JOB-SATISFACTION AND TARGET EARNINGS

The starting point of this paper is the idea that individuals are char acterized by hierarchical behaviour, This idea, which is quite popular in other social sciences, implies that the individual sets priority t argets which are ordered in terms of urgency or importance. The paper tests the hypothesis in the context of a utility-from-work framework. In particular, the paper uses data on a random sample of British worke rs who report levels of satisfaction from their work. The empirical re sults indicate the presence of hierarchical behaviour. In particular, workers earning below the target level get more satisfaction than thos e earning above the target level. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.