Main factors affecting employee satisfaction and its impact on overall organisational performance

It is well known that employee satisfaction is affected by several organisational factors. This research proposes and empirically tests a new conceptual model with the aim to unveil which factors affect employee performance and the overall organisational performance during a long period of severe economic crisis. The factors incorporated into the model are grouped into four groups, namely, employee satisfaction antecedents, satisfaction mediators, main behavioural effects and final performance. Data from 414 employees from various firms were used to test the validity of the proposed theoretical framework. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used as the main data analysis technique. The results suggest that organisational management is the single most important factor in determining whether or not workers are happy in their jobs. The effectiveness of management at all levels of an organisation has the greatest bearing on its performance, followed by employees' attitudes and performance.