research analysis on employee satisfaction

• Open access
• Published: 03 May 2023

The management of healthcare employees’ job satisfaction: optimization analyses from a series of large-scale surveys

• Paola Cantarelli 1 ,
• Milena Vainieri 1 &
• Chiara Seghieri 1  

BMC Health Services Research volume  23 , Article number:  428 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Measuring employees’ satisfaction with their jobs and working environment have become increasingly common worldwide. Healthcare organizations are not extraneous to the irreversible trend of measuring employee perceptions to boost performance and improve service provision. Considering the multiplicity of aspects associated with job satisfaction, it is important to provide managers with a method for assessing which elements may carry key relevance. Our study identifies the mix of factors that are associated with an improvement of public healthcare professionals’ job satisfaction related to unit, organization, and regional government. Investigating employees’ satisfaction and perception about organizational climate with different governance level seems essential in light of extant evidence showing the interconnection as well as the uniqueness of each governance layer in enhancing or threatening motivation and satisfaction.

This study investigates the correlates of job satisfaction among 73,441 employees in healthcare regional governments in Italy. Across four cross sectional surveys in different healthcare systems, we use an optimization model to identify the most efficient combination of factors that is associated with an increase in employees’ satisfaction at three levels, namely one’s unit, organization, and regional healthcare system.

Findings show that environmental characteristics, organizational management practices, and team coordination mechanisms correlates with professionals’ satisfaction. Optimization analyses reveal that improving the planning of activities and tasks in the unit, a sense of being part of a team, and supervisor’s managerial competences correlate with a higher satisfaction to work for one’s unit. Improving how managers do their job tend to be associated with more satisfaction to work for the organization.

Conclusions

The study unveils commonalities and differences of personnel administration and management across public healthcare systems and provides insights on the role that several layers of governance have in depicting human resource management strategies.

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Introduction

Measuring employees’ satisfaction with their jobs and working environment have become increasingly common worldwide among government and public organizations across fields, including healthcare [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Designing personnel policies that fit workers’ perceptions turned out to be uncontroversially relevant. Even more so during challenging times such as those generated by budget cuts and increased demands for public service provision [ 1 ] or caused by health and economic emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak [ 5 ]. The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey administered by the United States Office of Personnel Management to federal civil servants is just the most famous example of how organizations can monitor workers’ attitudes and perceptions to manage human capital effectively [ 6 , 7 ]. Among the OECD governments administering surveys to their employees, the most common focus is on job satisfaction. Indeed, the number of countries that center the items of questionnaires on employees’ satisfaction is larger than those centering on work-life balance, employee motivation, or management effectiveness [ 1 ].

Public healthcare organizations are not extraneous to the irreversible trend of measuring employee perceptions to boost performance and improve service provision [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Indeed, asking employees to express their opinion on the work environment in which they operate daily to provide social and health services to citizens make them involved in the management and planning of activities. At the same time, employees’ feedback become a valuable resource for organizational management and an important tool to initiate targeted, efficient and effective improvement processes based on staff needs and expectations. Considering the multiplicity of aspects associated with job satisfaction, it is important to provide management with a method for assessing which elements it may be useful to focus on.

Our study is dedicated to identifying the mix of factors that are associated with an improvement of health professionals’ job satisfaction related to unit, organization, and regional government in the context of a series of large-scale surveys. Investigating employees’ satisfaction and perception about organizational climate with different governance levels seems essential in light of extant evidence showing the interconnection as well as the uniqueness of each governance layer in enhancing or threatening motivation and satisfaction across public administration fields, including government [ 12 , 13 ] and healthcare [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].

Our work provides several contributions to existing knowledge on the correlates of job satisfaction among civil servants in health organizations. Our findings may prove useful to scholars and practitioners alike. Firstly, to the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first that employs optimization models for this purpose. In doing so, we espouse recent invitations to develop research projects that are context-sensitive and practical so to be able to develop middle range theories because optimization analyses is primarily meant to speak to managers and healthcare professionals [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Indeed, the main objective of the calculation of the optimization function is to provide some indications with a managerial value on the most efficient group of predictors – organizational variables – that can drive a preset level of improvement in job satisfaction so to close the science-practice gap in healthcare management work. In other words, the calculation provides a numerical information that shows how much organizational aspects weigh on the level of satisfaction. It was introduced for the first time in the field of health performance analysis by a group of researchers from the Ontario Ministry of Health in Canada [ 20 , 21 ] and subsequently used in the Italian context to analyze patient satisfaction emergency departments and nursing homes [ 22 , 23 ]. The use of optimization techniques in public administration is largely unexplored at the moment. Secondly, although unable to collect data across healthcare systems in the world, we account for common critiques about the external validity of findings in public administration research by combining large samples and survey replications in our research design [ 24 , 25 ]. Even in the country where the study is set, the number of respondents in our work is rather unique.

Job satisfaction in mission-driven organizations: a literature overview

Job satisfaction is one of the most investigated constructs by practitioners and scholars alike across disciplines such as health services [ 2 , 26 ], public administration [ 27 ] and applied psychology [ 28 , 29 ]. In the words of Hal Rainey [ 30 ], “thousands of studies and dozens of different questionnaire measures have made job satisfaction one of the most intensively studied variables in organizational research, if not the most studied” (p. 298).

Scholars across fields such as public administration, mainstream management, and psychology agree that work satisfaction construct includes facets related to the fulfillment of various and evolving individual needs and to the fit with numerous and changing organizational level variables [ 28 ]. Recent definitions by public administration and management scholars portray job satisfaction as an “affective or emotional response toward various components of one’s job” [ 31 ] (p. 246) or as “how an individual feels about his or her job and various aspects of it usually in the sense of how favorable – how positive or negative – those feelings are” [ 30 ] (p. 298). Previous definitions in mainstream management and applied psychology describe job satisfaction as “the feelings a worker has about his job” [ 32 ] (p. 100) or as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” [ 33 ] (p. 1304).

The breadth and depth of scholarship onto job satisfactions has nurtured efforts to synthesize and systematize available knowledge through meta-analyses and systematic literature reviews in recent years. For instance, Cantarelli and colleagues [ 27 ], collected quantitative information from primary studies published in 42 public administration and management journals since 1969 and performed a meta-analysis of the relationships between job satisfaction and 43 correlates, which span from mission valence, job design features, work motivation, person job-fit, and demographic characteristics. Furthermore, Vigan and Giauque [ 34 ] present results from a systematic review of the association between work environment attributes, personal characteristics, and work features on the job satisfaction of public employees in African countries. Then, meta-analytic findings show a positive correlation between job satisfaction and public service motivation [ 35 ] and pay satisfaction [ 36 ].

At the same time, novel studies on work satisfaction among employees across typologies of organizations do not seem to have come to an end. To the contrary, for example, observational work still investigate the individual and organizational correlates of employees’ satisfaction in public healthcare organizations [ 3 , 16 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] and government institutions more in general [ 7 , 43 , 44 ]. A similar interest pertains to employees’ preferences in experimental scholarship in public hospital [ 45 ] and public organizations [ 46 ].

Based on the evidence summarized above, we investigate the association between public employees’ job satisfaction to work for their unit, organization, and government system and variables that pertains to the following broad domains: workplace safety, human resource management practices at the team level, supervisors’ managerial capabilities, management practices at the organizational level, and training opportunities.

Building on such experiences as the Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey [ 47 ] and the NHS staff survey, several healthcare systems in Italian Regions administer organizational climate questionnaires to all employees on a routine basis thanks to their collaboration with the Management and Healthcare Laboratory (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy). Italy currently features a national health service with three main hierarchical levels. The first layer is that of the national health departments that define general strategies, laws, and regulations and set general targets. Regional governments, then, are the second hierarchical level. They are in charge of implementing such strategies and meeting such targets. The 21 Italian Regions are autonomous in this implementation phase. As a result, the variation in the governance structures and healthcare services is large among regional health systems. The third layer includes all organizations (i.e., local health authorities, hospitals, and teaching hospitals) that are at the front-line of health services provision to the population.

The decision to administer an organizational climate survey pertains to the regional government. Members of the Management and Healthcare Laboratory (authors included) design organizational climate surveys together with regional healthcare systems, which, at its core, are interested in using results for sustaining managerial change across the healthcare system. The rationale behind the analysis of region-wide data is multifaceted. First of all, the measurement instrument used in our study has been validated [ 48 , 49 ] and used in previous work [ 9 ] for data analysis at the regional and subsequently organizational level. Secondly, our presentation of results tends to score high on ecological validity because of the mechanisms that govern the provision of healthcare services in Italy where decisions taken at the regional level are binding for organizations within the region. Thirdly, the presentation of results by region resonates with well-established practices on the international stage. Just as an example, NHS staff results are presented at the national level also. As a consequence, our survey includes management variables—such as communication, information sharing, training, budget procedures – that tend to cross the borders of professions. The participation of healthcare employees to the questionnaire is voluntary and anonymous. The survey is composed of statements to which respondents indicate their level of agreement on a 1 to 5 Likert-type sale (1 means full disagreement and 5 full agreement). The questionnaire measures employees’ perceptions about their job, organization, management practices, communication and information sharing processes, training opportunities, budget system, and working conditions [ 9 , 50 ].

The outcome variables in this study relate to employees’ job satisfaction for three hierarchical levels, namely satisfaction with one’ unit, organization, and regional health service. These layers are key in the Italian healthcare system. In fact, all three levels hold levers that can be pulled to affect job satisfaction. In particular, we used the following statements:

I am satisfied to work in my unit.

I am proud to tell others that I work in this organization.

I am proud to work for the health service of my Region.

We regress each of these three outcome variables on the following list of correlates, which are survey items that tap into different theoretical domains and represent dimensions that can be modified through organizational change initiatives:

The equipment in my unit is adequate.

My workplace is safe (electrical systems, fire and emergency measures, etc.).

My workload is manageable.

Meetings are organized regularly in my unit.

Work is well planned in my unit and this allows us to achieve goals.

Periodically I am given feedback from my supervisor on the quality of my work and the results achieved.

My suggestions for improvement are considered by my supervisor.

I feel like I'm part of a team that works together to achieve common goals.

My supervisor knows how to handle conflict.

I agree with the criteria adopted by my supervisor to evaluate my work.

My supervisor is fair in managing subordinates.

I believe that my supervisor carries out his job well.

My organization encourages change and innovation.

The organization encourages information sharing.

My supervisor encourages information sharing.

I know annual organizational goals.

I know annual organizational accomplishments.

The training activities offered by my organizations are useful in enhancing my competences.

The training activities offered by my organizations are useful in improving my communication skills with colleagues.

I appreciate how managers manage the organization.

My organization stimulates me to give my best in my work.

I am motivated to achieve organizational goals.

In my organization, merit is a fundamental value.

In my organization, the professional contribution of everyone is adequately recognized.

Following the methodology of Brown and colleagues [ 20 ], the first phase for the calculation of the optimization function consists of an ordinal logistic regression in which satisfaction is predicted by the organizational variables of interest listed above. The second phase, then, combines the regression coefficients with the average values ​​of the items of interest to identify, under certain pre-established mathematical constraints, the set of organizational variables that, with a certain improvement (always less than 15% for constraints required by the type of analysis) allows to reach a fixed level of overall satisfaction. Thus, optimization techniques allow the identification of the most efficient mix of predictors of employees’ satisfaction to help guide improvement efforts. An important information to consider when reading the results of these types of surveys is that improving the score of a variable that is very close to its benchmark is more difficult than that of a variable that is far from it. It is important to underline that the model is built on the average of the answers, so it does not refer to the strategies to be adopted in cases of falling perceptions related to the organizational climate. In other words, the model does not focus on ways to recover the satisfaction of particularly unsatisfied staff. As for the second phase of the statistical analysis, we used a 5 percent improvement of the job satisfaction outcome variables.

The two phases of analysis listed above have been repeated for each of the four Regions that are included in this study. Region A administered the organizational survey in April and May 2018, Region B in December 2018 and January 2019, Region C in March and April 2019, and Region D between mid-October and mid-December 2019. Respondents are 73,441 healthcare employees, of which 24,869 work in Region A; 5,078 in Region B; 21,272 in Region C; and 22,222 in Region D. The response rates are as follows: 28 percent for Region A, 27 percent for Region B, 39 percent for Region C, and 45 percent for Region D.

Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of respondents for each of the four healthcare systems included in our study. In all four cases separately, the average age of participants is not significantly different from the corresponding regional average of all healthcare professionals. Female professionals are slightly overrepresented in all regions compared to the national average of female healthcare professionals. The distribution of respondents across job families in each of the four samples is comparable to the national distribution of healthcare employees [ 51 ].

Table 2 displays the average job satisfaction, by regional healthcare system and by governance level – namely unit, organization, and Region – along with average standard deviation in parenthesis. Overall, the satisfaction to serve one’s organization is lower than the satisfaction to work for the unit and the regional healthcare system.

Table 3 presents the results of the logistic regression on the satisfaction to work for one’s unit across regional healthcare systems. In all regions, keeping everything else constant, professionals’ satisfaction to serve their unit is strongly and positively associated with the following constructs: adequate equipment, work safety, manageable workload, well-planned work, consideration of one’s improvement proposals, sense of being part of a team, agreement with the criteria for individual performance assessment, appreciation for the competences of one’s supervisor, organizational stimulation to give one’s best, and motivation to achieve organizational goals. All relationships are statistically significant at the 0.01 level. In Region A, coeteris paribus, training activities to enhance one’s competences and appreciation for how managers manage the organization are also positively related to job satisfaction at the unit level ( p  <  0.001 and p  =  0.001 , respectively). As for Region B, keeping everything else the same, supervisor’s fairness in managing subordinates and training opportunities are additional positive correlates ( p  =  0.003 and p  =  0.004 , respectively). In Region C, everything else equal, the following items also correlates positively with the outcome: supervisor’s fairness in managing subordinates ( p  <  0.001 ), supervisors’ encouragement of information sharing ( p  =  0.018 ), training opportunities to improve one’s skills ( p  <  0.001 ), and appreciation for how managers manage the organization ( p  =  0.033 ). Lastly, in Region D, everything else equal, the additional positive correlates of job satisfaction are the following: supervisor’s ability to fairly treat subordinates ( p  <  0.001 ), training opportunity to improve professional competences ( p  <  0.001 ), and appreciations for managers ( p  <  0.001 ).

Table 4 sows the results of the optimization function, set for a 5 percent improvement in average value of the item “I am satisfied to work in my unit.” Predictions tend to be consistent across regional healthcare systems. In all regions, in fact, keeping everything else the same, the job satisfaction improvement at the unit level is associated with an improvement in the mean value of the following constructs: well-planned work in the team, perception of being part of a team that work towards shared goals, and perception that the supervisor can carry out the job well. More precisely, the percentages of improvement for these three correlates are as follows, respectively: 1, 15, and 12 for Region A, 1, 15, and 14 for Region B; 7, 15, and 13 for Region C; and 2, 15, and 13 for Region D.

Table 5 displays the logistic regression results for professionals’ satisfaction to work for their organization. In all regions, everything else equal, the positive correlates at the 0.05 or smaller significance level are the following: adequate equipment, workplace safety, sense of being part of a team, supervisor’ abilities to do a good job, training opportunities to enhance competences, appreciation for how managers manage the organization, organizational stimuli to give one’s best on the job, and motivation to achieve organizational goals. The relationship between the satisfaction to work for one’s organization and the degree to which one’s work is manageable is positive at the 0.05 significance level for all regions except Region A, everything else constant. Having a well-planned work is a significant correlate in Region D only ( p  =  0.020 ), ceteris paribus. Participants’ perceptions that their suggestions for improvement are taken into consideration are significantly related to satisfaction in Regions A and B only, keeping everything else constant ( p  =  0.001 and p  =  0.043 respectively). Region C is the only that displays an association between the outcome of interest and respondents’ agreement with the criteria adopted to evaluate individual performance, ceteris paribus ( p  =  0.025 ). Further, everything else equal, job satisfaction to work for one’s organization is positively associated with the degree to which the organization encourages change and innovation in Region A ( p  <  0.001 ), in Region C ( p  =  0.003 ), and Region D ( p  <  0.001 ). Lastly, respondents in Region A and D show a significant association between the outcome and what supervisors do to encourage information sharing, everything else kept constant ( p  =  0.041 , p  =  0.038 , and p  =  0.038 , respectively).

Table 6 presents the results of the optimization analysis for a 5 percent increase in the average value of the item “I am proud to tell others that I work in this organization.” Maintaining everything else constant, improving the mean of employees’ appreciation for how managers manage the organization is correlated to an enhanced job satisfaction at the organization level in all regions. In particular, the percentage improvement for the former statement are 12 percent for Region A, 9 percent for Region B, and 13 percent for all of the remaining regions. Furthermore, in Region B, ceteris paribus, a 9 percent percent improvement in the level of agreement with the statement that the organization stimulates employees to give their best on the job is related to the betterment of the outcome.

Table 7 displays estimates from a logistic regression model for public employees’ satisfaction to work for the health service of their regional government. Keeping everything else equal, across regions, the positive correlates at the 0.05 significance level are the following: workplace safety, supervisor’ adequate competences to carry out the job, effective training in improving one’s skills, appreciation for how managers run the organization, organizational stimuli to give one’s best on the job, and motivation to achieve organizational mission. Having an adequate equipment is positively associated with the satisfaction to work for the health care system at the standard statistical levels in all regions but C and D. The relationship between the satisfaction to work for one’s organization and the degree to which one’s work is manageable is positive at the 0.05 significance level for all regions except Region B, where the relationship is marginally significant ( p  =  0.054 ). Employees’ perceptions that their suggestions for improvement are taken into consideration by their supervisors are significantly related to satisfaction in regions B, C, and D ( p  =  0.009 , p  =  0.008 , and p  =  0.024 respectively). Region C is the only that displays a positive correlation between the satisfaction to serve the health systems and an agreement with the criteria adopted to evaluate individual performance, ceteris paribus ( p  =  0.001 ). Regions C shows a positive correlation between information sharing at the organizational level and work satisfaction ( p  =  0.003 ), whereas team-level information sharing is relevant in Region D ( p  =  0.006 ). Then, awareness of the organizational goals is a relevant predictor of the satisfaction to work for the health service on one’s regional government in Region D ( p  =  0.006 ).

Similarly, to Tables 3 and 6 , Table 8 displays the findings from an optimization algorithm aimed at improving the mean value of the satisfaction to work for the health service of one’s regional government by 5 percent. Improving positive perceptions about how managers run the organization and the motivation to achieve the organizational mission are correlated to an enhanced job satisfaction. In particular, the percentage improvement for the former statement are 11 percent for Region A, 7 percent for Region B, 13 percent for Region C, and 7 percent for Region D. As to the latter, the percentages are, respectively; 12, 15, 12, and 15. In Regions A and D, improving by 1 percent and 2 percent the mean value associated with the usefulness of training for competence enhancement are linked to a higher satisfaction. In Region B, instead, an improvement of the 6 percent of the organizational stimuli to give the best in one’s work correlated with an increased satisfaction. Lastly, improving personnel’s perceptions about workplace settings by 1 percent is associated with a higher satisfaction in Region B.

Overall, our analyses present three main key findings. First, within dependent variables, the correlates of job satisfaction tend to be the same across the health services of four regional governments. Second, the correlates of job satisfaction seem to differ among outcomes, namely hierarchical level at which employees’ satisfaction is measured. Third, context-specific associations emerge from our models.

Our work aimed at (i) investigating the correlates of health professionals’ job satisfaction at three hierarchical levels, namely satisfaction to work for one’s unit, organization, and health system of the regional government, and (ii) predicting how the improvement of the average value of correlates may relate with the improvement in the outcome variables. We employed large-scales observational surveys across healthcare systems in Italy. A series of logistic regressions reveal that environmental characteristics, management practices at the organizational level, and management practices at the team level correlates with work satisfaction. The pattern of results seems to replicate across outcome variables and healthcare systems. A series of optimization algorithms show that improving how the work is organized at the unit level, the degree to which employees perceive a sense of being part of a team with shared goals, and the supervisor’s abilities in carrying out the job may correlate with a better satisfaction to work for one’s unit. To the contrary, improving how managers perform their job tend to be associated with more satisfaction to work for one’s organization. As to the satisfaction to serve one’s regional health system, then, an improved work satisfaction correlates with an improved appreciation for the top management and the motivation to achieve the organizational mission.

The correlates that may relate to a higher job satisfaction are, therefore, in part different among hierarchical levels [ 2 , 18 , 52 ]. Within outcome variables, the largest variation in the correlates of job satisfaction is to the regional government level. Taken together, these findings align with two well established literature streams. On the one hand, attitudes and needs are so deeply seated in the human nature that they tend to be invariant for work satisfaction at the micro-level [ 8 , 43 ]. On the other hand, then, characteristics contingent to the macro-level may be relevant in prioritizing some attitudes and needs over others [ 6 , 9 , 16 ].

Further on the previous point, our work seems to suggest that all governance levels can play a role in employees’ job satisfaction, which continues to be a topic of interest for research syntheses attempts at the international level [ 53 , 54 , 55 ]. Some of the levers may overlap whereas other are different. As to the former, for instance, the quality and competence of managers at the unit and organizational level both correlated with work satisfaction. Thus, the mix of levers and the extent to which they are used may vary across regional healthcare system, which ultimately represent the highest governance level. Research on this consideration seems to have become even more prominent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic [ 56 ].

Our study may provide a few contributions to extant scholarship and practice on job satisfaction in public service. Firstly, we investigate the correlates of satisfaction at three hierarchical levels. To the best of our knowledge, while most research analyzed satisfaction using hierarchical models [ 9 ], they tend to focus on one level only. Secondly, our analyses tap into many correlates of job satisfaction. This has the potential to uncover unexpected associations. Routine and large-scale survey on public employees’ perceptions provide a natural opportunity to engage in broad and deep understanding of organizational phenomena in the management of human resources. Thirdly, we introduce optimization models as a way to provide practitioners-friendly predictions on combinations of job satisfaction constructs that may be worth considering together to improve well-being. We are not aware of any such approach as far as managing public personnel is concerned. Fourthly, unlike most scholarship, our work is based on large-sample surveys and replication efforts aimed at the testing the generalizability of the findings.

Limitations

From a practitioner standpoint, the main limitation of our study is that it provides valuable insights targeted to decision makers at the regional level. In other words, it is beyond the scope of this investigation providing analyses at the organizational level. The degree to which findings aggregated by region generalize to results aggregated by organization within regions remains to be tested. Similarly, providing analysis across typologies of health professionals – also through customized survey instruments – is outside the scope of our work, though an avenue of future work that might be worth pursuing.

Then, we must acknowledge that our work suffers from the same limitations that affect observational studies and combine logistic regression analyses with optimization techniques. Most notably, we are unable to establish cause-effect relationships between job satisfaction and its determinants or consequences. As to the representativeness of the sample, the inability to compare demographic statistics between the sample and the exact population of reference is due to the general data protection regulation—defined at the European Union level and detailed in national states—that is fully binding when doing research with real organizations. The regulation prohibits analyzing variables before the data collection is closed and storing any information of non-respondents. Although, a response rate of 80% or more is desired to establish scientific validity in epidemiology, researchers demonstrated that reaching that response rate is not always possible and can lead to other problems [ 57 ]. In addition, the response rates in our samples appear to be in line with those of established surveys, such as the NHS survey – where the lates response rate reached 46% or the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey – which registered a 34% participation in the latest edition. Of course, readers are encouraged to always keep in mind this feature when considering our work. Furthermore, concerns about the generalizability of results across operations (importantly of the job satisfaction variables), settings, and samples are legitimate. Similarly, the generalizability of our findings from the optimization analyses to other healthcare systems around the world is unknown because, to the best of our knowledge, this has no prior in the literature. Unfortunately, we are unable, at the moment, to expand our work by adding data collected in other countries around the globe. We very much encourage replication studies, which would serve as rigorous and challenging external validity tests of the current work. In fact, replication efforts are common practice for other topics in the healthcare management domains. As to regression analyses, omitted variable biases may impinge on the validity of the findings. Moreover, our analyses are nested within regions and comparisons across regions must be done with caution. In fact, our logistic regressions do not account for variables such as socio-demographic items that may be distributed differently in different regional healthcare systems.

As to the optimization techniques, we acknowledge that its sensitivity to changes in the magnitude of regression coefficients and the lack of cost structure impose a warning in deriving implications for practice. Indeed, the optimization model selects the best combination of correlates that might associate with an improved outcome based on their mean value and relative strength. This influences the stability of the optimization results. Also, the algorithm identifies a set of factors that together generate a preset level of increase in the overall satisfaction measures. Although these results are optimal within the context in which they were presented, they may not be the best possible from a cost perspective. Lacking cost information, the algorithm assumes that the cost to improve each of the predictors is equivalent. Form a practical perspective, however, implementing changes suggested by our findings may not translate into the most cost-effective reforms. To the contrary, there might be other interventions that improve job satisfaction and are less costly.

Our work on the job satisfaction correlates of about 73,000 public health employees paves the way for a more extensive use of work satisfaction and organizational climate survey among typologies of mission-driven organizations. Whereas questionnaires measuring the attitudes and the perceptions of government personnel such as the Federal Employee Viewpoint in the United States or of health professionals such as the survey of National Health System in the United Kingdom are now spread around the globe, similar inquiry are not yet common practice in other public institutions. Our study may be a systematic attempt to fill this gap. Furthermore, we emphasize the need to use any such survey for managerial efforts aimed at improving the quality of the organization and the well-being of their employees. In this regard, the optimization model seems helpful in deriving implications for practice.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available to maintain employers' and employees' confidentiality but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Cantarelli, P., Vainieri, M. & Seghieri, C. The management of healthcare employees’ job satisfaction: optimization analyses from a series of large-scale surveys. BMC Health Serv Res 23 , 428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09426-3

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement: the mediating role of job involvement.

• Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

We conducted an empirical study aimed at identifying and quantifying the relationship between work characteristics, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational policies and procedures in the transition economy of Serbia, South Eastern Europe. The study, which included 566 persons, employed by 8 companies, revealed that existing models of work motivation need to be adapted to fit the empirical data, resulting in a revised research model elaborated in the paper. In the proposed model, job involvement partially mediates the effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment. Job satisfaction in Serbia is affected by work characteristics but, contrary to many studies conducted in developed economies, organizational policies and procedures do not seem significantly affect employee satisfaction.

1. Introduction

In the current climate of turbulent changes, companies have begun to realize that the employees represent their most valuable asset ( Glen, 2006 ; Govaerts et al., 2011 ; Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014 ; Vomberg et al., 2015 ; Millar et al., 2017 ). Satisfied and motivated employees are imperative for contemporary business and a key factor that separates successful companies from the alternative. When considering job satisfaction and work motivation in general, of particular interest are the distinctive traits of these concepts in transition economies.

Serbia is a country that finds itself at the center of the South East region of Europe (SEE), which is still in the state of transition. Here transition refers to the generally accepted concept, which implies economic and political changes introduced by former socialist countries in Europe and beyond (e.g., China) after the years of economic stagnation and recession in the 1980's, in the attempt to move their economy from centralized to market-oriented principles ( Ratkovic-Njegovan and Grubic-Nesic, 2015 ). Serbia exemplifies many of the problems faced by the SEE region as a whole, but also faces a number of problems uniquely related to the legacy of its past. Due to international economic sanctions, the country was isolated for most of the 1990s, and NATO air strikes, related to the Kosovo conflict and carried out in 1999, caused significant damage to the industry and economy. Transitioning to democracy in October 2000, Serbia embarked on a period of economic recovery, helped by the introduction of long overdue reforms, major inflows of foreign investment and substantial assistance from international funding institutions and others in the international community. However, the growth model on which Serbia and other SEE countries relied between 2001 and 2008, being based mainly on rapid capital inflows, a credit-fueled domestic demand boom and high current account deficit (above 20% of GDP in 2008), was not accompanied by the necessary progress in structural and institutional reforms to make this model sustainable ( Uvalic, 2013 ). The central issue of the transition process in Serbia and other such countries is privatization of public enterprises, which in Serbia ran slowly and with a number of interruptions, failures and restarts ( Radun et al., 2015 ). The process led the Serbian industry into a state of industrial collapse, i.e., deindustrialization. Today there are less than 400,000 employees working in the industry in Serbia and the overall unemployment rate exceeds 26% ( Milisavljevic et al., 2013 ). The average growth of Serbia's GDP in the last 5 years was very low, at 0.6% per year, but has reached 2.7% in 2016 ( GDP, 2017 ). The structure of the GDP by sector in 2015 was: services 60.5%, industry 31.4%, and agriculture 8.2% ( Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2017 ).

Taking into account the specific adversities faced by businesses in Serbia, we formulated two main research questions as a starting point for the analysis of the problem of work motivation in Serbia:

1. To what extent are the previously developed models of work motivation (such as the model of Locke and Latham, 2004 ) applicable to the transition economy and business practices in Serbia?

2. What is the nature of the relationships between different segments of work motivation (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement and work characteristics)?

The Hawthorn experiment, conducted in early 1930s ( Mayo, 1933 ), spurred the interest of organizational behavior researchers into the problem of work motivation. Although Hawthorn focused mainly on the problems of increasing the productivity and the effects of supervision, incentives and the changing work conditions, his study had significant repercussions on the research of work motivation. All modern theories of work motivation stem from his study.

Building on his work, Maslow (1943) published his Hierarchy of Needs theory, which remains to this day the most cited and well known of all work motivation theories according to Denhardt et al. (2012) . Maslow's theory is a content-based theory , belonging to a group of approaches which also includes the ERG Theory by Alderfer (1969) , the Achievement Motivation Theory, Motivation-Hygiene Theory and the Role Motivation Theory.

These theories focus on attempting to uncover what the needs and motives that cause people to act in a certain way, within the organization, are. They do not concern themselves with the process humans use to fulfill their needs, but attempt to identify variables which influence this fulfillment. Thus, these theories are often referred to as individual theories , as they ignore the organizational aspects of work motivation, such as job characteristics or working environment, but concentrate on the individual and the influence of an individual's needs on work motivation.

The approach is contrasted by the process theories of work motivation, which take the view that the concept of needs is not enough to explain the studied phenomenon and include expectations, values, perception, as important aspects needed to explain why people behave in certain ways and why they are willing to invest effort to achieve their goals. The process theories include: Theory of Work and Motivation ( Vroom, 1964 ), Goal Setting Theory ( Locke, 1968 ), Equity Theory ( Adams, 1963 ), as well as the The Porter-Lawler Model ( Porter and Lawler, 1968 ).

Each of these theories has its limitations and, while they do not contradict each other, they focus on different aspects of the motivation process. This is the reason why lately they have been several attempts to create an integrated theory of work motivation, which would encompass all the relevant elements of different basic theories and explain most processes taking place within the domain of work motivation, the process of motivation, as well as employee expectations ( Donovan, 2001 ; Mitchell and Daniels, 2002 ; Locke and Latham, 2004 ). One of the most influential integrated theories is the theory proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , which represents the basis for the study presented in this paper.

The model of Locke and Latham is show in Figure 1 . As the figure shows, it includes individual needs, values and motive, as well as personality. Incorporating the theory of expectations, the goal-setting theory and the social-cognitive theory, it focuses on goal setting, goals themselves and self-efficiency. Performance, by way of achievements and rewards, affects job satisfaction. The model defines relations between different constructs and, in particular, that job satisfaction is affected by the job characteristics and organizational policy and procedures and that it, in turn, affects organizational commitment and job involvement. Locke and Latham suggested that the theory they proposed needs more stringent empirical validation. In the study presented here, we take a closer look at the part of their theory which addresses the relationship between job satisfaction, involvement and organizational commitment. The results of the empirical study conducted in industrial systems suggest that this part of the model needs to be improved to reflect the mediating role of job involvement in the process through which job satisfaction influences organizational commitment.

Figure 1 . Diagram of the Latham and Locke model. The frame on the right indicates the part of the model the current study focuses on.

Job satisfaction is one of the most researched phenomena in the domain of human resource management and organizational behavior. It is commonly defined as a “pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of oneś job or job experiences” ( Schneider and Snyder, 1975 ; Locke, 1976 ). Job satisfaction is a key element of work motivation, which is a fundamental determinant of one's behavior in an organization.

Organizational commitment, on the other hand, represents the degree to which the employees identify with the organization in which they work, how engaged they are in the organization and whether they are ready leave it ( Greenberg and Baron, 2008 ). Several studies have demonstrated that there is a strong connection between organizational commitment, job satisfaction and fluctuation ( Porter et al., 1974 ), as well as that people who are more committed to an organization are less likely to leave their job. Organizational commitment can be thought of as an extension of job satisfaction, as it deals with the positive attitude that an employee has, not toward her own job, but toward the organization. The emotions, however, are much stronger in the case of organizational commitment and it is characterized by the attachment of the employee to the organization and readiness to make sacrifices for the organization.

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been researched relatively frequently ( Mathieu and Zajac, 1990 ; Martin and Bennett, 1996 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Morrow, 2011 ). The research consensus is that the link exists, but there is controversy about the direction of the relationship. Some research supports the hypothesis that job satisfaction predicts organizational commitment ( Stevens et al., 1978 ; Angle and Perry, 1983 ; Williams and Hazer, 1986 ; Tsai and Huang, 2008 ; Yang and Chang, 2008 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Valaei et al., 2016 ), as is the case in the study presented in this paper. Other studies suggest that the organizational commitment is an antecedent to job satisfaction ( Price and Mueller, 1981 ; Bateman and Strasser, 1984 ; Curry et al., 1986 ; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992 ).

In our study, job involvement represents a type of attitude toward work and is usually defined as the degree to which one identifies psychologically with one's work, i.e., how much importance one places on their work. A distinction should be made between work involvement and job involvement. Work involvement is conditioned by the process of early socialization and relates to the values one has wrt. work and its benefits, while job involvement relates to the current job and is conditioned with the one's current employment situation and to what extent it meets one's needs ( Brown, 1996 ).

2.1. Research Method

Based on the relevant literature, the results of recent studies and the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , we designed a conceptual model shown in Figure 2 . The model was then used to formulate the following hypotheses:

H0 - Work motivation factors, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, job satisfaction and work characteristics, represent interlinked significant indicators of work motivation in the organizations examined.

H1 - Work characteristics will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.

H2 - Organizational policies and procedures will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.

H3 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with job involvement.

H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment.

H5 - Job involvement will have a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Figure 2 . The research model.

2.2. Participants

For the purpose of this study, 125 organizations from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce database ( www.stat.gov.rs ) were randomly selected to take part in this study. Each organization was contacted and an invitation letter was sent. Eight companies expressed a desire to take part and provided contact details for 700 of their employees. The questionnaire distribution process was conducted according to Dillman's approach ( Dillman, 2011 ). Thus, the initial questionnaire dissemination process was followed by a series of follow-up email reminders, if required. After a 2-month period, out of 625 received, 566 responses were valid. Therefore, the study included 566 persons, 235 males (42%) and 331 women (58%) employed by 8 companies located in Serbia, Eastern Europe.

The sample encompassed staff from both public (53%) and private (47%) companies in manufacturing (31%) and service (69%) industries. The companies were of varied size and had between 150 and 6,500 employees, 3 of them (37.5%) medium-sized (<250 employees) and 5 (62.5%) large enterprises.

For the sake of representativeness, the sample consisted of respondents across different categories of: age, years of work service and education. The age of the individuals was between 20 and 62 years of age and we divided them into 5 categories as shown in Table 1 . The table provides the number of persons per category and the relative size of the category wrt. to the whole sample. In the same table, a similar breakdown is shown in terms of years a person spent with the company, their education and the type of the position they occupy within the company (managerial or not).

Table 1 . Data sample characteristics.

2.3. Ethics Statement

The study was carried out in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Codex of Professional Ethics of the University of Novi Sad. The relevant ethics committee is the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad.

All participants took part voluntarily and were free to fill in the questionnaire or not.

The questionnaire included a cover sheet explaining the aim of the research, ways in which the data will be used and the anonymous nature of the survey.

2.4. Measures

This study is based on a self reported questionnaire as a research instrument.

The questionnaire was developed in line with previous empirical findings, theoretical foundations and relevant literature recommendations ( Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ; Weiss et al., 1967 ; Mowday et al., 1979 ; Kanungo, 1982 ; Fields, 2002 ). We then conducted a face validity check. Based on the results, some minor corrections were made, in accordance with the recommendations provided by university professors. After that, the pilot test was conducted with 2 companies. Managers from each of these companies were asked to assess the questionnaire. Generally, there were not any major complaints. Most of the questions were meaningful, clearly written and understandable. The final research instrument contained 86 items. For acquiring respondents' subjective estimates, a five-point Likert scale was used.

The questionnaire took about 30 min to fill in. It consisted of: 10 general demographic questions, 20 questions from the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 15 questions from the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), 10 questions from the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ), 18 questions of the Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS), 6 questions of the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and 7 additional original questions related to the rules and procedures within the organization.

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 20 items short form ( Weiss et al., 1967 ), was used to gather data about job satisfaction of participants. The MSQ – short version items, are rated on 5-points Likert scale (1 very dissatisfied with this aspect of my job, and 5 – very satisfied with this aspect of my job) with two subscales measuring intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction.

Organizational commitment was measured using The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). It is a 15-item scale developed by Mowday, Steers and Porter ( Mowday et al., 1979 ) and uses a 5-point Likert type response format, with 3 factors that can describe this commitment: willingness to exert effort, desire to maintain membership in the organization, and acceptance of organizational values.

The most commonly used measure of job involvement has been the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ, Kanungo, 1982 ), 10-items scale designed to assess how participants feel toward their present job. The response scale on a 5-point scale varied between “strongly disagree/not applicable to me” to “strongly agree/fully applicable”.

The Brayfield and Rothe's 18-item Job Satisfaction Index (JSI, Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ) was used to measure overall job satisfaction, operationalized on five-point Likert scale.

Psychometric analysis conducted showed that all the questionnaires were adequately reliable (Cronbach alpha > 0.7). The suitability of the data for factor analysis has been confirmed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Test (see Table 2 ).

Table 2 . Basic psychometric characteristics of the instruments.

For further analysis we used summary scores for the different scales. Job satisfaction was represented with the overall score of MSQ, as the data analysis revealed a strong connection between the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. The overall score on the OCQ was used as a measure of organizational commitment, while the score on JDS was used to reflect job characteristics. The JSS and JIQ scales have been modified, by eliminating a few questions, in order to improve reliability and suitability for factor analysis.

Statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS software. The SPSS Amos structural equation modeling software was used to create the Structural Equation Models (SEMs).

The data was first checked for outliers using box-plot analysis. The only outliers identified were related to the years of employment, but these seem to be consistent to what is expected in practice in Serbia, so no observations needed to be removed from the dataset.

3.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis

Although research dimensions were empirically validated and confirmed in several prior studies, to the best of our knowledge, the empirical confirmation of the research instrument (i.e., questionnaire) and its constituents in the case of Serbia and South-Eastern Europe is quite scarce. Furthermore, the conditions in which previous studies were conducted could vary between research populations. Also, such differences could affect the structure of the research concepts. Thus, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in order to empirically validate the structure of research dimensions and to test the research instrument, within the context of the research population of South-Eastern Europe and Serbia.

Using the maximum likelihood method we identified four factors, which account for 67% of the variance present in the data. The scree plot of the results of the analysis is shown in Figure 3 . As the figure shows, we retained the factors above the inflection point.

Figure 3 . Scree plot of the EFA results.

The communalities for the variables loading into the factors are shown in Table 3 and the questions corresponding to our variables are listed in Table 4 . Initial communalities are estimates of the proportion of variance in each variable accounted for by all components (factors) identified, while the extraction communalities refer to the part of the variance explained by the four factors extracted. The model explains more of the variance then the initial factors, for all but the last variable.

Table 3 . Communalities.

Table 4 . Questions that build our constructs.

More detailed results of the EFA for the four factors, are shown in Table 5 . The unique loadings of specific items measured with the different questions in the questionnaire on the factors identified are shown in the pattern matrix (Table 6 ). As the table shows, each factor is loaded into by items that were designed to measure a specific construct and there are no cross-loadings. The first factor corresponds to job characteristics, second to job satisfaction, third to job involvement and the final to organizational commitment. The correlation between the factors is relatively low and shown in Table 7 .

Table 5 . Total variance explained by the dominant factors.

Table 6 . Pattern matrix for the factors identified.

Table 7 . Factor correlation matrix.

3.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

In the next part of our analysis we used Structural Equation Modeling to validate and improve a part of the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) that focuses on work characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement.

Although the EFA suggest the existence of four, not five, dominant factors in the model, diverging from the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , in our initial experiments we used their original model, shown in Figure 4A , taking into account also organizational policies and procedures.

Figure 4 . The evolution of our model (the path coefficients are standardized): (A) the initial model based on Locke and Latham (2004) , (B) no partial mediation, and (C) partial mediation introduced.

In this (default) model, the only independent variable are the job characteristics. The standardized regression coefficients shown in Figure 4A (we show standardized coefficients throughout Figure 4 ) indicate that the relationship between the satisfaction and organizational commitment seems to be stronger (standard coefficient value of 0.54) than the one between satisfaction and involvement (standard coefficient value of 0.37). The effect of job characteristics and policies and procedures on the employee satisfaction seems to be balanced (standard coefficient values of 0.31 and 0.30, respectively).

The default model does not fit our data well. The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) for this model is 0.759, the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) is 0.598, while the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) is 0.192.

A more detailed analysis of the model revealed that it could indeed (as the EFA suggests) be improved by eliminating the organizational policies and procedures variable, as it has a high residual covariance with job involvement (−3.071) and organizational commitment (−4.934).

We therefore propose to eliminate the “Organizational policies and procedures” variable from the model. Dropping the variable resulted in an improved model shown in Figure 4B . The improved model fits the data better, but the fit is still not good ( RMSEA = 0.125, CFI = 0.915 and TLI = 0.830).

We then hypothesized that job involvement influences organizational commitment, yielding the final model tested in this study (Figure 4C ). This model turned out to be the one that fits our data very well ( RMSEA = 0.000, CFI = 1 and TLI = 1.015).

4. Mediation Analysis

In the final part of the study we conducted the mediation analysis, to understand the relationship between job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. We used bootstrapping, based on 5000 samples and the confidence interval of 95%.

We started with a model that contains just one relation between satisfaction and commitment (Figure 5A ), then tested for full mediation (Figure 5B ) and finally partial mediation as indicated in out proposed model (Figure 5C ). The unstandardized, direct effect regression weights and the p -values obtained in these experiments are shown in Table 8 . As the p -values show, all the connections in our three models are significant and that they remain so throughout the evolution of the model. Therefore, job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

Figure 5 . Mediation analysis models. (A) , Model 1; (B) , Model 2; (C) , Model 3.

Table 8 . Mediation analysis regression weights.

5. Discussion

We conducted an empirical study aimed at exploring the relationship between employee satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, work characteristics and organizational policies and procedures.

Based on the relevant scientific literature, recent studies in the area and the integrative model of work motivation of Locke and Latham (2004) , we have formulated an initial conceptual model for our research and hypothesized the connections between the relevant variables. The initial model has been improved iteratively, with the goal of increasing its fit to the empirical data collected in the study.

Starting from the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) we determined that their model does not fit our experimental data well and that we observe a connection between job involvement that is not present in their model. In addition, our data does not support the hypothesis that organizational procedures and policies affect employee satisfaction in the organizations considered. As a result we propose a 4 factor model shown in Figure 4C for the relationship between the concepts of work characteristics, employee satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.

We analyzed the results of the study based on 1 general and 5 specific hypotheses. The research confirms that there is a link between work characteristics and job satisfaction (H1), but that it is weak, suggesting that a dominant effect of the material factors of motivation exists.

We have also determined that there is a connection between the rules and procedures variable (H2) and the rest of the variables, indicating that it should be considered in future studies, but that the constructs need to be operationalized better.

The third specific hypothesis (H3) that job satisfaction has a positive relationship with job involvement has been confirmed and we have observed that extrinsic work motivation has a stronger effect than intrinsic, which can be explained by low wages and insufficient funds for everyday life. Other research has confirmed this link ( Govender and Parumasur, 2010 ) and showed that most of the employee motivation dimensions have significant links with the dimensions of job involvement (9 out of 10 pairs).

The fourth specific hypothesis (H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment) has also been confirmed and we can conclude that a positive relationship exists, which is in line with recent research in this area. The subscale focused on identification with the organization is strongly connected with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors of job satisfaction, but this cannot be said for the subscale focused on organizational attachment. Our research supports the existence of a weak connection between job satisfaction and organizational attachment, both when intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction is considered as a motivator. A study of work motivation and organizational commitment conducted in Bulgaria (Serbia's neighbor) showed that extrinsic factors are key sources of organizational commitment ( Roe et al., 2000 ), as well as that job involvement and the chances for the fulfillment o higher-order needs pay a very important part in the motivation of the employees.

One of the reasons for such a result can be the economic situation in Serbia, which has a severely detrimental effect on work motivation. The transition and economic crisis is accompanied by the shrinking purchasing power of the population, higher unemployment rates and a rising disparity in the salary levels, all of which causes the adjustment of the behavior of the employees to these conditions. Under the economic conditions that exist in Serbia it is to be expected that the individuals will put more value on the salary and advancement prospects than on the opportunities for growth and development, which do not present a direct financial benefit.

The research did not reveal any differences with respect to the sex of the participants, regardless of the variable considered. Other research has not reached a consensus on the matter, as a part of the studies suggests that there are differences in job involvement between men and women ( Lodahl and Kejnar, 1965 ; Hall and Mansfield, 1975 ; Rabinowitz and Hall, 1977 ; Saal, 1978 ).

Regarding the ownership of the organizations examined, the research revealed statistically significant differences between the employees working in public and private companies, i.e., that the participants working in the private sector scores significantly higher on every variable except work characteristics, meaning that they are more committed to work, more involved and more satisfied.

In addition, we have determined that there are statistically significant differences when it comes to the position of the employees in the organization's hierarchy, i.e., whether they occupy a managerial or a non-managerial position. The study shows that managers have higher scores for organizational attachment, organizational commitment, intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators, job satisfaction and job involvement. We can, therefore, conclude that the managers are more satisfied with their work in general and that they are more committed to the organization than other employees. This can be explained by the fact that, due to the nature of the work they do, they are able to make decisions, they have a more varied job and have better material and non-material rewards. A more detailed analysis of the commitment of the managers, focused on identifying if we are dealing with normative, continuous or affective commitment would provide more insight into the structure and nature of the relationship between the organization and the individual.

Considering the type of the company (manufacturing or service) our study showed that the participants working in manufacturing companies are the ones who identify more with the company, are more committed to the company, more satisfied with their work and more involved.

Our study also identified a significant difference with respect to the vocation of the participants, showing that those with training in humanistic sciences awarded most positive scores to the characteristics of their work, while the opposite was true for those of technical vocations.

The part of our analysis focused on the age of the participants revealed that there is a statistically significant connection between the age and job satisfaction, where the older the employee, the less satisfied he/she is with their job and cares less about the characteristics of work. A reason for such a result could again be found in the economic situation of Serbia and the high unemployment rate (over 20%), causing the younger people to be satisfied with the simple fact that they managed to get a job, rather than being satisfied with the job itself. Another reason could be the difference in the perception of desires and possibilities that exists between the younger and older employees.

The years with the company are negatively linked with employee satisfaction, as well as job characteristics, which is in line with the effect discussed in the previous paragraph, as those with more time spent in the company are less satisfied with their job and care less about the characteristics of their work.

Considering the level of education of the participants, our study showed that the more educated the employees are, the less involved they are in their work and that they seem to care more about the characteristics of their work.

Our research showed that links exist between all the variables studied and that the weakest of these links is between work characteristics and other constructs. Of those, the weakest link in turn is the link between the work characteristics and the subscale of organizational commitment related to the identification with the organization. Thus, we can conclude that work characteristics do not exhibit a significant influence on whether and to what extent the employee will identify with the organization in which he/she works, i.e., whether he/she will be committed to the organization.

A moderate to strong connection exists between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, which is in line with the results of numerous previous studies ( Currivan, 1999 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Malhotra and Mukherjee, 2004 ; Saari and Judge, 2004 ; Chen, 2007 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Getahun et al., 2008 ; Colakoglu et al., 2010 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Fu and Deshpande, 2014 ).

Our study confirms the existence of a strong connection between job satisfaction and job involvement ( Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Wegge et al., 2007 ; Griffin et al., 2010 ; Raymond and Mjoli, 2013 ; Zopiatis et al., 2014 ). Many studies have been carried out in an attempt to examine and define the relationship between job involvement and organizational commitment. Our results are in line with previous studies, which diverge only on the strength of the connection, ranging from moderate to strong ( Blau and Boal, 1989 ; Brewer and Lok, 1995 ; Sjöberg and Sverke, 2000 ; Brooks and Swailes, 2002 ; Toga, 2011 ). Our study provides more evidence for the existence of such a relationship, which is moderately strong. Such a relationship does not exist in the integrative model of Locke and Latham (2004) , which served as a starting point for this study.

In addition, we have determined that job involvement has a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

The construct related to organizational policies and procedures seems not to have significant bearing on employee satisfaction, based on the data collected. Two plausible explanations exist for this. The first is the fact that this was the only construct in our study for which a suitable standard questionnaire could not be found, so one had to be constructed specifically, meaning that the construct should be operationalized better in future studies and that this represents the limitation of our study. The other is the fact that in Serbia, as in most transition economies, the lack of suitable institutional and legislative framework at the national level is often accompanied with lax, not clearly defined and even less adhered-to business policies and procedures. In such a state of affairs, the employees seldom have a relatively clear idea of what the policies and procedures of their organization are and are unable to evaluate them with respect to those of other organizations, making this construct very hard to measure. At the same time it can be argued that, in such a situation, the policies and procedures are not perceived by the employees as a significant factor of their organizational behavior and indeed do not affect their work motivation. Whatever the reason, the relationship of policies and procedures to the other variables of work motivation within the transition economies merits further investigation.

Author Contributions

JĆ and SM designed the study. JĆ collected the data and conducted the bulk of the research. MD and DĆ conducted the statistical analysis and modeling. All authors took part in the manuscript writing, led by JĆ and DĆ.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2012-2016/ under REA grant agreement n° 295220.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: work, job, satisfaction, involvement, employee, commitment, organizational, behavior

Citation: Ćulibrk J, Delić M, Mitrović S and Ćulibrk D (2018) Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Job Involvement: The Mediating Role of Job Involvement. Front. Psychol . 9:132. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00132

Received: 07 November 2017; Accepted: 29 January 2018; Published: 16 February 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Ćulibrk, Delić, Mitrović and Ćulibrk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Milan Delić, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Correlation between Employee Performance, Well-Being, Job Satisfaction, and Life Satisfaction in Sedentary Jobs in Slovenian Enterprises

Zinka kosec.

1 Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Stella Sekulic

2 Dental Division, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

3 National Institute for Public Health, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Susan Wilson-Gahan

4 Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central 4300, Australia

Katja Rostohar

Matej tusak, associated data.

The data reported in this study are available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to its proprietary nature.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between employees’ work performance and their well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction in sedentary jobs in Slovenian enterprises using a mixed-methods research design. The quantitative component of the research included the responses to four selected questionnaires of 120 employees in 22 identified enterprises (out of 81), with more than 20 employees, having more than 85 percent sedentary jobs. Each of four questionnaires was chosen to cover one area of enquiry under the research foci of work performance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being. The statistical program STATA was used for data analyses. The analysis shows statistically significant positive correlations between employee performance and job satisfaction (r = 0.35), employee performance and life satisfaction (r = 0.28), life satisfaction and well-being (r = 0.33), and job satisfaction and well-being, whereas the correlation between well-being and work performance did not prove to be statistically significant. The qualitative component of the mixed-methods research design included systematic observation combined with one-to-one discussions. The results indicated that job satisfaction and life satisfaction are more significant in determining work performance in sedentary jobs than employee well-being and that being unwell is still considered a sign of weakness; therefore, employees who are unwell do not want to expose themselves and refuse to cooperate in activities and studies about well-being. Further research examining the impact on work performance of organizational climate measurements in sedentary jobs is recommended.

1. Introduction

A person’s patterns of thinking and feelings are affected by internal and external environments in their life, including their profession and work conditions as some of the most important factors [ 1 ], which in turn have a negative impact on their lifestyle and work performance. Employers should be aware of the many factors that influence work environment, job and life satisfaction, well-being, and mental health, especially in sedentary jobs, since sedentary behavior has become a significant health issue in a post-industrialized world [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and part of the dissatisfying lifestyle of many employees. Workplace environments are target settings for introducing processes of intervention to reduce sedentary behavior [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Different approaches designed to implement employees’ greater range of motion and standing during work hours have come to the fore [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Standing desks or desks that can accommodate standing or sitting have been introduced into work environments. Many companies provide different programs and equipment for their employees, active breaks during work hours, and policies about taking a break from the screen [ 3 ], which is especially recommended for older employees [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. There is a lot of evidence that sedentary behavior influences the quality of life [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] and productivity [ 11 ]. Several studies have found that prolonged sitting time leads to cognitive impairment [ 10 ], mobility limitation [ 8 ], increased risk of mortality [ 12 ], and reduced quality of life in general [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].

Many companies have been trying to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by improving the effectiveness of work engagement interventions [ 13 ]. Work engagement, i.e., work performance, refers to a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption [ 14 ]. Work performance is defined as the total expected value to the organization of discrete behavioral episodes that an individual carries out over a standard period [ 15 ].

Organizations that focus on their employees’ welfare believe that employees’ attitudes and behaviors play a key role in improving the performance of an organization [ 13 , 16 ]. The organizational climate reflects employees’ perceptions of the policies, practices, and procedures that are expected, supported, and rewarded through the human resources department of the organization [ 17 ]. The organizational climate is a meaningful component with significant implications in human resource management and organizational behavior [ 16 ]. A complete reference guide, interventions, and policies to enhance employees’ well-being exist [ 17 , 18 ]. Environmentally sound behavior can be recognized through employees’ well-being and satisfaction, which are fundamental to employees’ quality work performance within organizations, particularly for employees in sedentary jobs, who often perform cognitive tasks that need a clear mind [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. The effectiveness of physical activity interventions in improving well-being across office-based workplace settings [ 22 ], the association of sedentary behavior with metabolic syndrome [ 23 ], as well as the relation between financial incentives, motivation, and performance [ 24 ], are issues that fueled a great deal of research in the fields of management, occupational health, work and organizational psychology [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].

Although there is no consensus about a single definition of well-being, there is a general agreement that well-being includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression and anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfillment, and positive functioning [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Well-being has been defined as the combination of feeling good and functioning well; the experience of positive emotions such as happiness and contentment as well as the development of one’s potential, having some control over one’s life, having a sense of purpose, and experiencing positive relationships [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Researchers from several areas have examined diverse aspects of well-being [ 17 ], i.e., physical, economic, social, emotional, and psychological well-being, development and activity, life satisfaction, domain-specific satisfaction, engaging activities, and work [ 17 , 18 ].

Empirical studies report strong correlations between social contact as well as health and subjective well-being [ 19 ]. Research on employees’ well-being operating in organizations was only developed a few decades ago. The examination of the relationship between employees’ well-being and the cardiovascular system, for example, revealed that physical and psychological well-being should be understood as a source of effectiveness [ 12 , 19 ]. In the past two decades, considerable development in the economics of subjective well-being is reflected in the great number of research studies published reporting the quality of life and its determinants [ 14 , 15 , 18 , 21 , 22 , 24 ].

Subjective well-being is a concept generally operationalized as multifaceted in nature, with both affective and cognitive components [ 17 , 18 , 25 ].

Among the constituent components of subjective well-being, life satisfaction was identified as a distinct construct representing a cognitive and global evaluation of the quality of one’s life as a whole [ 17 ]. Although life satisfaction is correlated with affective components of subjective well-being, it forms a separate factor from the other types of well-being [ 18 , 25 ]. Comprehensive assessment of subjective well-being requires separate measures of both life satisfaction and affective components of subjective well-being [ 21 ].

Life satisfaction is a cognitive evaluation of the overall quality of one’s life [ 21 ] and is one of the many overlapping facets of subjective well-being [ 25 ]. Life satisfaction is related to self-perception [ 26 ] and is a significant predictor of employees’ productivity in sedentary jobs [ 11 ], specifically in older adults [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].

Various studies [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] analyzed factors associated with life satisfaction and well-being and investigated what makes people happy [ 31 ]. The effect of age and body composition of office employees was examined [ 32 ], as well as stress and resilience potential [ 33 ] in different professions [ 34 ]. In such studies, the authors mentioned methodological limitations relevant to measurement scales [ 35 ], empirical models’ validations [ 36 ], statistical power analyses in behavioral science [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ], and other principles and applications of qualitative research [ 41 ].

Life satisfaction judgments are mostly based on a person’s subjective criteria rather than necessarily reflecting outward conditions [ 25 , 26 , 29 ]. However, the assessment of life satisfaction can be only marginally influenced by mood and context since life satisfaction is a temporally stable construct [ 26 ]. Life satisfaction evaluations are broadly associated with other stable traits. The empirical relationships are consistent with the theory regarding core self-evaluations, which suggests that dispositions are important explanatory variables for predicting various forms of subjective well-being [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 27 , 28 ].

Job satisfaction is the result of a person’s attitude towards work and the factors associated with their work and life in general [ 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 ] and is closely related to work performance [ 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 , 31 ]. Several studies found a positive correlation between job satisfaction, the organizational climate [ 16 ], and overall performance [ 21 , 22 ].

Many authors mentioned other methodological dilemmas, i.e., different measurement scales [ 35 ] and empirical validations [ 36 , 40 ], i.e., also the calculation of posterior distributions by data augmentation [ 41 ], and different variations of satisfaction surveys [ 42 ]. Unfortunately, many studies on workplace characteristics, well-being, and life and job satisfaction rely primarily on cross-sectional self-reported surveys [ 8 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 43 ], making it difficult to disentangle the relationship between constructs. It has been a trend lately to develop work environment by various systematic approaches, e.g., the Human Resources Index [HRI] measurement [ 43 ]. In addition, motivation, and more specifically intrinsic motivation, was an important determinant of psychological well-being, gaining greater influence among male participants who had a higher level of physical activity, highlighting the need to increase one’s intrinsic motivation [ 44 ]. There are also always questions connected to lifestyle, in modern society especially related to eating habits [ 45 ]. The dynamic, adaptable complex approaches are especially important in recent years in response to COVID-19, connected with changes in general lifestyle, physical activity patterns, and sedentary behavior and associations with mental health [ 44 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], especially in computer workers, as one of the most typical sedentary works. In recent years, authors have suggested different models for the balance between work and life for subjective well-being, e.g., the moderated mediation model [ 50 ], or they have written about exploring the nature and antecedents of employee energetic well-being at work and job performance [ 51 ]. A special case is also well-being at work after a return to work [ 52 ]. This was considered as not under the special focus of our research; however, it was recognized as part of the organizational culture in the enterprises.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between employees’ work performance and their well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction in sedentary jobs in Slovenian enterprises with more than 80% sedentary workplaces, using a mixed-methods research design. This is the first time that research has been conducted into the correlation between employee performance, well-being, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in Slovenian enterprises, making the research a unique contribution to the field. The main gaps, which are supplemented by our studies, encourage similar further studies in sedentary jobs in Slovenia with the final goal to improve not only work performance but also the organizational culture in enterprises with sedentary jobs in Slovenia.

2. Materials and Methods

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. All authors collaborated to design the procedure, while the first author carried out data collection. The possibility of a face-to-face or telephone conversation to explain further details of this study was offered to all participants and eleven of them used the opportunity to be provided with further information, while the remaining participants provided their consent to participate without asking for further explanation.

The methodological tool of this study was questionnaires, which have been used and proven in similar studies [ 15 , 25 , 36 , 38 , 42 ]. In addition, selected human resource management (HRM) professionals reviewed the questions to test the acceptance and feasibility of the questionnaire for our sample. To pilot test the questionnaire prior to the beginning of the trial, HRM professionals were approached that had been identified as being willing to volunteer to use the questionnaire. The data sets were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics and analysis of reliability (STATA).

2.1. Quantitative Methodology

The first part consisted of a set of broad, self-report, psychometrically valid questionnaires conducted by the first author in the 22 organizations that have mostly (more than 90%) sedentary workplaces in Slovenia. A short explanation of the basic terminology used was added as an introduction to the questionnaires relating to work performance, well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

2.2. Study Participants and Data Collection

The research team initially sent invitations with an explanation of the purpose of this study to the 81 identified enterprises, spending more than 85% of working time in sedentary positions. After detailed explanations, 22 of the invitees agreed to cooperate. Permissions and guidelines for the testing protocols and the design of this study, as well as any additional information required, were established through several face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations with executive managements and HRM specialists of the selected enterprises participating. In the pre-phase, the participant–employees were also offered the possibility of a face-to-face or telephone conversation about any details or additional information they required about this study. Eleven employees asked for additional information. Data collection was carried out from September 2018 to April 2019, with one day spent in each enterprise. Completion of all measurements for this study took approximately two hours per participant, between 9:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. To ensure standardized conditions, data collection took place in a designated meeting room which was intimate while also being large enough for completing all required measurements. Employees were from different levels of the organizational hierarchies and were categorized according to their role, gender, age, and education level ( Table 1 ). Each employee was required to work an eight-hour day, starting between 6:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. and finishing between 2:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. ( Table 1 ).

General characterization of the participants.

Note: N (number of participants); SD (standard deviation). Body mass index classification: underweight <18.4; normal weight 18.5–24.9; overweight 25.0–29.9; obesity ≥30.0.

2.3. Procedure

All authors collaborated to develop the design of the procedure, while data collection was carried out by the first author.

Study participants were informed in advance of the purpose of this study, guaranteed anonymity and that the data analysis would be based on the responses of all organizations as a whole and not at the individual company level.

In the first phase of the procedure, conversations with employees who wanted further explanation were carried out. The questions referred to the aims of this study, the topics, the hypothesis, if any, as well as the conducted research and their results. The remaining participants provided consent to cooperate without asking for further explanation. After a positive response from all the participants, the testing procedure was carried out in the participants’ workplace. A short explanation of basic terminology used was also added as an introduction to the questionnaire.

The aim of this study was to collect information about four components of work: (i) employee performance; (ii) well-being; (iii) job satisfaction; and (iv) life satisfaction. The first part consisted of a set of broad, self-report, psychometrically valid questionnaires. The adapted self-assessment questionnaires were validated and translated into Slovenian.

The following self-reported questionnaires were used; one for each of the four components of work being researched. That is, employee performance, well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

• Employee performance: The Employee Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) [ 38 ] (Capital Associated Industries, Inc. (Raleigh, NC, USA), 2011) is a valid [ 36 ] measure that assesses individuals on different parameters related to a wide range of working skills (e.g., working at full potential, quality of work, consistency of work, communication, independence, taking initiative, teamwork, productivity, creativity, honesty, integrity, relationships with colleagues, relationships with customers, technical knowledge, reliability, accuracy, and presence). It consists of 23 items with one reverse question and five response options: One participant indicated that the suggested questions did not apply to them, while five participants indicated aptitude. The EPQ is characterized by a total score with a possible range of scores from 23 to 115.
• Well-being: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) [ 42 ] is a consistent, reliable self-report questionnaire designed for use in a variety of settings and cultures in general population samples. There are several versions of the GHQ [ 42 ]. In this study, we used the GHQ-12 due to the simplicity of application in practice and research. The selected version consists of 12 items that examine the mental health of individuals by rating a specific symptom experience or current behavior on a 4-point scale (less than usual, no more than usual, rather more than usual, or much more than usual). It is characterized by a total score of 12–36.
• Job satisfaction: The Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ) [ 42 ] is a psychometrically valid self-report questionnaire that measures an individual’s job satisfaction [ 42 ]. It consists of 13 questions and five response options, with 1 indicating strong disagreement and 5 indicating strong agreement with the suggested statements. It is characterized by a total score in the range of 13–65.
• Life satisfaction: The Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSQ) [ 15 , 25 ] is a brief psychometrically based 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive assessments of life satisfaction. It consists of five items and seven response options, from 1 indicating strong disagreement to 7 indicating strong agreement. The LSQ has excellent psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and test–retest reliability. It is characterized by a total score in the range of 7–35.

The data collected from the questionnaires were accompanied by systematic observation, which was introduced as an objective, well-ordered method for close examination of the selected aspects of this study. Systematic observation involved questions about the participants’ opinions on concrete activities to promote health and well-being in the organizations, on life and job satisfaction in sedentary jobs, and on why some employees decided to cooperate and some not. Systematic observation and a number of in-person, one-to-one discussions were undertaken in the same session of the preparation phase, especially with people who supported the authors in organizing data collection in the company (mostly HR specialists or directors), and later with the respondents while conducting the survey.

The Ethical Committee at the Faculty of Sports, the University of Ljubljana (No. 5) approved this study in March 2018.

2.4. Data Analyses

The statistical software STATA (Stata Statistical Software: Release 14.2, rev.19; 2016, StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA) was used to analyze sample data.

Using descriptive methods, the sample was analyzed by taking measurements of the frequency and percentages of responses to all questions. The statistical analysis was blinded to the researchers and conducted independently. Descriptive statistics, such as proportions for categorical variables and mean values and standard deviations for numeric variables, were used to summarize respondents’ characteristics.

Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances ( p = 0.05) was used to calculate the differences between groups according to:

• Age (range 19–35; age range 36–70),
• Gender (man/woman),
• BMI (normal weight = 18.5–24.9; pre-obesity = 25.0–29.9), and
• Education level (high school degree = 2; college and university degree = 3).

Respondents’ self-report EPQ, GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ scores were summarized with an average score for each question (for each individual). The correlation between the results of the self-assessed variables from the questionnaires (the EPQ, the GHQ, the JSQ and the LSQ) was applied, where the magnitude of correlation coefficients was explained according to Hemphill [ 39 ]. The effect size was considered as low when the value ranged from 0.1 to 0.3, moderate when it ranged from 0.3 to 0.5, and large when it ranged from 0.5 to 1.0 [ 41 ]. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between one dependent variable calculation (the EPQ, which consisted of 23 variables), and three independent variables (the GHQ consisting of 12 items, the JSQ of 13, and the LSQ of five items). R-squared (R 2 ) was used to measure a proportion of explained variance represents the fit of the data to the model. The effect size was considered low when R 2 was <0.3, no effect or very weak when R 2 was 0.3, medium when R 2 was 0.5, and large when R 2 was 0.7 [ 41 ].

Adjusted R-squared measures were used to test the fit of the model.

2.5. Qualitative Methods

The qualitative research methodology was mostly followed according to Evans et al. [ 41 ].

Question-focused analysis was used as a starting point when organizing the raw data, and the responses that had similar themes and that represented the same points were grouped together. All the information was transcribed verbatim and read through several times by the authors. The first-named author then conducted a thematic analysis according to Braun and Clark and Evans et al. [ 41 ], whereby initial comments, codes and memos were categorized systematically into broader themes and concise phases as evident in Table 2 . The six phases identified were (i) becoming familiar with the data, (ii) generating initial codes, (iii) identifying potential themes, (iv) reviewing themes, (v) defining and naming the themes and (vi) producing the report.

Estimated correlation matrix and the significance of self-report instruments.

Note: * Significance p < 0.05.

The qualitative method involved information about specification of the exact actions, attributes, and other variables that were systematically written in the preparation phase and after each data collection, through administration of questionnaires in all organizations. With this observation, the authors aimed to explore how decisions were made and provided the researchers with detailed insight. The data analysis followed the principles of qualitative methodologies [ 41 ].

The main questions in the one-to-one discussion were:

• What is the reason that you agree to participate in actives connected with work performance, job satisfaction and life satisfaction measurements (also in this study)?
• What is your opinion about the significance of job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being measurements for work performance?
• What is your opinion about employees’ willingness/unwillingness to participate in actives connected with work performance and your opinion about the general organizational climate in the enterprises?
• Should companies in Slovenia invest more in employees’ work performance (in their well-being, job, and life satisfaction)? If yes/no, what are your reasons?

3.1. Demographic Data of the Participants

A convenience sample of 120 employees from 22 organizations—65 of whom were female, with an age range from 25 to 69 years, and 55 of whom were male, with and age range from 22 to 70—participated in this study. The main criterion was having a sedentary job. Employees were of different levels of the organizational hierarchies: operational workers (57%), management (9.8%), division management (9.1%), directors and owners (3.3%), and sole traders (14.0%). The study participants were also categorized according to their education level ( Table 1 ).

A total of 120 respondents from 22 organizations completed the EPQ, the GHQ, the JSQ, and the LSQ ( Table 1 ).

The mean age of the participants (SD) was 35.1 (±12.9) years and more than half of them were female (53.3%). The mean height and weight of the participants were 1.7 m and 74.3 kg, respectively, which was considered ‘normal weight’ when assessing the body mass index (BMI) of the participants according to the World Health Organization BMI classification [ 45 ].

Among the organizations, 39.3% of all employees worked in a small organization with the working group of less than 10 employees, which is the highest proportion in the sample; 20.5% worked in a group of 11–50 employees; 28.7% in a group of 51–250 employees; only 11.5% of all employees worked in a group with more than 250 employees.

The majority of study participants (41.0%) had a secondary school diploma or bachelor’s degree prior to the Bologna Process, while 38.5% had completed secondary schooling and 16.4% a master’s or specialization or Ph.D.

EPQ: The EPQ was measured on a on a scale of 1–5. Employees assessed their own work performance as high; the mean score of the EPQ reached 4.2 (SD = 0.04), which is a high score. Accordingly, the differences between the respondents were minor. The lowest value was 3.1, and approximately 80% of the estimates were higher than 4.0.

GHQ: The mean value of the GHQ on a scale of 0–3 was 1.38 (SD = 0.04). The scores were almost symmetrically distributed. The differences between respondents were typical of normal distribution.

JSQ: The JSQ was measured on a scale of 1–5. The mean value of the JSQ was 3.84 (SD = 0.06). Similarly to the EPQ, the JSQ scores showed progress in a positive direction and little difference between respondents. The lowest score was 0.17, while the highest score was 2.75.

LSQ: The LSQ scores were measured on a scale of 1–7, where the mean value was 4.86 (SD = 0.11). The differences between respondents were significant. The lowest mean value was 1.67, and the highest was 7.0. Nearly ten percent (9.8%) of the respondents reported dissatisfaction with work, with a mean value of <3. More than 80% of respondents reported their satisfaction with work, with a score of four or more.

3.2. Employee Work Performance and the Selected Variables (Well-Being, Job and Life Satisfaction)

The correlations between the Employee Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) and the selected factors from the GHQ (well-being), by the JSQ (job satisfaction) and by the LSQ (life satisfaction) were measured with correlation and regression analysis.

The analyses of the results showed statistically significant positive correlations between estimates of the EPQ and the JSQ (r = 0.36) and between estimates of employee performance and life satisfaction (r = 0.29). Cohen’s effect size was medium, showing no correlation between employee performance and general health (r = −0.08), possibly a negative correlation between the two measures although not statistically significant ( p = 0.33) ( Table 3 ).

Regression analysis between one dependent (EPQ) and three independent variables results (GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ).

Note: Coeff. (coefficient); t (t-statistic); N (number of participants). The standardized coefficient estimates the mean change in the dependent variable for a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in the independent variable.

Multiple linear regression was calculated to predict work performance based on the GHQ, JSQ and LSQ results. A significant regression equation was identified, F (3, 116) = 7.70, p = 0.0001, with an R 2 of 0.166.

Participants’ EPQ result was equal to 3.109 ± 0.066; GHQ 3.109 ± 0.181; JSQ 3.109 ± 0.076; LSQ (with GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ scores measured as means).

Both the JSQ ( p = 0.001) and LSQ results (0.021) significantly affected the EPQ values, while the GHQ results (0.444) did not. A graphical representation of the correlation from the regression model is shown in detail in Figure 1 .

Scatter plots of the EPQ associated with the GHQ, JSQ, and satisfaction with life scale (SWLS = LSQ) means in the regression model. Coeff. (coefficient), SE (standard error), and t (t-statistic).

3.3. Qualitative Method Results

Thematic analysis was used as a starting point after organizing the raw data, and the responses that had similar themes and that represented the same points were grouped together.

More than expected results and themes were found for the final report from thematic analysis:

Systematic observation

• Employees who explain their overall status as ‘healthy and wealthy’ and themselves as ‘a productive employee’ are ready to cooperate in research.
• Employees who are not in good health try to hide their condition and are not ready to speak about it in a company setting.
• Employees who are not in good health feel vulnerable and deny all sorts of activities in the enterprises.
• In the testing process, the study participants insisted that the data only be analyzed as part of the whole sample and not on an individual basis or within one company.
• Employees who were not ready to cooperate are also not ready to take part in other healthy lifestyle activities being organized in the frame of company.
• Employees who are not ready to take part in this research also in general refuse nearly all ‘well-being and social lifestyle’ activities in the enterprise and in their leisure time.

One-to-one discussions:

• The respondents (employees in the enterprises who were ready to take part in this research) reported that employees from all companies in general are divided into two groups concerning work performance topics—those willing to participate and those who would absolutely not. They were always on the opposite ends of the spectrum, which could mean that cohesion in not high and that the organizational climate is not optimal.
• Employees who were ready to participate reported their opinion that they represented the better part of employees in the organizations, that they always cooperate, that they are more motivated for better work performance and that they are more productive. They call themselves cooperative employees.
• The cooperative employees reported that there are some employees in the enterprises who are not cooperative, because they try to hide their level of well-being, their health and lifestyle status.
• According to management representatives, employees who are not in good health feel vulnerable and refuse to participate in all sorts of activities organized in their company.
• Respondents reported that employees who were not ready to take part in this research (called ‘those others’) also in general refuse to participate in nearly all well–being and social activities in their company and in their leisure time.
• Respondents reported that “those others” are not motivated and are not concerned with creating a good organizational climate.
• Although anonymity in the testing process was provided to all, the participants reported concerns and doubts, insisting that the data should only be analyzed as part of the whole sample and not on an individual basis or within one company.

Thematic analysis (coding and iterative comparison) gave some interesting conclusions ( Table 4 ).

Results of systematic observations and one-to-one dissuasions.

4. Discussion

The labor market is constantly changing, and sedentary work behavior is nowadays, due to technological advancement and new lifestyles, becoming even more pervasive worldwide. One of the questions is how the new conditions influence work performance, responsibilities, and ability to do the job well. This motivated our research on sedentary jobs for the first time in Slovenia together with well-being and other characteristics. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between work performance and different factors (well-being, job, and life satisfaction) in sedentary jobs. The results show statistically significant correlations between work performance and two measured factors—job satisfaction and life satisfaction. On the other hand, the correlation between well-being and work performance surprisingly did not prove to be statistically significant. Nevertheless, our results showed that well-being is significantly correlated with job and life satisfaction, which are correlated with work performance. On that basis, it can be concluded that there is some indirect relationship between work performance and well-being, which was also established in some earlier studies [ 19 , 23 , 26 ].

The correlations between job satisfaction [ 14 , 15 ], life satisfaction [ 5 , 6 ], and work performance have already been proven in many countries. It has also been found that sedentary behavior negatively correlates with an active lifestyle [ 4 , 6 ] and with less effective work performance [ 14 , 35 ], which also supports our conclusions. Furthermore, our systematic observation findings indicate specific problems in the organizational climate among employees and point to a significant division between the groups and consequential low team cohesiveness, which is essential for team or group effectiveness and work performance [ 50 ]. In our study, the group of employees who were willing to participate called themselves ‘cooperative employees’, whereas employees who were not ready to take part in this study were referred to as ‘those others’, those who never cooperate and always complain. We regret that we were not able to conduct one-to-one discussions with the ‘those others’ group and determine the reasons for their refusal to participate. Many respondents reported their opinion that those who refused to participate in this study in general create a negative working atmosphere in the studied companies. Such opinions were also confirmed by the opinion of management representatives. This calls for new approaches for improving the general organizational climate in Slovenian enterprises, as a base for other necessary improvements. Our findings could, therefore, also serve as an incentive to develop new practical interventions and approaches to improving the organizational climate, as the main goal is to improve work performance and thus all factors that might affect it.

Job satisfaction can be improved in practice by encouraging employees and making them encourage other employees [ 14 , 15 , 20 , 21 , 30 ], which also improves team cohesion [ 37 ], by giving them access to information and all necessary resources to perform their job efficiently, giving them real-time feedback on their job performance [ 43 ] and by providing them with opportunities to explore and show their skills and talents. Furthers studies are needed to confirm whether the employer’s trust and faith in their employees are crucial, a subject studied by others [ 21 , 30 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. The participants, however, believe that the biggest hindrance to achieving such improvement are employees who are not ready to cooperate.

The findings from this study also led to the conclusion that sedentary jobs in the studied companies require complex human resource management. Therefore, more complex studies are needed in this field, with special monitoring and maybe even with human resource index (HRI) measurements, e.g., [ 43 ], which is the current trend in economics, as well as the new reality in economics [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ] and in society.

5. Conclusions

As in most of Europe, Slovenia is also facing the challenge of sedentary behavior as part of modern work conditions. This is the first time that Slovenian enterprises were researched in terms of sedentary work conditions, concerning job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being on work performance, which is the main novelty of the work and presents the possibility of comparing findings with other studies [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], such as the effect of COVID-19 [ 5 , 47 ], remote job options and cross-country differences [ 53 ] or socio-economics status in the relationship between leadership and well-being [ 54 ]. The main gaps, which are supplemented by our studies, are, in addition to finding the correlations between some factors and work performance in sedentary jobs, encouraging similar further studies with the final goal of determine the factors that correlate most with job performance in sedentary work conditions. The aim was to highlight that the study found many employees do not cooperate. In general, our study confirms that for employees in sedentary jobs in Slovenia, work performance is correlated with life and job satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is not directly correlated with well-being as this may have been predicted based on the findings of previously published studies. This can be explained by the small sample size and data collection limitations due to distrusting the research, discomfort, or poor well-being in the work environment. This may suggest that the enterprises involved in our study are confident about their organizational climate. Our practical recommendation is to expand the focus from work performance to improving cohesion and the organizational climate in enterprises in order to create the optimal work environment in sedentary workplaces in Slovenia. The results indicate important conclusion as well as making clear the significant need for further research on the impact of well-being on employees’ productivity in sedentary jobs, in order to face the new reality requiring the need to organize sedentary jobs in different forms, e.g., providing remote job options which might be critical economically in this new decade.

Funding Statement

The research was partly conducted as part of the research program, Bio-psycho-social context of kinesiology, code P5-0142, funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.T., M.B. and Z.K.; methodology, S.S. and K.R.; software, S.S.; validation, M.T. and S.S.; formal analysis, Z.K. and S.W.-G.; investigation, Z.K. and S.S.; resources, Z.K. and M.B.; data curation, Z.K.; writing—original draft preparation, Z.K., M.B. and S.W.-G.; writing—review and editing, S.S. and S.W.-G.; visualization; supervision, M.T.; project administration, M.T. and M.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The Ethical Committee at the Faculty of Sports, the University of Ljubljana (No. 5) approved this study in March 2018.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in this study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Job Analysis Impact in Satisfaction and Performance of Employee Within Digitalization Context Challenges

• Conference paper
• First Online: 30 May 2023
• Cite this conference paper

• Elvir Čizmić 12 ,
• Đevad Šašić 13 ,
• Venan Hadžiselimović 14 &
• Adil Trgo 15  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 707))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference “New Technologies, Development and Applications”

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Bearing in mind the specificities of transitional societies in the context of the process of changing ownership relations and the development of new management concepts, it is necessary to consider the impact of technological innovations and digitization on the description, standardization and specialization of work in the context of employee satisfaction and performance. The goal of the research is to examine how a clear job description, precisely defined job standardization, and clear job-related specialization and competencies specification determine employee performance and satisfaction in the context of the fourth technological revolution and digitalization. Within the scope of this research, important aspects related to the attitudes of employees of different organizations are questioned in terms of their perception regarding clearly structured tasks at work, clearly defined procedures for the work execution, and a clear job description and necessary qualifications for performing the work in relation to the performance and satisfaction of employees. The research sample consists of 186 respondents randomly selected from different types of organizations, the analysis of which is intended to provide clear guidelines related to the shaping of work design parameters in the context of contemporary phenomena related to automation, digitalization and the use of man-machine interfaces with a focus on increasing performance and employees’ job satisfaction.

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Čizmić, E., Šašić, Đ., Hadžiselimović, V., Trgo, A. (2023). Job Analysis Impact in Satisfaction and Performance of Employee Within Digitalization Context Challenges. In: Karabegovic, I., Kovačević, A., Mandzuka, S. (eds) New Technologies, Development and Application VI. NT 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 707. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34721-4_47

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Employee satisfaction, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: The case of Northern Cyprus

European Journal of Management and Business Economics

ISSN : 2444-8494

Article publication date: 6 August 2019

Issue publication date: 29 June 2020

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of human resource (HR) management practices on achieving competitive advantage through studying the mediating role of employee satisfaction in the context of five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus.

Design/methodology/approach

To produce numeric data as well as to test the hypothesis, the researchers employed structural equation modeling and AMOS. The testing included ( n =439) questionnaires. The model suggested by the authors examined the tourism sector, and in particular, five-star hotels located in Northern Cyprus.

The main research findings revealed that HR practices had a significant effect on competitive advantage. By comparison, the research findings revealed that the mediator variable had no effect on achieving competitive advantage for five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates originality by responding to the recommendations of prior studies conducted on HR in Northern Cyprus Island. This makes a theoretical contribution to the field, since only Turkey recognizes Northern Cyprus, which makes conducting research on this country a challenge for researchers worldwide. Based on this study’s outcomes, this paper discusses its theoretical and practical implications, as well as recommendations for future research.

• Competitive advantage
• Employee satisfaction
• Human resource practices
• Northern Cyprus

Elrehail, H. , Harazneh, I. , Abuhjeeleh, M. , Alzghoul, A. , Alnajdawi, S. and Ibrahim, H.M.H. (2020), "Employee satisfaction, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: The case of Northern Cyprus", European Journal of Management and Business Economics , Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 125-149. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-01-2019-0001

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Copyright © 2019, Hamzah Elrehail, Ibrahim Harazneh, Mohammad Abuhjeeleh, Amro Alzghoul, Sakher Alnajdawi and Hussein M. Hussein Ibrahim

Published in European Journal of Management and Business Economics . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

The hotel industry is a growing global industry today due to growth in tourism worldwide. Similar to other industries, this industry is characterized by intense competition between companies. Each company must optimize its position to gain competitive advantage in order to survive and succeed in the market. Competitive advantage refers to a firm’s advantages over rival firms that help it to increase its sales ( Solnet and Hood, 2008 ; Brown et al. , 2015 ). In this respect, the firm needs to find the right strategy to confront the challenges faced by its industry. The firm needs to identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; it must design its strategies accordingly to achieve its organizational mission and vision ( Uysal, 2013 ).

The world is experiencing massive changes with respect to technology, development, organizational practices, market structures and government policies ( Collins and Smith, 2006 ; Lall and Teubal, 1998 ; Malik and Kotabe, 2009 ). All fields of production are increasingly competitive, and companies face intense competition with rival companies in their industry ( Coad and Teruel, 2013 ). Nowadays, a company cannot succeed and maintain its position in the market if it does not execute strategic planning and resource optimization ( Ahlvik et al. , 2016 ). In the global economy, an organization needs to strengthen itself through prudent design of commercial policies to achieve success and sustainability in the industry. Human resources (HR) is a vital resource for any organization, and adequate management of HR can help an organization achieve its goals and objectives ( Abdul-Halim et al. , 2016 ).

A review of the literature reveals an increasing interest in the impact of HR management (HRM) practices on the competitive advantage of hotels ( Albrecht et al. , 2015 ; Chand and Katou, 2007 ; Hrout and Mohamed, 2014 ). Several studies have recognized the importance of HRM to improve an organization’s competitive advantage. However, a detailed study of the hotel industry that identifies the factors that can affect employee satisfaction, such as practical compensation in the hotel sector, does not exist ( Pan, 2015 ). The researchers identified this gap, noting that only few studies examine how hotels implement HRM practices to obtain strong competitive advantages over their competitors ( Domínguez-Falcón et al. , 2016 ; Young-Thelin and Boluk, 2012 ). In this study, we consider HR practices as result-oriented practices that enable firms to become more effective and gain core competitive advantage. HR practices are defined as a group of internally coherent and consistent HR practices that are designed to promote employee competence, motivation, as well as commitment. Therefore, these practices are already oriented to superior business performance and to reach a competitive advantage.

Locke (1969) defined employee satisfaction as “the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values.” Many studies forget the power of employees for attaining competitive advantage ( Pfeffer, 1994 ; Rose et al. , 2010 ; Campbell et al. , 2012 ; Pan, 2015 ). Employee commitment and satisfaction present a great opportunity for any organization ( Walk, 2012 ). Cao and Chen (2016) mentioned that employee satisfaction can change from time to time and from one organization to another. Further, the more the employee satisfaction, the more will be the economic benefits obtained by the organization ( Chi and Gursoy, 2009 ). Some studies pointed out that HRM practices lead to employee satisfaction and engagement; if embedded in organizational polices, these factors can help an organization to achieve competitive advantage and maintain a good level of organizational performance ( Abubakar, Namin, Harazneh, Arasli and Tunç, 2017 ; Abubakar, Elrehail, Alatailat and Elçi, 2017 ; Albrecht et al. , 2015 ; Parvin and Karbin, 2011 ; Ukil, 2016 ). Several additional studies noted that satisfied employees will generate competitive advantages ( Ellinger et al. , 2003 ; Matzler and Renzl, 2007 ).

Therefore, given the aforementioned gap in the existing literature, this study aimed to establish several important relationships that have not been well explored in the hotel sector in Northern Cyprus. First, this study examined the mediating role of employee satisfaction in the relationship between HRM practices and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels in which these factors have not been explored in the north of Cyprus or in the tourism sector. Second, this study contributes to the field of HRM in the hotel and tourism industry by offering an in-depth look at the existing literature. Third, it considers the mediation effect of employee satisfaction, which was initially introduced in hotel management and tourism. Finally, such complex relationships expand the dimension of research conducted in HRM and competitive advantage. The paper is organized as follows: it starts with hypothesis development, followed by methods, item measurements, data analysis, and discussion, and it finally concludes with implications and future direction.

Background and hypothesis development

Human resource planning, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage.

Practitioners have long argued that competitive advantage is an advantage over rivals gained by offering a greater value to consumers. In other words, competitive advantage is the thing that differentiates a firm from its rivals. Drawing on the resource-based theory, competitive advantage can be achieved when a firm has a set of heterogeneous resources that is immovable. Wright et al. (1994) added that “a sustained competitive advantage exists only when other firms are incapable of duplicating the benefits of a competitive advantage.” In the context of HR planning, the employment and other employee-related issues are critical factors that must be considered.

In particular, the HR planning process must encompass human capital and the current and potential skills of employees, as well as organizational planning with respect to staffing. The scientific current of the theoretical foundations of management ( Taylor, 1911 ), places more emphasis on the design of jobs to efficiently and appropriately use the human skills in question. Wright et al. (1994) noted that “human resources can be characterized as a commodity rather than a rare resource; however, to the extent that jobs require skills that allow for variation in individual contributions (i.e. when it is no longer a commodity), these skills should normally be distributed in the population.” Further, the organizations neglected the role of HRM in the innovation process that is essential to give the organization competitive advantage; to do so, the organization should adopt innovative behavior in HRM planning linked with a reward system to increase the level of employee satisfaction ( Amarakoon et al. , 2018 ; Elrehail et al. , 2018 ).

HR planning has a statistically significant impact on the competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between HR planning and the competitive advantage.

HR job analysis and design, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage

According to Klaus et al. (2003) , an analysis of planned work and work design helps employees to show a greater commitment to work and the organization, which, in turn, influences individual and organizational performance as a result of employee satisfaction. A Randstad Engagement Index (2012) report suggested that the HR practices of job and task design, training and development, analysis and design of HR work have a profound effect on labor and work commitments. The report also urged new millennium organizations to enrich and provide various work-related duties and tasks. Further, significance and autonomy add enthusiasm to work commitments and pave the way to the building of trust.

Empirical findings show that work engagement is positively related to job satisfaction ( Giallonardo et al. , 2010 ; Karatepe and Olugbade, 2009 ; Yeh, 2013 ; Zopiatis et al. , 2014 ). Intuitively speaking, an engaged employee is a satisfied employee. Therefore, if HR job analysis and design are rightly performed, employee satisfaction is expected to rise. The first type of activities relates to job enrichment, which entails task enrichment and assigning complex and challenging tasks. The second is job enlargement, which entails broadening the scope of a worker’s tasks. These activities are critical motivators that could enhance work engagement, which heightens employee satisfaction ( Randstad Engagement Index, 2012 ).

Job analysis and design has a statistically significant impact on competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the relationship between job analysis and design and competitive advantage.

Employee performance appraisal, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage

Enterprises seeking to gain a competitive advantage should input processes and manipulate some resources over which they possess both direct and indirect control, including materials and human capital, to generate and achieve sustainability in the marketplace. On the contrary, employee performance appraisal is a meticulous process that involves a systematic evaluation of an employee’s work-related performance and productivity after a certain period. Performance appraisal can result in a rise in pay, promotion and other types of compensations. It is assumed that a better performance appraisal can have an impact on employee job satisfaction.

Supercilious performance among firms in the same sector and pomposity in production resources reflect a competitive advantage. As such, the ability to stay ahead of industry rivals creates an opportunity for firms to ensure market leadership. In particular, competitive advantage depicts the interplay between the types of competitive advantages, that is cost, differentiation and scope of a firm’s activities. Reportedly, modern appraisal systems improve employee satisfaction through personal recognition ( Cowling and Newman, 1995 ). More specifically, an appraisal system that emphasizes employee development and personal growth will have a positive impact on employee satisfaction ( Truss et al. , 2010 ; Teagarden et al. , 1992 ; Porter and Spear, 2010 ). Employee performance appraisal “is a process – often combining both written and oral elements – whereby management evaluates and provides feedback on employee job performance, including steps to improve or redirect activities as needed.”

Employee performance appraisal has a statistically significant impact on the competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the relationship between employee performance appraisal and the competitive advantage.

HR recruitment, selection and placement; employee satisfaction; and competitive advantage

From various HRM approaches, we found that a major source of competitive advantage to a firm is finding the right employees, that is, HR recruitment, selection and placement. Existing research delineates that a substantial number of applicants are searching for jobs in roles that provide opportunities for challenge, growth, engagement and satisfaction ( Mishra et al. , 2014 ; Harter and Blacksmith, 2009 ; Xu and Cooper Thomas, 2011 ). Henceforth, “to attract and retain high caliber, high achieving, productive, committed and ‘engaged’ employees, organizations need to provide working contexts that provides a good ‘fit’ between the role expectations of prospective employees and their subsequent working environment” ( Morgeson and Dierdorff, 2011 ). As noted by Sikora et al. (2016) , organizations should employ qualified employees to achieve competitive advantage by using their skills and ability to perform their tasks in a proper way.

With respect to a strategic HR focus on employee satisfaction as a source of competitive advantage, existing research suggests that researchers have turned red to this HR utility. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this research void. Meyer and Gagné (2008) , Macey and Schneider (2008) and Guest (2014) recommended that organizations who want dedicated, happy and energetic workers should use evidence-based selection processes to predict from a group of applicants those who are most likely to be engaged on the job. Nevertheless, it is important to note that employees who are engaged are satisfied employees, and this is a consequence of workers’ interaction with their situational context.

Clearly, whenever possible, “recruit current employees for new, more desirable jobs, rather than going outside the organization. By drawing on available workers who are already loyal to the firm and understand its mission, a good fit is more likely, thus enhancing employee engagement ( Alatailat et al. , 2019 ). For example, the Randstad Engagement Index found that 61 percent of employees expect to grow their careers with their current employers and just over one-third plan to seek a new position within their current company” ( Randstad Engagement Index, 2012 ). In this respect, the paper argues that firms that want to enhance worker satisfaction should put more efforts to select the candidates who are best suited to the job and the firm’s culture.

Recruitment, selection and placement has a statistically significant impact on the competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the relationship between recruitment, selection and placement and the competitive advantage.

HR compensation and reward, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage

According to Sparrow et al. (1994) , “the act of linking goal setting and rewards, coaching for performance, aspects of career development and performance evaluation and appraisal into an integrated process.” Most organizations try to get and tap the best out of their staff members, getting the best out of employees equals to individual performance, which is subsequently translated into organizational performance therefore creating competitive advantage. This is because the nature of global competition makes it compulsory for firms to measure and motivate services, quality, innovation and risk-taking behavior ( Peters, 1992 ).

According to Dessler (2008 , p. 390), reward and compensation are a form of pay given to workers as a result of their employment status. Such type of pay is very important for employees, for instance Aswathappa (2013) noted that compensation can influence employees living standard, status in the society, productivity and lastly employee work and organizational satisfaction. A study conducted in the USA suggests that public servants working for the US Government job satisfaction were influenced by compensation and reward ( Ting, 1997 ). Handel (2000) showed that compensation and remunerations in form of commissions, stock options and cash recognitions increase employee satisfaction.

Compensation and reward has a statistically significant impact on the competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between compensation and reward and the competitive advantage.

Training and development, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage

Porter (1980) argued that for firms to gain competitive advantage, they should initiate strategic and managerial activities that rivals cannot easily imitate. Following this suggestion, scholars applied this concept to HRM (see e.g. Heimlich, 1990 ; Schuler and MacMillan, 1984 ). The majority of these researchers suggested that HR practices can be used to gain competitive advantage, as these practices are not easy for competitors to imitate. More specifically, capital and technology can be acquired easily at any time. However, it is “rather difficult to acquire a ready pool of highly qualified and highly motivated employees” ( Sparrow et al. , 1994 ).

Enterprises can gain a competitive advantage by using superior HR practices in numerous ways, including culture management; staffing and organizational structure; performance management, training and development and resourcing ( Taamneh et al. , 2018 ). Besides motivating employees, it is important to outsource certain tasks to appropriate and qualified individuals (external resourcing), and to train and develop employees concerning technology and business engineering. According to Beer et al. (1985) , these issues are related to HR and human capital flow policy, which have an intimate relationship with employee satisfaction, as they tend to be more competent and comfortable with their assigned task and the work atmosphere itself.

Training and development denotes efforts and strategies by an organization to improve the skills, abilities and knowledge of current employees ( Jiang et al. , 2012 ; Chadwick and Dabu, 2009 ; Shaw et al. , 2013 ). Albrecht et al. (2015) suggested that firms should do their best to mitigate feelings of anxiety and uncertainty among new employees, that is the excitement and enthusiasm of new workers should be built upon and translated into high levels of engagement. This process of “organizational socialization help newcomers to appreciate the values, abilities, expected behaviors, and social knowledge essential for assuming an organizational role and for participating as an organizational member” ( Albrecht et al. , 2015 ).

Training and development has a statistically significant impact on the competitive advantage.

Employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between training and development and the competitive advantage.

Methodology

Some studies have examined the state of HRM practices in the hotel industry in Northern Cyprus. Although these studies provide insight into the industry, they do not comprehensively represent the players in the sector. In particular, indigenous-owned five-star hotels are the main focus, as they do not receive any aid or support from the government. Moreover, for determining the appropriate sample size, the researchers used 95 percent confidence level, 5 percent margin of error. According to Saunders et al. (2012) , these percentages are appropriate for social science researchers.

The researchers applied IBM SPSS AMOS v21 to the data set, undertaking structural equation modeling (SEM) to diagnose the research model and identifying the data set’s underlying structure. Before testing the hypotheses, the researchers carried out confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the structure and properties of the measurement variables, as well as to corroborate convergent, discriminant and construct validity of the variables. More specifically, SEM is useful for evaluating complicated models, especially the ones that have mediation or a moderator. In this study, we have a mediation effect; as such, SEM can help uncover important relationships. This procedure has been used before in studies conducted in the same field ( Elrehail, 2018 ; Abubakar, Namin, Harazneh, Arasli and Tunç, 2017 ; Abubakar, Elrehail, Alatailat and Elçi, 2017 ). Other methods, such as regression, cannot uncover measurement error, and thus may result in an inflated outcome ( Raykov and Traynor, 2016 ).

Study instruments

HRM practices: the employees of the hotel were asked the extent to which they agreed with statements about HRM practices in their respective hotels. All response scales for the measures were on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (I strongly disagree) to 5 (I strongly agree). HRM practices were assessed with 24 items, for example: “the HR manager is involved in business strategy planning,” “the hotel has clearly defined and documented policies and procedures in place for recruitment and selection” and “the hotel executes needs-based training and development criteria” which were adapted from Wang and Zang (2005) and Alnajdawi et al. (2017) .

Employee satisfaction: the study asked employees to describe their satisfaction with six items, for example: “satisfied with how the organization addresses internal issues impacting services and products” and “satisfied with rewards program,” as developed and validated by Dotson and Allenby (2010) .

Competitive advantage: this indicates the degree to which a hotel has a disadvantage/advantage compared to primary competitors. The study measured this variable using nine items adopted from Lai et al. (2006) , for example: “offers a similar product at a lower price,” “offers a low service cost,” “provides requested and customized services” and “promptly follows up with customer claims and complaints.”

Data analysis

This section clarifies the procedure used to improve the model, including the techniques used to improve the instrument, collect data and analyze the data. Therefore, it tested each aspect of the hypothetical model through HR planning, job analysis, recruitment, selection and placement, compensation, training and development, evaluation of employee performance, competitive advantage and employee satisfaction as mediating variables.

SEM assumes normality of the data set. Raykov et al. (2016) stated that “model fit permits one to obtain estimates of the model parameters with desirable properties, such as consistency and asymptotic unbiasedness and normality.” Rucker et al. (2011) noted that “mediation analyses focuses on examining the magnitude of indirect effects,” and such effects are best accessed via SEM analyses. Thus, this paper employed SEM and then used CFA as the fundamental research methodology. The researchers collected two independent models with the harnessed data to rule out the probability of common method variance and to discover the most suitable alternative model for the data ( Elrehail, 2018 ). The next few paragraphs provide a detailed overview.

Next, the researchers diagnosed demographic variables (see Table I ). The researchers sent a total of 600 questionnaires to hotel employees, and 451 employees responded, yielding a response rate of about 75 percent. Out of the 451 responses, 12 had missing data, and as such were eliminated from the analyses. Out of the 439 valid responses, 76 percent (337) of respondents were male, and the rest were female. The majority of the employees (89.7 percent) were aged between 18 and 30 years, about 10 percent were aged between 31 and 40 years old, and the rest were above 40 years. This outcome provided support to the existing demographic finding of the employee age distribution in the hospitality industry. According to a report by hostelmanagement.com, the average age of hotel employees is between 18 and 36 years. Similarly, the Institute of the Hospitality in the UK reported that the majority of the hospitality workforce is less than 29 years of age. In terms of education levels, an overwhelming number of the employees in Northern Cyprus hotels (81 percent) had bachelor’s degree, 13 percent had some college degrees and the rest had high school and/or higher degrees. Previous studies have shown that the literacy rate in Northern Cyprus is high, with approximately 90 percent of the population having a university education ( Nadiri and Tanova, 2010 ). This highlights the unique nature of the high demand for university education in the country. Most participants (82 percent) had a monthly income between 1,500 and 1,999 Turkish Lira, and 15 percent had a monthly income between 2,000 and 2,499 Turkish Lira, and the rest exceeded 2,500 Turkish Lira. Finally, we observed the organizational tenure of the respondents; the results show that 76 percent of the participants worked for their organization between one and three years, 16 percent worked between four and seven years, and the rest worked above seven years.

First, the researchers tested a model in which all items from all constructs were designed to load on a single-factor model. The diagnosed single-factor model resulted in poor goodness-of-fit indices: ( χ 2 =10,136.658, df=741; p <0.000; CFI=0.287, IFI=0.289, GFI=0.386, NFI=0.274, RMSEA=0.170, RMR=0.057). Next, the researchers tested the data on a ten-factor model. Overall, the outcome shows a good fit for the ten-factor model, as the model fit indices were stronger and better than the previous model, which supports the discriminant validity of our scales: ( χ 2 =1,966.09, df=680; p <0.000; CFI=0.902, IFI=0.903, GFI=0.828, NFI=0.859, RMSEA=0.066, RMR=0.024).

In addition to aforementioned validity test and goodness-of-fit indices check, the researchers assessed construct, convergent, and discriminant validity by evaluating the items’ factor loadings. Overall, the factor loadings were above the cutoff point of 0.40, as recommended by Bagozzi and Yi (1988) and Byrne (2010) . The factor loadings of the measurement variables ranged from 0.42 as the lowest value to 0.98 as the highest value. Only one item was eliminated from the study.

Consequently, the researchers also used the average variance extracted (AVE) to examine the convergent and discriminant validities of each construct. According to Fornell and Larcker (1981) , to ensure convergent and discriminant validity, the AVE value of a given construct should account for more than 50 percent of the corresponding items. Table II shows that AVE accounted for more than 50 percent for each construct, respectively. Next, the study evaluated composite reliability (CR). Scholars such as Bagozzi and Edwards (1998) and Bagozzi and Yi (1988) asserted that CR value should exceed 0.60; inferring from Table II , all the CR exceeded the recommended cutoff value.

Furthermore, the researchers tested the scale item reliability using Cronbach’s α . Nunnally (1978) noted that α values that exceed 0.70 represent and suggest scale reliability as well as internal consistency of the research variables. Inferring from Table II , all α value of the constructs exceeded the recommended cutoff value. Overall, this outcome provides additional support for construct validity, convergent validity and discriminant validity for the constructs in the model. The results collectively provide evidence of convergent validity and internal consistency for the full measurement model and same results for paper recently published in the field ( Alzghoul et al. , 2018 ).

HRM practices have six dimensions. This study used the six dimensions as independent variables. Therefore, the potential threat of collinearity in the measurement model needs to be diagnosed. According to O’Brien (2007) , “the VIF value of 5 or 10 or higher indicates a multicollinearity problem.” All values were below cutoff point 5 used by Alnajdawi et al. (2017) . In general, the findings suggest that multicollinearity is not a major concern with the data set and that we can continue with the analysis.

Before testing the research hypothesis, several multivariate assumptions must be made for the SEM analysis to be carried out, namely, fit of the model, normality of the data set, and collinearity, reliability and validity of the construct. In particular, the current study’s sample size is equal to 439, which is considered adequate for the SEM analysis ( Hair et al. , 2010 ). The absolute maximum values of bias and kurtosis are 1,036 (<±1.5) and 1.54 (<±2), respectively ( Kline, 2011 ). The highest VIF is 2.17 (<10) and the lowest tolerance is 0.46 (>0.1). In addition, no correlation coefficients are greater than 0.8, which shows that multicollinearity did not occur ( Jahmani et al. , 2018 ; Kline, 2011 ).

To proceed with the proposed model and test the hypothesized relationships, the researchers began initial testing using descriptive statistics and simple correlation analyses to examine the correlation and the nature of linkages between the study variables. Table III presents summary statistics and correlations as well as the discriminant validity of study variables. The results suggest that HR planning and job design and analysis did not positively correlate with employee satisfaction ( r =0.072, p >0.05) and ( r =0.083, p >0.05), respectively. However, employee performance appraisal ( r =0.247, p <0.001), recruitment, selection and placement ( r =0.309, p <0.001), compensation and rewards ( r =0.355, p <0.001) and training and development ( r =0.285, p <0.001) correlated positively with employee satisfaction. Next, employee satisfaction did not relate with service variety advantage. However, employee satisfaction was negatively related with cost advantage ( r =−0.121, p <0.05) and service quality advantage ( r =−0.105, p <0.05).

As indicated in Tables IV and V , a significant relationship exists between the independent variables and the dependent variable.

H1 predicted that HR planning would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from HR planning to competitive advantage was significant and positive ( β =0.172, p =0.019). Therefore, H1 received support.

H2 predicted that HR job analysis and design would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from HR job analysis and design to competitive advantage was significant and negative ( β =−0.271, p =0.000). Therefore, H2 received support.

H3 predicted that employee performance appraisal would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from employee performance appraisal to competitive advantage was positive and significant ( β =0.138, p =0.000). Therefore, H3 received support.

H4 predicted that HR recruitment, selection and placement would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from HR recruitment, selection and placement to competitive advantage was significant and negative ( β =−0.086, p <0.001). Therefore, H4 received support.

H5 predicted that HR compensation and rewards would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from HR compensation and rewards to competitive advantage was not significant ( β =0.033, p =0.318). Therefore, H5 did not receive support.

H6 predicted that training and development would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. The path coefficient from training and development to competitive advantage was negative and significant ( β =−0.226, p =0.000). Therefore, H6 received support.

H7 proposed that employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between HR planning and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Following the convention for testing mediation effects ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variable “HR planning” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the dependent variable but not with the mediator. This violated the mediation assumptions; thus, H7 was rejected.

H8 proposed that employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between HR job analysis and design and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Following the convention for testing mediation effects ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variables “HR job analysis and design” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the dependent variable but not with the mediator. This violated the assumptions of mediation; thus, H8 was rejected.

H9 proposed that employee satisfaction would completely mediate employee performance evaluation associations and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. After the conventions to test the effects of mediation ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variable “employee performance evaluation” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the mediator but not with the dependent variable. This violated the mediation assumptions; thus, H9 was rejected.

H10 proposed that employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between HR recruitment, selection and placement and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Following the convention for testing mediation effects ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variable “HR recruitment, selection, and placement” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the dependent variable and with the mediator. To augment the mediation effect, bootstrap results with a 95 percent confidence interval, using 5,000 bootstrap simulation samples following the recommendation by Hayes and Preacher (2010 ), also confirmed that the indirect effect was insignificant. This, therefore, suggests that employee satisfaction does not mediate the association between HR recruitment, selection and placement and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Hence, H10 was rejected.

H11 proposed that employee satisfaction would fully mediate the associations between HR compensation and rewards and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Following the convention for testing mediation effects ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variable “HR compensation and reward” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the mediator but not with the dependent variable. This violated the mediation assumptions; thus, H11 was rejected.

H12 proposed that employee satisfaction would fully mediate the association between training and development and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Following the convention for testing mediation effects ( Baron and Kenny, 1986 ), the researchers tested whether the predictor variable “training and development” had an association with the proposed mediator and then with the dependent variable. The independent variable had a significant association with the mediator and with the dependent variable. To increase the mediation effect, the bootstrap results with a 95 percent confidence interval, using 5,000 bootstrap simulation samples following the recommendation by Hayes and Preacher (2010) , also confirmed that the indirect effect was negligible. Therefore, the results suggest that employee satisfaction does not mediate training and development associations and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Therefore, H12 was rejected.

Discussion and conclusion

This study examined the role of HR practices in shaping the competitive advantage of five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus. We presented and diagnosed a model that included three precedents of competitive advantage (cost advantage, service quality advantage and variety of service advantage) that have not been considered until now, namely, HR planning; analysis and work design; evaluation of employee performance; hiring, selection and placement; compensation and rewards; and training and development. The framework also engulfs a mediating variable, namely, employee satisfaction. Previous work concerning the association between HR practices and employee or organizational outcomes focused on indicators like employee performance, creativity, team cohesion, teamwork, work values, work commitment, psychological capital and workplace climate. HR can serve a competitive advantage to the business organization. However, research showed that practice-oriented perspective is more important, as it explores the value of HR practices in spite of the quality of HR pool. Narasimha (2008) discussed this topic through the target/thrust matrix, which described the potential for capitalization in superior HRM to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. Further, Altarawmneh and Al-Kilani (2010) mentioned that five-star hotels are mostly more profitable compared to other ranked hotels. Moreover, “that convention is simply because high performing organizations have the resources to divert to the development activities that low performing organizations find difficult to provide” ( Altarawmneh and Al-Kilani, 2010 , p. 49). Zheng et al. (2006) noted that “human resource value creation processes that are based on the appropriate application of the key HRM practices are more likely to encourage businesses and organizations.” From the point of view of hotel industry, efficiency and quality improvement are mandatory for competitive advantage in five-star hotels ( Serafini and Szamosi, 2015 ). Moreover, the hotel industry needs to handle the employees effectively. This study took these key HRM practices into account as predictors of competitive advantage in the Northern Cyprus hotel industry.

H1 predicted that HR planning would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. This hypothesis received empirical support; a plausible explanation can be inferred from prior work. According to Becker and Huselid (1998) , HR planning is strongly linked with positive enterprise outcomes, through work engagement ( Batt, 2002 ); creative and innovative behaviors ( MacDuffie, 1995 ); and firm economic performance ( Sánchez et al. , 2015 ), and subsequently competitive advantage. Notably, proper HR planning can promote unique skills in employees that accord with the attainment of a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization. This notion has received empirical support ( Chen et al. , 2009 ; Collins and Clark, 2003 ). HR planning contributes to the competitive advantage of five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus, in the sense that it ensures that hotels achieve and maintain sustainability.

H2 received empirical support; a plausible explanation can be inferred from prior work. In their study, Brannick and Levine (2002) suggested that HR job analysis and design is useful as it helps firms to identify future workforce needs and skills; firms with proper personnel management system can maximize their work process efficiencies, which is linked with business performance ( Bowin and Harvey, 2001 ). The finding in this study suggests that HR job analysis and design can be linked with a competitive advantage for five-star hotels. However, five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus should revisit and reorganize their HR job analysis and design attribute to change the negative perception, as evident from the negative relationship between the two variables.

This paper reveals a positive relationship between the evaluation of employee performance and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels, which supports H3 . In a recent research, Aladwan et al. (2015) stated that “developing an evaluation system that accurately reflects employee satisfaction and commitment is a crucial and difficult task.” Matic (2008) added that workers who can match their work values with their workplace assessment system have a greater organizational commitment and are less likely to leave the organization. van Vianen et al. (2007) added that inferring from person‒organization fit theory, one could speculate that human behavior is a function of both the person and his/her environment. Notably, apart from the abovementioned work, this paper is the only one to have considered the role of performance appraisal in shaping competitive advantage in hotels. Technically, this study extended prior findings, as it focused specifically on competitive advantage as an organizational outcome.

This study found that HR recruitment, selection and placement has a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels, thus providing empirical support for H4 . Research shows that HR recruitment, selection and placement is associated with the selection of individuals who are motivated, qualified and the right person for a specific job. If such individuals are provided with the necessary incentives, their motivation increases; from a firm’s point of view, this may enhance the retention of quality employees and subsequently enhance individual and/or organizational performance ( Sánchez et al. , 2015 ). However, extant research has made no attempt to link HR recruitment, selection, placement and competitive advantage. This study fills this gap by identifying the nature of the relationship between HR recruitment, selection, placement and competitive advantage. This study’s outcome proposes a material implication for five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus: the researchers suggest that HR recruitment, selection and placement needs to be improved, as the current system seems to mitigate competitive advantage due to a negative relationship.

This study uncovered no significant relationship between HR compensation and rewards and the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. This is surprising as existing theoretical framework suggested that HR compensation and reward policies have a positive and significant impact on related organizational concepts, for example, organizational commitment and organizational performance ( Aladwan et al. , 2015 ). Intuitively speaking, the researchers expected such a relationship with competitive advantage, because the competitive advantage is a construct similar to the aforementioned ones. Notwithstanding, in an “ever-competitive local and global business environment, many organizations are trying to develop effective reward strategies that are directly linked to the enhancement of employee and organizational performance” ( Milne, 2007 ; Yeganeh and Su, 2008 ). Thus, “employee motivation is arguably a crucial intermediate variable between a performance-based compensation system and performance” ( Fey et al. , 2000 ).

Expectancy theory states that if firms provide employees with desired compensation and rewards, they are likely to perform in a way to obtain the reward. Nevertheless, the association in the data set is insignificant; Huselid (1995) noted that “performance-based compensation and merit-based promotion are ingredients in organizational incentive systems that serve to encourage individual performance and retention.” The two compensation and reward system should be balanced to have the desired organizational outcome. This study’s findings led the researchers to reject H5 ; a compensation and reward system did not enhance competitive advantage of five-star hotels. Based on this, the researchers call on five-star hotel establishments in Northern Cyprus to balance and monitor their compensation and reward system, because other underlying factors may be creating the current causal effect with the variables in question.

H6 predicted that training and development would have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of five-star hotels. This hypothesis received empirical support; a plausible explanation can be inferred from prior work. Recent findings by Sánchez et al. (2015) suggested that “training and development improve the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a firm’s current and potential employees.” Training and development was positively linked with organizational commitment ( Feldman and Ng, 2007 ). Further, Tzafrir (2006) added that training and development was closely associated with work values, performance and organizational commitment. However, this study found that the relationship is inverse. Hence, the researchers suggest that training and development programs in five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus must be reframed, as employees seem to hold a negative perception of the policy.

Furthermore, the study found that employee satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between the six HRM practice dimensions – namely, HR planning; job analysis and design; employee performance appraisal; recruitment, selection and placement; compensation and rewards; and training and development – and competitive advantage. Thus, H7 – H12 were rejected. However, existing literature suggests that a potential linkage exists. The number of theoretical and empirical frameworks denotes that HR practices have a profound effect on organizational climate ( Bowen and Ostroff, 2004 ). In fact, well-designed and consistent “HRM policies, practices, and procedures communicate to employees expectations about the skills, knowledge, motivations, attitudes, norms, values, and behaviors expected within their organization” ( Bowen and Ostroff, 2004 ). Henceforth, a favorable organizational climate may inflate employee engagement, which can be a source of competitive advantage ( Albrecht et al. , 2015 ).

Some meta-analyses have argued that work engagement influences the attitudinal, behavioral and performance of employees (e.g. Halbesleben, 2010 ). In this regard, Demerouti et al. (2010) cautioned that competitive advantage is a complex and multifaceted construct. The current findings advance our knowledge on the associations between the six HRM practices and competitive advantage by showing that such an association does not exist. This means that a firm’s competitive advantage does not share any variance with employee satisfaction as evident and applicable to work engagement. A plausible explanation for the current outcome might be that competitive advantage is more related to strategic HRM practices and not to an individual variable, such as employee satisfaction. That is, “greater potential for sustainable competitive advantage stems from investments in firm-specific skills, skills that cannot be easily duplicated by competitors”. The current outcome, which is the absence of mediation, is groundbreaking; hence, further research is needed before other alternatives could be ruled out and the present findings archived.

Theoretical and practical implications

Few studies have attempted to explore the relationship between HR practices and competitive advantage. The scarcity of existing studies has resulted in various approaches to causality between HR practices, work engagement and firm performance ( Albrecht et al. , 2015 ). This paper goes beyond the typical vision of work engagement as a mediator of the relationship between HR practices and organizational performance ( Huselid, 1995 ). It proposes an alternative model that links the role of strategic HR practices as a catalyst for shaping the competitive advantage of hotels. Thus, it fills an important gap in the research area, as indicated by a review of the literature ( Jiang et al. , 2013 ; Jackson et al. , 2014 ), which calls for studies interaction between HR practices, firm performance and competitive advantage. This paper shows that HR practices may result in additional organizational outcomes in the workplace.

Based on this study’s mixed results, the researchers recommend that hotel management should “change [its] mind set from the traditional sub-functional (selection, training, appraisal, compensation, etc.) view of HR to one where all of these independent sub-functions are viewed as interrelated components of a highly interdependent system.” Given the need to understand the system clearly, rivals would find it difficult to identify or replicate a firm’s strategy, since it requires time and energy and all the components to complement each other. In order to gain a quality advantage, the HR department of a company needs to adopt proper selection and growth strategy. The HR department needs to focus on developing healthy working environment, where employees can fulfill all the demands of customers. HR managers also need to take care of the health and safety of employees in the workplace. They need to develop appropriate incentive and appraisal structure for employees so that they work in accordance with the company objectives. For example, in the hotel industry, it is the primary requirement of hotels to meet the demands of customers. Hence, management of the hotels has to give incentives to the employees who responded quickly to the queries of customers.

Hotel managers need to seek ways to trigger employees, by establishing such initiatives to make the employees more innovative and valuing them via rewards or engaging them in the decision-making process ( Karatepe, 2012 ; Abuhjeeleh et al. , 2018 ). Besides, human capital is one the most important resources that gives any organization a competitive advantage and a leading strategic position among the competitors in the market ( Takeuchi et al. , 2003 ). The outcome of this study also highlights that top management may be interested in benchmarking in relation to HR practices. Barney and Wright (1997) noted that “benchmarking identifies the rules of competition in an industry and can be maximally valuable in providing information on two issues. First, it helps firms to identify what superior practices the competition is engaged in which might provide them a competitive advantage until other firms can imitate it. Second, benchmarking should be used to identify ways to leapfrog competitors. This is accomplished through developing innovative HR practices, and is especially successful if they are ones that competitors will find it costly or difficult to imitate.”

Research limitations and directions for future research

This study had some limitations. First, the researchers obtained ratings of HR practices, employee satisfaction and competitive advantage at the same time. The researchers cannot rule out that individual ratings may have influenced or biased their ratings of the hotel’s HR practices and competitive advantage. However, results from our confirmatory factor analyses and Harman’s one-factor test suggest no significant concerns regarding common method bias. Nevertheless, relying on the same source measures may cause an underlying methodological problem. In other words, this study’s cross-sectional design may have a profound effect on the findings. The findings are also only applicable to the Northern Cyprus hotel industry and, more specifically, to five-star hotels in that industry.

Thus, the researchers caution readers that the findings are only applicable to established hotels and industries. “Longitudinal studies and multilevel analytic approaches to differentiate and disaggregate variance at individual, group and organizational levels can help map the strength of proposed direct and indirect relationships.” Further theoretical research is needed to determine how HR practices interact with other variables with an inclusive, competitive advantage in other industries or cultural settings. Fortunately, our model can stimulate and guide future research and promote a greater understanding of the importance of strategically orienting HRM practices to stimulate competitive advantage.

Demographic distribution

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Corresponding author

About the authors.

Dr Hamzah Elrehail is Assistant Professor at the Skyline University College, Business Management Department. His research focuses in leadership, innovation management, knowledge management and HRM/GHRM. Elrehail published several papers in ISI journal like Computer in Human Behavior , The Journal of Business Excellence , Journal of Innovation & Knowledge and Telematics and Informatics .

Dr Ibrahim Harazneh is Assistant Professor at Middle East University in Jordan, Tourism Management Department. His research spans HRM in tourism sector, CRM, competitive advantage in hotels. Hazrazneh published papers in high reputed journal like Tourism Management Perspective .

Dr Mohammad Abuhjeeleh is Assistant Professor at Middle East University in Jordan, Tourism Management Department.

Dr Amro Alzghoul recently finished his PhD Degree in Business Management from Girne American University, North Cyprus. His research focuses on leadership, business development and employees creativity.

Dr Sakher Alnajdawi is currently working as Assistant Professor of HRM at Amman Arab University, Jordan; his research spans HRM and OB and Green HRM practices.

Dr Hussein M. Hussein Ibrahim is PhD in Tourism and Hospitality Management and Assistance Professor at School of Archeology and Tourism, the University of Jordan; his research spans HRM, tourism, hospitality and marketing.

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How Americans View Their Jobs

Most are highly satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers and manager, but relatively few feel the same about their pay, opportunities for promotion, table of contents.

• How workers see their job
• How workers are experiencing the workplace
• Access to and importance of employer-sponsored benefits
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the experiences of U.S. adults in the workplace. This analysis is based on 5,188 U.S. adults who are working part time or full time, who are not self-employed, and who have only one job or have more than one but consider one to be their primary job.

The data was collected as part of a larger survey of workers conducted Feb. 6-12, 2023. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Read more about the questions used for this report and the report’s methodology .

References to workers or employed adults include those who are employed part time or full time, who are not self-employed, and who have only one job or have more than one but consider one of them to be their primary job.

References to White, Black and Asian adults include only those who are not Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

References to college graduates or people with a college degree comprise those with a bachelor’s degree or more. “Some college” includes those with an associate degree and those who attended college but did not obtain a degree.

“Middle income” is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for panelists on the American Trends Panel. “Lower income” falls below that range; “upper income” falls above it. Read the methodology for more details.

In the wake of the Great Resignation and amid reports of “ quiet quitting ,” only about half of U.S. workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Even smaller shares express high levels of satisfaction with their opportunities for training and skills development, how much they are paid and their opportunities for promotion. 

At the same time, most workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers (67%) and with their manager or supervisor (62%). About seven-in-ten or more say they’re treated with respect (78%) and can be themselves at work (72%) all or most of the time, and majorities also say they have at least one close friend at work (65%) and that they feel their contributions at work are valued a great deal or a fair amount (62%).

The nationally representative survey of 5,902 U.S. workers, including 5,188 who are not self-employed, was conducted Feb. 6-12, 2023, using the Center’s  American Trends Panel . 1 In addition to exploring how workers feel about their current job and their experiences in the workplace, the survey also asked about workplace benefits, including whether employed adults use all of their paid time off, if available.

Related: About a third of U.S. workers who can work from home now do so all the time

Some key findings from the survey:

• Older workers offer the most positive assessments of their job. Two-thirds of workers ages 65 and older say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, compared with 55% of those 50 to 64, 51% of those 30 to 49, and 44% of those 18 to 29. Older workers are the most likely to say they are extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with their manager or supervisor, their day-to-day tasks, and their opportunities for promotion at work. They also are more likely to say they find their job to be enjoyable and fulfilling all or most of the time. 
• On many measures of workplace satisfaction, views differ widely by income. Workers with higher incomes are more likely than those with lower and middle incomes to say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall and to say the same about the benefits their employer provides, their opportunities for training and to develop new skills, how much they are paid, and their opportunities for promotion. Larger shares of upper-income workers also say the contributions they make at work are valued a great deal or fair amount, that their employer cares about their well-being at least a fair amount, and that the safety and health conditions at their workplace are excellent or very good (among those who do not work fully remotely).
• About four-in-ten workers (39%) say their job or career is extremely or very important to their overall identity. Roughly a third (34%) say it is somewhat important and 27% say it’s not too or not at all important. Workers with a postgraduate degree are the most likely to see their job or career as central to their overall identity – 53% say it is.
• Black workers are the most likely to say they’ve been discriminated against in the workplace because of their race or ethnicity. Some 41% of Black workers say that at some point they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity (though not necessarily by their current employer). This compares with 8% of White workers, 20% of Hispanic workers and 25% of Asian workers. And while about a quarter of employed women (23%) say they have experienced discrimination because of their gender, only one-in-ten employed men say the same.
• Lower-income workers are less likely to have access to key employer-sponsored benefits. Large majorities of upper- and middle-income workers (80% or more) say their employer offers paid time off for vacations, doctor’s appointments and minor illnesses, health insurance, and retirement programs such as 401(k)s. Significantly smaller shares of lower-income workers (about two-thirds or fewer) say they have access to these benefits through their employer.
• Most workers place a high priority on paid time off. About six-in-ten workers (62%) say it’s extremely important to them personally to have a job that offers paid time off for vacations, routine doctor’s visits or to deal with minor illnesses, larger than the shares who say the same about having employer-paid health insurance (51%), an employer-sponsored 401(k) or other retirement program (44%) or paid parental, family or medical leave separate from their other paid time off (43%). But when those who place a high priority on more than one of these are asked which one would be the most important to them – and taking into account those who only prioritize one of these benefits – health insurance stands out as the most important benefit for workers.
• Nearly half of workers who have paid time off say they typically take less time off than their employer offers. About half of these workers say they don’t feel they need to take more time off (52%) or worry they might fall behind at work if they took more time off (49%). Some 43% say they feel badly about their co-workers taking on additional work, while smaller shares cite concerns that taking more time off might hurt their chances for job advancement (19%) or that they might risk losing their job (16%) or say their manager or supervisor discourages them from taking time off (12%).

About four-in-ten workers who are not self-employed (39%) say their job or career is extremely or very important to their overall identity; 34% say it’s somewhat important and 27% say it’s not too or not at all important.

Workers with higher family incomes and those with a postgraduate degree are the most likely to say their job or career is central to their identity. Some 47% of workers with higher family incomes say this, compared with 37% of those with middle incomes and 36% of workers with lower family incomes. And while 53% of workers with a postgraduate degree say their job or career is extremely or very important to their identity, smaller shares of those with a bachelor’s degree (39%) or with some college or less education (34%) say the same.

The shares of workers who see their job or career as central to their overall identity don’t vary significantly by gender, race or ethnicity, or age.

When it comes to assessments of job satisfaction, about half of U.S. workers who are not self-employed (51%) report being extremely or very satisfied with their job overall; 37% say they are somewhat satisfied, while 12% are not too or not at all satisfied with their job.

Views vary considerably when workers are asked about specific aspects of their job. Two-thirds say they are extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers, and 62% say the same about their relationship with their manager or supervisor. About six-in-ten workers who commute to work (59%) are also highly satisfied with their commute.

About half of workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with their day-to-day tasks (51%), the amount of feedback they receive from their manager or supervisor on how they’re doing their job (49%), and the benefits their employer provides, such as health insurance and paid time off (49%).

Some 44% are extremely or very satisfied with their opportunities for training and ways to develop new skills, while only about a third say the same about how much they are paid (34%) and their opportunities for promotion (33%).

Similar to the share who say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, half of workers say they find their job to be enjoyable all or most of the time, and 47% say it is fulfilling. Smaller but substantial shares say their job is stressful (29%) and overwhelming (19%) all or most of the time.

Older workers and those with higher family incomes have more positive views of their job

Workers ages 65 and older are the most likely to say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall (67%) – and adults younger than 30 are the least likely to say this (44%). A narrow majority of workers 50 to 64 (55%) and about half of those 30 to 49 (51%) say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job.

Older workers are also the most likely to say they are extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with their manager or supervisor (73% of workers 65 and older say this), their day-to-day tasks (70%), and their opportunities for promotion (43%).

About two-thirds of workers ages 65 and older say their job is fulfilling (68%) and enjoyable (65%) all or most of the time, larger than the shares of workers in each of the three younger age groups who say the same. In turn, workers younger than 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say their job is stressful and overwhelming all or most of the time.

Workers 65 and older make up a relatively small share of the labor force – 7% in 2022, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Current Population Survey data.

Job satisfaction also differs by income. A majority (57%) of those with higher family incomes say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, compared with 51% of those with middle incomes and 45% of those with lower incomes. And those with higher incomes are also more likely than middle- and lower-income workers to express high levels of satisfaction with the benefits their employer provides; their opportunities for training or ways to develop new skills; how much they are paid; and their opportunities for promotion at work. In the case of employer benefits and pay, middle -income workers are also significantly more likely than lower -income ones to say they are extremely or very satisfied.

Workers’ views of whether their job is enjoyable, stressful or overwhelming all or most of the time vary little across income levels. But those with higher incomes are the most likely to say they find their job to be fulfilling all or most of the time: 53% say this, compared with 47% of those with middle incomes and a smaller share (40%) of those with lower incomes. Workers with a postgraduate degree (56%) are also more likely than those with a bachelor’s degree (47%) and with some college or less education (44%) to say they find their job to be fulfilling all or most of the time.

For the most part, men and women express similar levels of satisfaction with their job overall and with specific aspects of their job, but there are two exceptions. Men are more likely than women to say they are extremely or very satisfied with the benefits their employer provides (52% of men vs. 46% of women) and with how much they’re paid (39% vs. 30%). And while men and women are about equally likely to say their job is enjoyable and fulfilling all or most of the time, women are more likely to say it’s stressful (31% vs. 26%) and overwhelming (24% vs. 15%) all or most of the time.

For the most part, satisfaction with various aspects of work don’t vary widely by race and ethnicity, but there are some differences. A larger share of White workers (37%) than Black (29%), Hispanic (29%) or Asian (28%) workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with how much they are paid. White workers are more likely than Black and Asian workers to be highly satisfied with their relationship with their co-workers (69% vs. 58% and 60%, respectively) and with their manager or supervisor (64% vs. 56% and 54%). 

Workers largely report positive experiences in the workplace, with at least six-in-ten of those who are not self-employed saying they are treated with respect at work all or most of the time (78%), can be themselves at work all or most of the time (72%), have at least one close friend at work (65%) and feel that the contributions they make at work are valued a great deal or a fair amount (62%).

About half (52%) say their employer cares about their well-being a great deal or a fair amount; 28% say their employer cares some and one-in-five workers say their employer doesn’t care much or at all. A majority of workers (55%) say they don’t have someone at work who they consider a mentor. 

These experiences vary in some ways by gender, race and ethnicity, age, and income. For example, 70% of upper-income workers say the contributions they make are valued a great deal or a fair amount, compared with 62% of those with middle incomes and a smaller share (56%) of those with lower incomes. And while 66% of White workers say their contributions are valued a great deal or fair amount, smaller shares of Hispanic (57%), Black (55%) and Asian (54%) workers say the same.

White workers (75%) are also more likely than Hispanic (69%), Black (69%) and Asian (60%) workers to say they can be themselves at work all or most of the time, although majorities across groups say this (the difference between Asian workers and Black and Hispanic workers is not statistically significant). There are also differences by age on this question, although majorities of 68% or more across age groups say they can be themselves at work all or most of the time. Workers 65 and older are the most likely to say this; 88% in this age group say they can be themselves at work at least most of the time.

More than half of workers ages 18 to 29 (56%) say they have a mentor at work, compared with 46% of those 30 to 49 and only about a third of workers 50 to 64 (34%) and 65 and older (33%). Meanwhile, those in the oldest group are the most likely to say their employer cares about their well-being a great deal or a fair amount (61% of those 65 and older say this vs. about half in each of the three younger groups). 

Women (68%) are more likely than men (62%) to say they have at least one close friend at work, although majorities of both groups say this. Women are also more likely to say they have a mentor at work (48% of women vs. 41% of men).

Workers who receive regular feedback are more satisfied with the amount of feedback they receive and their relationship with their boss

About a third of workers (34%) say they receive feedback on how they’re doing their job from their manager or supervisor extremely often or often; 39% say they sometimes receive feedback and 27% say they rarely or never do. These answers don’t vary significantly by gender, race or ethnicity, age, or income.

The survey suggests that workers embrace feedback: 80% of those who say they receive feedback extremely often or often also say they are extremely or very satisfied with the amount of feedback they receive from their manager or supervisor, compared with 45% of those who sometimes receive feedback and just 16% of those who rarely or never do. And while 84% of workers who regularly get feedback say they are extremely or very satisfied with their relationship with their manager or supervisor, 62% of those who sometimes get feedback and just 36% of those who rarely or never receive it say the same.

About three-in-ten workers say they respond to work emails and messages outside of work hours extremely often or often

More than half of workers (55%) say they respond to work emails or other messages from work outside of their normal hours at least sometimes, with 28% saying they do so extremely often or often; 33% say they rarely or never respond to work emails or messages outside of their work hours.

Workers with higher incomes (39%) are more likely than those with middle (26%) or lower (20%) incomes to say they respond to work emails or other messages from work outside of their normal hours extremely often or often. Similarly, 41% of workers with a postgraduate degree say they do this, compared with 31% of those with a bachelor’s degree and 23% of those with some college or less education.

Lower-income workers and those without a four-year college degree are more likely than those with middle and upper incomes and those with at least a bachelor’s degree to say they don’t receive emails or other messages from work outside of their work hours.

Lower-income and Black and Hispanic workers are among the most likely to say safety conditions where they work are fair or poor

Among workers who are not self-employed and who do not have fully remote jobs, about six-in-ten (59%) say the safety and health conditions at the place where they work are excellent or very good; 26% say these conditions are good and 15% say they are fair or poor.

Seven-in-ten upper-income workers rate the conditions at their workplace as excellent or very good, compared with 59% of those with middle incomes and just about half (49%) of workers with lower incomes. Roughly one-in-five lower-income workers (22%) describe the safety and health conditions at their workplace as fair or poor; 15% of those with middle incomes and an even smaller share of higher-income workers (8%) do so.

These assessments also vary by race and ethnicity. Black (22%) and Hispanic (21%) workers are more likely than White (12%) and Asian (13%) workers to say the safety and health conditions at their workplace are fair or poor.

About four-in-ten Black workers say they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by an employer because of their race or ethnicity

While most questions in this survey asked workers about their current job, the survey also asked respondents if they have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by any employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity or because of their gender.

Black workers are the most likely to report that they’ve experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly by an employer because of their race or ethnicity: 41% of Black workers say this has happened to them, compared with 25% of Asian workers, 20% of Hispanic workers and just 8% of White workers.

Among Black workers, men (48%) are more likely than women (36%) to say they’ve experienced this type of discrimination. There are no gender differences among White and Hispanic workers (the number of Asian workers in the sample is too small to analyze men and women separately).

When asked if they have been discriminated against or been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their gender, about a quarter of women (23%) – compared with 10% of men – say this has happened to them. White, Black and Hispanic women are about equally likely to say they’ve experienced this type of treatment because of their gender. However, Black men (25%) are far more likely than White and Hispanic men (8% each) – and as likely as Black women – to say they’ve had these experiences because of their gender.

About eight-in-ten workers who are not self-employed (82%) say their employer offers paid time off for vacations, routine doctor’s appointments or to deal with minor illnesses. A similar share (79%) say they are offered health insurance through their employer, and 77% say they have access to an employer-sponsored 401(k) or other retirement savings program. Fewer workers (57%) say they have access to paid parental, family or medical leave, beyond what they are given for vacation or sick leave.

Access to these benefits differs widely by income. Large majorities of upper- and middle-income workers (91% and 86%) say their employer offers paid time off for vacations, doctor’s appointments and minor illnesses. About two-thirds of lower-income workers say the same.

When it comes to employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement programs, about nine-in-ten upper-income workers say their employer offers these benefits (92% have health insurance and 88% have a retirement plan). By comparison, about eight-in-ten middle-income workers have health insurance (82%) or a retirement plan (80%). Smaller shares of lower-income workers have these benefits: 60% have health insurance and 59% have a 401(k)-type plan.

This pattern persists for paid family and medical leave. While 66% of upper-income workers say their employer offers paid parental, family or medical leave (beyond basic vacation and sick leave), fewer middle- and lower-income workers say they have the same benefit (59% and 46%, respectively).

Regardless of whether their employer provides it, a majority of workers (62%) say it’s extremely important to them to have a job that offers paid time off for vacations, routine doctor’s appointments or to deal with minor illnesses. An additional 27% say this is very important to them.

About half of workers (51%) say it’s extremely important to them to have a job that offers employer-sponsored health insurance; 28% say this is very important. Some 44% of workers say it’s extremely important to them to have a job that offers an employer-sponsored retirement program, such as a 401(k), with 32% saying this is very important to them. Similarly, 43% say it’s extremely important to them to have paid parental, family or medical leave (31% say this is very important).

Workers with a four-year college degree or more education place more importance on having paid time off, employer-sponsored health insurance and a 401(k) or other retirement program than do workers with less education. The same is true of upper-income workers – they place more importance on these benefits than middle- and lower-income workers. When it comes to paid parental, family and medical leave, the differences by income are smaller and there are no significant differences by education.

In general, workers who have these benefits tend to place more importance on them, and the gaps in views between those who do and don’t receive these benefits are quite large in some instances. For example, 58% of workers who say their employer offers health insurance say it’s extremely important for them to have a job with this benefit. By contrast, 27% of those who don’t have a job that offers health insurance say this is equally important to them. Similarly, while 50% of workers who have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan say it’s extremely important to them to have a job that offers this benefit, 25% of those who don’t have this benefit say the same. It may be that some workers place less importance on these benefits because they don’t currently have them. In the case of health insurance, it is possible that some don’t rely on their jobs for it.

Workers who place a high priority on more than one of these benefits were asked which one would be the most important to them. Taking into account their responses and those of workers who only prioritize one benefit, health insurance tops this list. Some 43% rank health insurance as the most important benefit to have. Smaller shares prioritize paid time off for vacations and routine doctor’s appointments or minor illnesses (29%), an employer-sponsored retirement plan (13%) or paid family or medial leave (8%) over other benefits.

Nearly half of workers don’t take all the paid time off their employer offers

Among workers who say their employer offers them paid time off for vacation, doctors’ appointments or to deal with minor illnesses, 48% say they typically take all the time off they are offered, while 46% say they take less time off than they are allowed. There are modest differences by income and education in how much time off workers take. Upper-income workers and those with a bachelor’s degree or more education are more likely to say they take less time off than their employer offers. About half (51%) of four-year college graduates say this compared with 41% of those with less education.

When workers who don’t take all of the paid time off they are offered are asked why they don’t, some reasons resonate much more than others. About half (52%) say they don’t feel they need to take more time off. A similar share (49%) say they worry about falling behind at work if they were to take more time off. Some 43% say they would feel badly about their co-workers having to take on additional work.

Fewer say they think taking more time off might hurt their chances for advancement at work (19%) or think they might risk losing their job (16%). About one-in-ten (12%) say their manager or supervisor discourages them from taking time off.

Most workers say they are satisfied with the number of hours they work in a typical week. About two-thirds (66%) say they feel they work about the right number of hours each week, 24% say they work too many hours and 10% say they work too few.

There are differences by income. While majorities from each income group say they work about the right number of hours in a typical week, lower-income workers (23%) are more likely than middle- (7%) and upper-income (4%) workers to say they work too few hours in a typical week. Upper- and middle-income workers are more likely to say they work too many hours (30% and 26%, respectively, vs. 12% of lower-income workers).

• For details, see the Methodology section of the report. The analysis in this report is based on U.S. workers who are employed full time or part time, who are not self-employed, and who have only one job or who have multiple jobs but consider one to be their primary job (99% of workers who are not self-employed have one job or a primary job). ↩

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• Open access
• Published: 03 June 2024

The factors of job crafting in emergency nurses: regression models versus qualitative comparative analysis

• Yu Wang 2 ,
• Qiaofang Yang 2 ,
• Luwen Wang 3 ,
• Qingwei Zhang 2 &
• Yingli Li 1  

BMC Nursing volume  23 , Article number:  369 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

Job crafting is defined as a series of proactive behaviors exhibited by employees in order to balance work resources and needs, which has a significant positive impact on the nurses. It is necessary to find the core factors that influence the job crafting, as emergency nurses deal with the most complex tasks, so as to improve their job satisfaction.

To investigate the core factors of job crafting among emergency nurses.

A cross-sectional design was used in the study. A total of 255 nurses were recruited from two hospitals in Zhengzhou and Shenzhen, China in December 2021. 255 nurses completed an online questionnaire. Hierarchical regression models and fsQCA models were used to explore the factors influencing job crafting among emergency nurses and helped us to identify core factors.

The hierarchical regression model and the fsQCA model found that the occupational benefit, psychological empowerment, and research experience were the core factors affecting their job crafting. Job involvement was not significant in the regression model, but the QCA model indicated that it needs to be combined with other factors to impact on job crafting. The QCA model uncovered seven key conditional configurations that led to high and low job crafting among emergency nurses, explaining 80.0% of the results for high job crafting and 82.6% of the results for the low job crafting, respectively.

Conclusions

The results of this study provide valuable insights into the job crafting experienced by emergency nurses. Junior emergency nurses should be granted a high level of psychological empowerment without assigning them overly complex tasks, such as research tasks, as these challenges can stop their job crafting. Intermediate and senior emergency nurses, on the other hand, can be assigned research tasks coupled with high psychological empowerment to enhance their job crafting.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

As diseases become more complex and technology evolves rapidly, nursing work is changing, which has posed new tasks and demands for the nurses these days. It was noted that employees should work stepwise in the traditional human resource management system. However, in recent years, researchers have encouraged employees to change their jobs in line with the reality of their work. ‘Job crafting’ is an employee-focused approach to job redesigning [ 1 ].Job crafting is defined as a series of proactive behaviors exhibited by employees in order to balance work resources and needs, with the aim of aligning their work with their own preferences, motivations, and passions [ 2 ].YEPES-BALDÓ surveyed 530 Spanish nurses and found that the job crafting score was 3.17 ± 0.66 [ 3 ]. BAGHDADI conducted a survey among 594 nurses in Saudi Arabia, reporting the job crafting score was 3.54 ± 0.50 [ 4 ]. In summary, it is observed that there are variations in the level of job crafting among nurses, which is generally at a moderate level.

Wrzesniewski first proposed job crafting, suggesting that employees could engage in job crafting in three dimensions: cognitive, task, and relational [ 1 ]. Job demand-resource was further integrated by Tims and Bakker, and it suggested that all working conditions can be classified as job demands or resources [ 5 , 6 ], which includes four dimensions: reducing hindering job demands, increasing challenging job demands, increasing structural job resources and increasing social job resources. Promoting-focused job crafting has been shown to be positively related to job involvement and satisfaction, and negatively related to burnout, depression, and illness [ 7 , 8 ]. Furthermore, studies conducted in the field of career development have shown that promotion-focused job crafting is positively related to career competency and career promotion [ 9 ]. Emergency nurses encounter more complex clinical environments and problems than other departments. The emergency department serves as the first line of defense in hospitals to save patients’ lives. However, it is also the department where adverse events such as nurse-patient disputes and complaints are most likely to occur. According to reports, emergency nurses experience higher occupational stress than other departments, which can lead to dissatisfaction with nursing work among nurses, and even turnout [ 10 ]. This, in turn, will result in a shortage of emergency nurses, further increasing the occupational stress on those remaining in the emergency department. Furthermore, nurses face additional research tasks and pressures in addition to solving clinical problems in China. So, we defined emergency nurse’s hindering and challenging demands as a research experience, professional position, number of night shifts, etc.

Autonomy is an important work feature, as it can be associated with a better capacity to handle stress [ 6 ]. Structural and psychological empowerment are two categories of authority that can give nurses some autonomy at work. Psychological empowerment as an extension of structural empowerment, focuses on the internal feelings of an individual toward organizational empowerment. Spritzer defined psychological empowerment as a sense of control over one’s work environment, which includes the dimensions of impact, meaning, competence, and self-determination [ 11 ]. Increased psychological empowerment of nurse has been shown to lead to job satisfaction and more positive organizational behavior [ 12 ]. The sense of control over their work behaviors can be increased if nurses have a stronger psychological empowerment. They feel more confident acquiring the required knowledge and skills to do their job, and also have a greater perception of their impact on organizational management, decision-making, and performance [ 13 ]. This helps nurses take the initiative toward rebuilding the organizational relationships and actively redesigning work content to address the challenges on the job [ 14 ]. Therefore, we defined the work resources as the level of psychological empowerment given to nurses by their organizations.

Occupational benefits are internal, personal motivators that nurses blend with their good work experiences and cognitive assessments [ 15 ]. It can also result in greater job satisfaction, the promotion of creative behavior, and a reduction in burnout and turnover intentions [ 16 ]. Occupational benefits reflect how satisfied employees are with the organization’s management, which has a significant impact on whether or not they want to stay. According to the JD-R theory, nurses’ job crafting has resulted in favorable occupational benefits for them. Emergency nurses are often faced with critically ill patients, and their nursing work demands a high level of expertise. Correspondingly, the rehabilitation of patients can bring them a sense of accomplishment and self-worth, providing a strong sense of occupational benefits [ 17 ]. In order to continually obtain this feeling, emergency nurses may engage in job crafting to reshape their work.Their practice reflects how they view the rewards and advantages of their profession, which supports their involvement in their work.

Job involvement, as a type of work commitment, is the psychological recognition of an individual’s work. It is more linked with the satisfaction of internal needs.From the perspective of an organization, Pfeffe stated that job involvement is crucial for motivating employees [ 18 ]. However, there is a disagreement at the moment on whether or not job involvement affects individual performance [ 19 ]. On the other hand, some studies have shown that job involvement is the only variable associated with the nurses’ intention to continue working in their current position, not withstanding their work environment [ 20 ]. When demands exceed resources, employees feel immense pressure, leading to negative emotions and affecting job involvement [ 21 ]. Thus, this suggests that work involvement may arise from job crafting. From this, we hypothesized that emergency nurses with high levels of job involvement may pay more attention to the details of work, which in turn identifies work processes or tasks that need to be improved and triggers job crafting. Therefore, it is worth to be further analyzed whether job involvement would have an impact on job crafting.

Due to the growing complexity of the nurses’ work, one antecedent variable cannot fully explain the causes of the findings. Regression model could only examine the net effect of one of the independent variables on outcomes rather than exploring complex causal relationships between the antecedent variables [ 22 ]. The configuration theory is based on the idea of sets, as it allows the analysis of configuration effects generated by multiple conditional variables of the organization’s management [ 23 ]. This study used both regression modeling and fsQCA modeling. fsQCA adds depth by showing complex paths to job crafting, where variables can combine differently to explain outcomes. Even non-significant regression variables can impact job crafting in fsQCA. Combining both methods gives a comprehensive view of why emergency nurses reshape their work, revealing intrinsic motivations. Therefore, the aim of our study is to explore the core factors influencing job crafting in emergency nurses through a hierarchical regression model and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis.

A convenience sampling method was applied in the study, an online questionnaire was sent to the emergency nurses through a mobile program in the cities of Shenzhen and Zhengzhou, China, in March 2023. The inclusion criteria were: working in the emergency department; working for more than 1 year; voluntary participation, and informed consent. The exclusion criteria were: trainee nurses, vacation nurses. Based on sample size estimation principles, this study calculated the required sample size to be 5–10 times the number of independent variables. We calculated a required sample of 110–220, given 22 independent variables. Considering a 20% invalid questionnaire rate, we distributed 280 questionnaires.

Instruments

General information questionnaire.

The general information questionnaire was designed by the researcher and includes gender, age, monthly income, etc.

Perceived occupational benefits Questionnaire[ 24 ]

The questionnaire contains 5 dimensions and 29 items. The questionnaire had a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating “strongly disagree” and 5 indicating “strongly agree”. No reverse scoring items were available for the scale. The scores represented the nurses’ perception of professional benefits along with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.96 in the study.

Job crafting Scale[ 2 ]

With 21 items, the scale is scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Here, higher scores indicate better job crafting. The scale comprises four dimensions: increasing structural work resources, increasing social work resources, increasing challenging work demands, and decreasing hindering work demands. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.93 in the study.

Psychological empowerment Scale[ 25 ]

This scale includes 4 dimensions: work meaning, autonomy, self-efficacy, and work influence. Each dimension has 3 items under it, totaling 12 items. The 5-point Likert scale is used, where a higher total score indicates a higher degree of PE. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of this scale was tested to be 0.94.

Job involvement Scale[ 26 ]

The scale consists of 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale, with items 2 and 7 being reverse-scored. The level of score indicates the extent of job involvement. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale in the study was tested to be 0.82.

Date collection

Researchers contacted nursing management personnel from various hospitals to obtain their consent and support. Nurses were informed about the research objectives, significance, and principles of anonymity and then shared the questionnaire links to those who agreed to participate. The survey was set up through a survey platform, and to ensure quality, all questions were mandatory. Each nurse gets the link via WeChat and is limited to one response. After the survey concluded, a total of 280 questionnaires were collected. Among them, those questionnaires with identical responses for all items and completion times less than 3 min were excluded. Ultimately, 255 questionnaires were valid, resulting in an effective response rate of 91.07%.

SPSS 24.0 software was used to analyze the data; it was described using frequencies, percentages, or means ± standard deviations, depending on the data type. Comparisons between groups were analyzed using independent samples t-test or one-way ANOVA with a test level of α = 0.05. The paper looks at the amount of variance explained by demographic factors on Job crafting(R 2 ) in the one-way analysis of the first level of the hierarchical regression model. In the second level of the hierarchical regression model, other factors that may affect job crafting are integrated to observe the amount of variance explained variance (ΔR 2 ).

Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA ) is a new method for analysing complex causal relationships in histological problems based on Boolean algebra and set theory.QCA is a new method that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis, providing strong support for studying the configuration problem. Based on variable type, QCA is divided into csQCA, mvQCA, and fsQCA. fsQCA has been selected in this paper to analyze the configuration effects of job crafting factors among emergency nurses. QCA requires the calibration of the original data into the set. Calibration is the process of assigning sets to cases. Sociodemographic variables that were meaningful for univariate analysis were included in the analysis of the fsQCA model. In this case (Research experience: 0 = None; 1 = have), (Professional Position: 0 = Advanced; 0.5 = Intermediate; 1 = Junior). The fuzzy set requires setting three critical values according to the theoretical or conceptual settings: fully affiliated, crossover, and fully unaffiliated, and with the affiliation of the transformed set between 0 and 1. For the continuous variables, the 0.05th, 0.5th and 0.95th percentile of the data were taken and substituted into the Calibrate function (x, fully in, crossover, fully out).It was analyzed whether the antecedent variable was necessary for job crafting in emergency nurses before the sufficient analysis. If the antecedent variable was greater than 0.9 [ 27 ], it was considered necessary. A truth table for sufficient analysis was constructed using fsQCA 3.0, with consistency set to 0.8 and frequency set to 1. If variables appear in both parsimonious and intermediate solutions, they are called core conditions. If they only appear in intermediate solutions, they are called edge conditions [ 28 ].

Descriptive and univariate analysis

A total of 255 nurses were included, of which 228 (89.4%) were female and up to 209 (82.0%) had no research experience. The results demonstrated that research experience and job position were considered influential variables for job crafting among emergency nurses. Also, the differences were all statistically significant ( p  < 0.05), as seen in Table  1 .

Hierarchical regression models

A variance variation of 0.047 was obtained after entering the sociodemographic factors into the regression model, with significance in the one-way analysis. In the paper, it was shown that nurses with no research experience had a lower job crafting than nurses with research experience( P <0.05) In the second step, three psychological variables were added, and it was found that a variance variation of 0.283 was obtained. The significant variables were research experience (β=-0.135, p  < 0.05), perceived occupational benefits (β = 0.177, p  < 0.05), and psychological empowerment (β = 0.317, p  < 0.001), as can be seen in Table  2 .

Necessary analysis

The consistency score was considered necessary for evaluating whether the antecedent variable was available as the outcome variable. The consistency score is similar to the significance of the coefficient in a regression model. It represents the extent to which the outcome has to rely on the antecedent variable. In this study, no variable existed as a necessary condition since none of the antecedent variables reached 0.9. Refer to Table  3 for details.

Sufficient analysis

Six conditional configurations that generated high job crafting and six conditional configurations that generated low job crafting were analyzed together. The twelve configurations were sufficient conditions to constitute high and low job crafting for the emergency nurses. The overall solution coverage of high and low job crafting was 0.800 and 0.826, as seen in Table  4 . This shows that the twelve configurations explain 80% of the results for high job crafting and 82.6% for low. The paper remove unique coverage of less than 0.1 for the configuration because it was hard to cover 10% of the samples. Three configurations of high job crafting and four configurations of low job crafting for emergency nurses are obtained.The raw coverage of H1 was 0.106 in the high job crafting configuration, which meant that this configuration could explain 10.6% of the sample.Among the low job crafting configurations, it was found that L2 had the highest raw coverage. The configurations are elaborated as follows: ① H1: high psychological empowerment + high job involvement + junior professional position + no research experience. ② H2: high psychological empowerment + high job involvement + have research experience. ③ H3:high job involvement + high perceived occupational benefits + senior professional position + no research experience. ④ L1: low perceived occupational benefits + senior professional position + no research experience. ⑤ L2: low psychological empowerment + senior professional position + no research experience. ⑥ L3: high job involvement + senior professional position + low perceived occupational benefits. ⑦ L4: low job involvement + senior professional position + research experience.The most relevant pathway or combination to explain low job crafting was L2 (raw coverage = 0.038; consistency = 0.879), which explained 64.3% of the cases. The most relevant pathway or combination to explain high job crafting was H1 (raw coverage = 0.106; consistency = 0.798), which explained 60.1% of the cases.Refer to Table 4 for details.

Discussions

This study explored the effects of sociodemographic variables, psychological empowerment, occupational benefits, and job involvement, on job crafting among the emergency nurses. The majority of existing studies have concentrated on linear regression models. This neglects the complement of other methods, like the fsQCA model [ 29 ]. The study overlooked the synergy between factors if the researcher focuses only on regression models. In helping the researcher to construct intervention plans, the fsQCA models with different pathways formed by the synergy between factors are particularly important [ 30 ]. Regression models indicated that research experience, psychological empowerment and occupational benefits were associated with job crafting, which is consistent with existing research [ 31 ]. Based on the results of the fsQCA analysis, no necessary conditions for job crafting were found. In terms of the sufficiency analysis, it was found that H1 has the highest coverage, explaining 10.6% of cases after comparing the raw coverage of the three configurations that stimulate high job crafting among emergency nurses. This suggested that the majority of emergency nurses who exhibit high job crafting are influenced by the conditions present in H1, and psychological empowerment is the core condition. For the four paths of the low job crafting, L2 has the highest raw coverage. This indicated that nurses with junior professional position and no research experience who lack sufficient psychological empowerment are unlikely to engage in job crafting. Once again, psychological empowerment emerges as a core condition in this path, reinforcing the results obtained through regression analysis.

We can discuss the professional position and research experience from “increasing the challenging work demands” and “lessening hindering work demands”, based on the job crafting theory [ 6 ]. Since junior emergency nurses were newly exposed to clinical nursing work along with the special characteristics of emergency nursing, they faced higher work stress when addressing clinical problems that were primarily acute and serious. The problems mentioned above can also serve as a cause of stress that constantly reduces self-efficacy in the emergency care process. Additionally, the junior emergency nurses lack knowledge and experience in nursing research when they were students, and the research ability of nurses working in clinical settings is low in China [ 32 ]. Most nurses are under pressure to perform the job guided by the goal of job position improvement [ 33 ], and the inner drive to explore and solve research problems was insufficient [ 34 ]. If the nurses were assigned to research work by the organization, the work demands would inevitably exceed their abilities, leading to work hindrances. Junior nurses experience less pressure about job position improvement, and they may be fearful of research work. This may create defensive job crafting by lessening hindering work demands. Although this helps them to accomplish their clinical goals, it may reduce their work motivation and job involvement. The second dimension of job crafting is about increasing the challenging work demands. It has been revealed that a lack of challenging work may lead to absences and job dissatisfaction. Research tasks, as a challenge, may lead to the creation of job crafting for advanced practice nurses. By expanding task boundaries and increasing challenging work demands, the nurses have contributed to the organization. It was shown that challenge demands were associated with goal achievement and work motivation [ 6 ]. The H2, with research experience as a core condition, confirmed that the high job crafting was associated with the individuals’ promotion of “challenge demands”.

The high level of psychological empowerment in nurses was a core condition that influenced the level of job crafting on both core configurations (H1&L2). From regression models, it was also seen that psychological empowerment was a core element affecting job crafting (β = 0.317, p  < 0.001). This means that the job crafting gradually increased with the psychological empowerment. The self-determination theory suggests that autonomous motivational orientation, as opposed to control motivational orientation, would be more beneficial in addressing the basic psychological needs. A high level of psychological empowerment as a variable of autonomous motivational orientation could enhance individual job performance and job ability [ 35 ]. The resource conservation theory states that employees can experience higher psychological security as they sense higher levels of psychological empowerment through a cycle of resource loss and gain spirals. These positive job resources assist them in conserving and building more resources to cope with the prospect of poor career outcomes and job demands [ 36 ], which precisely confirm the findings of this paper.

In the emergency departments, nurses face a large number of job challenges on a daily basis. The ability of nurses to cope better with these challenges is closely related to perceived occupational benefits. Emergency nurses who perceive high levels of empowerment were better able to respond to the work challenges [ 37 ]. With increased resources for employees to do their jobs, a positive impact was bound to be seen on their psychological empowerment [ 14 ]. By acquiring and conserving resources, nurses are most likely to achieve the most appropriate match between people and job demands. Nurses who are motivated and empowered can develop more job crafting [ 38 ]. If this goal is achieved, it would increase nurses’ satisfaction and thus would promote job crafting resulting in a virtuous circle. To summarize, the results of both the QCA and the regression model demonstrated that the psychological empowerment was a core condition that influenced job crafting among the emergency nurses. From H1, H2 and L2, it can also be proved that high psychological empowerment was the core condition for a high job crafting, regardless of whether or not they had done clinical research work.

The identification with one’s job based on its potential to meet one’s needs and expectations is called job involvement. The job involvement has been mentioned in the literature as a reason why nurses feel so committed to their jobs [ 39 ]. Nurses with a high level of job involvement deliberately consider their work an important part of their lives. Whether or not they can feel good about themselves is closely related to their personal work. Thus, a healthy management structure should consider job involvement as an important predictor of organizational productivity. This attitude of nurses toward their jobs should be promoted [ 20 ]. However, the regression model shows that job involvement does not influence job crafting. Meanwhile, the H1-H3 all indicated that job involvement was an impact on job crafting, and two of these paths indicated that job involvement was a core condition for a high job crafting. Job involvement is influenced by the worker’s identification with the job they are doing. This is, in turn, derived from whether the job can meet the needs of the worker or not. This means that once a nurse has job involvement, a balance between job resources and demands can be reached and the nurse’s job crafting would be suspended. The QCA model revealed that job involvement may need to have an impact on job crafting in conjunction with the other factors. Several studies have also shown that job involvement is correlated with psychological empowerment [ 40 ]. The impact of nurses’ job involvement on their job crafting needs to be further explored.

The occupational benefits of nurses is a cognitive assessment of their feelings about the content of their work, which comes from their internal traits and the external work environment [ 41 ]. Job crafting is a positive behavior for individuals to balance job demands and resources. It can help individuals use available job resources to cope with the stress of job demands and achieve higher levels of job performance [ 42 ]. It enables the nurses to perceive occupational benefits. The H3 demonstrated that both the occupational benefits and the job involvement must be maintained at high levels for junior emergency nurses to lead to a high job crafting. The existence of a low occupational benefits and job involvement will inevitably lead to low job crafting, as seen from L3 and L4. When junior emergency nurses perceive occupational benefits, it may lead to more job autonomy which results in increased psychological recognition of their work [ 43 ]. High levels of job involvement allow nurses to be fully immersed in their work, improving efficiency and quality. With increased efficiency and quality, nurses can obtain more job performance and achievement, in turn bringing them stronger occupational benefits.

Limitations

Although the study obtained some results that could be effective in improving the job crafting for the emergency nurses, the limitations of the study are as follows. First, this cross-sectional survey was conducted with emergency nurses in China, which may limit the extension of these results to other regions. And convenient sampling techniques and the non-calculated sample size of the study limits the generalizability. Secondly, the cross-sectional study does not allow for the detection of possible changes in the levels of job crafting in each participant over time. Lastly, the data were collected from participants using self-report measures, and thus may not reflect their true feelings.

Implications for the profession

The findings of the paper provided two important insights for motivating job crafting in emergency nurses. Firstly, we recognized challenge demands have a significant contribution to job crafting. As such, nursing managers in emergency departments should assign nurses challenging tasks, such as participating in nursing research. These challenges not only stimulate nurses’ potential but also foster their personal growth. However, it’s crucial to align these challenging work demands with commensurate rewards, such as promotion in position, bonus allocation, etc. Meanwhile, it is necessary to give adequate psychological empowerment and cultivate a proper understanding of challenge demands such as research tasks to inspire job crafting in the nurses. This approach will encourage nurses to more actively engage in job crafting, continually improving their work efficiency. Secondly, emergency nursing managers should should carry out a layered method and focus on the main job demands of the nurses at different levels. Junior nurses experience more difficulty in facing the challenges brought by clinical work, which may not deal with the busy and ever-changing work of the emergency department. Thus, special attention should be paid to their psychological endurance and work stress to prevent job burnout and turnover when assigning research or other challenging tasks to them. For senior nurses, management should provide more psychological empowerment, making them feel trusted and respected by the organization. An organization that meets the staff needs and promotes staff development on priority allows nurses to perceive occupational benefits, enhances their sense of emotional belonging, and lastly, boosts the job crafting with a rise in job involvement [ 44 ]. Nurses will be more proactive in participating in work planning and implementation, actively adjusting and optimizing work processes to better meet the various challenges in the emergency department.

The study explored various influencing factors on the job crafting of emergency nurses through hierarchical regression and fsQCA models. Both the models have demonstrated that research experience, psychological empowerment, and occupational benefits were predictors of job crafting, along with high levels of psychological empowerment being the core condition on the higher paths (H1 & S2). Based on research findings, junior emergency nurses should be granted a high level of psychological empowerment without assigning them overly complex tasks, such as research tasks, as these challenges can stop their job crafting. Intermediate and senior emergency nurses, on the other hand, can be assigned research tasks coupled with high psychological empowerment to enhance their job crafting.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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This work was supported by grants from Henan Provincial Medical Science and Technology Research Project(LHGJ20200109);and Jiaxing University Research Fund (CD70522005).

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Yu Wang : Preparation, creation and/or presentation of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation). Development or design of methodology; creation of models. Qiaofang Yang : Provision of study materials, participants, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools. Luwen Wang : Visualization, Investigation. Qingwei Zhang: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data, and acquisition of the financial support for the project leading to this publication. Yingli Li : Writing- Reviewing and Editing, and Funding acquisition.

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Wang, Y., Yang, Q., Wang, L. et al. The factors of job crafting in emergency nurses: regression models versus qualitative comparative analysis. BMC Nurs 23 , 369 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02035-3

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Top 35 Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions in 2024

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Curious about how to truly understand and elevate your team's satisfaction at work? Let's explore the power of employee satisfaction surveys. Picture this: by asking the right questions, you're not just collecting data; you're opening a dialogue with your team, uncovering insights, and paving the way for positive change. In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of crafting effective survey questions that go beyond the surface, diving deep into what makes your employees tick. From assessing job satisfaction to evaluating workplace culture and everything in between, we'll show you how to create surveys that empower your team to share their thoughts and feelings honestly.

What is an Employee Satisfaction Survey?

An employee satisfaction survey is a structured questionnaire designed to measure and assess employees' attitudes, opinions, and perceptions about various aspects of their job, work environment, and organization. These surveys typically cover a range of topics, including job satisfaction, work-life balance, communication, leadership effectiveness, compensation and benefits, career development opportunities, and overall organizational culture.

Purpose of Employee Satisfaction Surveys

The primary purpose of employee satisfaction surveys is to gather feedback from employees to understand their level of satisfaction, engagement, and morale within the organization. By collecting data directly from employees, organizations can identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, ultimately driving positive changes that enhance employee satisfaction and organizational performance.

The Importance of Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Employee satisfaction surveys play a crucial role in gauging the health and well-being of an organization's workforce. Here are some key reasons why these surveys are essential:

• Identifying Areas for Improvement : Employee satisfaction surveys help organizations identify areas where employees are dissatisfied or experiencing challenges. This insight allows leaders to address issues proactively and implement strategies to improve the employee experience.
• Boosting Employee Engagement : Engaged employees are more productive, motivated, and committed to their work. By soliciting feedback through surveys and acting on the results, organizations can foster a culture of open communication, collaboration, and continuous improvement, leading to higher levels of employee engagement.
• Retaining Top Talent : High levels of employee satisfaction are closely linked to employee retention. When employees feel valued, supported, and appreciated, they are more likely to stay with the organization long-term. Employee satisfaction surveys help organizations identify factors that contribute to employee turnover and develop retention strategies to retain top talent.
• Enhancing Organizational Performance : Satisfied and engaged employees are more likely to contribute positively to organizational performance. They are more productive, creative, and customer-focused, leading to improved business outcomes such as increased revenue, customer satisfaction, and market competitiveness.

How Well-Crafted Survey Questions Enhance Employee Engagement and Retention

The design of survey questions is critical in eliciting accurate and meaningful responses from employees. Well-crafted survey questions can enhance employee engagement and retention in the following ways:

Encouraging Participation and Honesty

Clear, concise, and relevant survey questions encourage employees to participate in the survey and provide honest feedback. When employees feel that their opinions are valued and that their responses will be used to drive positive changes, they are more likely to engage in the survey process and provide candid responses.

Identifying Areas for Improvement

Survey questions that address specific aspects of the work environment, culture, and job satisfaction enable organizations to pinpoint areas for improvement. By collecting data on employee perceptions and experiences, organizations can identify pain points, challenges, and opportunities for enhancing the employee experience.

Fostering Open Communication

Open-ended survey questions allow employees to express their thoughts, concerns, and suggestions in their own words. This fosters open communication between employees and management, providing valuable insights into employee perceptions, needs, and priorities. By listening to employees and acting on their feedback, organizations can strengthen trust, morale, and engagement.

Tailoring Solutions to Employee Needs

Survey questions that capture both quantitative and qualitative data provide a comprehensive understanding of employee satisfaction and engagement. This allows organizations to tailor solutions and interventions to meet the specific needs and preferences of their workforce. Whether it's improving communication channels, enhancing benefits packages, or providing opportunities for professional development, organizations can implement targeted strategies that resonate with employees and drive positive change.

How to Prepare for the Employee Satisfaction Survey?

Before launching your employee satisfaction survey, it's crucial to lay down a solid foundation to ensure its success. This involves setting clear objectives, deciding on the frequency and timing of the survey administration, selecting the right survey methodology, and ensuring anonymity and confidentiality for your respondents.

Setting Clear Objectives for the Survey

The first step in preparing for your employee satisfaction survey is defining what you hope to achieve. Clear objectives will guide the survey design, data collection, and analysis processes. Consider what specific aspects of employee satisfaction you want to measure or improve. Are you focused on overall job satisfaction, work-life balance, communication effectiveness, or something else? Identifying your objectives early on will help tailor your survey questions to gather the most relevant data.

Determining the Frequency and Timing

Timing is crucial when it comes to administering employee satisfaction surveys. You want to choose a time when employees are likely to be most engaged and receptive to providing feedback. Avoid conducting surveys during periods of high stress, such as right before a major deadline or during a company crisis. Additionally, consider the frequency of your surveys. While annual surveys are common, more frequent surveys may be necessary for fast-paced environments or during times of significant change within the organization.

Selecting the Appropriate Survey Methodology

Choosing the right survey methodology is essential for reaching your target audience effectively. Online surveys are convenient and cost-efficient, allowing employees to respond from anywhere with an internet connection. Paper-based surveys may be preferable in certain situations, such as for employees who don't have regular access to computers or for gathering feedback in sensitive environments. Consider the preferences and accessibility of your workforce when deciding on the survey format.

Ensuring Anonymity and Confidentiality

Anonymity and confidentiality are critical for obtaining honest and candid feedback from your employees. Assure your employees that their responses will remain anonymous and confidential, encouraging them to provide truthful feedback without fear of repercussions. Utilize survey platforms or methods that allow respondents to submit their answers anonymously, and ensure that survey data is stored securely to protect employee privacy. This commitment to confidentiality will help build trust and increase survey participation rates.

How to Craft Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions?

Crafting effective survey questions is essential for obtaining meaningful insights from your employees. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when designing your survey questions:

Alignment with Organizational Goals and Values

Your survey questions should directly align with your organization's overarching goals, mission, and values. By tying survey questions to these larger objectives, you can ensure that the data collected will be relevant and actionable. For example, if one of your organization's values is transparency, you might include questions about communication effectiveness and leadership transparency in your survey.

Clarity and Simplicity of Language

It's crucial to use clear and straightforward language in your survey questions to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Avoid technical jargon or complex terminology that may be unfamiliar to some employees. Keep questions concise and specific, focusing on one topic or aspect at a time. This clarity will help ensure that respondents understand what is being asked and can provide accurate responses.

Focus on Specific Aspects

When crafting survey questions, be sure to focus on specific aspects of the work environment, culture, and job satisfaction that are most relevant to your organization. Consider what areas you want to measure or improve, such as teamwork, communication, work-life balance, or career development opportunities. Tailor your questions to address these specific areas to gather targeted feedback from employees.

Incorporating Quantitative and Qualitative Questions

To gain comprehensive insights, it's essential to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative questions into your survey. Quantitative questions, such as rating scales or multiple-choice questions, provide numerical data that can be easily analyzed and compared. Qualitative questions, on the other hand, allow employees to provide more in-depth responses and insights into their experiences, opinions, and suggestions. By including a mix of both types of questions, you can capture a more complete picture of employee satisfaction and engagement.

Balancing Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions

Strike a balance between open-ended and closed-ended questions to provide flexibility and depth in responses. Closed-ended questions with predefined answer options are useful for collecting standardized data and analyzing trends. However, open-ended questions allow employees to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas in their own words, providing valuable context and insights. By including a mix of both types of questions, you can gather diverse perspectives and uncover nuanced insights from your employees.

Top Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions

Overall job satisfaction.

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your current job?
• What aspects of your job role do you find most fulfilling?
• What aspects of your job role would you like to see improved?

Work Environment

• Do you feel valued and respected by your colleagues and supervisors?
• How would you describe the level of communication within your team or department?
• Are there any improvements you would suggest to enhance the work environment?

Management and Leadership

• Do you feel your supervisor or manager provides adequate support and guidance?
• How transparent is leadership in their decision-making and communication?
• Do you feel recognized and appreciated for your contributions by your immediate supervisor?

Work-Life Balance

• Do you feel you have enough time to balance your work and personal life?
• How often do you find yourself working outside of regular business hours?
• Are there any barriers or challenges that prevent you from maintaining a healthy work-life balance?

Career Development and Growth Opportunities

• Do you feel there are sufficient opportunities for professional growth and advancement within the organization?
• How satisfied are you with the feedback and guidance you receive regarding your career development?
• Are there any specific skills or competencies you would like to develop further to advance your career?

Communication and Feedback

• How satisfied are you with the frequency and quality of communication from management?
• Do you feel comfortable providing feedback or raising concerns to your supervisor or HR department?
• Are there any communication channels or methods you believe could be improved to better facilitate information sharing and collaboration?

Team Dynamics and Collaboration

• How would you rate the level of teamwork and collaboration within your team or department?
• Do you feel included and valued as a member of your team?
• Are there any barriers or challenges that hinder effective collaboration among team members?

Recognition and Appreciation

• Do you feel your contributions to the organization are recognized and appreciated?
• How satisfied are you with the recognition and rewards programs in place?
• Are there any specific forms of recognition or appreciation you would like to see implemented?

Training and Development Opportunities

• Have you received sufficient training and development opportunities to perform your job effectively?
• How satisfied are you with the quality and relevance of the training programs offered by the organization?
• Are there any specific skills or knowledge areas you would like to develop through training?

Organizational Culture

• How would you describe the overall culture and values of the organization?
• Do you feel the organization promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion?
• Are there any aspects of the organizational culture you would like to see improved or changed?

Job Satisfaction Drivers

• What motivates you to perform your best work?
• How satisfied are you with the level of autonomy and decision-making authority you have in your role?
• Are there any specific initiatives or programs that have positively impacted your job satisfaction?

How to Administer the Employee Satisfaction Survey?

Once you've crafted your employee satisfaction survey, it's time to plan and execute its administration effectively. Here are some key steps to ensure a successful survey administration:

• Communication : Clearly communicate the purpose, importance, and timeline of the survey to all employees. Explain how their feedback will be used to drive positive changes within the organization. Use multiple communication channels, such as email, company newsletters, intranet announcements, and team meetings, to reach all employees.
• Accessibility : Ensure that the survey is easily accessible to all employees, regardless of their location or access to technology. Provide clear instructions on how to access and complete the survey, including any login credentials or unique survey links. Consider offering alternative formats, such as paper-based surveys, for employees who may have difficulty accessing online surveys.
• Anonymity and Confidentiality : Reiterate the importance of anonymity and confidentiality to employees to encourage honest and candid feedback. Assure employees that their responses will remain anonymous and confidential, and that no identifying information will be shared with managers or supervisors. Use anonymous survey platforms or methods to collect responses securely.
• Deadline and Reminders : Set a deadline for survey completion to create a sense of urgency and encourage timely responses. Send out regular reminders leading up to the deadline to remind employees to complete the survey. Consider using automated reminder emails or notifications to ensure maximum participation.

How to Analyze Employee Satisfaction Survey Results?

Once you've collected responses from your employee satisfaction survey, the next step is to analyze the data and take actionable steps based on the findings. Here's how to effectively analyze and act on survey results:

• Data Analysis : Use data analysis tools or software to analyze survey responses and identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement. Quantitative data can be analyzed using statistical methods, such as averages, percentages, and correlations, while qualitative responses may require thematic analysis or sentiment analysis.
• Identifying Key Insights : Look for key insights and trends in the survey data that can inform decision-making and action planning. Pay attention to areas of strength and areas for improvement, as well as any recurring themes or concerns raised by employees. Consider segmenting the data by department, location, or demographic characteristics to identify specific areas of focus.
• Prioritizing Action Steps : Prioritize areas for improvement based on the survey findings and the impact they have on employee satisfaction and organizational performance. Focus on addressing issues that have the most significant influence on overall employee morale and engagement. Consider the feasibility and potential impact of each action step when prioritizing.
• Action Planning and Implementation : Develop action plans and initiatives to address identified issues and improve employee satisfaction. Involve key stakeholders, including managers, supervisors, and employees, in the action planning process to ensure buy-in and accountability. Set clear goals, timelines, and responsibilities for each action step, and monitor progress regularly. Communicate the action plans and progress updates to employees to keep them informed and engaged in the improvement process.

In wrapping up our guide to top employee satisfaction survey questions, remember: the journey to a happier workplace starts with listening. By taking the time to gather feedback from your team, you're not just collecting data; you're showing that their voices matter. And with that insight, you have the power to make meaningful changes that enhance employee satisfaction and drive organizational success. So, as you analyze survey results and embark on the path to improvement, keep the lines of communication open, involve your team every step of the way, and celebrate the progress you make together.

In the end, it's all about creating a workplace where employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. By consistently soliciting feedback, acting on it, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, you're not just building a stronger team – you're building a community where everyone can bring their best selves to work each day. So, as you move forward, remember that the journey to employee satisfaction is ongoing. Embrace the feedback, celebrate the wins, and keep striving to make your workplace the best it can be. After all, when your team is happy, everyone wins.

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What employees are saying about the future of remote work

As organizations look to the postpandemic future, many are planning a hybrid virtual model  that combines remote work with time in the office. This sensible decision follows solid productivity increases  during the pandemic.

But while productivity may have gone up, many employees report feeling anxious and burned out. Unless leaders address the sources of employee anxiety, pandemic-style productivity gains may prove unsustainable in the future. 1 Besides anxiety and burnout, longer-term productivity in a hybrid virtual model will also require addressing the organizational norms that help create a common culture, generate social cohesion, and build shared trust. See Andrea Alexander, Aaron De Smet, and Mihir Mysore, “ Reimagining the postpandemic workforce ,” McKinsey Quarterly , July 7, 2020. That’s because anxiety is known to reduce job satisfaction, negatively affect interpersonal relationships with colleagues, and decrease work performance.

A McKinsey Live event on ‘Getting hybrid work right: What employees are saying’

As organizational leaders chart the path toward the postpandemic world, they need to communicate more frequently with their employees—even if their plans have yet to solidify fully. Organizations that have articulated more specific policies and approaches for the future workplace have seen employee well-being and productivity rise.

The following charts examine our survey findings and shed light on what employees want from the future of work.

Feeling included. Even high-level communication about post-COVID-19 working arrangements boosts employee well-being and productivity. But organizations that convey more detailed, remote-relevant policies and approaches see greater increases. Employees who feel included in more detailed communication are nearly five times more likely to report increased productivity. Because communicating about the future can drive performance outcomes today, leaders should consider increasing the frequency of their employee updates—both to share what’s already decided and to communicate what is still uncertain.

Communication breakdown. Valuable as a detailed vision for postpandemic work might be to employees, 40 percent of them say they’ve yet to hear about any vision from their organizations, and another 28 percent say that what they’ve heard remains vague.

Anxiety at work. At organizations that are communicating vaguely, or not at all, about the future of postpandemic work, nearly half of employees say it’s causing them concern or anxiety. Anxiety is known to decrease work performance, reduce job satisfaction, and negatively affect interpersonal relationships with colleagues, among other ills. For the global economy, the loss of productivity because of poor mental health—including anxiety—might be as high as $1 trillion per year .

Burning out. The lack of clear communication about the future of postpandemic work also contributes to employee burnout. Nearly half of employees surveyed say they’re feeling some symptoms of being burned out at work. That may be an underestimate, since employees experiencing burnout are less likely to respond to survey requests, and the most burned-out individuals may have already left the workforce—as have many women, who’ve been disproportionately affected  by the COVID-19 crisis.

Share more. Burnout is especially pronounced for people feeling anxious due to a lack of organizational communication. These employees were almost three times more likely to report feeling burned out. The obvious recommendation for organizational leaders: share more with employees, even if you’re uncertain about the future, to help improve employee well-being now.

Employees want flexibility. So how do organizations help their anxious and burned-out employees? One way is to find out what employees want for the future. More than half of employees told us they would like their organizations to adopt more flexible hybrid virtual-working models , in which employees are sometimes on-premises and sometimes working remotely. A hybrid model can help organizations make the most of talent wherever it resides, lower costs, and strengthen organizational performance .

Talent at risk. In fact, more than a quarter of those surveyed reported that they would consider switching employers if their organization returned to fully on-site work. Of course, even employees who say they might depart could ultimately decide to remain, depending on the policies companies end up adopting, the availability of jobs at the same or better rates of pay, and the role of automation in shifting the tasks people do .

Staying home. In describing the hybrid model of the future, more than half of government and corporate workers report that they would like to work from home at least three days a week once the pandemic is over. Across geographies, US employees are the most interested in having access to remote work, with nearly a third saying they would like to work remotely full time.

What parents say. Employees with young children are the most likely to prefer flexible work locations, with only 8 percent suggesting they would like to see a fully on-site model in the future. Employees without children under 18 are nearly three times as likely to prefer on-site work, but the majority still prefer more flexible models.

Hopes and fears. Across the board, employees are eager to see organizations put a greater emphasis on flexibility, competitive compensation, and well-being once the pandemic is over—and conversely, they’re concerned that future work, regardless of whether it is on-site or remote, will negatively affect these needs. Employees also fear that on-site work will lead to a greater chance of getting sick and that remote work will reduce community and collaboration between colleagues.

Policy matters. Which working arrangements and related policies do employees say will lead to the highest levels of well-being, social cohesion, and productivity? More than a third of respondents ranked clear hours and expectations for collaboration in their top five policies; several other collaboration policies, including technologies that enable on-site employees to dial-in to remote meetings and guidelines for documentation, also received significant support. Collaboration tools, and training for those tools, also rate highly for employees, as does reimbursement for remote-work office setups. Microconnectivity policies, meanwhile—from small team events to a listening and response strategy—were top policies for more than a quarter of all respondents.

Andrea Alexander is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Houston office. Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in the New Jersey office. Meredith Langstaff is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office, where Dan Ravid is a fellow, research and knowledge.

This article was edited by Lang Davison, an executive editor in the Seattle office.

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Research: Why We Choose the Hard Way to Do Tedious Tasks

• Alicea Lieberman

And how to stop getting stuck in ruts.

In life and at work, we often get stuck persisting in unpleasant activities even when more enjoyable and equally effective alternatives exist. Research shows this happens due to “entrenchment,” where repeating an activity blocks consideration of better options and makes you more likely to keep doing it. The author’s research focuses on enhancing well-being by limiting over-persistence in these tasks and suggests solutions that include reducing repetition, dividing attention, and alternating tasks to break the cycle of entrenchment. By adopting strategies to prevent entrenchment, individuals and organizations can increase employee satisfaction and efficiency.

We often find ourselves mired in unpleasant tasks. And the longer we do an unpleasant task, the more stuck we become — persisting even if there are opportunities to switch to more enjoyable alternatives that would achieve the same goal. For instance, think about the last time you struggled to type a long email on your phone rather than switch to your nearby computer, where you could complete the task more comfortably. Or consider the last time you painstakingly formatted a document by hand rather than using a readily available software that could automate the process. Or even reflect on the last time you had an hour to pass and spent it watching an unenjoyable TV show rather than going outside for a pleasant stroll.

• AL Alicea Lieberman , PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in Marketing and Behavioral Decision Making at The UCLA Anderson School of Management. Her primary research focuses on judgment and decision making with an emphasis on self-control, motivation, and behavior change. She uses lab and field experiments and is committed to harnessing social and behavioral research to impact policy and improve societal health and well-being.

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