Graduates’ job satisfaction across domains of study
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of job satisfaction determinants of higher education graduates across six selected study domains.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the theoretical considerations, derived from human capital theory and signalling theory, the authors formulate the model explaining job satisfaction as a broad measure of labour market success. Explanatory variables include various socio-demographic characteristics as well as market environment and process of learning, modes of teaching and study programme characteristics. Data used in the analysis comes from two special surveys of European research projects REFLEX and HEGESCO. Principal component analysis method and OLS regression were used to estimate model parameters.
Findings
The results of our research show the important role of characteristics of educational process, as well as individual graduates’ early work-related experience in predicting job satisfaction. Differences in job satisfaction determinants across domains may be to some extent explained by the differences in the labour market characteristics for graduates in given discipline. Variety of education-related characteristics taken into account in the empirical analysis of determinants of job satisfaction is a key valuable contribution to the research in the field.
Originality/value
Research findings indicate the areas of potential actions aimed at improving future job satisfaction which can be undertaken by higher education institutions’ management bodies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
JEL Classifications — I23, J24
This paper was written as part of the DEHEMS project, which has been funded with support from the European Commission (Agreement number – 2009 – 3670/001 – 001, Project Number – 502890-LLP-1-2009-1-SI-ERASMUS-ENWS). This paper reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Authors wish to thank Arzu Akkoyunlu Wigley, Sibel Aksu Yildirim, Genc Alimehmeti, Tamara Arutyunyants, Monika Braun, Katharina Chudzikowski , Paul Demeter, Constanze Engel, Božidar Grigić, Kerstin Janson, Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Mateja Melink, Selda Onderoglu, Angelo Paletta, Samo Pavlin, Bugay Turhan and Daniele Vidoni, for their valuable comments and help. All errors are however our own.
Citation
Gajderowicz, T., Grotkowska, G. and Wincenciak, L. (2014), "Graduates’ job satisfaction across domains of study", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 470-499. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0109
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited