Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

Factors that influence job satisfaction

Introduction

In the last two decades, job satisfaction is considered to be a vital factor that affects

organizational productivity. At the beginning of twentieth century, researchers had not paid

much attention to job satisfaction but by the end of this century, it gained a lot more

relevance. The main reason is that people management is an important aspect of an

organizational process in today’s global business environment. A well-managed business

organization ordinarily regards their employees as the primary sources of productivity and

financial gains. Thus, employee job satisfaction is a very important concept in an any

organization. They consider that employees are the vital resource and represent an important

investment, if they are satisfied and loyal to their jobs. Evidently, if employees are satisfied

with their jobs, the performance result will be increased though employees would like to stay

with the organization, ultimately, lower turnover results in decreased hiring cost which will

directly impact the profitability of the organization. So organizations are most concerned with

their workforce to enhance the productivity and profitability.

Job satisfaction has to do with the way how people feel about their job and its various

aspects. It has to do with the extent to which people like are dislike their job. That’s why job

satisfaction and job dissatisfaction can appear in any given work situation. Considering the

importance that job satisfaction has in business administration, there is a need to know what

are the factors that affect it. There are many of them, and they can be categorized in different

ways. This is a relevant topic in the field of administration, especially to students who will
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

have the opportunity in the future to have people in their charge. Therefore, they must know

what their needs are as employees so that they can perform better within the organization.

The objective of this study is to determine the factors that influence employee job

satisfaction. For this purpose, the articles incorporate research on the factors that influence

the public sector, as well as the private sector. It is intended to clarify if there are similar or

different, from 6 articles. So, information focused on the private sector that is more linked to

motivational factors will be collected (Abbas & Akber, 2014; Abbasi & Sanavi ,2017;

Muthuveloo, Ping & Weng, 2018). But also, the same will be investigated but in the public

sector whose results are more related hygiene factors (Chaudhry & Randhawa, 2018; Gwal &

Sharma, 2013; Maidani, 1991). This literature review will cover two sub-themes:

1. Factors that affect job satisfaction in the private sector

2. Factors that affect job satisfaction in the public sector

1. Factors that affect job satisfaction in the private sector

Being the private sector, where administrators usually work the most, it needs to be analyzed.

For this reason, many researchers didn´t hesitate to conduct their studies focusing on this kind

of companies. For example, an investigation was conducted in a leading engineering products

manufacturing company in Pakistan with the participation of its employees. Through surveys,

the researchers sought to analyze several demographic, financial and non-financial factors

that affect job satisfaction. After analyzing the results, Abbas and Akber (2014) emphasised

that there are different factors which affect the levels of job satisfaction. Some of these are

age, salary, facilities and allowances, designation of employees, pay, promotion, job security,

work conditions, job stress level, management and relations with supervisors. Similarly,

another investigation carried out in a bank to its employees with the same methodology,
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

obtained results that complement what has been mentioned so far. Abbasi and Sanavi (2017)

identified that another factors of organizational view such as participation, communication

and reward have a positive impact on employee satisfaction. But it should be noted that,

findings of this research show that rewards and participations have the most impact on it. On

the other hand, there was a study conducted among 136 millennial employees who work in

various multinational companies in Malaysia. The results reveals that there are three

important factors; for instance, employee development, employee reward and employee

work-life balance that were significantly related with job satisfaction (Muthuveloo, Ping &

Weng, 2018).

Basically, the satisfaction of private sector employees is influenced by motivational factors,

which are promotional opportunities (Abbas & Akber, 2014), awards (Abbasi & Sanavi

,2017) and growth (Muthuveloo, Ping & Weng, 2018). They felt more satisfied with these

"motivators" that symbolize psychological needs they perceive as an additional benefit.

2. Factors that affect job satisfaction in the public sector

Although, the public sector is also an important area that could be studied. This is because

the employees who work in this sector do so for the government of their own country.

Therefore, it would be interesting to know what are the factors that affect their job

satisfaction. As a result, researchers have already obtained essential information on this

subject. Chaudhry and Randhawa (2018) considered that there are 9 factors influencing agri

warehouse employees' job satisfaction.. These are training opportunity, job security, pay and

incentive plans, supervision, fringe benefits and recognition and opportunity for promotion.

Nevertheless, there are other factors that are more related to the work environment. such as

the relationship with co-workers and communication. Besides, the results of this study shows
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

that opportunity to various training programmes is the most important identified factor.

Further, evidence suggests that adequate learning at workplace not only improves KSAs

(knowledge, skills and abilities) of workforce but also enhances their job satisfaction.

Likewise, Gwal and Sharma (2013) described another factors such as job security, pay

package, chances of promotion, HR policies, appraisal system and work culture. In their

research, These authors found that the classification of factors demonstrates that job security

is the most important factor that impacts job satisfaction in the public sector. In fact, this is

the perhaps only one that lures many for joining public sector or government jobs irrespective

of salary or position. In the same way, Maidani (1991) explained that employees of public

sector placed a significantly higher value on the hygiene factors. They are also often referred

to as “dissatisfiers” since influence workers don't have a high job satisfaction. Hence,

managers have to pay attention to them and be careful. Some examples of them are company

policy and administration, technical supervision, working conditions, salary and interpersonal

supervision.

The job satisfaction of public sector employees is affected by the hygiene factors, such as job

security (Gwal & Sharma, 2013), fringe benefits (Chaudhry & Randhawa, 2018) and

company policy and administration (Maidani, 1991). They are more concerned to know if

they will continue working in the same organization to feel more confident in the long term.

Additionally, they believe that they should be offered health care plans (mediclaim), benefits

for family members, employee assistance programs, and others. Moreover, they value that the

company's policies aren't too rigid. They must be fair and clear about work schedules, dress

code, breaks, vacations, etc.

Discussion
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

The sources mentioned above are all articles from different academic journals. In addition,

they are very reliable since they have been reviewed by experts in the field. So, it is almost

impossible to doubt the veracity of the results obtained from the investigations carried out.

They are more credible because the authors conceptualize their ideas and support them with

results of past research that are closely related to the context of their research. I think that this

gives the article a greater background. This benefits readers as it allows them to get an idea of

what has been previously studied and what relevant information was collected from it. In all

articles, the introductions try to capture the attention of the reader. In addition, they mention

why their research topic is being more demanded than before and what is the need for his

studies. Besides, in all sources, key ideas are provided that are essential for readers to

understand their research. The authors seek that they have a basic knowledge before

beginning to give details of the methodology and results of their research. In this way, readers

can understand the information even if they are not totally linked to the discipline.

It should be noted that this information is mentioned both by integral and nonintegral citation.

For the most part, the authors use the integral citation in order to highlight the researchers. On

the contrary, when they want to enhance only information from others to raise their own

ideas, they choose to use non integral citation. Likewise, all research results have been

obtained from the same methodology: surveys. Also, they worked with significant samples,

which makes it possible to rely more on these studies since a greater percentage of error in

their results is reduced. Clearly, these articles manage to capture what are the factors that

influence job satisfaction. They are helpful to answer the research question by having key

information on the subject. Furthermore, these sources allow this literature review to be

separated into 2 sub-themes to compare whether there are differences between 2 sectors;
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

private and public. Finally, it is highly valued that at the end of each of the articles, the

authors mention what the limitations of the study have been and give recommendations for

future research. This allows us to know that other areas or aspects are missing, so that it

encourages the curiosity of knowing more.

This study leaves much scope for further research. More studies can be carried out on a large

sample size using other information than surveys. In addition, this study was based on the

employees' point of view so that more studies can be carried out from the employers' point of

view.

Bibliographic references:

- Abbasi, C. A., Choudharya, M. A. & Rukh, L. (2015). Analysis of factors affecting

employee satisfaction: A case study from Pakistan. ​Work: A Journal of Prevention,

Assessment & Rehabilitation, ​52 (1) 137–152. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=109143067&site=ehost-live

- Abbasi, Z., & Fard, R. S. (2017). Identifying Factors Influencing on Employee

Satisfaction. ​International Journal of Scientific Management and Development, 5(​ 9),

429–436. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=126496533&site=ehost-live
Author: Valeria Borda Mendoza

- Chaudhry, N. & Randhawa, G. (2018). Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction of Agri

Warehouse Employees. ​Prajnan Journal of Social and Management Sciences, 47​(4),

341-359. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=135831940&site=ehost-live

- Gwal, A. & Sharma, J. K. (2013). Factors Leading to Job Satisfaction Among Public

Sector Employees. ​Shodh Ganga Management Journal, 3​(1), 31-34. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=99578007&site=ehost-live

- Maidani, E. A. (1991). Comparative study of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of job

satisfaction among public and private sectors. ​Public Personnel Management, 20(​ 4),

441-448. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=9604260546&site=ehost-live

- Muthuveloo, R., Ping, T. A. & Wen, C. T. (2018). Factors Influencing Job

Satisfaction: A Perspective of Millennials in Malaysia Multinational (MNC)

Companies. ​Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal,

10​(1), 48-66. Retrieved from:

https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db

=bsu&AN=132815452&site=ehost-live