How do individuals with a higher versus lower occupational status experience major, unexpected changes to their work life? The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted most areas of work life and, thus, provides a unique opportunity to examine changes in work attitudes in response to a worldwide crisis. We predict that individuals with higher, but not with lower occupational status showed a decline in job satisfaction during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany (1st lockdown; March to May 2020), with subsequent recovery to initial job satisfaction levels. Based on role theory and social-psychological theories of hierarchical differentiation, we argue that, due to the profound work-related changes, individuals with higher (vs. lower) occupational status are more negatively affected in realizing their work goals and, thus, experience decreasing levels of job satisfaction. To test these predictions, we investigated trajectories of job satisfaction between December 2019 and August 2020 (7 measurement waves; N = 1583). Results of piece-wise growth curve models showed that individuals with higher occupational status showed a steeper decline in job satisfaction (followed by recovery) over time, whereas individuals with medium and lower occupational status did not experience a significant change in job satisfaction. In addition, we show that the decline in job satisfaction is moderated by perceived constraints at work associated with the pandemic among individuals with higher occupational status. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the link between occupational status and job satisfaction in times of crisis.

职业地位较高和较低的人如何经历重大的、意想不到的工作生活变化？COVID-19 大流行扰乱了工作生活的大部分领域，因此提供了一个独特的机会来检查工作态度的变化以应对全球危机。我们预测，在德国 COVID-19 大流行的早期阶段（第一次封锁；2020 年 3 月至 2020 年 5 月），职业地位较高但并非较低的个人的工作满意度会下降，随后会恢复到最初的工作满意度水平。基于角色理论和等级分化的社会心理学理论，我们认为，由于与工作相关的深刻变化，具有较高（相对于较低）职业地位的个人在实现其工作目标方面受到更大的负面影响，因此，经历工作满意度下降的情况。为了检验这些预测，我们调查了 2019 年 12 月至 2020 年 8 月之间的工作满意度轨迹（7 个测量波；N  = 1583）。分段增长曲线模型的结果表明，随着时间的推移，具有较高职业地位的个体的工作满意度下降幅度更大（随后恢复），而具有中等和较低职业地位的个体的工作满意度没有显着变化。此外，我们表明，在具有较高职业地位的个人中，与流行病相关的工作中感知到的限制会缓和工作满意度的下降。总的来说，这些发现有助于我们理解危机时期职业地位与工作满意度之间的联系。