Environmental satisfaction at work, satisfaction at work and turnover intention. Study on a sample of french office workers

• Author: Éva Moffat
• Position: Laboratory of Social Psychology in Paris (LAPPS), Université Paris Nanterre
• Pages: 53-60

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017

ENVIRONMENTAL SATISFACTION AT

WORK, SATISFACTION AT WORK AND

TURNOVER INTENTION. STUDY ON A

SAMPLE OF FRENCH OFFICE WORKERS

Éva MOFFAT1

Abstract: Our article aims to identify the impact of two types of va riables

connected to satisfaction: a variable coming from the field of Environmental

Psychology (environmental satisfaction at work) and a variable coming from

the field of Work Psychology (work satisfaction). The results of ascending

incremental regressions (step by step) show that the dimension

„Environmental Alienation” of the ESAW and the age constitute predictors

of the turnover intention.

Key words: Environmental satisfaction at work, satisfaction at work,

turnover intention, office workers in France.

1. Introduction

Since the pioneering research of Mayo in the 30’s, work satisfaction is without a shadow

of a doubt a central concept of organisational psychology (Paillé, 2008), considering

primarily its role as a mediator between the working conditions and the individual and

organisational effects (Dormann & Zapf, 2001). There are various works on the subject, and

they refer to numerous, sometimes contradictory models (Roussel,1996); however, there

seems to be a certain consensus around considering work satisfaction to be an attitude

(Spector, 1997; Wright, 2006), thus entailing a global evaluation of objects (Ajzen, 2001).

It would also be the result of an assessment that a person does on his work or on his work

situation (Paillé, 2008), or of the things he likes and does not like in his job, including the

working conditions (Lent, 2008).

Various authors concentrated in detail on the characteristics of the physical work

environment and connected them to the employees” satisfaction (Moos, 1973; Weiss,

Dawis, Angleterre, & Lofquist, 1977).

For instance, Carlopio (1996) postulates that the physical environment has certain effects

on the employees” behaviour and attitudes at work, precisely on the work satisfaction, the

intention to quit one’s job and the professional commitment. Actually, these results support

the thesis according to which the physical working environment entails the psycho-social

working environment as well.

Along the same line, Bodin-Danielsson (2013) describes a study in which she pinpoints to

1 Laboratory of Social Psychology in Paris (LAPPS), Université Paris Nanterre, eva.moffat@live.fr