Department of Management & Organization, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame.
Department of Entrepreneurship, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University.
J Appl Psychol. 2022 Jul;107(7):1227-1241. doi: 10.1037/apl0000904. Epub 2021 Apr 22.
Education is considered one of the most critical human capital investments. But does formal educational attainment "pay off" in terms of job satisfaction? To answer this question, in Study 1 we use a meta-analytic technique to examine the correlation between educational attainment and job satisfaction (k = 74, N = 134,924) and find an effect size close to zero. We then build on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and research that distinguishes between working conditions and perceived stress to theorize that educational attainment involves notable trade-offs. In Study 2 we develop and test a multipath, two-stage mediation model using a nationally representative sample to explore this idea. We find that, while better-educated individuals enjoy greater job resources (income, job autonomy, and job variety), they also tend to incur greater job demands (work hours, task pressure, job intensity, and time urgency). On average, these demands are associated with increased job stress and decreased job satisfaction, largely offsetting the positive gains associated with greater resources. Given that the net relationship between education and job satisfaction emerges as weakly negative, we highlight that important trade-offs underlie the education-job satisfaction link. In supplemental analyses, we identify boundary conditions based on gender and self-employment status (such that being female exacerbates, and being self-employed attenuates, the negative association between education and job satisfaction). Finally, we discuss the practical implications for individuals and organizations, as well as alternative explanations for the education-job satisfaction link. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
教育被认为是最关键的人力资本投资之一。但是，从工作满意度的角度来看，正规教育程度“有回报”吗？为了回答这个问题，在研究 1 中，我们使用元分析技术来检验教育程度与工作满意度之间的相关性（k = 74，N = 134924），发现效应大小接近零。然后，我们基于工作要求-资源（JD-R）模型和区分工作条件和感知压力的研究，从理论上推断教育程度涉及显著的权衡。在研究 2 中，我们使用全国代表性样本开发并测试了一个多路径、两阶段的中介模型，以探索这一观点。我们发现，虽然受过良好教育的人享有更多的工作资源（收入、工作自主性和工作多样性），但他们也往往承担更多的工作要求（工作时间、任务压力、工作强度和时间紧迫性）。平均而言，这些要求与更高的工作压力和更低的工作满意度相关，在很大程度上抵消了与更多资源相关的积极收益。鉴于教育与工作满意度之间的净关系呈弱负相关，我们强调，在教育与工作满意度之间存在重要的权衡。在补充分析中，我们根据性别和自营职业状况确定了边界条件（例如，女性使教育与工作满意度之间的负相关关系加剧，而自营职业则使这种负相关关系减弱）。最后，我们讨论了对个人和组织的实际影响，以及对教育与工作满意度关系的替代解释。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
