Shifting and Persistent Human Resources’ Positional/Motivational Profiles in the Context of the Latest Economic Crisis: The Cases of Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Portugal

The latest financial and ensuing economic crisis has created successive shock waves in the eurozone countries. Their capacity to deal effectively with the impact of the crisis depends not only on reforms introduced as a response to the need for improved competitiveness but also on how the world of work would react to them. This reaction, whether it is dynamic and change-oriented or passive and backwards-looking, is assumed to be mediated by various dispositional and positional dimensions related to both motivational values, such as self-directedness and conformity and work-related realities, such as organizational and job characteristics. This paper explores the interplay between motivational and work-related dimensions for people in employment in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. For this purpose, the European Social Survey datasets for the 2008 and 2012 rounds are analyzed using multidimensional techniques. The aim is to reveal and discuss dominant profiles and possible shifts between the year 2008, when the crisis began, and four years later, when its impact has been strongly felt, particularly in the last two countries.