The influence of promotions on job satisfaction and the difference between men and women

Abstract

This thesis researches the difference of job satisfaction between men and women after promotion. According to literature, promotion leads to an increase in job satisfaction. However, it might affect women and men differently. Although women are just as likely to receive a promotion as men, they still perceive lower chances to be promoted. This suggests that if they do get promoted, women ́s job satisfaction increases more intensely than men´s. However, women experience smaller salary gains after promotion. That entails a feeling of unfair treatment and would lead to even lower job satisfaction. To measure this gender difference in the increase of job satisfaction, a difference in difference analysis is done on the data of the German Socio-Economic Panel study (GSOEP). The findings prove that women experience a smaller increase of job satisfaction after promotion than men do, both after internal and external promotion.