Job preferences and the intrinsic quality of work: the changing attitudes of British employees 1992–2006

Duncan Gallie, Alan Felstead and Francis Green
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Duncan Gallie: University of Oxford, UK
Alan Felstead: Cardiff University, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2012, vol. 26, issue 5, 806-821

Abstract: The value that employees attach to the intrinsic aspects of work is important for whether or not job quality issues should have a central place on the social agenda. This article examines whether the importance that British employees attach to intrinsic job quality changed between 1992 and 2006. It uses two nationally representative surveys of employees. It finds no evidence to support the view that there has been a shift towards instrumental job preferences. On the contrary, it shows that intrinsic job preferences rose over the period. The growth in importance of intrinsic orientations is associated with rising levels of education and parental encouragement in education, the improvement of people’s jobs with respect to skill, learning opportunities and employee involvement and higher incomes and security.

Keywords: job quality; quality of work; work attitudes; work orientations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:26:y:2012:i:5:p:806-821

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