Giving Voice to Employees and Spreading Information within the Firm: the Manner Matters

Economists are paying increasing attention to “factors” in job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can affect productivity, effort, absenteeism, and quits. This paper analyzes data from the “Working in Britain, 2000” questionnaire; the results confirm the effects of individual features on job satisfaction, as highlighted in previous studies. The analysis shows that job satisfaction can be enhanced by spreading information within the organization and by giving voice to employees, but the management must choose communication strategies perceived as reliable by the employees.