Young Adults in their First Job: The Role of Organizational Factors in Determining Job Satisfaction and Turnover

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper investigates which organizational factors determine job satisfaction and turnover of young adults in The Netherlands. Factors included are organizational quality, relations with the supervisor and the co-workers, and socialization tactics. These variables are expected to affect job clarity (absence of ambiguity, and absence of role conflict) and experienced fit between the current job and interests, previous work experiences and vocational training. These, in turn, should affect job satisfaction. Turnover—as measured retrospectively after one year—should be influenced by job satisfaction. The sample consists of 234 young people of 19,7 years old, having worked in their first full-time job for about 6 months. Using LISREL-analysis, we investigate the effects of the organizational variables, fit and clarity on satisfaction. The results indicate that our hypotheses are generally tenable. However, the effect between organizational quality and job clarity is negative, and not—as expe...