Determinants of job satisfaction of workers from generations x and y: regional research

Job and labor satisfaction is one of the widely studied logical structures in social sciences. There are many studies on job satisfaction and its impact on employee engagement [1, ЗЗ. 991–1007; 2], on staff turnover and absenteeism [3, pp. 1146–1151], labor efficiency [4, pp. 165–175] and even the health and well-being of an employee [5, pp. 65–91].

Numerous studies also indicate a positive correlation between employee and customer satisfaction [6, pp.161–171], which is confirmed by the fact that the employees’ approach (including satisfaction) affects not only the results of their work, but also the entire organization [7, pp. 57–61]. This issue is of interest among researchers in various fields and disciplines (sociology, psychology, economics and management). However, there are several other aspects of the problem that require attention. One of them is the coexistence of different generations of workers (X, Y) and the entry into the labor market of their new representatives (generation Z).

The development of these generations of workers is associated with historical, political, and socio-economic changes and technology development. Significant changes in this area, which accumulate experience of these generations, determine the belonging to a particular age group with individual characteristics. It is believed that the current generation sees their work not only as a source of income, but also as a place where the employee can realize their own goals and aspirations, become independent and confirm their own value.

The perception of a workplace in the context of the working environment and the feeling of professional satisfaction is determined by both personal characteristics and organizational indicators [8, pp. 5–12; 9, pp. 617–637]. Based on this approach, the category of job satisfaction can be considered both from the internal (personal traits, relations, values, knowledge, skills) and the external (organizational factors) point of view. External satisfaction is related to a specific situation and professional environment: organizational climate, management style, working conditions, relations with colleagues, etc. The determinants of internal satisfaction influence the perception of importance of external satisfaction indicators. What an employee perceives as satisfactory results directly follows from their internal needs.

Due to the differences in characteristics of different generations in terms of their attitudes and values, it can be expected that the perception of organizational factors, working conditions which affect job satisfaction are different. It is therefore important to identify factors that may affect job satisfaction. Thus, research in this area is of great practical importance. The diverse perception of external indicators of satisfaction among employees of different generations has an impact on the application of specific methods of personnel management. The management techniques used for older generation (X) may be quite useless in case of younger generation (Y).

In view of the above, we set the objective of the research to determine the organizational factors that affect job satisfaction and try to answer the following questions: are there differences in the perception of certain organizational factors that affect job satisfaction of generations X and Y, and what factors are the most important for generation Y.