The master’s thesis addresses the importance of motivation for the performance of professional and volunteer firefighters, using the Municipality of Domžale as a case study. The main aim of the research was to examine the factors of work motivation characteristics of firefighting activity and to determine how they contribute to firefighters' embeddedness in their field of work. In addition, the objective was to test the applicability of embeddedness theory in explaining job satisfaction among professional and volunteer firefighters, as well as their intention to remain within the firefighting organization. Theoretical background was based on the explanation of motivation theories, job satisfaction, turnover intention and job embeddedness theory, also including an overview of motivational factors, specific to firefighting. On the other hand, the empirical part was based on quantitative research, which was conducted among professional and volunteer firefighters in the Municipality of Domžale. The data was collected using a questionnaire, with items designed on a five-point Likert scale. The relationship between job embeddedness, job satisfaction and intention to remain in firefighting was measured using Pearsons’s correlation coefficient. The results have shown that both professional and volunteer firefighters of the Municipality of Domžale express a high level of embeddedness, job satisfaction and intention to remain in firefighting. Furthermore, it was found that embeddedness theory explains firefighters' job satisfaction primarily through the dimensions of fit and links, while the dimension of sacrifice plays a significantly smaller role. Overall, the study confirms the usefulness of job embeddedness theory in studying firefighting activity, while attributing the central importance for firefighters' involvement in their work to identity and social factors.
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