Role of job mobility frequency in job satisfaction changes: the mediation mechanism of job-related social capital and person-job match

The study investigates whether frequent job mobility ultimately improves or undermines job satisfaction among knowledge-intensive employees and through which mechanisms. In China’s rapidly developing information service sector, early-career, knowledge-intensive workers exhibit high mobility, which risks loss of tacit knowledge and organizational instability. While prior work documents a short-lived “Honeymoon Effect” in satisfaction after job changes, the longer-term consequences and underlying processes are unclear. The paper posits that person-job match and job-related social capital formed via work-related networks are key mechanisms. It asks: (1) Does frequent job mobility raise job satisfaction in the short term? (2) Does high mobility erode person-job match and job-related social capital, thereby lowering satisfaction in the long term? Clarifying these mechanisms provides theoretical grounding for HR strategies to manage mobility and enhance employee satisfaction.

Prior research suggests moderate mobility can broaden skills and spur creativity, but excessive mobility may limit skill accumulation and harm career development. A robust “Honeymoon Effect” produces a short-term boost to job satisfaction after job changes. Knowledge-intensive employees, particularly early in their careers, value person-job match and often move frequently seeking better alignment. Social capital theory and the social brain hypothesis indicate that building effective, trust-based, job-related social networks requires time and cognitive resources; excessive mobility may fragment attention, reduce network quality, and limit embedded resources (information, support) that improve job search outcomes and matching. The authors develop three hypotheses: H1: Due to the “Honeymoon Effect,” higher frequency of job mobility has a significant positive association with satisfaction with the current job in the short term. H2: In the long term, frequency of job mobility is negatively and indirectly associated with job satisfaction via decreases in person-job match and job-related social capital. H3: Job-related social capital and person-job match operate as serial mediators transmitting the negative association from mobility frequency to job satisfaction.

Design and sample: Cross-sectional survey of employees in knowledge-intensive roles at information service enterprises across six Chinese cities (Xi’an, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai), chosen to balance regional development levels. Stratified sampling: randomly select industrial parks, then enterprises, then employees with 1–3 total years of work experience. Employees without mobility experience were retained as controls. Final N=1348 (ages 18–33), gender-balanced (50.7% men), with balanced rural/urban origins. Among those with mobility experience (n=765), 95.82% had mobility frequency >0.33 and 68.89% >1 (often at least one move per year). Measures: - Job satisfaction: Multidimensional measure referencing Zhao et al. (2020). Fifteen items rated on 5-point Likert scales were reduced by EFA (KMO=0.80; Bartlett’s p<0.001; cumulative variance 78.63%) to two dimensions: return satisfaction (salary, welfare, reward/punishment system) and environmental satisfaction (relations with colleagues/leaders, leader support). CFA indicated good fit: χ2=15.09, df=5, χ2/df=3.02, GFI=0.996, CFI=0.998, NFI=0.996, RMSEA=0.039; high reliability (CR=0.991 and 0.988) and AVE>0.7 with good discriminant validity. - Frequency of job mobility: number of companies worked for divided by total years employed (job changes per unit time). - Change in person-job match: difference between current and first job’s major–job alignment (each on 1–4 Likert scale; higher values reflect stronger alignment). Current minus first job rating was computed and recoded so larger values indicate improved match. - Job-related social capital: measured as a small-scale network’s embedded capital used in job search. Network relationship strength constructed from contact frequency via email, phone, and in-person; EFA: KMO=0.63, Bartlett’s p<0.001, variance explained 65.53%, loadings >0.73; combined CFA with satisfaction showed good fit (χ2=59.48, df=23, χ2/df=2.59, GFI=0.990, CFI=0.993, NFI=0.989, RMSEA=0.034), and CMV tests suggested no significant common method bias. Network structure captured by educational heterogeneity (count of different education levels among network members) and network range (range in professional status scores per Li Chunling’s prestige scale). Controls: gender, age, birthplace (urban=1, rural=0), region, consumption level, and prior work experience (years). Analysis: Descriptive statistics and correlations; OLS multiple regressions to estimate direct effects; mediation analyses via SPSS Process macro with bootstrapped indirect effects and Sobel tests. Robustness: Replace frequency with count of job changes while controlling work experience to assess sensitivity of results to measurement of mobility.

- Short-term positive association (Honeymoon Effect): Frequency of job mobility positively predicted return satisfaction (Model 1-2: β≈0.06, p<0.01); no significant direct effect on environmental satisfaction (Model 1-4: β≈-0.01, n.s.). - Negative effects on mediators: Frequency of job mobility negatively predicted change in person–job match (Model 1-5: β≈-1.38, p<0.01). It also negatively related to educational heterogeneity (β≈-0.22, p<0.10); no significant links to relationship strength or network range. - Social capital associations: Relationship strength positively predicted environmental satisfaction (Model 1-4: β≈0.02, p<0.01). - Mediation via person–job match: Frequency → Change in person–job match → Return satisfaction showed a significant negative indirect effect (indirect ≈ -0.06, Boot SE≈0.02, 95% CI [-0.10, -0.02]), with a positive direct effect remaining (direct ≈ 0.08, SE≈0.05, 95% CI [0.01, 0.20]). The mediator accounted for ≈43.28% of the total effect; total effect ≈0.02 (n.s.). - Mediation via educational heterogeneity: Frequency → Educational heterogeneity → Environmental satisfaction exhibited a small but significant negative indirect effect (indirect ≈ -0.01, 95% CI approximately [-0.01, -0.00]); the direct effect was non-significant, indicating full mediation. - Serial mediation: A serial pathway via educational heterogeneity then change in person–job match to return satisfaction was statistically significant but extremely small in magnitude (near zero). - Robustness: When replacing mobility frequency with number of job changes (controlling years worked), the direct Honeymoon effect disappeared (β≈0.02, p=0.62); only the indirect path via educational heterogeneity remained significant (≈ -0.01, p≈0.06). Core mediation findings were otherwise stable.

Findings confirm a short-term Honeymoon Effect whereby higher mobility frequency elevates current job satisfaction, especially on returns, among early-career knowledge-intensive employees. However, frequent moves erode the accumulation of job-related human and social capital needed for better person–job matching and supportive work environments. This manifests in strong negative associations with person–job match and aspects of social capital, which in turn reduce satisfaction. The negative indirect effects can offset or mask the short-term gains, yielding small overall effects. Job-related social capital enhances person–job match, reinforcing the indirect pathways from mobility to satisfaction; nonetheless, the hypothesized serial multiple mediation was negligible in size. These results underscore that while frequent moves may feel beneficial initially, they can undermine longer-term satisfaction by weakening match quality and the depth of network resources that facilitate effective job searches and workplace support.

This study disentangles short-term and long-term mechanisms linking job mobility frequency to job satisfaction. Contributions include: (1) empirical verification of the short-term Honeymoon Effect; (2) identification of negative indirect pathways via person–job match and job-related social capital that attenuate or reverse long-term satisfaction gains; and (3) evidence that job-related social capital bolsters match quality, strengthening the indirect mechanisms. Practically, employees should moderate mobility and invest in deep, trust-based professional ties to improve matching and satisfaction. Employers should evaluate candidates’ mobility histories and foster stable, socially supportive environments and development opportunities to reduce excessive turnover. Future research should test these mechanisms across broader occupations, career stages, and cultural contexts, and employ longitudinal designs to capture temporal dynamics.

The sample focuses on early-career, knowledge-intensive employees in China’s information service sector, limiting generalizability. Cross-sectional design precludes causal inference over time. Measures of social capital used a small-network approach and select structural indicators; broader, longitudinal, and multi-source network measures could improve validity. Cultural and career-stage differences warrant further investigation.