In recent decades, the “Flexibilization and Subjectification on Working Conditions” became an increasingly important research object in the field of sociology of work and industry. Due to the marketization of enterprises and the resulting competitive pressure, the role of employee performance changes as employees themselves can design their sequence of operation more freely - work motivation thus becomes an important new factor. In the academic literature, however, the consequences for employees are often judged as problematic. Two of these negative consequences that arise from these new working conditions are stress and exhaustion. As a consequence, in this thesis, it will be examined in which way employees subjective burdens of work and their level of work motivation and job satisfaction depend on the level of self-determination prevalent in their jobs. The theoretical part of this masters thesis establishes the reader with historical references to the development of flexibilization and subjectification that result in the evolution of a new type of employee: The “entreployee”. Based on this concept, relevant social psychological theories of motivation are introduced.The empirical part of this thesis uses data from the 2005 ISSP work orientations module. Main conclusion is that the employees experience their new working conditions in a positive manner: Results suggest that, contrary to established theories, stress and exhaustion decrease in a more self-determined work environment. In addition, job satisfaction increases under those new working conditions. Furthermore, it was shown that the extent of extrinsic work motivation comes along with lower levels of education, whereas the extent of intrinsic work motivation increases with higher education. Moreover, it was found that the extent of extrinsic work motivation decreases with increasing job satisfaction. |