Employee involvement and job satisfaction: a tale of the millennial generation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically study the effect of employee involvement in the workplace on job satisfaction for millennial workers in Colombia. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from a sample of 2103 millennial employees working in 11 companies of different sectors located in the five main cities of Colombia. Ordered probit models were estimated to study the effect of employee involvement on job satisfaction, in general, and how different forms of participative decision making in the workplace produce different impacts on individual satisfaction with objective and intrinsic aspects of the job, in particular. Findings The empirical results show that, for millennial workers, there is a positive link between employee involvement and job satisfaction. Moreover, there is a higher positive impact on job satisfaction when millennial workers participate in decisions on general aspects of the company than when they participate in specific decisions such as those concerning teamwork or main tasks at work. Another interesting result is that millennial workers attach high importance to intrinsic aspects of their jobs (such as the possibility to use their knowledge in the work), which may improve their satisfaction in a higher participative environment. Research limitations/implications The results can present bias due to the use of self-report data from millennial workers. Another potential limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the data, which does not control for unobserved individual effects. The study may be extended to other developing countries to help identify results more precisely for different contexts. Originality/value The value lies in exploring the relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction for millennial workers in the context of a developing country. The paper simultaneously considers different types of employee involvement and estimates their effects on different facets of job satisfaction.

Influence of the organizational support on Generation Y’s work motivation

“…Likewise, the study reinforces the conclusions of Meleiro and Siqueira (2005), Sant'Anna, Paschoal and Gosendo (2012), Seidl and Tróccoli (2006) that the relationship with management is a variable that substantially influences motivation, nurturing the well-being of employees. Briefly put, the results follow trends identified in Latin American studies on the expectations and characteristics of the work sought by Generation Y (Zavala-Villalón & Frías Castro, 2018;Silva et al, 2015;Twenge & Campbell, 2012;García et al, 2019;Veloso et al, 2016;Reis & Braga, 2016), the influence of organizational support (Madero-Gómez & Olivas-Luján, 2016) and the influence of leader relationships on Generation Y employee motivation (Hannus, 2016;Allen, 2005). The additional contribution of this study was to show how manager support moderates this relationship between organizational support and intrinsic motivation.…”

“…The theory of exchange between leader and employee (known as Leader-member exchange or LMX) suggests that several elements may eventually influence employees' behavior, motivation and actions, including the manager's way of leading, and resulting in the type of relationship established between the manager and the employee (de Oliveira & da Costa Rocha, 2017). Furthermore, for workers of Generation Y, there is a positive relationship between engagement and job satisfaction, as well as a greater positive impact on satisfaction when they participate in decisions about general aspects of the company (García et al, 2019).…”

“…In the Latin American context, studies have pointed out that Generation Y does not consider job security as pivotal, being focused instead on learning values of their generation (Zavala-Villalón & Frías Castro, 2018). Individuals who are part of this generation also tend to prioritize the balance between personal and professional life rather than job security and higher wages (Silva, Dutra, Veloso, Fischer, & Trevisan, 2015;Twenge & Campbell, 2012), as they attempt to find a flexible and information-sharing environment (García, Gonzales-Miranda, Gallo, & Roman-Calderon, 2019;Veloso, Dutra, & Nakata, 2016;Reis & Braga, 2016).…”

Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership

“…According to the related research, millennial employees share similar social and historical contexts, are more ambitious and concerned about career development, desire empowerment and autonomy at work, highlight quality of life, and value work-life balance and overall well-being [18,19,38]. Chen and Choi (2008) found that millennial employees in hospitality emphasize comfort and security, and professional growth work values [43].…”

Mitos y realidades de los millennials colombianos

“…Diego René Gonzales-Miranda * La proliferación de literatura sobre la generación Y o millennials expresa la importancia y el interés del sector empresarial y del mundo académico por estudiar y comprender esta generación tanto en el ámbito social como en el organizacional. Mucha de esta información evoca reflexiones sobre sus características, su inserción en el mercado como empleados, consumidores e inversionistas (Kempf Taylor, 2018), por los factores que los motivan (Wong, Gardiner, Lang & Coulon, 2008), por la satisfacción en su lugar de trabajo (García Cruz, Gonzales-Miranda, Gallo & Román Calderón, 2019), entre otros muchos aspectos. Esto es comprensible ya que los millennials se convierten hoy en día en la generación que tiene bajo su responsabilidad gran parte de los procesos productivos y de servicios en las organizaciones, a la par que comienzan a ocupar puestos de responsabilidad en la alta dirección de estas.…”