Determinants of Job Satisfaction of Workers from Generations X and Y: Regional Research

Abstract

The paper discusses job satisfaction in the context of different generations of workers and the entry of new representatives in the labor market. The study is both theoretical and applied; it uses materials of quantitative and qualitative research on the issues under consideration. The main source of empirical data is a sociological surveys conducted in 2015 and 2017 according to the method of random non-repetitive sampling among employees of individual enterprises of different forms of ownership operating in Podlaskie North-Eastern region of Poland, and analysis of the data. The goals of our work are to identify the most important organizational factors that influence job satisfaction and to identify differences between the employees from the older generation (X) and the younger generation (Y) at regional enterprises of different ownership forms as objects of functional management. According to four indicators reflecting professional job satisfaction (working conditions, sense of self-worth, possibility of development, relations with other employees), the findings of our study revealed similarities and differences between them in the older and younger generations. Similarity consists in the fact that material results of activity are a priority for both generations of workers. Difference consists in the predominance of pragmatism in the younger generation and conservatism in the older generation. The study is of theoretical and practical importance in the field of professional business management in the region. It indicates what factors are important for the younger generation of workers in the context of achieving job satisfaction compared to the older generation. Therefore, the management of any enterprise should use a variety of management tools to improve the efficiency of its activities, for example, to differentiate the motives that will satisfy different needs and incentives in the work of employees of different age groups

Keywords

• labor efficiency
• professional job satisfaction
• job satisfaction of generations x and y