Abstract:
Job satisfaction is a key determinant in ensuring and maintaining a productive
workforce. It is an outcome of the interaction between individual personal
characteristics, work values, needs and expectations on one hand and work
rewards or outcomes on the other hand. Job quality, in turn, ensures decent
working conditions and livelihoods for workers. In this study, we investigated
the distribution and determinants of job satisfaction of employed workers in
South Africa, drawing on data collected through nationally representative
surveys on social attitudes conducted in 2005 and 2015. The findings indicate
that what workers seek (value) in a job exceeds their actual experience
(outcomes), although the gap between expectation and outcome in the baseline
survey has narrowed in the end-point survey. Furthermore, workers tend to
favour job outcomes and rewards that are extrinsic in nature over intrinsic ones
in current labour market conditions, yet shifts are discernible over time. Where
extrinsic needs are satisfied, the importance of intrinsic ones increases.
