Job satisfaction and career adaptability through the lenses of Bourdieu’s theory of practice and theory of elites: a comparison of Hispanic and non-Hispanic communication professionals

Topic, M., Vasquez, R., Nicholas Eng, & Merle, P. (2025). Job satisfaction and career adaptability through the lenses of Bourdieu’s theory of practice and theory of elites: a comparison of Hispanic and non-Hispanic communication professionals. Journal of Communication Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-11-2024-0223  Abstract: This study examines the social and cultural capital of mass communication practitioners using Bourdieu’s theory of practice and the theory of elites. It focuses specifically on US Hispanic and non-Hispanic practitioners to understand their experiences in the workplace and social and cultural capital as it relates to job satisfaction and career adaptability. A total of 349 respondents completed a survey online through the Connect platform. 39.3% reported being of Hispanic origin. Measures included acculturation, familism, career adaptability, human capital (including job rank), social capital (including social networks and social trust), cultural capital (current and when growing up) and job satisfaction. Independent samples t-tests, chi-squares and multiple regression analyses were conducted. T-tests revealed significant differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic practitioners in acculturation, career adaptability, social network, offline cultural capital, online cultural capital and cultural capital growing up. Multiple regression analysis revealed different predictors of job satisfaction for Hispanic and non-Hispanic respondents. For Hispanic respondents, familism and social trust positively predicted job satisfaction, while for non-Hispanic respondents, significant predictors for job satisfaction included career adaptability, offline cultural capital and social trust. For White practitioners, multiple regression showed that job satisfaction is predicted by career adaptability and social trust.