Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T21:35:39.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Work autonomy, work pressure, and job satisfaction: An analysis of European Union countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Helena Lopes ,
Sérgio Lagoa  and
Teresa Calapez
Helena Lopes*
Affiliation:
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
Sérgio Lagoa
Affiliation:
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
Teresa Calapez
Affiliation:
ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal
*
Helena Lopes, Department of Political Economy, ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Avenida das Forças Armadas Lisboa, 1649-026, Lisboa, Portugal. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Based on European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) micro-data, we show that, on average, work autonomy has declined and work pressure has increased in most European Union countries since 1995. Since such evolution is substantially detrimental for workers, we examine whether workers of varied skill levels in different countries have been equally impacted. Descriptive analysis shows that low-skill clerical workers are the most affected and that Scandinavian countries fare better. Econometric results show that the decline in job satisfaction is due mainly to the increase in work pressure—which might be reaching a limit for high-skill workers—and that job satisfaction is most affected by an increase in work pressure when this is not accompanied by greater work autonomy.

Keywords

J28J21European comparisonsjob satisfactionwork autonomywork pressure
Type
Non-Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2: Symposium - Some Impacts of Neoliberalism , June 2014 , pp. 306 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bauer, T (2004) High performance workplace practices and job satisfaction: Evidence from Europe. IZA Discussion paper no. 1265, August. Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Bartolini, S, Bilancini, E, Pugno, M (2013) Did the decline in social connections depress Americans’ happiness? Social Indicators Research 110(3): 1033–1059.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A, Charlwood, A, Forde, C, et al . (2007) Job quality and the economics of new labour. Cambridge Journal of Economics 31(6): 941–971.Google Scholar
Bustillo, R, Fernández-Macías, E, Esteve, F, et al . (2011) E pluribus unum? A critical survey of Job quality indicators. Socio-Economic Review 9(3): 447–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, A (2005) Your money or your life: changing job quality in OECD countries. British Journal of Industrial Relations 43(3): 377–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danna, K, Griffin, R (1999) Health and well-being in the workplace: a review and synthesis of the literature. Journal of Management 25(3): 357–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davoine, L, Ehrel, C, Guergoat-Lariviere, M (2008) Monitoring quality in work. International Labour Review 147(2–3): 163–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jonge, J, Kompier, M (1997) A critical examination of the demand-control-support model from a work psychological perspective. International Journal of Stress Management 4(4): 235–258.Google Scholar
De Lange, A, Taris, T, Kompier, M, et al . (2003) The very best of the millennium. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 8(4): 282–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dejours, C (2009) Travail vivant – Travail et emancipation. Paris: Payot.Google Scholar
Dhondt, S, Kraan, K, Sloten, G (2002) Work organization, technology and working conditions. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.Google Scholar
Esser, I, Olsen, K (2012) Perceived job quality: autonomy and job security within a multilevel framework. European Sociological Review 28(4): 443–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (1995) European Working Conditions Survey (computer files). SN: 5604, March 2007. London: UK Data Archive (distributor). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5604-1 Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (2000) European Working Conditions Survey (computer files). SN: 5286, March 2007. London: UK Data Archive (distributor). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5286-1 Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (2005) European Working Conditions Survey (computer files). SN: 5639, May 2007. London: UK Data Archive (distributor). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5639-1 Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (2007) Measuring Job Satisfaction in Surveys—Comparative Analytical Report. Dublin: Eurofound.Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (2010a) Changes over time—first findings from the fifth European Working Conditions Survey. Available at: http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/pubdocs/2010/74/en/3/EF1074EN.pdf (accessed 21 March 2012).Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) (2010b) EWCS (computer file). SN: 6971, February 2012. London: UK Data Archive (distributor). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6971-1 Google Scholar
Gagné, M, Deci, E (2005) Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior 26(4): 331–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallie, D (2003) The quality of working life: is Scandinavia different? European Sociological Review 19(1): 61–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallie, D (2007) Task discretion and job quality. In: Duncan, G (ed.) Employment Regimes and the Quality of Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 105–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, F (2004) Work intensification, discretion, and the decline in well-being at work. Eastern Economic Journal 30(4): 615–625.Google Scholar
Green, F (2006) Demanding Work. Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Green, F, Tsitsianis, N (2005) An investigation of national trends in job satisfaction in Britain and Germany. British Journal of Industrial Relations 43(3): 401–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judge, T, Thoresen, C, Bono, J, et al . (2001) The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin 127(3): 376–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karasek, RA (1979) Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly 24: 285–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karasek, R, Theorell, T (1990) Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity and the Reconstruction of Work Life. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Knudsen, H, Busck, O, Lind, J (2011) Work environment quality: the role of workplace participation and democracy. Work, Employment and Society 25(3): 379–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopes, H, Lagoa, S, Calapez, T (2014) Declining autonomy at work in the EU and its effect on civic participation. Economic and Industrial Democracy. 35(2): 341–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansell, A, Brough, P (2005) A comprehensive test of the job-demands-control interaction. Australian Journal of Psychology 57(2): 103–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meulman, J, van der Kooij, A, Heiser, W (2004) Principal components analysis with nonlinear optimal scaling transformations. In: Kaplan, D (ed.) The Sage Handbook of Quantitative Methodology for the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, pp. 49–70.Google Scholar
Nguyen, AN, Taylor, J, Bradley, S (2003) Job autonomy and job satisfaction: new evidence. Working-paper 2003/050, August. Lancaster: Lancaster University.Google Scholar
Rose, M (2003) Good deal, bad deal? Job satisfaction in occupations. Work, Employment and Society 17(3): 503–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, R, Deci, E (2000) Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist 55(1): 68–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siegrist, J (2006) Work, health and welfare: new challenges. International Journal of Social Welfare 15(Suppl. 1): S5–S12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sousa-Poza, A, Sousa-Poza, A (2000) Well-being at work: a cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction. The Journal of Socio-Economics 29: 517–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spector, P (1986) Perceived control by employees: a meta-analysis of studies concerning autonomy and participation at work. Human Relations 39(11): 1005–1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Utman, CH (1997) Performance effects of motivational state: a meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review 1(2): 170–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van der Doef, M, Maes, S (2010) The job-demand-control-(support) model and psychological well-being. Work and Stress: An International Journal of Work, Health and Occupations 12(2): 87–114.Google Scholar