Job Satisfaction And Age Cohorts

In the past years, job satisfaction has been studied by many experts and investigators who have given the term different but inherently similar definitions. Locke (1976) for example describes it as a positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of a person’s job experiences. Similarly, Dawis and Lofquist (1984) suggest it is the result of an employee’s evaluation of the extent to which the work environment fulfils their needs. As a whole, it can be seen as one’s reaction to their actual job in comparison with the initially desired and anticipated outcomes; and in the context of the TWA, it is about the Needs-Supplies fit.

Numerous research findings have shown that job satisfaction is affected by many personal characteristics in various and complex ways. Age [along with gender] is probably the most researched characteristic concerning its relationship with job satisfaction. However, the nature [shape] of this association remains contentious, as the researchers find very contradictory results reporting various types of the relationship: (i) non-linear: U-shaped; and (ii) linear: negative linear; and positive linear, which represents the overwhelming majority of age-job satisfaction researches.

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Also, the review conducted by Rhodes (1983) based on the seven different studies concludes the job satisfaction increases proportionally with age. This was also acknowledged by O’Brien and Dowling’s (1981) study in that age remained a significant linear predictor of job satisfaction.

It has been argued that one of the main reasons for the mixed findings across studies on the age-JS relationship lies in the use of different statistical control variables - such as age, gender, education, seniority and other individual demographic characteristics.

By this token, some studies control for tenure, some for personality types, some for various personal and work-related characteristics. So, while one studies control for some characteristics ignoring the other, yet there are also studies that do not apply such controls at all. In their meta-analysis, Brush et al (1987) assert that an underlying reason for the inconsistent application of the statistical control variables above lies in the fact that a consistent set of relationships between different attributes and job satisfaction has yet to be determined. Consequently, the researchers conclude the central importance of controlling for salient demographic covariates, suggesting it may significantly affect the magnitude and nature of the age-JS relationship, e.g. when black employees are compared with white employees, the former often show lower levels of satisfaction. Similarly, based on their observation, male workers are typically more satisfied than females. Several authors infer this difference is caused by cultural values and beliefs.

Other studies used samples from different populations, e.g. studies sampled British employees showed contrasting results with similar studies sampled US employees, which Hochwarter et al (2001) believes is due to the difference in labour markets and business environment exist in these countries, that in turn might have differential effects on employee behaviours and attitudes. They further point another data sampling limitation of the Kacmar and Ferris (1989) research in that they utilised a single gender data on eighty-one female nurses. In light of this, Clark et al (1996) and O’Brien and Dowling (1981) reveal that both linear and non-linear age-JS relationships vary across gender.

Linear vs Non-linear relationship

Unlike the majority of the above stated studies, Hochwarter, Ferris and Perrewe (2011) claim that the relationship between age and job satisfaction is actually U-shaped. They assert that the - alleged - “preoccupation with linearity” might have been caused by a number of unobtrusive factors. The investigators believe, often the findings that suggest the relationship is linear are inherently biased for publishing/ reporting only the linear relationships. And that should a non-linear relationship be discovered, it then “remains a feature of the file-drawer problem”.

Theoretical evidence for a non-linear relationship between age and job satisfaction comes from several sources. As the matter of fact, the first notion about age-JS being related in a non-linear [U-shaped] way dates sixty years back. Later on, Clark et al (1996) reaffirmed this observation and proposed that employees early in their careers (20 to 30 y.o.) have both high expectations and limited understanding of what makes a job “good” or “bad.”