| The current study is a partial replication of Jurgensen (1978) and Johnson (2008) studies that examined job attribute preferences. The reasoning for a replication so soon after Johnson (2008) study is research how the current economic environment may influence these variables. The job attributes variables that are being studied are type of work, pay, insurance, job security, opportunity for advancement, time off, the company, location, coworkers, supervisor, flexible hours, retirement, and the presence of a career mentor. Each participant ranked their personal preference for each of these attributes and then were asked to rank the same items but for what they perceive their peers to prefer. It is hypothesized that negative changes in the economy will result in a reordering of preferences for job security, benefits, pay, and type of work. The rankings for both sets of data were calculated and then, using independent t tests, the data was compared to Johnson's (2008) result to measure the changes in attribute preferences. The results from independent t-tests showed that there were no significant changes for the preference of job attributes but there were significant changes in perceived peer preferences. |
