Identity and well-being in the skilled crafts and trades

Abstract

We analyze the extent to which occupational identity is conducive to worker well-being. Using a unique survey data set of individuals working in the German skilled crafts and trades (2017–2018, n = 757), we use a novel occupational identity measure that captures identity more broadly than just referring to organizational identification and social group membership, but rather comprises personal and relational elements inherent in one's work. The latter are linked to significant social interactions a worker has in their job and the former to specific work characteristics of the work conducted itself. We find that higher job satisfaction is related to a stronger sense of occupational identity in our sample. This relationship is quite sizable and robust across model specifications, whereas income is not associated with job satisfaction in most models. Occupational identity is positively associated with a number of work characteristics, viz. task significance, task and skill variety, as well as social support, and our analysis shows that identity mediates the influence of these characteristics with regard to job satisfaction. © 2022 The Authors. Kyklos published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Not provided

Index Keywords

workplace occupation Germany skilled labor labor market working conditions data set

Author Affiliations

Fakultät für Staats- und Sozialwissenschaften, University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Neubiberg, Bayern, Germany, Bard College, Red Hook, NY, United States

Bard College Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Funding & Acknowledgements

Grant: 76251‐10‐6/18, ZN3405

Funding text 1: The questions pursued in the current interdisciplinary research project (www.handwerksstolz.de) and this article emerged in the context of an interdisciplinary research project with cultural anthropologists investigating craft innovation and tacit knowledge. The questionnaire used in this study was jointly designed with D. Hemme. We are grateful for the input she provided based on her qualitative research and interviews conducted with German crafts (wo)men. Special thanks also to Kilian Bizer (Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research) for his support. We further want to thank Harm Alhusen, Regina Bendix, Georg Christiansmeyer, Benita Gandorfer, Hanna M. Sasse, Helene Schuele, Benjamin Schulze, Joerg Thomae, and Judith Venherm. The manuscript has been presented at the STATEC Well-being Seminar Series and we'd like to thank seminar participants for helpful comments and suggestions. We are grateful to Titus Kockel and the ZDH for the distribution of the questionnaire. Finally, we wish to thank two anonymous referees as well as our handling editor David Stadelmann for helpful comments and suggestions. This research project was funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony - 76251-10-6/18 (ZN3405). We acknowledge financial support by Universität der Bundeswehr München.; Funding text 2: The questions pursued in the current interdisciplinary research project ( www.handwerksstolz.de ) and this article emerged in the context of an interdisciplinary research project with cultural anthropologists investigating craft innovation and tacit knowledge. The questionnaire used in this study was jointly designed with D. Hemme. We are grateful for the input she provided based on her qualitative research and interviews conducted with German crafts (wo)men. Special thanks also to Kilian Bizer (Chair of Economic Policy and SME Research) for his support. We further want to thank Harm Alhusen, Regina Bendix, Georg Christiansmeyer, Benita Gandorfer, Hanna M. Sasse, Helene Schuele, Benjamin Schulze, Joerg Thomae, and Judith Venherm. The manuscript has been presented at the STATEC Well‐being Seminar Series and we'd like to thank seminar participants for helpful comments and suggestions. We are grateful to Titus Kockel and the ZDH for the distribution of the questionnaire. Finally, we wish to thank two anonymous referees as well as our handling editor David Stadelmann for helpful comments and suggestions. This research project was funded by the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony ‐ 76251‐10‐6/18 (ZN3405). We acknowledge financial support by Universität der Bundeswehr München.

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Identity and well-being in the skilled crafts and trades

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