn.
    2. Arne L. Kalleberg, 2018. "Job Insecurity and Well-being in Rich Democracies," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(3), pages 241-258.
    3. Andrew E. Clark, 2005. "Your Money or Your Life: Changing Job Quality in OECD Countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 377-400, September.
    4. Iversen, Torben & Soskice, David, 2001. "An Asset Theory of Social Policy Preferences," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 95(4), pages 875-893, December.
    5. Daniel Stegmueller, 2013. "How Many Countries for Multilevel Modeling? A Comparison of Frequentist and Bayesian Approaches," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 748-761, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabian Engler & Linda Voigt, 2023. "There is power in a union? Union members' preferences and the conditional effect of labour unions on left parties in different welfare state programmes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 89-109, March.
    2. Sijeong Lim & Brian Burgoon, 2017. "Globalization and Support for Unemployment Spending in Asia," Working Papers hal-01670983, HAL.
    3. Valentina Gonzalez‐Rostani, 2024. "Engaged robots, disengaged workers: Automation and political alienation," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 1703-1730, November.
    4. Michał Litwiński & Rafał Iwański & Łukasz Tomczak, 2023. "Acceptance for Income Inequality in Poland," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 381-412, April.
    5. Baptiste Françon, 2013. "Who turned their back on the SPD? Electoral disaffection with the German Social Democratic Party and the Hartz reforms," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 14019, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    6. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00586260 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Bishara, Dina & Jurkovich, Michelle & Berman, Chantal, 2023. "Citizens’ understanding of the social contract: Lessons from Tunisia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Maria Grazia Pittau & Riccardo Massari & Roberto Zelli, 2013. "Hierarchical Modelling of Disparities in Preferences for Redistribution," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(4), pages 556-584, August.
    9. Thewissen, Stefan & Rueda, David, 2016. "Automation and the Welfare State: Technological Change as a Determinant of Redistribution Preferences," INET Oxford Working Papers 2016-02, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    10. Elvire Guillaud, 2013. "Preferences for redistribution: an empirical analysis over 33 countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(1), pages 57-78, March.
    11. Baptiste Françon, 2013. "Who turned their back on the SPD? Electoral disaffection with the German Social Democratic Party and the Hartz reforms," Post-Print halshs-00973879, HAL.
    12. Hyunwoo Kim, 2023. "The microfoundation of macroeconomic populism: The effects of economic inequality on public inflation aversion," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 65-96, March.
    13. Elvire Guillaud, 2011. "Preferences for redistribution : an empirical analysis," Post-Print halshs-00594072, HAL.
    14. Cem Baslevent & Hasan Kirmanoglu, 2015. "A Multilevel Analysis of Individuals' Attitudes Toward Welfare State Responsibilities," Working Papers 941, Economic Research Forum, revised Sep 2015.
    15. Pittau, Maria Grazia & Farcomeni, Alessio & Zelli, Roberto, 2016. "Has the attitude of US citizens towards redistribution changed over time?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 714-724.
    16. Elvire Guillaud, 2008. "Preferences for redistribution: a European comparative analysis," PSE Working Papers halshs-00586260, HAL.
    17. Guillaud, Elvire & Marx, Paul, 2013. "Preferences for Employment Protection and the Insider-Outsider Divide," IZA Discussion Papers 7569, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Joakim Kulin & Alexander Seymer, 2014. "What's Driving the Public? A Cross-Country Analysis of Political Attitudes, Human Values and Political Articulation," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(1), pages 145-158, February.
    19. Dilara Tosu & Montserrat Vilalta-Bufí, 2021. "Segregation and preferences for redistribution," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/408, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    20. Charlotte Cavaillé, 2015. "Deservingness, Self-Interest and the Welfare State: Why Some Care More about Deservingness than Others and Why It Matters," LIS Working papers 652, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    21. Baptiste Françon, 2013. "Who turned their back on the SPD? Electoral disaffection with the German Social Democratic Party and the Hartz reforms," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00973879, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:10:y:2020:i:3:p:62-:d:402336. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.