The Role of Facets of Job Satisfaction in the National and Socioeconomic Differences in Overall Job Satisfaction: A Comparison between Studies of Civil Servants in Great Britain and Japan

Objective:To explore national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction, we examined whether those differences can be explained by what job-related factors.Methods:Our datasets for this study are from the Whitehall II study and the Japan Civil Servant Study. Of the participants who were 5540 cases, with 3250 people from Great Britain and 2290 from Japan.Results:The odds ratio for job dissatisfaction was more than double in Japan compared with Britain. However, after adjusting the related factors - especially the facets of job satisfaction variables - the difference was reversed. Also, regarding the occupational differences, lower occupational grades had lower risks of overall job dissatisfaction, after adjusting for related factors.Conclusions:The national and socioeconomic differences in overall job satisfaction were strongly related to facets of job satisfaction rather than job stress factors.