Title: Do the flexible employment arrangements increase job satisfaction and employee loyalty? Evidence from Bayesian networks and instrumental variables

Authors: Eleftherios Giovanis

Addresses: Nazilli Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Adnan Menderes University, Cumhuriyet, 09800 İsabeyli, Nazilli, Turkey; Department of Economics, University of Verona, Via Cantarane 24, 37129, Italy

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between job satisfaction, employee loyalty and two types of flexible employment arrangements; teleworking and flexible timing. The analysis relies on data derived from the workplace employment relations survey (WERS) in 2004 and 2011. We apply the propensity score matching approach and least squares regressions. Furthermore, we employ the Bayesian networks (BN) and directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to confirm the causality between employment types explored and the outcomes of interest. Additionally, we propose an instrumental variables (IV) approach based on the BN framework. The results support that a positive causal effect from these employment arrangements on job satisfaction and employee loyalty is present.

Keywords: BN; Bayesian networks; DAGs; directed acyclic graphs; employee loyalty; employment arrangements; flexible timing; job satisfaction; teleworking; WERS; workplace employment relations survey.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEE.2019.097795

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, 2019 Vol.9 No.1/2, pp.84 - 115

Received: 02 Oct 2016
Accepted: 31 Jul 2017
Published online: 11 Feb 2019 *

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