Does Positive Attitude Matter Only for Older Workers? Evidence from Simultaneous Estimation of Job Satisfaction, Wage and Positive Attitude in the United States

The current study tests two hypotheses. First, it claims that the worker’s job satisfaction is related not only to the objective variable wage rate, but also to the psychological variable positive attitude, and that all three variables are simultaneously related. Second, the study predicts that the psychological variable positive attitude as a covariate of job satisfaction matters more for matured adults who are already settled in their desired jobs than younger workers who may still be in search of their preferred employment. Using data on matured adults and younger adults from the United States and following a two-stage procedure the current study estimates job satisfaction, wage and positive attitude equations in a simultaneous equations framework. The study confirms the presence of this simultaneous relationship, and demonstrates that the job satisfaction of matured adults in fact is related to both objective (wage) and subjective (attitude) factors. For younger workers, however, wage, and not positive attitude, emerges as a significant covariate of their job satisfaction. Since positive attitude plays a significant role in the determination of their wages, it is related to their job satisfaction only indirectly through higher wages. Positive attitude thus benefits both older and younger workers thorough different channels. The study further presents interesting results on the covariates of wage and positive attitude which remain disguised when the simultaneous relationship among these three variables is ignored.