Luis Eduardo Vila Lladosa

Evaluation of the Effects of Education on Job Satisfaction: Independent Single-Equation vs. Structural Equation Models

Independent single-equation models and structural equation models are used to analyze both direct and indirect impacts of education length, and of the match between education and employment, on job satisfaction after controlling for individual-specific and job-specific attributes, including health status and wages. The main results show that: (1) education/job mismatches, both in level and domain, reduce utility from work irrespective of schooling years and other individual/job characteristics; (2) the effects of education on job satisfaction are mainly indirect effects transmitted though the influence of schooling on workers’ health status, wages and other observable job characteristics; and (3) neglecting the structure of covariance among the determinants of job satisfaction results in upward bias in the estimation of the direct effect of schooling length, and in downward bias in the estimates for the effects of other personal circumstances.

La adquisición de competencias para la innovación productiva en la universidad española

This paper examines the production function relationship between the educational resources applied during study and the development of competences related to innovation by university graduates in Spain. The data set comes from the European graduate survey REFLEX and includes about 5500 individuals. The inputs, combining with students’ effort, are represented by the methods of teaching and learning used in higher education. The relationships are modelled through a set of stochastic frontier equations with compound disturbance term. Estimates show evidence of significant relationships between the development by graduates of competences to innovate and the methods of teaching and learning they were exposed to during their university years. Proactive methods, in general, and problem-based learning in particular, appear as the most effective way to develop the competences required to innovate. The effects of the other inputs are less intense than those of teaching method. There were not found significant effects attributable to student unobserved ability.