”Love it, change it, or leave it“– Understanding Highly-skilled Flexible Workers’ Job Satisfaction from a Psychological Contract Perspective

Uta Wilkens; Daniel Nermerich

doi:10.5771/0935-9915-2011-1-65

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- 1–4 Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis 1–4
- 5–7 Introduction: Job Satisfaction Revisited Wenzel Matiaske, Gerd Grözinger Wenzel Matiaske, Gerd Grözinger 5–7
- 8–27 The Organisational Commitment of Workers in OECD Countries Andrew E. Clark Andrew E. Clark 8–27
- 28–46 Job Design and Job Satisfaction – Empirical Evidence for Germany? René Fahr René Fahr 28–46
- 47–64 Watch your Workers Win. Changing Job Demands and HRM Responses Luke Haywood Luke Haywood 47–64
- 65–83 ”Love it, change it, or leave it“– Understanding Highly-skilled Flexible Workers’ Job Satisfaction from a Psychological Contract Perspective Uta Wilkens, Daniel Nermerich Uta Wilkens, Daniel Nermerich 65–83
- 84–99 Job-satisfaction in the Broader Framework of the Capability Approach Ortrud Leßmann, Jean-Michel Bonvin Ortrud Leßmann, Jean-Michel Bonvin 84–99
- 100–101 Book Review 100–101
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mrev management revue , page 65 - 83

”Love it, change it, or leave it“– Understanding Highly-skilled Flexible Workers’ Job Satisfaction from a Psychological Contract Perspective

Autoren

Uta Wilkens Daniel Nermerich

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/0935-9915-2011-1-65
- ISSN: 0935-9915
- ISSN online: 1861-9908
Abstract

In order to understand highly-skilled flexible workers’ job satisfaction, we take their track records into consideration, integrating several employment contracts. We conceptualize our research interest within the framework of the psychological contract to explore individual rationalities in exchange relationships. This expectancy-oriented approach allows the reflection of contract arrangements and related attitudes from a process perspective. The analysis is based on a qualitative approach, investigating data from 13 in-depth interviews with workers from knowledge-intensive working contexts. As a result, it becomes evident that an inherent notion of continuity independent of the formal work contract exists, job episodes apparently indicate continuity. For the interviewees, pro-active changes in episodic work relationships are a dominant coping pattern for sustaining satisfaction at a high aspiration level. Satisfaction appears as an interactional construct with a high notion of reciprocity, acknowledgment and skill development. The emphasis on career track satisfaction instead of job satisfaction and the specification of dynamics across several job episodes as an external regulation for keeping satisfaction at a high aspiration level provides new insights in research on job satisfaction.
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