a god place to be a man? gender, work and subjective well-being in the third sector

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A good place to be a man? Gender, work and wellbeing in

the third sector

Dr. Daiga Kamerāde, Prof. Steve McKay

Research questions:

• What are the differences in subjective well-being* (SWB) between people employed in the third, public and private sectors? Are third sector employees happier, more satisfied with their lives, less anxious and more likely to think the things they do in life are worthwhile than the people employed in other sectors?

* Subjective well-being is ‘a person’s cognitive and affective evaluation of his or her life’ , ie. What a person thinks and feels about his/her life in general (Diener, 2009)

Context and previous research

• Increasing importance of the third sector as a service provider and an employer

• Concerns about decline in quality of jobs(e.g. Cunningham, 2008; Cunningham & James, 2009; Eurofound, 2013; Grimshaw &

Rubery, 2012)

• Sector exceptionality, job satisfaction premium and ‘warm glow’ debates

(e.g.Hansmann , 1980; Rose-Ackerman, 1996, Besley & Ghatak, 2005; Preston, 1989; Benz, 2005; Borzaga & Tortia, 2006; Donegani et al., 2012 ; Lee & Wilkins, 2011)

Our contribution• More holistic approach to work –life relationships

(spillover theory - Kabanoff, 1980; Near, Rice, & Hunt, 1980; Wilensky, 1960)

• Higher job satisfaction= higher life satisfaction (Bowling, Eschleman, & Wang, 2010; Tait, Padgett, & Baldwin, 1989; Thoresen, Kaplan, Barsky, Warren, & de Chermont, 2003)

• Instrinsic motivation=higher subjective well-being (Malka & Chatman, 2003; Ryan et al., 1999; Schmuck, Kasser, & Ryan, 2000).

Causality issue

• Self-selection effect? • Work effect?It does not matter for monitoring purposes - to

make judgements on how the third sector organisations as employers are doing in terms of contributing to the wellbeing of their employees and thus to the wellbeing of the nation

MethodsData: the Annual Population Survey (APS) 2012/2013Sample: 113, 690 employed adults aged 16 and over;

3,491 (3%) of them emloyed in the third sector

Measurements:• Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? (measuring the negative affect)• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? (measuring the positive affect )• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? (measuring life satisfaction)• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

(measuring life fulfilment).Scale 0-10 (not at all – completely)

Regression model (All, men, women): sector+ socio-demographic variables+working conditions

Results: Bivariate association between employment sector and subjective well-being, UK, 2011/2012

Notes• a Differences across sectors statistically significant at p<0.05 only for all employees• b Differences across sectors statistically significant at p<0.05 only for all employees• c Difference statistically significant at p<0.001 for all employees and women• *** Differences across sectors statistically significant at p<0.001 for all employees, men and women

All employees Men Women

Voluntary Private Public Voluntary Private Public Voluntary Private Public

Subjective wellbeing (Mean) Mean (Happiness)a 7.34 7.31 7.37 7.31 7.29 7.36 7.40 7.30 7.40

Mean (Anxiety)b 3.15 2.93 3.04 2.90 2.84 2.91 3.28 3.06 3.11

Mean (Fulfilment)*** 8.02 7.69 8.01 7.98 7.62 7.87 8.05 7.80 8.08

Mean (Life satisfaction)c 7.48 7.56 7.61 7.56 7.54 7.58 7.43 7.59 7.63

N= 3,491 76,445 33,756 1,104 42,746 10,999 2,387 33,699 22,755

Main findings

Happiness Anxiety Fulfilment Life satisfaction0.00

1.00

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Sectors and subjective well-being, adjusted mean (Men)

Voluntary sectorPrivate sectorPublic sector

Adju

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Selected findingsWorking conditions:• Employees, both men and women, working in public

administration, educational and health services were more likely to report fulfilment with their lives than workers in other industries;

• Part-time work (choice) has a positive effect on well-being; part-time (lack of choice) – a negative effect on women’s life satisfaction, fullfillment and happiness but affects negatively only men’s life satisfaction

• Working at home positive for all dimensions of women’s well-being and but only for men’s anxiety

• Permanency of contract postive for men’s well-being (no effect for women)

Conclusions

• Third sector employees have higher levels of SWB which suggest that third sector employment is associated with SWB premium. However, this premium is not equally distributed between male and female employees

• Working conditions also affect subjective well-being; how- it varies by gender

Why?

• Opportunities for intrinsically motivated individuals

• Why men? Benefits from relative minority status? (e.g.Williams, 1991).

• Lower life satisfaction puzzle for women

Limitations

• Causality issues• Single wave

Implications

• Well-being measures can be used in three ways: monitoring progress informing policy design, and policy appraisal (Ed Diener, 2009b; Dolan et al., 2011; Dolan & Metcalfe, 2012; Dolan & Peasgood, 2008; Dolan & White, 2007)

• Data on wellbeing of the third sector workforce can be used to make judgements on how the third sector organisations as employers are doing in terms of maintaining, increasing, contributing to the wellbeing of their employees, the

wellbeing of the nation.

Implications• Practical: subjective well-being of employees is likely to affect

the functioning of organizations (for example see a overview by Robertson & Cooper, 2011), therefore managers in voluntary sector organisations can benefit from knowledge how subjective well-being levels of their employees compare to employees in other sectors and what working conditions are related to employees’ subjective well-being.

• Policy: debates on leveling down the quality of employment in public and third sectors (Cunningham, 2008; Cunningham & James, 2009; Eurofound, 2013; Grimshaw & Rubery, 2012) – quality of women’s jobs in third sector?

• Research: SWB could be used to estimate the value of voluntary sector, (similar to Fujimara et al. (2013) on volunteering)