Preferences for work arrangements: A discrete choice experiment.

Peter Valet,Carsten Sauer,Jochem Tolsma

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254483

Peter Valet, Carsten Sauer + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254483

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Abstract

This study investigates individual preferences for work arrangements in a discrete choice experiment. Based on sociological and economic literature, we identified six essential job attributes—earnings, job security, training opportunities, scheduling flexibility, prestige of the company, and gender composition of the work team—and mapped these into hypothetical job offers. Out of three job offers, with different specifications in the respective job attributes, respondents had to choose the offer they considered as most attractive. In 2017, we implemented our choice experiment in two large-scale surveys conducted in two countries: Germany (N = 2,659) and the Netherlands (N = 2,678). Our analyses revealed that respondents considered all six job attributes in their decision process but had different priorities for each. Moreover, we found gendered preferences. Women preferred scheduling flexibility and a company with a good reputation, whereas men preferred jobs with high earnings and a permanent contract. Despite different national labor market regulations, different target populations, and different sampling strategies for the two surveys, job preferences for German and Dutch respondents were largely parallel.

Highlights

In recent decades, increasing international competition, emerging markets, and shorter economic cycles, coupled with demographic changes, high unemployment rates, and restrictive employment regulations, have put many Western economies under pressure [1]
The grand mean reflects the decision probability for one of the three job offers if the respondent has no preferences for one job offer over the others
An effect displayed to the left of the zero line indicates people are less likely to choose a job offer if it includes the respective job attribute

Summary

Introduction

In recent decades, increasing international competition, emerging markets, and shorter economic cycles, coupled with demographic changes, high unemployment rates, and restrictive employment regulations, have put many Western economies under pressure [1]. Intended to improve international competitiveness, deregulation allows employers to use their workforce more flexibly under changing market conditions [2, 3]. At the same time as employers are shifting to atypical contracts for economic reasons, employees are demanding new and often more flexible work arrangements that align with their individual circumstances [5, 6]. Reasons for shifting employee demands include the ongoing individualization of the life-course [7, 8], the emergence of new family or non-work arrangements [9], and a growing interest in personal development and life-long learning [10]. People often do not consider high earnings to be the main reason

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