Subjective Well-being and work – a Brief Review on International Surveys and Results

Authors

  • Attila Gulyás Hungarian Academy of Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v2i1.187
Abstract Views: 719 PDF Downloads: 389

Abstract

The research and policy impacts of subjective well-being (SWB) have gained more emphasis in the last decade as international agencies became aware of its importance. Governments have realised that besides the improvements of the economy, the overall life satisfaction of citizens are influenced by multiple other factors. An important part of SWB is work related well-being – often referred to simply as work satisfaction. The nature of work has changed a lot in the recent decades due to immense technological development, more people are behind desks than ever and in general the structure and policies of huge companies have evolved as well. Simply put: life has changed substantially, especially for white-collar workers. The way how people perceive work has also changed, hence the structure of work satisfaction is also different. This paper aims to give an overview on results in this domain and to highlight some possible directions in future research. First the paper gives an overview on SWB and the related research methodologies. Then some current international surveys are briefly described that may be used for SWB related research and finally recent results on work related well-being are shown and some research questions are presented.

References

Bryson, A., Forth, J., & Stokes, L. (2014, October). Does Worker Wellbeing Affect Workplace Performance? London.

Cantril, H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. Rutgers University Press.

Deaton, A. (2012). The financial crisis and the well-being of Americans. Oxford Economic Papers, 64(1), 1–26. http://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpr051

Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.

Diener, E. (2016, February 20). The SWLS scale. Retrieved February 20, 2016, from http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~ediener/SWLS.html

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

http://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13

Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review

of Psychology, 54, 403–425. http://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056

Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND SUBJECTIVE INDICATORS. Social Indicators Research, 40(1-

, 189–216. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006859511756

Diener, E., & Suh, E. M. (2000). Culture and Subjective Well-being. MIT Press.

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302.

http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276

Easterlin, R. A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. Nations and Households in Economic Growth, 89,

–125.

European Commission. (2013). Progress on “GDP and beyond” actions. Retrieved from

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/pdf/SWD_2013_303.pdf

Gallup Inc. (2016, February 20). Understanding How Gallup Uses the Cantril Scale. Retrieved February 20, 2016, from

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122453/Understanding-Gallup-Uses-Cantril-Scale.aspx

Hajdu, G., & Hajdu, T. (2014). Szubjektív munkajellemzők és munkával való elégedettség Európában. Socio.hu, 2014(4).

http://doi.org/10.18030/socio.hu.2014.4.87

Heliwell, J. F., & Huang, H. (2005). How’s the Job? Well-Being and Social Capital in the Workplace (Working Paper No. 11759). National Bureau of

Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w11759

Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative

review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407.

Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (1999). Well-Being: Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Kahneman, & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, 107(38), 16489–16493.

Katz, L. F., & Margo, R. A. (2013). Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The United States in Historical Perspective (Working

Paper No. 18752). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w18752

Larsen, R. J., Diener, E., & Emmons, R. A. (1985). An evaluation of subjective well-being measures. Social Indicators Research, 17(1), 1–17.

http://doi.org/10.1007/BF00354108

Lelkes, O. (2003). A pénz boldogít? A jövedelem és hasznosság kapcsolatának empirikus elemzése
[Can money buy happiness? An empirical

analysis of the relation between income and utility]. Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - Monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), L

(5), 383–405.

Marteen Goos. (2013). How the world of work is changing: a review of the evidence. In The Future of Work. Geneva: International Labour Office.

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. http://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

OECD. (2011). How’s Life? Measuring well-being. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-

ilibrary.org/content/book/how_life-2015-en

OECD. (2013a). Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being.

OECD. (2013b). How’s Life? at a Glance. In How’s Life? Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-

ilibrary.org/content/chapter/how_life-2013-6-en

OECD. (2015). How’s Life? 2015. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-

ilibrary.org/content/book/how_life-2015-en

Pavot, W., Diener, E., Colvin, C., & Sandvik, E. (1991). Further validation of the Satisfaction with Life Scale: evidence for the cross-method

convergence of well-being measures. J Pers Assess, 57(1), 161, 149.

Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2008). Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox (Working Paper No. 14282).

National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w14282

van Zanden, J. L., Baten, J., d’Ercole, M. M., Rijpma, A., Smith, C., & Timmer, M. (2014). How Was Life? Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development. Retrieved from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/book/9789264214262-en

Veenhoven, R. (2016). Distributional findings on Happiness in Hungary (HU) (World Database of Happiness). Rotterdam, the Netherlands: Erasmus

University Rotterdam. Retrieved from http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl

Veenhoven, R., & Vergunst, F. (2014). The Easterlin illusion : economic growth does go with greater happiness. International Journal of Happiness

and Development, 4(1), 311–343.

Welsch, H., & Kühling, J. (2011). How Has the Crisis of 2008-2009 Affected Subjective Well-Being? (Working Paper No. V-330-11). University of

Oldenburg, Department of Economics. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/p/old/dpaper/330.html

Wilson, R. (1967). Corelates of awoved happyness. Psychological Bulletin, 67(4), 294–306. http://doi.org/10.1037/h0024431

World Values Survey. (2014, April 29). Wave 1 1981-1984 Official aggregate v.20140429. World Values Survey Association Madrid, Spain.

Downloads

Published

2016-04-05

How to Cite

[1]
Gulyás, A. 2016. Subjective Well-being and work – a Brief Review on International Surveys and Results. Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics. 2, 1 (Apr. 2016). DOI:https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v2i1.187.

Issue

Section

Towards a New Labour History: Eastern European Perspectives