SHS Web of Conferences 181, 01037 (2024) https://doi.org/10.

1051/shsconf/202418101037
ICDEBA 2023

Factors Affecting Employees’ Job Satisfaction: Organizational

and Individual Levels
Yilin Wang*
Human Resource Management, International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, China

Abstract. In the study of modern business management, the importance of employees is being mentioned
more and more. Employee satisfaction is also being emphasized as an important factor affecting the long-
term development of enterprises. This paper summarizes and discusses the effects of organizational and
individual level factors on employee job satisfaction, which have been frequently discussed in previous
literature, by means of a literature review. It has the significance of summarizing. After discussing, the paper
concludes that organizational environment, salary and benefits, career planning and leadership style are
positively related to employee satisfaction. At the individual level, age, education level and work experience
are mainly studied, and due to the different characteristics of the studied industries, different scholars have
come up with various conclusions. Based on the discussion of these factors, this paper further provides
suggestions that can be implemented by organizations to improve employee job satisfaction. For example,
shortening the power distance, establishing a mentor system, and conducting frequent meetings to ensure
that the different needs of employees are heard and so on.

analyze what factors affect employee job satisfaction at

1 Introduction the organizational level. However, job satisfaction is a
subjective concept. As Sjarifudin, D. and Ali, H. (2023)
As the field of business management continues to be mentioned employee satisfied or dissatisfied with the
enriched with doctrines and theories, the important role job will depend on whether they feels that the results
that employees occupy in business development is they get meet their original vision, which is relatively
increasingly being discussed. Majstorović, A. and Cerić, personal [3]. In response to the existence of this
A. (2019) stated that because only people can learn, subjectivity, in addition to the factors at the
grow, and improve in the process of development and in organizational level that may affect employees' job
turn contribute to the development of the enterprise, satisfaction, this paper will also analyze and discuss the
hence, people will become the foundation of the employees' personal factors that may bring influence to
development of the enterprise as well as one of the most the satisfaction of employees. In the field of job
important factors [1]. Proper staff management and satisfaction up to now there have been many studies,
staffing can bring many benefits to business such as the relationship between employee job
development. Many studies showed that appropriate satisfaction and employee performance, the relationship
human resource management(HRM) can improve the between employee job satisfaction and employee
productivity of a company, the quality of its products engagement, the impact of the economic situation on
and services and thus bring better economic benefits to employee job satisfaction, and so on. However, there are
the company [2]. Under this situation, if enterprises still some comparative studies on the differences in job
want to make themselves competitive in the industry by satisfaction among different industries, or the gaps in
means of HRM, they must pay attention to the energy job satisfaction among different regions or countries,
and resources invested in HRM [1]. Among HRM which may be due to the fact that such studies require a
process, investments and efforts on improving lot of manpower and time. In this paper, the previous
employees’ job satisfaction are quite important. Job researches, targeting to various industries, will be
satisfaction is an employee's attitude toward his or her reviewed to discuss factors influence the employee job
job, which includes the employee's feelings, perceptions, satisfaction from organizational and personal level. For
and evaluations of the job [3]. Improving employee job example, corporate environment, salary and benefits,
satisfaction can increase the degree of employee age and education level of employees. Based on the
commitment to the work, improve employee discussion, recommendations target to these factors will
productivity, and improve employee loyalty to the be given to help companies better managing their
enterprise, reduce the turnover rate of the enterprise, employees and improving the job satisfaction of the staff.
playing a important role in the management of the
modern enterprise. Therefore, in this paper, we will
澳
* Corresponding author: Yilin.Wang2003@student.xjtlu.edu.cn

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
SHS Web of Conferences 181, 01037 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202418101037
ICDEBA 2023

2 Organizational Influential Factors of individual employee's skills and qualities. Paying

Employees’ Job Satisfaction attention to this point can also be conducive to the
realization of long-term strategic development of
After reviewing the existing literature, four factors that enterprises. Furthermore, a study of 154 employees of
will affect job satisfaction of employees will be PT. Pos Indonesia (Persero) in 2015 and a survey of 121
analyzed, that is, work environment, salary and benefits, employees of PT. Yuasa Battery Indonesia in 2019 both
career development and leadership style. All these four proved that there is a positive correlation between career
factors have a positive-correlations with the job paths and job satisfaction of employees [10], which
satisfaction. demonstrates that assigning employees a clear career
development plan makes them more loyal to the
company and to their jobs.
2.1 Working environment
The first aspect is the working environment. The 2.4 Leadership style of an organization
organizational environment for individuals should be a
primary consideration for the company, as it greatly Finally, leadership style can also influence the
affects the quality of work and production levels of employees’ work satisfaction. Mohamed Sultan, F.M. et
employees [4]. Andriani, R. et al. (2023) demonstrated al. (2023) stated that, in some cases, leadership can
that there was a significant positive relationship between influence the extent to which employees are willing to
working environment and employee job satisfaction in dedicate themselves to the organization [11]. Li, H. and
the hotel industry by using the empirical examination [5]. Zhou, C. (2023) pointed out that in previous studies,
Moreover, the increase in employee satisfaction also leadership style has been shown to have a significant
makes employees more motivated to work and reduces positive correlation with organizational outcome and
the turnover rate. Besides the hospitality industry, Anasi, workers' attitudes towards job [12]. Among the many
S.N. (2020) conducted a survey of 102 library leadership styles, it has been found that inclusive
employees, using a self-structured questionnaire [6]. leadership can better stimulate managers' sense of
The results also showed a significant linear relationship responsibility, improve employee performance and their
between academic librarians’ job satisfaction and their job satisfaction, and help managers achieve better
working environment [6]. Therefore, it is essential for a leadership results [12]. Leaders who adopt an inclusive
company or an organization to create an appropriate leadership style are usually more responsive to the needs
working environment. of their subordinates. This type of leader is more
approachable and more open in their interactions with
subordinates. Other studies also explain how inclusive
2.2 Salary and benefits leadership positively influence employees’ job
The second factor is salary and benefits. Salary is a form satisfaction. Inclusive leaders tend to accept different
of compensation and a regular reward for employee behaviours and perspectives from employees and
performance. Wages can play an important role in both respect their diversity [13]. Under this leadership style,
improving employee performance and employee job its leadership charisma, and individualized care in this
satisfaction. If employees receive a salary that meets type of leadership will have a significant positive impact
their personal needs, their job performance will improve on employee job satisfaction.
accordingly. Therefore, today, many relatively modern
companies link employee performance to salary and 3 Individual Influential Factors of
benefits to minimize job loss and employee turnover [7].
In addition to employee wages alone, Nugroho, S.H. and
Employees’ Job Satisfaction
Bandono, A. (2023) conducted a study of 167 In addition to the organizational level factors that can
government employees, which demonstrated that affect employees' job satisfaction, studies also revealed
employee benefits such as workers' compensation that individual differences, including age, work
insurance and pensions also have a positive impact on experience, and educational level also related to
employee job satisfaction [8]. Therefore, it can be different attitudes towards work, even if the employees
concluded that salary as well as subsidies can be used as are in the same position and the same company..
a motivational element to increase the level of job
satisfaction and engagement of employees.
3.1 Age and job satisfaction
2.3 Career development Some research showed that older employees are a
valuable resource to an organization [14]. Although
The third aspect is the effect of career development their cognitive abilities decline with age, they will have
towards work satisfaction. Career development was more experience and can serve as mentors to younger
defined as helping an employee be the best individual employees. However, researches on age and job
they can be in the organization and finding the right satisfaction has shown inconsistent results for different
place for them,but not just about promotion [9]. It can groups of people. There are many studies that can show
be seen that career development emphasize on the that job satisfaction increases with age and there is a
degree of matching between individual employee's significant relationship between the two [15]. For
ability and position as well as the enhancement of example, there was an experiment that proved that age

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SHS Web of Conferences 181, 01037 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202418101037
ICDEBA 2023

is highly and significantly correlated with the job longer period of accumulation. Therefore, employees in
satisfaction of Taiwanese IT workers [15]. In response the banking industry will show a correlation between
to these statements, the hypothesis is proposed that there personal work experience and job satisfaction.
is a significant positive correlation between age and job
satisfaction [15]. Based on the hypotheses, researchers
3.3 Education level and job satisfaction
conducted a study with a stratified random sample
analysis of 320 Ugandan government workers, but A number of studies have pointed out that the level of
proved that age was not significantly correlated to job education of employees can be negatively related to
satisfaction. In addition, in another study, 350 their job satisfaction, i.e., the higher the level of
questionnaires was distributed to Japanese retail education, the lower the job satisfaction is likely to be
salespeople and received 315 valid responses [16]. [19]. This may be due to higher expectations for work
Based on this response, the respondents were among people with higher education levels. They are
categorized into three groups by age, which are 18-29 more likely to be disappointed when the job is too
years old, 30-39 years old, and over forty years old. routine or does not fully utilize their skills. In response
After the ANOVA test, the scores of each age group did to this theoretical study, the authors formulated the
not differ significantly, thus proving that there is no hypothesis that the lower the level of education, the
significant relationship between age and job satisfaction. higher the job satisfaction of the employees, and
This phenomenon may occur because although it is conducted a study in the Spanish hotel industry,
often assumed that the older the employees are, the covering 585 employees in 73 hotels in Spain. After
higher job satisfaction they will have. However, analyzing the data, they concluded that the education
researchers may have overlooked the fact that less senior level of the employees could only explain part of the low
employees have a sense of freshness about their work job satisfaction. Because job satisfaction decreases as
and are more excited about the future development and the level of education increases and gets lowest at the
advancement of their careers. This may lead to the fact university degree, but job satisfaction increases for
that the effect of age on job satisfaction does not employees with a graduate degree. Besides, a survey on
fluctuate much among different age groups. the education level and job satisfaction of Japanese sales
personnel showed that employees without a Bachelor
3.2 Work experience and job satisfaction degree had higher job satisfaction compared to those
with a higher degree [16]. Satisfying the hypothesis that
Work experience is the skills and knowledge gained by the higher the level of education the lower the job
an employee in the course of a previous job, and can be satisfaction of employees. Through these two studies, it
used to measure the amount of time and effort an can be found that employees in the same industry, the
individual has invested in a previous job [17]. Due to higher the degree before reaching university, the lower
differences in job characteristics and length of time in the job satisfaction. On the contrary, starting with
the field, there is a wide range of experience among graduate students, the two showed a positive correlation.
workers. Hence, surveys of employees in different For employees in the same position, education has a
industries do not reach the same conclusions. As negative impact on job satisfaction.
described above, the research of Japanese retail workers
conducted in 2023, by Pehlivanoğlu, M.Ç. [16]. In
conducting an investigation on the extent to which work 4 Suggestions to organizations and
experience affects job satisfaction, he categorized the companies
participants into three groups according to the number
of years of participation in the workforce: 1-5 years, 6- In response to the above suggested factors that may
15 years, and 16 years and above. The results of the data affect employee satisfaction, organizations should make
analysis demonstrated that there was no significant changes to improve employee job satisfaction. This is
difference in the scores of the three groups, thus because increased job satisfaction can increase the
concluding that there is no significant link between work motivation of employees and their work output, while
experience and job satisfaction. However, the results of on the other hand, low satisfaction can even lead to
the survey conducted in 2018 on 80 Indonesian bank negative phenomena such as quitting the job and
staffs showed that the regression coefficient between the absenteeism [16]. In order to increase employee job
two is positive, i.e., there is a positive correlation satisfaction, a company can first create a clean,
between the employees' work experience and job comfortable working environment and a positive, gentle
satisfaction. The results show that for every one and friendly corporate culture for its employees.
percentage point increase in the work experience of Secondly, appropriate employee benefits and
bank employees, job satisfaction will increase by 0.202 compensation are necessary. As an incentive, this will
percentage points [18]. The reason for this difference make employees feel that their efforts are equally
may due to the characteristics of the industry. Although rewarded and recognized by the company, thus
the sales industry’s employees also need to master the increasing their commitment to their work. As discussed
relevant knowledge, but grasp the characteristics of the earlier, clear career development, not just job
product can be important, which can be mastered in the advancement, but also giving employees the right skills
relatively short term. However, the banking industry training and choosing the most suitable position for
requires more specialized financial knowledge, and the them is an effective way to increase employee job
judgment of the financial industry trend requires a satisfaction. In terms of leadership, inclusive leadership,

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SHS Web of Conferences 181, 01037 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202418101037
ICDEBA 2023

as mentioned above, is an effective way to increase industry, employee satisfaction was negatively
satisfaction, but in addition, embracing the diversity of correlated with employee education level before
employee behaviors and perceptions, demonstrating attaining a college degree and positively correlated after
charisma and humanity, being a supportive leader and attaining a college degree. For the same position, the
communicating positively with employees is the level of education has been shown to have a negative
relatively ideal form of leadership. impact on job satisfaction. Based on this research, this
The personal variables mentioned above are paper also gives some suggestions for companies. The
inherently difficult to change, but it is possible for company should provide employees with more suitable
companies to face these problems and to correct them. salary and working environment, plan a clear career
Although age and work experience may not be directly development path for employees, be more tolerant of the
related to job satisfaction, the establishment of the diversity of employees, shorten the power distance,
concept of equality of all employees within the company, actively communicate with employees and listen to their
not according to seniority, and the reduction of power needs. This will help the company to improve employee
distance within the company will, to a certain extent, job satisfaction and loyalty, which is conducive to the
alleviate the possible dissatisfaction of young long-term development of the enterprise. Besides, there
employees. It is also possible to establish a mentor is a lack of comparative research on employee co-
system, whereby more experienced employees lead less worker satisfaction, and although different industries are
experienced employees, helping them to quickly build discussed in this paper, they are not comparable because
up their work skills and reduce the low satisfaction of of the different research variables. Therefore, in
less experienced new employees due to their lack of skill subsequent studies, more emphasis should be placed on
in their work. As for the impact of education, the comparative studies of employee co-worker satisfaction.
company should focus on communicating with For example, it is important to study the differences in
employees to understand whether their dissatisfaction job satisfaction of employees in the same industry or
comes from the single content of the work or the company in different countries or regions, as well as in
inability to utilize their skills to the full extent of their different cultures. This will fill the research gap in the
learning, and give positive adjustments. Importantly, field of employee job satisfaction.
these individual demographic variables are not the only
variables that affect job satisfaction, line managers
should have frequent meetings with the HR department Reference
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