Internal Labor Mobility and Subjective Well-Being in Russia

Abstract

This paper explores subjective well-being using the concept of satisfaction with life, and more specifically the work aspect (working life). The study aims to reveal and assess the influence of internal labor mobility on job satisfaction dynamics. The paper is focused on individuals who have changed their roles within the company (due to promotion, demotion, employee transfer without any revision of responsibilities) over the recent year. The subject of study is changes in the assessment of job satisfaction after a job change within the company. Using the data of two recent waves of the HSE Monitoring of Economic and Health Situation in Russia the author provides statistics describing different groups of employees forming the corresponding flows of intra-firm mobility. The paper also provides structure and job satisfaction assessments for each of these groups. Ordinal logistic regression is used to analyze the relationship between degree of job satisfaction and a number of individual’s characteristics and individual’s workplace. The novelty consists in conducting a comparative analysis of the link between job satisfaction dynamics and trajectories of intra-firm mobility. According to the results, the first hypothesis assuming that job satisfaction does not necessarily grow with career development proves to be true; the second hypothesis saying that employee demotion does not necessarily decrease the degree of satisfaction with a new job is partly true; and the third hypothesis stating that employee transfer to another division/unit without changing job roles increases job satisfaction levels is likely to be discarded. The results obtained enrich a set of empirical studies devoted to subjective well-being in terms of work; in a wider context, they complement the existing studies on the quality of work life.  

Acknowledgements. The study is financed by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (“Structural changes in the Russian economy: the role of human capital and investment” project no. 18-010-01185).