Cross-national variation in the determinants of job satisfaction: how far do our results “travel”?

Using a large-scale dataset on working conditions across 31 European countries, this paper examines the nature and scope of crossnational variation in the determinants of job satisfaction. The author employs multi-group ordinary least squared regression analyses in order to unpack the extent to which a set of "established" predictors of job satisfaction are robust cross-nationally. The results of the research point to widespread variation in the factors that promote and obstruct job satisfaction. It is concluded that the findings of single-sample studies, which constitute by far the vast majority of empirical research, cannot be readily generalized across populations. The paper has philosophical and sociological implications in respect to the processes of knowledge dissemination in the social sciences.