Internet use and job satisfaction

Abstract

Does the use of Internet for professional purposes foster employees' job satisfaction? We focus on six main work characteristics – income, education, occupation type, autonomy, time pressure and social interactions – and we develop new hypotheses on how Internet use moderates the effects of these factors. We use data from the European Working Conditions Survey, and estimate a bivariate ordered probit model, and a hierarchical ordered probit model. The results point out that Internet technologies enhance job satisfaction by improving access to data and information, creating new activities, and facilitating communication and social interactions. However, these positive effects are skewed. Workers in some occupations, and with higher income and education levels, benefit relatively more from the Internet vis-a-vis workers in occupations that are more weakly related to ICTs activities.