VOLUME XXI
SPRING 2013

JOB SATISFACTION OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
 
ALEKSANDER KUCEL
Escola Universitària del Maresme (UPF and Tecnocampus)
MONTSERRAT VILALTA-BUFÍ
Universitat de Barcelona and CREB
 
This paper investigates the determinants of job satisfaction of university graduates in Spain. We base our analysis on Locke’s discrepancy theory [Locke (1969)] and decompose subjective evaluation of job characteristics into surplus and deficit levels. We also study the importance of overeducation and over-skilling on job satisfaction. We use REFLEX data, a survey of university graduates. We conclude that job satisfaction is mostly determined by the subjective evaluation of intrinsic job characteristics, with an asymmetric impact of surpluses and deficits. Over-skilling is much more important than over-education in explaining the job satisfaction of university graduates, although the latter is also significant
 
Key words: job satisfaction, discrepancy theory, over-education, overskilling.
JEL Classification: J28.

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