Antecedents of employee job satisfaction: Do they matter?

Abstract

This research investigates the collective effect of (1) the employee–organization relationship, (2) the employee–supervisor relationship, and (3) the employee–coworker relationship on employee job satisfaction. The empirical application considers a data sample comprising 374 valid observations and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in its fuzzy set variant to test the model. A second-stage analysis compares the results with the results of alternative methodologies. The findings reveal that three different paths explain job satisfaction: (1) teamwork, identification with the strategy, and the absence of employee work–family balance; (2) employee work–family balance, autonomy, and identification with the strategy; and (3) supervisor support and identification with the strategy. The study concludes with a discussion of managerial applications.