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DEVELOPMENT OF THE AVERAGE GROSS WAGE AS A DETERMINANT OF JOB SATISFACTION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN COMPARISON WITH GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND POLAND⁷
Marcela Sokolova, Hana Mohelska

ABSTRACT. The paper aims to examine the development of the average gross wage as an important determinant of job satisfaction in the Czech Republic in comparison with selected EU countries - Austria, Germany, Poland. The Czech Republic borders these countries and has long-standing political, economic and cultural cooperation with them. Job satisfaction has been studied mainly in Western Europe and the USA, especially in connection with organisational behaviour models. There is empirical evidence (e.g. Lukašova Frankova, Surynek, 2006) that these models cannot be directly applied to the analysis of organisational behaviour in the Czech Republic as a post-communist country. It is clear that the globalisation of business and the growth of international companies requires a deeper understanding of organisational behavior in different cultures. Therefore, in 2013 - 2019 we conducted an extensive study in order to obtain results on the development of job satisfaction in the Czech Republic. We interpreted these results in the context of foreign research results in order to obtain a comparison. The benefit of the study is the finding that the level of job satisfaction in the Czech Republic is very low, despite a slight growing trend. Poland is in a similar situation. According to research, the situation is significantly better in Germany and Austria, where they systematically deal with this issue. Satisfaction with wage is demonstrably dependent on the wage amount, which was proven on the basis of data in the Czech Republic.

KEYWORDS:  job satisfaction, determinant, wage, average wages, Czech Republic, research, Austria, Germany, Poland.

JEL classification:  J28, J31, J64.

⁷Acknowledgment: The paper was written with the support of the specific project 2106/2020 grant "DETERMINANTS OF COGNITIVE PROCESSES IMPACTING THE WORK PERFORMANCE " granted by the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic and thanks to help students Frantisek Hasek and Anna Borkovcova.