IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cir/cirwor/2001s-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Job Satisfaction and Quits: Theory and Evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel

Author

Listed:
  • Louis Lévy-Garboua
  • Claude Montmarquette
  • Véronique Simonnet

Abstract

We test the simple wealth maximization theory of quitting behavior on the German Socioeconomic Panel (1985-1993). We develop a new methodology to extract a consistent estimate of how the expected present value of one's job (including the non-pecuniary component) compares with outside opportunities in the future from subjective questions about job and job-related satisfactions. It is based on the interpretation of job satisfaction as an expression of the experienced preference for the present job against available alternatives. With this interpretation, the propensity to stay in the present job is simply related to the residual of a job satisfaction equation. Our tests validate this theory of job satisfaction and the economiceconomic theory of quits. We also find that the residual of a job satisfaction equation is a better predictor of quits than the overall level of satisfaction. Dans cette étude, en utilisant les données du Panel Socio-économique Allemand (1985-1993), nous soumettons à réfutation un modèle simple de maximisation de la richesse pour expliquer le fait de quitter une entreprise. ¸ l'aide de questions subjectives sur la satisfaction dans l'emploi et dans d'autres domaines (loisir, santé...)autres types de satisfaction, nous développons une méthodologie permettant de comparer la valeur présente attendue de son emploi (incluant une composante non-pécuniaire) aux opportunités d'emplois extérieures. L'approche retenue est basée sur l'idée que une interprétation dela satisfaction qui exprime une préférence expérimentée de l'emploi actuel contre les alternatives d'emplois disponibles. La propension à garder l'emploi occupé dans ce contexte dépend estsimplementreliée aux du résidus de l'équation de satisfaction dans l'emploi. Nos tests confirment cette théorie de la satisfaction et le modèle classique de mobilité volontairela théorie économique de quitter volontairement son emploi. Finalement, nous observons que le résidu de l'équation de satisfaction dans l'emploi offre une meilleure prédiction du départ volontaire que le niveau général de la satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Lévy-Garboua & Claude Montmarquette & Véronique Simonnet, 2001. "Job Satisfaction and Quits: Theory and Evidence from the German Socioeconomic Panel," CIRANO Working Papers 2001s-41, CIRANO.
    • Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:2001s-41
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cirano.qc.ca/files/publications/2001s-41.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann P. Bartel & George J. Borjas, 1981. "Wage Growth and Job Turnover: An Empirical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in Labor Markets, pages 65-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Mehra, Rajnish & Prescott, Edward C., 1985. "The equity premium: A puzzle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 145-161, March.
    3. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-141, May.
    4. Viscusi, W Kip, 1979. "Job Hazards and Worker Quit Rates: An Analysis of Adaptive Worker Behavior," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 20(1), pages 29-58, February.
    5. Andrew Clark & Yannis Georgellis & Peter Sanfey, "undated". "Job Satisfaction, Wage changes and Quits: Evidence from Germany," Economics and Finance Discussion Papers 98-06, Economics and Finance Section, School of Social Sciences, Brunel University.
    6. Parsons, Donald O, 1991. "The Job Search Behavior of Employed Youth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 597-604, November.
    7. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-990, October.
    8. Henry S. Farber & Robert Gibbons, 1996. "Learning and Wage Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1007-1047.
    9. Murphy, Kevin M & Topel, Robert H, 2002. "Estimation and Inference in Two-Step Econometric Models," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 88-97, January.
    10. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September.
    11. van Ophem, Hans, 1991. "Wages, Nonwage Job Characteristics and the Search Behavior of Employees," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(1), pages 145-151, February.
    12. Gottschalk, Peter & Maloney, Tim, 1985. "Involuntary Terminations, Unemployment, and Job Matching: A Test of Job Search Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 109-123, April.
    13. Otis Duncan, 1975. "Does money buy satisfaction?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 267-274, December.
    14. Patricia M. Anderson & Bruce D. Meyer, 1994. "The Extent and Consequences of Job Turnover," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(1994 Micr), pages 177-248.
    15. Robert H. Topel & Michael P. Ward, 1992. "Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 439-479.
    16. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Firm-specific Capital and Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1246-1260, December.
    17. Galizzi, Monica & Lang, Kevin, 1998. "Relative Wages, Wage Growth, and Quit Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 367-391, April.
    18. Lynch, Lisa M, 1991. "The Role of Off-the-Job vs. On-the-Job Training for the Mobility of Women Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 151-156, May.
    19. George A. Akerlof & Andrew K. Rose & Janet L. Yellen, 1988. "Job Switching and Job Satisfaction in the U.S. Labor Market," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(2), pages 495-594.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:lan:wpaper:1022 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Andrew E. Clark, 2010. "Work and Well-Being," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 8(04), pages 17-21, January.
    3. Petri Böckerman & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2004. "Job Disamenities, Job Satisfaction and on-the-Job Search: Is There a Nexus?," Working Papers 208, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    4. Nguyen, Anh & Taylor, Jim & Bradley, Steve, 2003. "Relative pay and job satisfaction: some new evidence," MPRA Paper 1382, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Levy-Garboua, Louis & Montmarquette, Claude, 2004. "Reported job satisfaction: what does it mean?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 135-151, April.
    6. repec:lan:wpaper:1021 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Burton, Jonathan & Laurie, Heather & Uhrig, S.C. Noah & Bryan, Mark L. & Desousa, Carol & Fumagalli, Laura & Jäckle, Annette & Knies, Gundi & Lynn, Peter & Nandi, Alita & Platt, Lucinda & Pudney, Ste, 2008. "Understanding Society. Some preliminary results from the Wave 1 Innovation Panel," Understanding Society Working Paper Series 2008-03, Understanding Society at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    8. repec:lan:wpaper:1084 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Andrew E. Clark, 2010. "Work and Well-Being," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 8(4), pages 17-21, 01.
    10. Carlos Gamero, 2009. "Job Satisfaction and On-the-Job Search: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach," Revista de Economía Laboral - Spanish Journal of Labour Economics, Asociación Española de Economía Laboral - AEET, vol. 6, pages 35-54.
    11. J Taylor & S Bradley & A N Nguyen, 2003. "Job autonomy and job satisfaction: new evidence," Working Papers 541528, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    12. Haile, Getinet Astatike, 2012. "Unhappy working with men? Workplace gender diversity and job-related well-being in Britain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 329-350.

    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. Levy-Garboua, Louis & Montmarquette, Claude & Simonnet, Veronique, 2007. "Job satisfaction and quits," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 251-268, April.
    2. Galizzi, Monica & Lang, Kevin, 1998. "Relative Wages, Wage Growth, and Quit Behavior," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 367-391, April.
    3. Giuliano Guerra & Roberto Patuelli, 2016. "The Role of Job Satisfaction in Transitions into Self–Employment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 543-571, May.
    4. Clark, Andrew E., 2001. "What really matters in a job? Hedonic measurement using quit data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 223-242, May.
    5. Christian Pfeifer & Stefan Schneck, 2012. "Relative Wage Positions and Quit Behavior: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(1), pages 126-147, January.
    6. Theodossiou, I. & Zangelidis, A., 2009. "Career prospects and tenure-job satisfaction profiles: Evidence from panel data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 648-657, August.
    7. Michela Ponzo, 2012. "On-the-job Search in Italian Labor Markets: An Empirical Analysis," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 213-232, July.
    8. Bruce Fallick & Charles A. Fleischman, 2004. "Employer-to-employer flows in the U.S. labor market: the complete picture of gross worker flows," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-34, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. 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.
    10. Bruce Fallick & Charles A. Fleischman, 2001. "The importance of employer-to-employer flows in the U.S. labor market," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-18, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. Clark, Andrew E., 1999. "Are wages habit-forming? evidence from micro data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 179-200, June.
    12. Argaw, Bethlehem A. & Maier, Michael F. & Skriabikova, Olga J., 2017. "Risk attitudes, job mobility and subsequent wage growth during the early career," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-023, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Maier, Michael & Argaw, Bethlehem A. & Maier, Michael F. & Skriabikova, Olga J., 2016. "Risk attitudes, job mobility and subsequent wage growth during the early career," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145677, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Parent, Daniel, 2002. "Matching, human capital, and the covariance structure of earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 375-404, July.
    16. Simon D Woodcock, 2002. "Agent Heterogeneity and Learning: An Application to Labor Markets," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Woodcock Simon D, 2010. "Heterogeneity and Learning in Labor Markets," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-69, September.
    18. Göke Stefan & Prinz Joachim & Weimar Daniel, 2014. "Diamonds are Forever: Job-Matching and Career Success of Young Workers," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(4), pages 450-473, August.
    19. Ronald Bachmann & Thomas K. Bauer & Peggy David, 2010. "Labour Market Entry Conditions, Wages and Job Mobility," Ruhr Economic Papers 0188, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    20. repec:zbw:rwirep:0188 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Getinet A. Haile, 2015. "Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(3), pages 225-242, September.
    22. Sami Napari, 2006. "The Early Career Gender Wage Gap," CEP Discussion Papers dp0738, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Voluntary quit; job satisfaction; wealth maximization model; Mobilité volontaire; satisfaction à l'emploi; modèle de maximisation de la richesse;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cir:cirwor:2001s-41. 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: Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciranca.html .

    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.