Recently, the Agro-Technical Economics Team of HZAU published its new finding titled “Working hours and job satisfaction in China: A threshold analysis” in the journal China Economic Review. Co-authors are Associate Professor Wanglin Ma and Dr. Puneet Vatsa of Lincoln University in New Zealand, and Dr. Zhou Xiaoshi of Peking University. The study provides insight into how working hours affects job satisfaction of Chinese families.
In recent years, the “996” work schedule (working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week) has been popular in some industries. Many employers extend working hours to improve productivity, which can backfire and increases worker fatigue. For employees, although longer working hours brings higher earnings, excessive working hours above a specific threshold can be detrimental to physical and mental health, thus affecting workers’ job satisfaction.
Based on the open-access data of the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the study utilizes a threshold model to examine the nonlinear relationship between working hours and job satisfaction. The endogenous problem of working time is solved by two-stage residual substitution method based on instrumental variables. The results show that there are indeed differences in the impact of working hours. Working more than 9 hours decreases workers’ job satisfaction, and the situation is worse among those working more than 12 hours. Heterogeneous analysis reveals that long working hours has a greater impact on the job satisfaction of female employees than male employees; the job satisfaction of unmarried people is not affected by how long they work, whereas that of married people drops with the extension of working hours. Furthermore, working more than 12 hours reduces job satisfaction only among the self-employed, while being hired is associated with lower job satisfaction at all thresholds. Poor physical health plays a mediating role in the adverse effects of long working hours on job satisfaction. Finally, working long hours reduces individuals’ short-term well-being, but does not affect long-term perceptions towards all aspects of life.
By adopting the threshold model, this study measures the threshold value of working hours affecting job satisfaction for the first time and clarifies the key nodes of job satisfaction decline. It finds that long working hours will significantly reduce job satisfaction, providing an empirical basis for verifying the negative effects of the 996 work schedule and a reference for companies to adjust work schedules and improve employee well-being.
Zheng Hongyun, Associate Professor of College of Economics and Management, is the first author.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2022/1230/65452.shtml
Translated by: Zhang Qiongfang
Supervised by: Xie Lujie
