Vocational Versus Communicative Competencies as Predictors of Job Satisfaction

We analyzed the effects of workers’ competencies and job content on their overall, intrinsic, and extrinsic job satisfaction. We focused on pharmacy assistants, an occupational group that operates at the interface of professional health and commercial activities. This means that pharmacy assistants need both professional and customer-oriented competencies in their work. Results from a linked employer-employee survey showed that assistants with more communicative competencies were more satisfied with their job, whereas assistants with more pharmaceutical competencies were less satisfied. In addition, workers who performed tasks below their level of competence were more dissatisfied with their remuneration and career prospects, but not with the content of their job as such, than were other workers. Keywords: job satisfaction, competencies, job content, intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction