Job satisfaction: empirical evidence of gender differences

Abstract

Purpose

Human resources management directed at improving job satisfaction has become a subject of growing interest in both the professional world and the academic world, and is justified by the impact that satisfaction has on business performance. The main objective of this work is to determine empirically the factors that have an impact on the satisfaction of Spanish workers, as well as to compare the existence of differences in the key dimensions of satisfaction according to workers' gender.

Design/methodology/approach

Of the study sample, only information pertaining to Spain was selected. Of 413 specific cases, 668 per cent were male and 33.2 per cent female. A factor analysis was conducted on those variables which could impact on an individual's job satisfaction. These aspects were considered through an 11‐item questionnaire.

Findings

The results obtained in this research show that the job satisfaction of Spanish workers is an element that is susceptible to improvement. Moreover, it is observed that the level of job satisfaction is determined by four factors: “economic aspects”, “interpersonal relations”, “working conditions”, and “personal fulfilment”. A subsequent analysis according to workers' gender shows that although men and women take into account the same dimensions, the degree to which each dimension has an impact is different for each sub‐sample.

Research limitations/implications

The sample used refers to a Spanish case. In the future it would be interesting to extend this and include other countries.

Practical implications

The main results of this study are a knowledge of the variables that affect the level of employee satisfaction, which should be useful to the management of companies, and those that should be considered in order to take better advantage of the competitive opportunities that can provide a company with motivated to committed staff.

Originality/value

This study analyzes factors that determine job satisfaction according to the worker's gender.

Citation

García‐Bernal, J., Gargallo‐Castel, A., Marzo‐Navarro, M. and Rivera‐Torres, P. (2005), "Job satisfaction: empirical evidence of gender differences", Women in Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 279-288. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420510599098