Identifying Factors Affecting Employee Satisfaction: Literature Review

This literature review delves into the multifaceted factors influencing employee satisfaction, focusing on a case study of Walmart in the UK. The review synthesizes various sources to identify key drivers of employee happiness and contentment, emphasizing the significance of job satisfaction in relation to organizational performance, productivity, and employee retention. It explores the interplay between employee satisfaction and motivation, highlighting Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory and the importance of both hygiene factors and motivators. The review further examines critical factors such as effective leadership, working environment, interpersonal relations, and training and development. The analysis underscores the impact of psychological stress and organizational culture on employee satisfaction, providing insights for fostering a positive and productive workplace. The literature review concludes by emphasizing the necessity of addressing these factors to enhance employee satisfaction and achieve organizational goals.

Running Head: Literature Review
Literature Review: Identifying the factors affecting employee satisfaction at the workplace: a study
on Walmart, UK

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Literature Review
Table of Contents
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................3
Employee satisfaction............................................................................................................3
Significance of employee satisfaction....................................................................................4
Relationship between employee satisfaction and motivation................................................4
Factors influencing employee satisfaction.............................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Literature Review
Literature Review
The literature review section encompasses an intricate analysis of various relevant resources
and literature so as to come up with an effective review outcome. The main aim of this
section is to several sources of literature on the identification of the factors influencing
employee satisfaction at the workplace. This section has helps the researcher to develop a
clear understanding of the subject matter of the study.
Employee satisfaction
In the opinion of Johnson (2012), employee satisfaction is one of the most important aspects
which indicates the happiness and contentedness of the employees with their jobs and
organizations. They become satisfied when they are able to fulfil their needs and desires at
work. Several characteristics of organisational environment and job titles which have become
major factors driving employee job satisfaction. It is important to understand that job
satisfaction gets influenced by the condition of the organisational environment to a large
extent. The demographic features of individuals and employees working in different
industrial sectors have been investigated. The findings have clearly revealed that job task
characteristics, demographic characteristics, and organisational environment characteristics
of the employees are the major factors impacting their job satisfaction (Johnson, 2012).
According to Al-Hummadi (2013), employee satisfaction is one of the important aspects of
business organisations. Employee satisfaction is directly related to the aspects of performance
profitability and productivity of the business organisations. It is very important for
organisations to keep their employees highly satisfied so as to achieve the desired outcome
with the help of the contributions of the employees. Employee satisfaction is an aspect which
leads to organisational success and achievement of the desired goals and objectives. It also

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Literature Review
helps in encouraging the entire workforce to contribute with full zeal and enthusiasm
enhancing the productivity and performance level of the organisations. Employee satisfaction
has become an important aspect in the highly competitive business environment. The
business organisations can achieve their desired competitive advantage if they are successful
enough to keep their employees satisfied. The contributions of the employees can never be
overemphasized (Al-Hummadi, 2013).
Significance of employee satisfaction
In the view of Vinerean, et al. (2013), one of the major challenges of the business
organisations is employee turnover issue. This issue has become quite impactful in the last
few years affecting almost every industrial sector on the international platform. The issue of
employee turnover leads to a huge loss to the business organisations. It is undesirable for any
organisation to lose talented efficient and skilled employees under any circumstance.
Employee turnover leads to a huge financial loss. When the organisations have to replace the
vacant places by recruiting and developing new ones, it involves a huge investment of
resources. Hence, no business organisation would desire to face such a loss. Employee
satisfaction helps the business organisations to retain efficient employees for the long term.
The sense of belongingness and commitment within the employees also gets developed with
increasing satisfaction level (Vinerean, et al., 2013).
Relationship between employee satisfaction and motivation
In the opinion of Ghazi, et al. (2013), there is a close relationship between employee
motivation and satisfaction. Herzberg's Two Factor Theory has introduced major two factors
which influence employee satisfaction and motivation to a great extent. These two factors are
hygiene factors and motivating factors or motivators. The hygiene factors are crucial for the
fundamental existence of employees (Asmus, et al., 2015). These factors generally influence

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Literature Review
employee motivation at their workplace. They do not directly influence the satisfaction level
of the employees for longer tenure but in the absence of these factors, the employees could
develop job dissatisfaction levels. The hygiene factors help in specifying the workforce by
reducing the levels of their job dissatisfaction. These factors are also known as satisfiers or
maintenance factors. The hygiene factors are mainly administrative policies, company
policies, physical working conditions, interpersonal relations, fringe benefits, compensation,
job security. And other factors which take care of the psychological needs. On the other hand,
the motivating factors or motivators are achievement, growth, recognition, the
meaningfulness of the tasks, and responsibility (SHETRONE, 2015). There can be intrinsic
and extrinsic motivational factors. If the motivational factors are taken well care of by the
business organisations, their employees are more likely to develop satisfaction with their jobs
and employers. They also increase intrinsic motivation within the employees. The hygiene
factors are basically extrinsic in nature and motivating factors are intrinsic in nature (Ghazi,
et al., 2013).
Factors influencing employee satisfaction
According to Yee, et al. (2008), there are certain factors which impact the satisfaction level of
the employees at their workplace to a great extent. These factors include effective leadership,
working environment, interpersonal relations, psychological factors, motivational factors, and
training and development. Effective leadership has always led to increased satisfaction level
in the employees. Every individual employee demands for an effective working condition or
environment where they could what with utmost safety and security. Motivational factors can
be intrinsic and extrinsic (Bozkurt, et al., 2017). Rewards and recognition achievement
promotion etc. increase intrinsic motivation in the employees. On the other hand, pay and
compensation increase extrinsic motivation in the employees. The employees expect safe and
supportive working conditions and environment and if this aspect is taken good care of by the

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Literature Review
employers, employee satisfaction level will be increased (Haruna, 2013). The organisational
culture should also embrace diversity so as to keep the employees motivated.
Furthermore, psychological stress is an important aspect which impacts employee satisfaction
level. The satisfaction level of the employees gets negatively impacted with increased
psychological and work-related stress. There are certain jobs which involve huge financial
targets. This types of jobs generally impact employee satisfaction negatively. The business
organisation should be able to manage target pressure and stress levels so that their
employees do not have to lose satisfaction level. Training and development is another
important aspect which always increases motivation and satisfaction level within employees.
With effective training and development, the employees get the opportunity to learn and get
motivated which in turn increases their satisfaction level (Yee, et al., 2008).

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References
Al-Hummadi, B. A., 2013. Leadership, Employee Satisfaction and Turnoverin the UAE
Public Sector. Dissertation http://bspace.buid.ac.ae/bitstream/1234/357/1/100097.pdf, pp.
16-120.
Asmus, S., Karl, F., Mohnen, A. & Reinhart, G., 2015. The Impact of Goal-setting on Worker
Performance - Empirical Evidence from a Real-effort Production Experiment. Procedia
CIRP; Volume 26; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.02.086, pp. 127-132.
Bozkurt, T., Bektas, F., Ahmed, M. J. & Kola, V., 2017. Application of goal setting theory.
PressAcademia Procedia (PAP), V.3; DOI: 10.17261/Pressacademia.2017.660, pp. 796-801.
Folkman, J., 2013. Seven Ways To Increase Employee Satisfaction Without Giving A Raise.
[Online]
Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2013/11/27/seven-ways-to-increase-
employee-satisfaction-without-giving-a-raise/#1e36890d52ba
Ghazi, S. R., Shahzada, G. & Khan, M., 2013. Resurrecting Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory:
an Implication to the University Teachers. Journal of Educational and Social Research; Vol
3, No 2 (2013); http://www.mcser.org/journal/index.php/jesr/article/view/270/255, pp. 445-
450.
Haruna, M. K., 2013. AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF HERZBERGS TWO-FACTOR
THEORY. Article · June 2013, pp. 1-16.
Johnson, R. R., 2012. Police Officer Job Satisfaction: A Multidimensional Analysis. Policy
Quarterly 15(2) , 15(2), p. 157–176.

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Literature Review
SHETRONE, A., 2015. 7 Ways to Improve Employee Satisfaction. [Online]
Available at: http://www.inc.com/guides/201105/7-ways-to-improve-employee-
satisfaction.html
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I. & Dumitrescu, L., 2013. Modeling Employee Satisfaction in Relation
to CSR Practices and Attraction and Retention of Top Talent.. Expert J o urna l o f Business
a nd Ma na g e men t (1), pp. 4-14.
Yee, R. W., Yeung, A. C. & Cheng, T. E., 2008. The impact of employee satisfaction on
quality and profitability in high-contact service industries. Journal of Operations
Management 26; http://www.business.uzh.ch/professorships/som/stu/Teaching/HS09/doc/
sem1/YeeYeungCheng2008.pdf, p. 651–668.