Though employees may like their work catering to their individual preferences, they are predictably more satisfied when the organizational culture matches a set of widely preferred characteristics that provide a supportive and stable work environment.

Through a study of 700 participants working in occupations ranging from customer service to accountants, researchers found people typically prefer a similar organizational culture, according to an article in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

As the authors show, most people prefer organizations that emphasize quality, have high expectations for performance, show a willingness to experiment, offer opportunities for professional growth, provide employment security, and provide opportunities to collaborate.

Preferences for these kinds of work environments appear to be universal and are a much stronger predictor of job satisfaction than the degree to which organizational culture matched an employee’s more personal preferences, according to the study.

The features of an organization that most affect job satisfaction are largely the same as the features that influence job satisfaction for other people.