Subjective Well-Being Across the Sectors: Examining Differences in Workers’ Life Satisfaction and Daily Experiential Well-Being

Abstract

Research on cross-sector differences has long demonstrated that workers in public and nonprofit sectors are more prosocially and intrinsically motivated, which in turn shapes their work behavior and outcomes, but little evidence exists on how public service employment is associated with workers’ life quality outside of the organizational context. Using cross-sectional data pooled from the Well-being Module of the American Time Use Survey, we investigate whether sectors of employment can predict workers’ subjective well-being (SWB) beyond the work domain. The results suggest public servants across all levels of government as well as nonprofit organizations experience higher life satisfaction than their for-profit counterparts. However, there are different patterns in daily experiential well-being across levels of government. Further analyses by work and non-work days demonstrate that work itself is likely to be a key factor affecting workers’ daily experience across sectors. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords

subjective well-being life satisfaction public service nonprofit prosocial cross-sector differences

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achor

Reece

Kellerman

Robichaux

(2018, November 6). 9 out of 10 people are willing to earn less money to do more meaningful work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/11/9-out-of-10-people-are-willing-to-earn-less-money-to-do-more-meaningful-work

Anderson

N. D.

Damianakis

Kröger

Wagner

L. M.

Dawson

D. R.

Binns

M. A.

Bernstein

Caspi

Cook

S. L.

(2014). The benefits associated with volunteering among seniors: A critical review and recommendations for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 140(6), 1505.

Bakker

A. B.

(2015). A job demands–resources approach to public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 75(5), 723–732.

Becchetti

Castriota

Depedri

(2014). Working in the for-profit versus not-for-profit sector: What difference does it make? An inquiry on preferences of voluntary and involuntary movers. Industrial and Corporate Change, 23(4), 1087–1120.

Bellé

(2013). Experimental evidence on the relationship between public service motivation and job performance. Public Administration Review, 73(1), 143–153.

Benz

(2005). Not for the profit, but for the satisfaction?–Evidence on worker well-being in non-profit firms. Kyklos, 58(2), 155–176.

Binder

(2016). “. . . Do it with joy!”–Subjective well-being outcomes of working in non-profit organizations. Journal of Economic Psychology, 54, 64–84.

Borst

R. T.

Kruyen

P. M.

Lako

C. J.

De Vries

M. S.

(2020). The attitudinal, behavioral, and performance outcomes of work engagement: A comparative meta-analysis across the public, semipublic, and private sector. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 40(4), 613–640.

Borzaga

Tortia

(2006). Worker motivations, job satisfaction, and loyalty in public and nonprofit social services. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 35(2), 225–248.

10.

Bowling

N. A.

Eschleman

K. J.

Wang

(2010). A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(4), 915–934.

11.

Bozeman

(2015). Public service motivation concepts and theory: A critique. Public Administration Review, 75(5), 700–710.

12.

Bright

(2007). Does person-organization fit mediate the relationship between public service motivation and the job performance of public employees? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 27(4), 361–379.

13.

Bright

(2008). Does public service motivation really make a difference on the job satisfaction and turnover intentions of public employees? The American Review of Public Administration, 38(2), 149–166.

14.

Bryce

(2018). Finding meaning through work: Eudaimonic well-being and job type in the US and UK (Working Papers, Sheffield Economic Series No 2018004). The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.

15.

Cascio

W. F.

(2003). Changes in workers, work, and organizations. In Borman

Klimoski

Ilgen

(Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 401–422). John Wiley & Sons Inc.

16.

De Cooman

De Gieter

Pepermans

Jegers

. (2011). A cross-sector comparison of motivation-related concepts in for-profit and not-for-profit service organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(2), 296–317.

17.

de Wit

Bekkers

. (2022). The health advantage of volunteering is larger for older and less healthy volunteers in Europe: A mega-analysis. European Journal of Ageing, 19, 1189–1200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-022-00691-5

18.

Diener

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

19.

Diener

Lucas

R. E.

Oishi

Hall

Donnellan

M. B.

(2018). Advances and open questions in the science of subjective well-being. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 15.

20.

Diener

Tay

(2012). A scientific review of the remarkable benefits of happiness for successful and healthy living. Report of the Well-Being Working Group, Royal Government of Bhutan: Report to the United Nations General Assembly, Well-Being and Happiness: A New Development Paradigm, UN, NY.

21.

Dittmar

Bond

Hurst

Kasser

(2014). The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(5), 879–924. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037409

22.

Dunn

E. W.

Aknin

L. B.

Norton

M. I.

(2014). Prosocial spending and happiness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(1), 41–47.

23.

Durst

S. L.

DeSantis

V. S.

(1997). The determinants of job satisfaction among federal, state, and local government employees. State and Local Government Review, 29(1), 7–16.

24.

Erdogan

Bauer

T. N.

Truxillo

D. M.

Mansfield

L. R.

(2012). Whistle while you work: A review of the life satisfaction literature. Journal of Management, 38, 1038–1083.

25.

Flood

S. M.

Sayer

L. C.

Backman

(2022). American Time Use Survey Data Extract Builder: Version 3.1 [dataset]. College Park, MD: University of Maryland and Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18128/D060.V3.1

26.

Hofferth

S. L.

Flood

S. M.

Sobek

(2020). American Time Use Survey Data Extract Builder: Version 2.8 [dataset]. College Park, MD: University of Maryland and Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2020. https://doi.org/10.18128/D060.V2.8

27.

Heller

Judge

T. A.

Watson

(2002). The confounding role of personality and trait affectivity in the relationship between job and life satisfaction. Journal Organizational Behavior, 23, 815–835.

28.

Hoang

T. T. A.

Knabe

(2021). Time use, unemployment, and well-being: An empirical analysis using British time-use data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22, 2525–2548.

29.

Holt

S. B.

(2018). For those who care: The effect of public service motivation on sector selection. Public Administration Review, 78(3), 457–471.

30.

Holt

S. B.

(2020). Giving time: Examining sector differences in volunteering intensity. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(1), 22–40.

31.

Houston

D. J.

(2000). Public-service motivation: A multivariate test. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10(4), 713–728.

32.

Houston

D. J.

(2006). “Walking the walk” of public service motivation: Public employees and charitable gifts of time, blood, and money. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 16(1), 67–86.

33.

Kahana

Bhatta

Lovegreen

L. D.

Kahana

Midlarsky

(2013). Altruism, helping, and volunteering: Pathways to well-being in late life. Journal of Aging and Health, 25(1), 159–187.

34.

Kahneman

Krueger

A. B.

(2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 3–24.

35.

Kahneman

Krueger

A. B.

Schkade

D. A.

Schwarz

Stone

A. A.

(2004). A survey method for characterizing daily life experience: The day reconstruction method. Science, 306(5702), 1776–1780.

36.

Kamerāde

McKay

(2015). Is there a subjective well-being premium in voluntary sector employment? VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 26(6), 2733–2754.

37.

Knabe

Rätzel

Schöb

Weimann

(2010). Dissatisfied with life but having a good day: Time-use and well-being of the unemployed. The Economic Journal, 120(547), 867–889.

38.

Kofman

(2018). The meaning revolution: The power of transcendent leadership. Currency.

39.

Lahat

Ofek

(2022). Emotional well-being among public employees: A comparative perspective. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 42(1), 31–59.

40.

Lee

Y. J.

Wilkins

V. M.

(2011). More similarities or more differences? Comparing public and nonprofit managers’ job motivations. Public Administration Review, 71(1), 45–56.

41.

Lewis

G. B.

Frank

S. A.

(2002). Who wants to work for the government? Public Administration Review, 62(4), 395–404.

42.

Maye

(2019). No-vacation nation, revised. Center for Economic and Policy Research. https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/no-vacation-nation-2019-05.pdf

43.

Moynihan

D. P.

DeLeire

Enami

(2015). A life worth living evidence on the relationship between prosocial values and happiness. The American Review of Public Administration, 45(3), 311–326.

44.

Moynihan

D. P.

Pandey

S. K.

(2007). The role of organizations in fostering public service motivation. Public Administration Review, 67(1), 40–53.

45.

OECD. (n.d.). Average annual hours actually worked per worker. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS

46.

Oelberger

C. R.

(2019). The dark side of deeply meaningful work: Work-relationship turmoil and the moderating role of occupational value homophily. Journal of Management Studies, 56(3), 558–588.

47.

Pavot

Diener

(1993). The affective and cognitive context of self-reported measures of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 28(1), 1–20.

48.

Perry

J. L.

Hondeghem

(2008). Building theory and empirical evidence about public service motivation. International Public Management Journal, 11(1), 3–12.

49.

Perry

J. L.

Hondeghem

Wise

L. R.

(2010). Revisiting the motivational bases of public service: Twenty years of research and an agenda for the future. Public Administration Review, 70(5), 681–690.

50.

Pew Research Center. (2016). The state of American jobs. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2016/10/06/2-how-americans-assess-the-job-situation-today-and-prospects-for-the-future/

51.

Piatak

J. S.

(2015). Altruism by job sector: Can public sector employees lead the way in rebuilding social capital? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(3), 877–900.

52.

Piatak

J. S.

Holt

S. B.

(2020). Prosocial behaviors: A matter of altruism or public service motivation? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(3), 504–518.

53.

(2022). Differential associations between volunteering and subjective well-being by labor force status: An investigation of experiential and evaluative well-being using time use data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23, 1737–1770.

54.

Konrath

Poulin

(2020). Which types of giving are associated with reduced mortality risk among older adults? Personality and Individual Differences, 154, 109668.

55.

Riketta

(2008). The causal relation between job attitudes and performance: A meta-analysis of panel studies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 472–481.

56.

Ritz

Brewer

G. A.

Neumann

(2016). Public service motivation: A systematic literature review and outlook. Public Administration Review, 76(3), 414–426.

57.

Robichau

R. W.

Sandberg

(2022). Creating meaningfulness in public service work: A qualitative comparative analysis of public and nonprofit managers’ experience of work. The American Review of Public Administration, 52(2), 122–138.

58.

Schott

Ritz

(2018). The dark sides of public service motivation: A multi-level theoretical framework. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 1(1), 29–42.

59.

Sciepura

Linos

(2022). When perceptions of public service harms the public servant: Predictors of burnout and compassion fatigue in government. Review of Public Personnel Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X221081508

60.

Thompson

J. A.

Christensen

R. K.

(2018). Bridging the public service motivation and calling literatures. Public Administration Review, 78(3), 444–456.

61.

Unanue

Gómez

M. E.

Cortez

Oyanedel

J. C.

Mendiburo-Seguel

(2017). Revisiting the link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction: The role of basic psychological needs. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 680.

62.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014, July). American time use survey (ATUS) data dictionary: 2010, 2012, and 2013 well-being module data. https://www.bls.gov/tus/wbmintcodebk.pdf

63.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2020, June). American time use survey user’s guide. https://www.bls.gov/tus/atususersguide.pdf

64.

Vogel

Willems

(2020). The effects of making public service employees aware of their prosocial and societal impact: A microintervention. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 30(3), 485–503.

65.

Zheng

C.-H.

Graham

(2020). Work-to-non-work spillover: The impact of public service motivation and meaningfulness on outcomes in work and personal life domains. Public Management Review, 22(4), 578–601.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.07 MB