Job Satisfaction, Flexibility, and Autonomy

In this thesis, the relationship between job satisfaction, flexible working hours and job autonomy is examined. The purpose of this thesis is to test whether the gender or the children in the family, change in a way the relationship between job satisfaction and flexible working hours. Are women more satisfied with their job than men when working flexible working hours? Are people who are parents more satisfied with their job when they can enjoy flexibility at work? Is this different for men and women? In addition, a second aim of this study is to test whether the personality of the individual influences the relationship between job satisfaction and job autonomy. I focus on specific personal characteristics which I consider important: creativity, independence and recognition pursuit. Data from the fifth round of European Social Survey is used from 2010 including 28 countries and 12052 observations. I find that there is not a significant influence of the gender nor the children in the relationship of job satisfaction and flexible hours. Furthermore there is not a significance influence of the personality on whether someone needs autonomy to be satisfied at work.