Linz acknowledges financial support provided by Michigan State University (CERES, CASID/WID, CIBER), William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) under the authority of a Title VIII grant from the U.S. Department of State. None of these funding organizations is responsible for the views expressed in this paper. We thank Linda Good and Patricia Huddleston for assistance with questionnaire development; Ramzis Akmitzyanov, Ana Jovancai, Inna Maltseva, Inna Petrova, Karina Simonyan, Nazira Tiuliundieva, and Guzel Tulegenova for assistance with data collection and data entry; and Terry-Ann Craigie and Sarah Vultaggio for assistance with data entry. Nicole Funari and Ilya Rahkovsky provided assistance with data management. Georgia Chao, Daniel Ilgen, and Neil Schmitt provided valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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Article
What Makes Workers Happy? Anticipated Rewards and Job Satisfaction
Article first published online: 16 SEP 2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-232X.2012.00702.x
© 2012 Regents of the University of California
Issue
Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society
Volume 51, Issue 4, pages 811–844, October 2012
Additional Information
How to Cite
Linz, S. J. and Semykina, A. (2012), What Makes Workers Happy? Anticipated Rewards and Job Satisfaction. Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, 51: 811–844. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-232X.2012.00702.x
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Linz acknowledges financial support provided by Michigan State University (CERES, CASID/WID, CIBER), William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) under the authority of a Title VIII grant from the U.S. Department of State. None of these funding organizations is responsible for the views expressed in this paper. We thank Linda Good and Patricia Huddleston for assistance with questionnaire development; Ramzis Akmitzyanov, Ana Jovancai, Inna Maltseva, Inna Petrova, Karina Simonyan, Nazira Tiuliundieva, and Guzel Tulegenova for assistance with data collection and data entry; and Terry-Ann Craigie and Sarah Vultaggio for assistance with data entry. Nicole Funari and Ilya Rahkovsky provided assistance with data management. Georgia Chao, Daniel Ilgen, and Neil Schmitt provided valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 16 SEP 2012
- Article first published online: 16 SEP 2012
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Using data collected from over 9400 employees in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Serbia, across a wide variety of workplaces and sectors, we identify the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards that workers desire and expectations of receiving these rewards. We use ordered probit regression analysis to evaluate the association between anticipated rewards and job satisfaction, hypothesizing that reward desirability matters most for extrinsic rewards linked to numeric values. Data strongly support our hypothesis in the case of expected job security; limited support is found in the case of expected promotion. For non-numeric extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, a strong positive link between job satisfaction and the reward variables often is observed, even if the expected reward is not highly desired. While own earnings typically are positively linked to job satisfaction, peers' earnings may be positively (Kazakhstan, Armenia, Russia) or negatively (Krygyzstan, Serbia) linked to job satisfaction, but not always statistically significant.