Determinants of Job Satisfaction of Municipal Government Employees

Abstract

What variables explain variation in job satisfaction among municipal government employees? Using data from a recent survey of over 1,200 full-time municipal employees, this research tests the relative influence of 11 environmental variables and 3 demographic factors on variation in job satisfaction among this rarely studied group of employees. The regression analysis revealed that environmental factors such as promotional opportunities, pay and benefits satisfaction, performance appraisal satisfaction, equipment and resources, training, workload, supervisory relationships, and most important of all, departmental esprit de corps were significantly, and positively, related to overall job satisfaction. In contrast, demographic variables were relatively poor predictors of job satisfaction. Over 50 percent of the variation in job satisfaction among municipal employees is explained using this model.