for studying labor mobility is underestimated in economic literature. The author suggests to use the individual satisfaction to evaluate indirect e¤ects of observed variables as well as a proxy for unobserved objective factors. For instance, job satisfaction may serve as an indicator of workplace quality or mode of supervision. In the line with this suggestion, Clark [15] points out that di¤erent job satisfaction domains, for instance, satisfaction with career opportunities, relations with supervisors, use of initiative, re‡ect unobservable job quality characteristics that can be used to measure the probability of job quits. Using data from BHPS, the author …nds that dissatisfaction with pay, working hours, work itself, job security, and the use of initiative are signi…cant predictors of future actual job quits. Bockerman & Ilmakunnas [10] analyze Finnish data and argue that job dissatisfaction as a proxy for adverse working conditions induces quit intentions and actual job quits. The topic of job satisfaction and quits in di¤erent contexts is further explored by Antecol & Cobb-Clark [5] for military servants, Shields & Ward [49] for nurses, and by Stevens [56] for academics. All these studies underline the role of dissatisfaction in labor mobility and provide a rationale for studying the implications of dissatisfaction and migration intention. In our paper the individual intention to migrate, not actual migration decision, is analyzed. The psychological theories of reasoned action and planned behavior suggest that the individual intention predict the actual decision and behavior.5 As these theories suggest, the better incorporation of individual (e.g., information, abilities, and emotions) and external (e.g., opportunity costs and external barriers for performing a behavior) factors into the model of the hypothetical decision reduces the gap between intended and actual behaviors (see Ajzen & Fishbein [2], Ajzen [1], and Hale & Householder [35]). Data on individual intentions instead of actual labor mobility are also used in some economic studies (see Antecol & Cobb-Clark [5], 5
See Ajzen & Fishbein [3] for an extensive review of psychological literature on intentions and actual behavior; and Rabinovich & Webley [46] for psychological factors a¤ecting the realization of intentions into actual behavior.
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