Paths to Explain Employee Job Satisfaction. A Fuzzy-Set Analysis

Job satisfaction is one of the most researched topics in management literature taking into consideration the fact that it has been found out that this concept has many practical implications in the workplace. Job satisfaction is very complex phenomenon which is influenced by numerous factors. Previous studies provide a partial view of job satisfaction, because they are usually focused on the relationship between a single factor and job satisfaction, without taking a global view to indicate how different factors simultaneously affect job satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different factors such as: work family balance, teamwork, personal environment fit, job security and supervisor support simultaneously influence job satisfactions. The sample of the study includes employees of Polish small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis is used to analyze data collected in surveys from 274 employees. The results contribute to research on job satisfaction by outlining several combinations of factors which create a paths to explain employee job satisfaction: (1) teamwork and supervisor support, (2) personal environment fit, job security and supervisor support with absence of work family balance, (3) work family balance, job security and supervisor support.