Work Orientations

Work orientations and work attitudes have to do with the productive capacities in society. Insofar as individuals are positively oriented towards contributing their labour, we can expect a great amount of work to be done and to be carried out efficiently, carefully and responsibly. These subjective factors are thus very vital in modern working life. Work Orientations: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Findings offers up-to-date research on people's commitment to work and employment and job satisfaction in economically advanced countries. It will also analyse changes that have taken place in these respects over the last decades. Among the key issues in Work Orientations are questions about whether patterns of work centrality and employment commitment tend to remain stable or have changed across time in various countries. Moreover, we assume that the circumstances under which people participate in the social division of labour colour their subjective relationships to their jobs and to employment in general. A major aim of the book is to explore the impact of factors such as occupation, education, age and gender on work orientations and work attitudes. Work Orientations will be invaluable for researchers and scholars in the fields or organizational studies, the sociology of work, employee engagement and related disciplines.

Bengt Furåker is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg. Kristina Håkansson is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg.

Chapter 1 Introduction Bengt Furåker and Kristina Håkansson Chapter 2 Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations on Work Orientations Bengt Furåker Chapter 3 Declining Work Centrality among Millennials - Myth or Reality? Tómas Bjarnason and Kristina Håkansson Chapter 4 Work as a calling: Existential Dimensions of Individuals' Work Orientations Mattias Bengtsson and Marita Flisbäck Chapter 5 Work Attitudes, Employment and Work Mobilization: A Comparison of Anglo-Saxon and Nordic Countries, 2005 and 2015 Bengt Furåker Chapter 6 Organizational Commitment: Cross-national Differences and Work-related Factors Bengt Furåker and Kristina Håkansson Chapter 7 Commitment in Organisations Using Temporary Agency Workers Kristina Håkansson and Tommy Isidorsson Chapter 8 'There is No Future for Us Soldiers': Sensing Dignity and Alienation in the Cabin Ann Bergman and Jan Ch. Karlsson Chapter 9 Young Workers' Job Satisfaction in Europe Belgin Okay-Somerville, Dora Scholarios and Edward Sosu Chapter 10 Matching Work Values with Job Qualities for Job Satisfaction: A Comparison of 24 OECD Countries in 2015 Tomas Berglund and Ingrid Esser List of Contributors Index