A study of worker demographics and workplace job satisfaction for employees in a global engineering and construction organization

The purpose of this study was to investigate how various personal demographic characteristics such as age, gender, tenure, and job position relates to job satisfaction in a global engineering and construction organization. The following research questions were asked: (1) Is there a difference in job satisfaction as it relates to employee's age? (2) Is there a difference in job satisfaction as it relates to employee's gender? (3) Is there a difference in job satisfaction as it relates to employee's tenure? (4) Is there a difference in job satisfaction as it relates to employee's job position? The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) developed by Weis, Dawis, England, and Lofquist (1967) in short form was used to measure the levels of intrinsic, extrinsic, and overall job satisfaction in today's diverse workforce. A Personal Demographic Characteristic Questionnaire was also included in the survey instrument. The respondents of the survey were employees from a global engineering and construction organization. The findings of this study indicated that the younger respondents had the lower overall general satisfaction, and job satisfaction increases linearly with age. The study did not produce a significant difference in job satisfaction across gender. The findings of the study also indicated that the respondents with 16 years or more tenure had the highest level of overall satisfaction. Further, the research suggested that respondents in management positions were more satisfied than respondents in non-management positions.