The impact of life events on job satisfaction

Employing fixed effects regression techniques on longitudinal data, we investigate how life events affect employees' job satisfaction. Unlike previous work–life research, exploring mostly contemporaneous correlations, we look for evidence of adaptation in the years following major life events. We find evidence of adaptation following the first marriage event, but we find that the birth of the first child has a long-lasting impact on employees' job satisfaction. Our findings also suggest that there is a general boost in job satisfaction prior to first marriage and to a lesser extent prior to the birth of the first child, consistent with evidence of anticipation. Accordingly, our study provides some of the first evidence on the dynamic effect of non-work related factors on job satisfaction and it introduces a novel methodology and a new perspective for investigating the dynamic interaction between the work and life domains.

► Using longitudinal data we investigate the dynamic interaction between the life and work domains.
► Major life events, such as first marriage and birth of the first child, have a detrimental effect on job satisfaction.
► The detrimental effect of the birth of the first child on job satisfaction persists for up to five years.
► The effect of life events on job satisfaction is most prevalent for female, public sector employees.
► We offer a novel perspective on the dynamics of work–life interface, conflict and enrichment.