| Cross-disciplinary academic research has consistently shown how job satisfaction is closely related to many other important organizational, institutional, economic, social, and individual outcomes. Furthermore, countless studies have examined the various determinants of job satisfaction (intrinsic/extrinsic rewards, workplace relationships, workplace quality characteristics, and individual dispositional factors). Additionally, there is a growing body of comparative research examining cross-cultural differences in job satisfaction and its determinants. However, the existing research cannot explain the similarities in job satisfaction levels across different sorts of countries, nor can it explain the differences between seemingly similar countries. Moreover, there has been no significant research conducted to date that has examined the country-level structural and contextual conditions that are poised to significantly impact workplace conditions, and thereby worker satisfaction and its determinants. In this research, I address this existing gap in the academic literature on job satisfaction by using nonpanel longitudinal data from the International Social Survey Program (Work Orientations I, II, and III: 1989, 1997, and 2005---survey questions on job characteristics and job quality) to examine cross-national differences in job satisfaction and its determinants. First, I use bivariate descriptive procedures, OLS regression, and hierarchical linear modeling to test for statistically significant variation across countries. Second, I compare and combine previous theoretical work surrounding globalization and the role of the state to examine and explore the macrolevel variables behind these country differences, resulting in differences in work quality characteristics and the perceived worker satisfaction cross nationally. |
