Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/104676 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8559
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Nearly all workers have a supervisor or 'boss'. Yet there is almost no published research by economists into how bosses affect the quality of employees' lives. This study offers some of the first formal evidence. First, it is shown that a boss's technical competence is the single strongest predictor of a worker's well-being. Second, we examine equivalent instrumental-variable results. Third, we demonstrate longitudinally that even if a worker stays in the same job and workplace then a newly competent supervisor greatly improves the worker's well-being. Finally, we discuss analytical possibilities, and consider necessary future research.
Subjects: 
bosses
expert leaders
leadership
job satisfaction
happiness
JEL: 
I31
J28
M54
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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