Study	Methodology	Research topics	Findings
	Literature review	Stress, absenteeism, cost	Stress contributes to 19% of absenteeism costs, 30% of disability costs, at least 60% of workplace accidents and 40% of staff turnover costs Positive impact of healthy workplaces on staff turnover and sick leave, resulting in cost reduction Cost–benefit ratio may range from €1.25 to €5 for every Euro invested. Great cost savings can be gained, when health promotion programs are implemented in a supportive work environment
	Employee surveys, interviews with managers and data about sickness absence in a multi-site organization in the logistics sector	Absenteeism	Good consultation and communication at the local level, and absence management that emphasizes employee well-being, is associated with lower absenteeism In a case study, absence rates fell from 6.5%–7% to 4%–5%
	Qualitative sorting task of employees’ preferences and ratings; in-depth interviews with 98 office employees; evaluation of physical office conditions, lighting qualities and quantities by 175 employees; questionnaire survey and physical health screening forms of employees’ health conditions	Biophilic relationship between views on nature and daylighting in the workplace and impacts on sick leave	Workers in offices with poor ratings of light quality and poorer views used significantly more sick leave hours. Taken together, the two variables explained 6.5% of the variation in sick leave use, which was statistically significant The combination of view quality, lighting quality and glazing area explained 10% of the variation in sick leave days
	Analysis of small investments involving very low or no up-front cost, such as providing employees access to plants, natural views, daylight and other biophilic design elements	Costs and benefit of biophilic design	Integrating quality daylighting schemes can save over €1.65 per employee per year in office costs; over €76m could be saved annually in health-care costs as a result of providing patients with views to nature. Biophilic changes can reduce absenteeism over a long period of time, reduce complaints that drain human resource productivity and help retain employees
	Literature study	Costs of stress and psychosocial risks at work, on national level and per sector	Stress and psychological risks result in increased medical and insurance costs, higher sickness absence, higher staff turnover, early retirement, more accidents and errors, loss of productivity and lower quality of life. It is estimated that 30% of sickness absence is directly caused by stress. Every €1 of expenditure in promotion and prevention programs generates net economic benefits over a one-year period of up to €13.62
(2014)	Data from 1,852 employees working in Sweden in different office types	Sick leave	Significant higher short sick leave among women in small, medium-sized and large open-plan offices and among men in flex-offices A significantly higher risk on long sick leave was found among women in large open-plan and for the total number of sick days among men in flex offices
	Analysis of 11 cases	Impact of green features, location and amenities, IAQ, acoustics, look-and-feel on health and well-being benefits, occupant satisfaction and economic benefits	Because of the variety in projects regarding its size, type of organization and interventions, calculated economic benefits showed a wide range with drops in employee sick days of 25%–58%, reductions in staff turnover of 27% and annual savings up to €85,000 per year
(2017)	Study of 16,926 employees who participated in a worksite wellness program	Workplace safety, employees’ health conditions and absenteeism	Poor workplace safety and employees’ chronic health conditions contributed to absenteeism and job performance. Their impact was influenced by the physical and cognitive difficulty of the job
(2017/ )	Property Health and Wellness ROI (Return of Investment)	Financial and health impact of investments in a hypothetical investment in the WELL Building Standard for a 18,500 m office building	Over a period of five years, the Internal Rate of Return from WELL investments is estimated to be almost 300%. Sensitivity analysis around a range of potential cost estimates (e.g. more or less than 0.5% productivity growth, taking into account initial investments to learn new rating systems) results in other figures
	Analysis of cost data from Investopedia and the International Well Building Institute	Productivity loss and absenteeism	In the USA, the total annual costs of lost productivity because of employee absenteeism counts €69bn. Creating and implementing well-being programs can reduce employee “sick days” by 26%. A real estate agency that achieved a WELL Gold certification mentioned a reduction of four sick days per year per employee and a 27% reduction in staff turnover
Measurement (no year)	Literature review and data from internet	Stress, engagement and productivity	57% of employees with high amounts of stress are disengaged in the workplace. Organizations with engaged employees experience increase profitability by more than 20%. Healthy workers are 11% more productive

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Further reading

Jensen , P.A. and Van der Voordt , T. ( 2021 ), “ Productivity as a value parameter for FM and CREM ”, Facilities , Vol. 39 Nos 5/6 , pp. 305 - 320 , doi: 10.1108/F-04-2020-0038 .

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Roskams , M. and Haynes , B. ( 2020 ), “ Salutogenic design in the workplace: Supporting sense of coherence through resources in the workplace environment ”, Journal of Corporate Real Estate , Vol. 22 No. 2 , pp. 193 - 153 , doi: 10.1108/JCRE-01-2019-0001 .

WHO ( 2021 ), “ Constitution of the world health organization ”, available at: www.who.int/about/governance/constitution . ( accessed August 30, 2021 ).

World Green Building Council ( 2014 ), “ Health, wellbeing and productivity in offices: the next chapter for green building ”, available at: www.worldgbc.org/sites/default/files/compressed_

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Correlation between Employee Performance, Well-Being, Job Satisfaction, and Life Satisfaction in Sedentary Jobs in Slovenian Enterprises

Zinka kosec.

1 Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Stella Sekulic

2 Dental Division, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

3 National Institute for Public Health, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Susan Wilson-Gahan

4 Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central 4300, Australia

Katja Rostohar

Matej tusak, associated data.

The data reported in this study are available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to its proprietary nature.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between employees’ work performance and their well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction in sedentary jobs in Slovenian enterprises using a mixed-methods research design. The quantitative component of the research included the responses to four selected questionnaires of 120 employees in 22 identified enterprises (out of 81), with more than 20 employees, having more than 85 percent sedentary jobs. Each of four questionnaires was chosen to cover one area of enquiry under the research foci of work performance, job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being. The statistical program STATA was used for data analyses. The analysis shows statistically significant positive correlations between employee performance and job satisfaction (r = 0.35), employee performance and life satisfaction (r = 0.28), life satisfaction and well-being (r = 0.33), and job satisfaction and well-being, whereas the correlation between well-being and work performance did not prove to be statistically significant. The qualitative component of the mixed-methods research design included systematic observation combined with one-to-one discussions. The results indicated that job satisfaction and life satisfaction are more significant in determining work performance in sedentary jobs than employee well-being and that being unwell is still considered a sign of weakness; therefore, employees who are unwell do not want to expose themselves and refuse to cooperate in activities and studies about well-being. Further research examining the impact on work performance of organizational climate measurements in sedentary jobs is recommended.

1. Introduction

A person’s patterns of thinking and feelings are affected by internal and external environments in their life, including their profession and work conditions as some of the most important factors [ 1 ], which in turn have a negative impact on their lifestyle and work performance. Employers should be aware of the many factors that influence work environment, job and life satisfaction, well-being, and mental health, especially in sedentary jobs, since sedentary behavior has become a significant health issue in a post-industrialized world [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and part of the dissatisfying lifestyle of many employees. Workplace environments are target settings for introducing processes of intervention to reduce sedentary behavior [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Different approaches designed to implement employees’ greater range of motion and standing during work hours have come to the fore [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Standing desks or desks that can accommodate standing or sitting have been introduced into work environments. Many companies provide different programs and equipment for their employees, active breaks during work hours, and policies about taking a break from the screen [ 3 ], which is especially recommended for older employees [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. There is a lot of evidence that sedentary behavior influences the quality of life [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] and productivity [ 11 ]. Several studies have found that prolonged sitting time leads to cognitive impairment [ 10 ], mobility limitation [ 8 ], increased risk of mortality [ 12 ], and reduced quality of life in general [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].

Many companies have been trying to gain a sustainable competitive advantage by improving the effectiveness of work engagement interventions [ 13 ]. Work engagement, i.e., work performance, refers to a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption [ 14 ]. Work performance is defined as the total expected value to the organization of discrete behavioral episodes that an individual carries out over a standard period [ 15 ].

Organizations that focus on their employees’ welfare believe that employees’ attitudes and behaviors play a key role in improving the performance of an organization [ 13 , 16 ]. The organizational climate reflects employees’ perceptions of the policies, practices, and procedures that are expected, supported, and rewarded through the human resources department of the organization [ 17 ]. The organizational climate is a meaningful component with significant implications in human resource management and organizational behavior [ 16 ]. A complete reference guide, interventions, and policies to enhance employees’ well-being exist [ 17 , 18 ]. Environmentally sound behavior can be recognized through employees’ well-being and satisfaction, which are fundamental to employees’ quality work performance within organizations, particularly for employees in sedentary jobs, who often perform cognitive tasks that need a clear mind [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. The effectiveness of physical activity interventions in improving well-being across office-based workplace settings [ 22 ], the association of sedentary behavior with metabolic syndrome [ 23 ], as well as the relation between financial incentives, motivation, and performance [ 24 ], are issues that fueled a great deal of research in the fields of management, occupational health, work and organizational psychology [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].

Although there is no consensus about a single definition of well-being, there is a general agreement that well-being includes the presence of positive emotions and moods (e.g., contentment), the absence of negative emotions (e.g., depression and anxiety), satisfaction with life, fulfillment, and positive functioning [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Well-being has been defined as the combination of feeling good and functioning well; the experience of positive emotions such as happiness and contentment as well as the development of one’s potential, having some control over one’s life, having a sense of purpose, and experiencing positive relationships [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Researchers from several areas have examined diverse aspects of well-being [ 17 ], i.e., physical, economic, social, emotional, and psychological well-being, development and activity, life satisfaction, domain-specific satisfaction, engaging activities, and work [ 17 , 18 ].

Empirical studies report strong correlations between social contact as well as health and subjective well-being [ 19 ]. Research on employees’ well-being operating in organizations was only developed a few decades ago. The examination of the relationship between employees’ well-being and the cardiovascular system, for example, revealed that physical and psychological well-being should be understood as a source of effectiveness [ 12 , 19 ]. In the past two decades, considerable development in the economics of subjective well-being is reflected in the great number of research studies published reporting the quality of life and its determinants [ 14 , 15 , 18 , 21 , 22 , 24 ].

Subjective well-being is a concept generally operationalized as multifaceted in nature, with both affective and cognitive components [ 17 , 18 , 25 ].

Among the constituent components of subjective well-being, life satisfaction was identified as a distinct construct representing a cognitive and global evaluation of the quality of one’s life as a whole [ 17 ]. Although life satisfaction is correlated with affective components of subjective well-being, it forms a separate factor from the other types of well-being [ 18 , 25 ]. Comprehensive assessment of subjective well-being requires separate measures of both life satisfaction and affective components of subjective well-being [ 21 ].

Life satisfaction is a cognitive evaluation of the overall quality of one’s life [ 21 ] and is one of the many overlapping facets of subjective well-being [ 25 ]. Life satisfaction is related to self-perception [ 26 ] and is a significant predictor of employees’ productivity in sedentary jobs [ 11 ], specifically in older adults [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].

Various studies [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] analyzed factors associated with life satisfaction and well-being and investigated what makes people happy [ 31 ]. The effect of age and body composition of office employees was examined [ 32 ], as well as stress and resilience potential [ 33 ] in different professions [ 34 ]. In such studies, the authors mentioned methodological limitations relevant to measurement scales [ 35 ], empirical models’ validations [ 36 ], statistical power analyses in behavioral science [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ], and other principles and applications of qualitative research [ 41 ].

Life satisfaction judgments are mostly based on a person’s subjective criteria rather than necessarily reflecting outward conditions [ 25 , 26 , 29 ]. However, the assessment of life satisfaction can be only marginally influenced by mood and context since life satisfaction is a temporally stable construct [ 26 ]. Life satisfaction evaluations are broadly associated with other stable traits. The empirical relationships are consistent with the theory regarding core self-evaluations, which suggests that dispositions are important explanatory variables for predicting various forms of subjective well-being [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 27 , 28 ].

Job satisfaction is the result of a person’s attitude towards work and the factors associated with their work and life in general [ 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 ] and is closely related to work performance [ 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 , 31 ]. Several studies found a positive correlation between job satisfaction, the organizational climate [ 16 ], and overall performance [ 21 , 22 ].

Many authors mentioned other methodological dilemmas, i.e., different measurement scales [ 35 ] and empirical validations [ 36 , 40 ], i.e., also the calculation of posterior distributions by data augmentation [ 41 ], and different variations of satisfaction surveys [ 42 ]. Unfortunately, many studies on workplace characteristics, well-being, and life and job satisfaction rely primarily on cross-sectional self-reported surveys [ 8 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 43 ], making it difficult to disentangle the relationship between constructs. It has been a trend lately to develop work environment by various systematic approaches, e.g., the Human Resources Index [HRI] measurement [ 43 ]. In addition, motivation, and more specifically intrinsic motivation, was an important determinant of psychological well-being, gaining greater influence among male participants who had a higher level of physical activity, highlighting the need to increase one’s intrinsic motivation [ 44 ]. There are also always questions connected to lifestyle, in modern society especially related to eating habits [ 45 ]. The dynamic, adaptable complex approaches are especially important in recent years in response to COVID-19, connected with changes in general lifestyle, physical activity patterns, and sedentary behavior and associations with mental health [ 44 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], especially in computer workers, as one of the most typical sedentary works. In recent years, authors have suggested different models for the balance between work and life for subjective well-being, e.g., the moderated mediation model [ 50 ], or they have written about exploring the nature and antecedents of employee energetic well-being at work and job performance [ 51 ]. A special case is also well-being at work after a return to work [ 52 ]. This was considered as not under the special focus of our research; however, it was recognized as part of the organizational culture in the enterprises.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between employees’ work performance and their well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction in sedentary jobs in Slovenian enterprises with more than 80% sedentary workplaces, using a mixed-methods research design. This is the first time that research has been conducted into the correlation between employee performance, well-being, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in Slovenian enterprises, making the research a unique contribution to the field. The main gaps, which are supplemented by our studies, encourage similar further studies in sedentary jobs in Slovenia with the final goal to improve not only work performance but also the organizational culture in enterprises with sedentary jobs in Slovenia.

2. Materials and Methods

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. All authors collaborated to design the procedure, while the first author carried out data collection. The possibility of a face-to-face or telephone conversation to explain further details of this study was offered to all participants and eleven of them used the opportunity to be provided with further information, while the remaining participants provided their consent to participate without asking for further explanation.

The methodological tool of this study was questionnaires, which have been used and proven in similar studies [ 15 , 25 , 36 , 38 , 42 ]. In addition, selected human resource management (HRM) professionals reviewed the questions to test the acceptance and feasibility of the questionnaire for our sample. To pilot test the questionnaire prior to the beginning of the trial, HRM professionals were approached that had been identified as being willing to volunteer to use the questionnaire. The data sets were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics and analysis of reliability (STATA).

2.1. Quantitative Methodology

The first part consisted of a set of broad, self-report, psychometrically valid questionnaires conducted by the first author in the 22 organizations that have mostly (more than 90%) sedentary workplaces in Slovenia. A short explanation of the basic terminology used was added as an introduction to the questionnaires relating to work performance, well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

2.2. Study Participants and Data Collection

The research team initially sent invitations with an explanation of the purpose of this study to the 81 identified enterprises, spending more than 85% of working time in sedentary positions. After detailed explanations, 22 of the invitees agreed to cooperate. Permissions and guidelines for the testing protocols and the design of this study, as well as any additional information required, were established through several face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations with executive managements and HRM specialists of the selected enterprises participating. In the pre-phase, the participant–employees were also offered the possibility of a face-to-face or telephone conversation about any details or additional information they required about this study. Eleven employees asked for additional information. Data collection was carried out from September 2018 to April 2019, with one day spent in each enterprise. Completion of all measurements for this study took approximately two hours per participant, between 9:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. To ensure standardized conditions, data collection took place in a designated meeting room which was intimate while also being large enough for completing all required measurements. Employees were from different levels of the organizational hierarchies and were categorized according to their role, gender, age, and education level ( Table 1 ). Each employee was required to work an eight-hour day, starting between 6:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M. and finishing between 2:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. ( Table 1 ).

General characterization of the participants.

Participants (N = 120)	N (%) or Mean (SD)
	35.1 (12.9)
	64 (53.3)
	1.7 (0.1)
	74.3 (16.9)
	24.4 (3.9)
	47 (39.1)
	25 (20.8) 35 (29.1)
	13 (10.8)
	7.65 (6.2)
	50 (41.6)
	50 (41.6)
	20 (16.6)
	4.2 (0.3)
	1.3 (0.4)
	3.8 (0.6)
	4.8 (1.1)

Note: N (number of participants); SD (standard deviation). Body mass index classification: underweight <18.4; normal weight 18.5–24.9; overweight 25.0–29.9; obesity ≥30.0.

2.3. Procedure

All authors collaborated to develop the design of the procedure, while data collection was carried out by the first author.

Study participants were informed in advance of the purpose of this study, guaranteed anonymity and that the data analysis would be based on the responses of all organizations as a whole and not at the individual company level.

In the first phase of the procedure, conversations with employees who wanted further explanation were carried out. The questions referred to the aims of this study, the topics, the hypothesis, if any, as well as the conducted research and their results. The remaining participants provided consent to cooperate without asking for further explanation. After a positive response from all the participants, the testing procedure was carried out in the participants’ workplace. A short explanation of basic terminology used was also added as an introduction to the questionnaire.

The aim of this study was to collect information about four components of work: (i) employee performance; (ii) well-being; (iii) job satisfaction; and (iv) life satisfaction. The first part consisted of a set of broad, self-report, psychometrically valid questionnaires. The adapted self-assessment questionnaires were validated and translated into Slovenian.

The following self-reported questionnaires were used; one for each of the four components of work being researched. That is, employee performance, well-being, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.

• Employee performance: The Employee Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) [ 38 ] (Capital Associated Industries, Inc. (Raleigh, NC, USA), 2011) is a valid [ 36 ] measure that assesses individuals on different parameters related to a wide range of working skills (e.g., working at full potential, quality of work, consistency of work, communication, independence, taking initiative, teamwork, productivity, creativity, honesty, integrity, relationships with colleagues, relationships with customers, technical knowledge, reliability, accuracy, and presence). It consists of 23 items with one reverse question and five response options: One participant indicated that the suggested questions did not apply to them, while five participants indicated aptitude. The EPQ is characterized by a total score with a possible range of scores from 23 to 115.
• Well-being: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) [ 42 ] is a consistent, reliable self-report questionnaire designed for use in a variety of settings and cultures in general population samples. There are several versions of the GHQ [ 42 ]. In this study, we used the GHQ-12 due to the simplicity of application in practice and research. The selected version consists of 12 items that examine the mental health of individuals by rating a specific symptom experience or current behavior on a 4-point scale (less than usual, no more than usual, rather more than usual, or much more than usual). It is characterized by a total score of 12–36.
• Job satisfaction: The Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (JSQ) [ 42 ] is a psychometrically valid self-report questionnaire that measures an individual’s job satisfaction [ 42 ]. It consists of 13 questions and five response options, with 1 indicating strong disagreement and 5 indicating strong agreement with the suggested statements. It is characterized by a total score in the range of 13–65.
• Life satisfaction: The Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSQ) [ 15 , 25 ] is a brief psychometrically based 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive assessments of life satisfaction. It consists of five items and seven response options, from 1 indicating strong disagreement to 7 indicating strong agreement. The LSQ has excellent psychometric properties, including high internal consistency and test–retest reliability. It is characterized by a total score in the range of 7–35.

The data collected from the questionnaires were accompanied by systematic observation, which was introduced as an objective, well-ordered method for close examination of the selected aspects of this study. Systematic observation involved questions about the participants’ opinions on concrete activities to promote health and well-being in the organizations, on life and job satisfaction in sedentary jobs, and on why some employees decided to cooperate and some not. Systematic observation and a number of in-person, one-to-one discussions were undertaken in the same session of the preparation phase, especially with people who supported the authors in organizing data collection in the company (mostly HR specialists or directors), and later with the respondents while conducting the survey.

The Ethical Committee at the Faculty of Sports, the University of Ljubljana (No. 5) approved this study in March 2018.

2.4. Data Analyses

The statistical software STATA (Stata Statistical Software: Release 14.2, rev.19; 2016, StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA) was used to analyze sample data.

Using descriptive methods, the sample was analyzed by taking measurements of the frequency and percentages of responses to all questions. The statistical analysis was blinded to the researchers and conducted independently. Descriptive statistics, such as proportions for categorical variables and mean values and standard deviations for numeric variables, were used to summarize respondents’ characteristics.

Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances ( p = 0.05) was used to calculate the differences between groups according to:

• Age (range 19–35; age range 36–70),
• Gender (man/woman),
• BMI (normal weight = 18.5–24.9; pre-obesity = 25.0–29.9), and
• Education level (high school degree = 2; college and university degree = 3).

Respondents’ self-report EPQ, GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ scores were summarized with an average score for each question (for each individual). The correlation between the results of the self-assessed variables from the questionnaires (the EPQ, the GHQ, the JSQ and the LSQ) was applied, where the magnitude of correlation coefficients was explained according to Hemphill [ 39 ]. The effect size was considered as low when the value ranged from 0.1 to 0.3, moderate when it ranged from 0.3 to 0.5, and large when it ranged from 0.5 to 1.0 [ 41 ]. Multiple regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between one dependent variable calculation (the EPQ, which consisted of 23 variables), and three independent variables (the GHQ consisting of 12 items, the JSQ of 13, and the LSQ of five items). R-squared (R 2 ) was used to measure a proportion of explained variance represents the fit of the data to the model. The effect size was considered low when R 2 was <0.3, no effect or very weak when R 2 was 0.3, medium when R 2 was 0.5, and large when R 2 was 0.7 [ 41 ].

Adjusted R-squared measures were used to test the fit of the model.

2.5. Qualitative Methods

The qualitative research methodology was mostly followed according to Evans et al. [ 41 ].

Question-focused analysis was used as a starting point when organizing the raw data, and the responses that had similar themes and that represented the same points were grouped together. All the information was transcribed verbatim and read through several times by the authors. The first-named author then conducted a thematic analysis according to Braun and Clark and Evans et al. [ 41 ], whereby initial comments, codes and memos were categorized systematically into broader themes and concise phases as evident in Table 2 . The six phases identified were (i) becoming familiar with the data, (ii) generating initial codes, (iii) identifying potential themes, (iv) reviewing themes, (v) defining and naming the themes and (vi) producing the report.

Estimated correlation matrix and the significance of self-report instruments.

Variables	Employee Performance	General Health	Job Satisfaction	Satisfaction with Life
	1.0000
	−0.0886	1.0000
	0.3557 *	−0.2863 *	1.0000
	0.2898 *	−0.3277 *	0.3135 *	1.0000

Note: * Significance p < 0.05.

The qualitative method involved information about specification of the exact actions, attributes, and other variables that were systematically written in the preparation phase and after each data collection, through administration of questionnaires in all organizations. With this observation, the authors aimed to explore how decisions were made and provided the researchers with detailed insight. The data analysis followed the principles of qualitative methodologies [ 41 ].

The main questions in the one-to-one discussion were:

• What is the reason that you agree to participate in actives connected with work performance, job satisfaction and life satisfaction measurements (also in this study)?
• What is your opinion about the significance of job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being measurements for work performance?
• What is your opinion about employees’ willingness/unwillingness to participate in actives connected with work performance and your opinion about the general organizational climate in the enterprises?
• Should companies in Slovenia invest more in employees’ work performance (in their well-being, job, and life satisfaction)? If yes/no, what are your reasons?

3.1. Demographic Data of the Participants

A convenience sample of 120 employees from 22 organizations—65 of whom were female, with an age range from 25 to 69 years, and 55 of whom were male, with and age range from 22 to 70—participated in this study. The main criterion was having a sedentary job. Employees were of different levels of the organizational hierarchies: operational workers (57%), management (9.8%), division management (9.1%), directors and owners (3.3%), and sole traders (14.0%). The study participants were also categorized according to their education level ( Table 1 ).

A total of 120 respondents from 22 organizations completed the EPQ, the GHQ, the JSQ, and the LSQ ( Table 1 ).

The mean age of the participants (SD) was 35.1 (±12.9) years and more than half of them were female (53.3%). The mean height and weight of the participants were 1.7 m and 74.3 kg, respectively, which was considered ‘normal weight’ when assessing the body mass index (BMI) of the participants according to the World Health Organization BMI classification [ 45 ].

Among the organizations, 39.3% of all employees worked in a small organization with the working group of less than 10 employees, which is the highest proportion in the sample; 20.5% worked in a group of 11–50 employees; 28.7% in a group of 51–250 employees; only 11.5% of all employees worked in a group with more than 250 employees.

The majority of study participants (41.0%) had a secondary school diploma or bachelor’s degree prior to the Bologna Process, while 38.5% had completed secondary schooling and 16.4% a master’s or specialization or Ph.D.

EPQ: The EPQ was measured on a on a scale of 1–5. Employees assessed their own work performance as high; the mean score of the EPQ reached 4.2 (SD = 0.04), which is a high score. Accordingly, the differences between the respondents were minor. The lowest value was 3.1, and approximately 80% of the estimates were higher than 4.0.

GHQ: The mean value of the GHQ on a scale of 0–3 was 1.38 (SD = 0.04). The scores were almost symmetrically distributed. The differences between respondents were typical of normal distribution.

JSQ: The JSQ was measured on a scale of 1–5. The mean value of the JSQ was 3.84 (SD = 0.06). Similarly to the EPQ, the JSQ scores showed progress in a positive direction and little difference between respondents. The lowest score was 0.17, while the highest score was 2.75.

LSQ: The LSQ scores were measured on a scale of 1–7, where the mean value was 4.86 (SD = 0.11). The differences between respondents were significant. The lowest mean value was 1.67, and the highest was 7.0. Nearly ten percent (9.8%) of the respondents reported dissatisfaction with work, with a mean value of <3. More than 80% of respondents reported their satisfaction with work, with a score of four or more.

3.2. Employee Work Performance and the Selected Variables (Well-Being, Job and Life Satisfaction)

The correlations between the Employee Performance Questionnaire (EPQ) and the selected factors from the GHQ (well-being), by the JSQ (job satisfaction) and by the LSQ (life satisfaction) were measured with correlation and regression analysis.

The analyses of the results showed statistically significant positive correlations between estimates of the EPQ and the JSQ (r = 0.36) and between estimates of employee performance and life satisfaction (r = 0.29). Cohen’s effect size was medium, showing no correlation between employee performance and general health (r = −0.08), possibly a negative correlation between the two measures although not statistically significant ( p = 0.33) ( Table 3 ).

Regression analysis between one dependent (EPQ) and three independent variables results (GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ).

	Regression Model
Variable	Coeff. (t)
Job Satisfaction	0.181 (3.38)
Satisfaction With Life	0.076 (2.34)
General Health	0.066 (0.77)
Constant	3.109 (10.54)
R-Squared (N)	0.166 (120)
Adj. R-Squared	0.144

Note: Coeff. (coefficient); t (t-statistic); N (number of participants). The standardized coefficient estimates the mean change in the dependent variable for a 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in the independent variable.

Multiple linear regression was calculated to predict work performance based on the GHQ, JSQ and LSQ results. A significant regression equation was identified, F (3, 116) = 7.70, p = 0.0001, with an R 2 of 0.166.

Participants’ EPQ result was equal to 3.109 ± 0.066; GHQ 3.109 ± 0.181; JSQ 3.109 ± 0.076; LSQ (with GHQ, JSQ, and LSQ scores measured as means).

Both the JSQ ( p = 0.001) and LSQ results (0.021) significantly affected the EPQ values, while the GHQ results (0.444) did not. A graphical representation of the correlation from the regression model is shown in detail in Figure 1 .

Scatter plots of the EPQ associated with the GHQ, JSQ, and satisfaction with life scale (SWLS = LSQ) means in the regression model. Coeff. (coefficient), SE (standard error), and t (t-statistic).

3.3. Qualitative Method Results

Thematic analysis was used as a starting point after organizing the raw data, and the responses that had similar themes and that represented the same points were grouped together.

More than expected results and themes were found for the final report from thematic analysis:

Systematic observation

• Employees who explain their overall status as ‘healthy and wealthy’ and themselves as ‘a productive employee’ are ready to cooperate in research.
• Employees who are not in good health try to hide their condition and are not ready to speak about it in a company setting.
• Employees who are not in good health feel vulnerable and deny all sorts of activities in the enterprises.
• In the testing process, the study participants insisted that the data only be analyzed as part of the whole sample and not on an individual basis or within one company.
• Employees who were not ready to cooperate are also not ready to take part in other healthy lifestyle activities being organized in the frame of company.
• Employees who are not ready to take part in this research also in general refuse nearly all ‘well-being and social lifestyle’ activities in the enterprise and in their leisure time.

One-to-one discussions:

• The respondents (employees in the enterprises who were ready to take part in this research) reported that employees from all companies in general are divided into two groups concerning work performance topics—those willing to participate and those who would absolutely not. They were always on the opposite ends of the spectrum, which could mean that cohesion in not high and that the organizational climate is not optimal.
• Employees who were ready to participate reported their opinion that they represented the better part of employees in the organizations, that they always cooperate, that they are more motivated for better work performance and that they are more productive. They call themselves cooperative employees.
• The cooperative employees reported that there are some employees in the enterprises who are not cooperative, because they try to hide their level of well-being, their health and lifestyle status.
• According to management representatives, employees who are not in good health feel vulnerable and refuse to participate in all sorts of activities organized in their company.
• Respondents reported that employees who were not ready to take part in this research (called ‘those others’) also in general refuse to participate in nearly all well–being and social activities in their company and in their leisure time.
• Respondents reported that “those others” are not motivated and are not concerned with creating a good organizational climate.
• Although anonymity in the testing process was provided to all, the participants reported concerns and doubts, insisting that the data should only be analyzed as part of the whole sample and not on an individual basis or within one company.

Thematic analysis (coding and iterative comparison) gave some interesting conclusions ( Table 4 ).

Results of systematic observations and one-to-one dissuasions.

	Who	Life Satisfaction	Work Performance	Job Satisfaction	Final Themes
A	participants in this study	high	high	high	we ‘healthy and wealthy’
B	NOT READY TO COOPERATE
C	executive management and HRM specialists	high	high	high	employees A are good; B have lower work performance
A about B	those others	not satisfied at all	low work performance	low	not in good health
					try to hide their level of well-being
					they are not productive
					bad work performance
					not good lifestyle
C about B		low	low	low	not in good health, they feel vulnerable; refuse to participate in all sorts of activities
C about A		high	high	high	they are our best employees; positive org. climate

4. Discussion

The labor market is constantly changing, and sedentary work behavior is nowadays, due to technological advancement and new lifestyles, becoming even more pervasive worldwide. One of the questions is how the new conditions influence work performance, responsibilities, and ability to do the job well. This motivated our research on sedentary jobs for the first time in Slovenia together with well-being and other characteristics. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between work performance and different factors (well-being, job, and life satisfaction) in sedentary jobs. The results show statistically significant correlations between work performance and two measured factors—job satisfaction and life satisfaction. On the other hand, the correlation between well-being and work performance surprisingly did not prove to be statistically significant. Nevertheless, our results showed that well-being is significantly correlated with job and life satisfaction, which are correlated with work performance. On that basis, it can be concluded that there is some indirect relationship between work performance and well-being, which was also established in some earlier studies [ 19 , 23 , 26 ].

The correlations between job satisfaction [ 14 , 15 ], life satisfaction [ 5 , 6 ], and work performance have already been proven in many countries. It has also been found that sedentary behavior negatively correlates with an active lifestyle [ 4 , 6 ] and with less effective work performance [ 14 , 35 ], which also supports our conclusions. Furthermore, our systematic observation findings indicate specific problems in the organizational climate among employees and point to a significant division between the groups and consequential low team cohesiveness, which is essential for team or group effectiveness and work performance [ 50 ]. In our study, the group of employees who were willing to participate called themselves ‘cooperative employees’, whereas employees who were not ready to take part in this study were referred to as ‘those others’, those who never cooperate and always complain. We regret that we were not able to conduct one-to-one discussions with the ‘those others’ group and determine the reasons for their refusal to participate. Many respondents reported their opinion that those who refused to participate in this study in general create a negative working atmosphere in the studied companies. Such opinions were also confirmed by the opinion of management representatives. This calls for new approaches for improving the general organizational climate in Slovenian enterprises, as a base for other necessary improvements. Our findings could, therefore, also serve as an incentive to develop new practical interventions and approaches to improving the organizational climate, as the main goal is to improve work performance and thus all factors that might affect it.

Job satisfaction can be improved in practice by encouraging employees and making them encourage other employees [ 14 , 15 , 20 , 21 , 30 ], which also improves team cohesion [ 37 ], by giving them access to information and all necessary resources to perform their job efficiently, giving them real-time feedback on their job performance [ 43 ] and by providing them with opportunities to explore and show their skills and talents. Furthers studies are needed to confirm whether the employer’s trust and faith in their employees are crucial, a subject studied by others [ 21 , 30 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. The participants, however, believe that the biggest hindrance to achieving such improvement are employees who are not ready to cooperate.

The findings from this study also led to the conclusion that sedentary jobs in the studied companies require complex human resource management. Therefore, more complex studies are needed in this field, with special monitoring and maybe even with human resource index (HRI) measurements, e.g., [ 43 ], which is the current trend in economics, as well as the new reality in economics [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ] and in society.

5. Conclusions

As in most of Europe, Slovenia is also facing the challenge of sedentary behavior as part of modern work conditions. This is the first time that Slovenian enterprises were researched in terms of sedentary work conditions, concerning job satisfaction, life satisfaction and well-being on work performance, which is the main novelty of the work and presents the possibility of comparing findings with other studies [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], such as the effect of COVID-19 [ 5 , 47 ], remote job options and cross-country differences [ 53 ] or socio-economics status in the relationship between leadership and well-being [ 54 ]. The main gaps, which are supplemented by our studies, are, in addition to finding the correlations between some factors and work performance in sedentary jobs, encouraging similar further studies with the final goal of determine the factors that correlate most with job performance in sedentary work conditions. The aim was to highlight that the study found many employees do not cooperate. In general, our study confirms that for employees in sedentary jobs in Slovenia, work performance is correlated with life and job satisfaction. Nevertheless, it is not directly correlated with well-being as this may have been predicted based on the findings of previously published studies. This can be explained by the small sample size and data collection limitations due to distrusting the research, discomfort, or poor well-being in the work environment. This may suggest that the enterprises involved in our study are confident about their organizational climate. Our practical recommendation is to expand the focus from work performance to improving cohesion and the organizational climate in enterprises in order to create the optimal work environment in sedentary workplaces in Slovenia. The results indicate important conclusion as well as making clear the significant need for further research on the impact of well-being on employees’ productivity in sedentary jobs, in order to face the new reality requiring the need to organize sedentary jobs in different forms, e.g., providing remote job options which might be critical economically in this new decade.

Funding Statement

The research was partly conducted as part of the research program, Bio-psycho-social context of kinesiology, code P5-0142, funded by the Slovenian Research Agency.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.T., M.B. and Z.K.; methodology, S.S. and K.R.; software, S.S.; validation, M.T. and S.S.; formal analysis, Z.K. and S.W.-G.; investigation, Z.K. and S.S.; resources, Z.K. and M.B.; data curation, Z.K.; writing—original draft preparation, Z.K., M.B. and S.W.-G.; writing—review and editing, S.S. and S.W.-G.; visualization; supervision, M.T.; project administration, M.T. and M.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The Ethical Committee at the Faculty of Sports, the University of Ljubljana (No. 5) approved this study in March 2018.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in this study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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• Karina Nielsen

An exploration of three common bonus approaches.

Most managers would agree that motivated, productive employees are crucial for organizational success, regardless of company size, industry, or corporate strategy. The question is how to motivate them. Offering employees performance-based incentive pay is one common approach, and it usually takes one of two forms: bonuses are offered to individuals based on assessments of their performance, or bonuses are offered as organization-wide incentives, such as profit-related pay or share ownership.

• CO Chidiebere Ogbonnaya is a Senior Lecturer at University of Sussex Business School and a co-investigator for the ESRC-funded Work, Learning and Wellbeing evidence programme. His research focuses on employment relations, job quality, employee well-being, and business research methods.
• KD Kevin Daniels is Professor of Organizational Behaviour in the Employment Systems and Institutions Group, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia. He is the editor of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology and the lead for Work and Learning at the UK’s national What Works for Wellbeing Centre, which produces evidence based practice and policy guidance for improving well-being.
• KN Karina Nielsen is Head of Institute for Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield. Her areas of research relate to understanding how to improve employee health and well-being through job redesign.

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• DOI: 10.58251/ekonomi.1496304
• Corpus ID: 272069327

The Impact of Management by Objectives (MBO) on Employee Satisfaction and Performance Appraisal: An Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

• Sunjida Parven , Tusher Ghosh , M. Akter
• Published in Jurnal Ekonomi 15 August 2024

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Brief report: the role of mind-wandering (spontaneous vs. deliberate) in directing job boredom towards job satisfaction and counterproductive work behavior

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• Jeanette Min 1 &
• Eunsoo Choi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1502-4788 1  

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This study aimed to investigate the impact of job boredom on job outcomes, namely, job satisfaction and counterproductive work behavior, focusing on the role of different types of mind-wandering – spontaneous and deliberate mind-wandering. The results showed that deliberate mind-wandering mediates the link between job boredom and job satisfaction, while spontaneous mind-wandering mediates the connection between job boredom and counterproductive work behavior. In essence, when employees experience boredom at work, their spontaneous mind-wandering can lead to harmful behaviors, affecting their colleagues and organizations. On the other hand, deliberate mind-wandering can improve job satisfaction. This study provides valuable insights for managing job boredom and suggests future research directions.

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The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EK7XD .

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Kim, G., Min, J. & Choi, E. Brief report: the role of mind-wandering (spontaneous vs. deliberate) in directing job boredom towards job satisfaction and counterproductive work behavior. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06629-7

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Leadership support and satisfaction of healthcare professionals in China’s leading hospitals: a cross-sectional study

• Jinhong Zhao 1 , 2 ,
• Tingfang Liu 2 &
• Yuanli Liu 2  

BMC Health Services Research volume  24 , Article number:  1016 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Healthcare professionals’ job satisfaction is a critical indicator of healthcare performance, pivotal in addressing challenges such as hospital quality outcomes, patient satisfaction, and staff retention rates. Existing evidence underscores the significant influence of healthcare leadership on job satisfaction. Our study aims to assess the impact of leadership support on the satisfaction of healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and administrative staff, in China’s leading hospitals.

A cross-sectional survey study was conducted on healthcare professionals in three leading hospitals in China from July to December 2021. These hospitals represent three regions in China with varying levels of social and economic development, one in the eastern region, one in the central region, and the third in the western region. Within each hospital, we employed a convenience sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey involving 487 healthcare professionals. We assessed perceived leadership support across five dimensions: resource support, environmental support, decision support, research support, and innovation encouragement. Simultaneously, we measured satisfaction using the MSQ among healthcare professionals.

The overall satisfaction rate among surveyed healthcare professionals was 74.33%. Our study revealed significant support from senior leadership in hospitals for encouraging research (96.92%), inspiring innovation (96.30%), and fostering a positive work environment (93.63%). However, lower levels of support were perceived in decision-making (81.72%) and resource allocation (80.08%). Using binary logistic regression with satisfaction as the dependent variable and healthcare professionals’ perceived leadership support, hospital origin, job role, department, gender, age, education level, and professional designation as independent variables, the results indicated that support in resource provision (OR: 4.312, 95% CI: 2.412  ∼  7.710) and environmental facilitation (OR: 4.052, 95% CI: 1.134  ∼  14.471) significantly enhances healthcare personnel satisfaction.

The findings underscore the critical role of leadership support in enhancing job satisfaction among healthcare professionals. For hospital administrators and policymakers, the study highlights the need to focus on three key dimensions: providing adequate resources, creating a supportive environment, and involving healthcare professionals in decision-making processes.

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Introduction

In the era of accelerated globalization, the investigation of global leadership has assumed heightened significance [ 1 ]. Leadership, as a dynamic and evolving process, holds the potential to cultivate both the personal and professional growth of followers [ 2 ]. Effective healthcare leadership can enhance medical service quality, patient safety, and staff job satisfaction through skill development, vision establishment, and clear direction-setting [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Moreover, leadership support can effectively enhance staff well-being and work efficiency [ 6 , 7 ]. For example, Mendes et al. found that the quality of healthcare is significantly influenced by four dimensions of leadership: communication, recognition, development, and innovation [ 8 ]. Additionally, Shanafelt et al. discovered that leaders can effectively reduce employee burnout and subsequently improve the quality of medical services by formulating and implementing targeted work interventions and motivating employees [ 9 ].

Job satisfaction among healthcare professionals is a crucial indicator of healthcare performance, playing a vital role in addressing challenges related to hospital quality outcomes, patient satisfaction, and nurse retention rates [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Researchers from different national backgrounds have conducted studies on the job satisfaction of healthcare workers across various disciplines. For example, Balasubramanian et al. examined the satisfaction of immigrant dentists in Australia [ 14 ], Mascari et al. studied physicians and hospital researchers in the United States [ 15 ], and Rosta et al. investigated the satisfaction of doctors in Norway [ 12 ]. Research has demonstrated that characteristics of the work environment, balanced workloads, relationships with colleagues, career opportunities, and leadership support all influence job satisfaction [ 16 ]. Several instruments are commonly used to measure job satisfaction, each relevant depending on the context and discipline. For instance, the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) focuses on different facets of job satisfaction such as work, pay, promotion, supervision, and co-workers [ 17 ]. The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) covers similar dimensions and is particularly useful in public sector organizations due to its comprehensive nature and ease of use [ 18 ]. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) is a comprehensive tool that assesses employee satisfaction across multiple dimensions including intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction, and is commonly used for evaluating job satisfaction in the healthcare field [ 19 ].

Recent studies have linked leadership to healthcare professionals’ job satisfaction, highlighting the pivotal role of leadership in guiding, coordinating, and motivating employees [ 5 ]. For instance, the Mayo Clinic found that leadership from immediate supervisors could alleviate burnout and increase job satisfaction [ 20 ]. Choi’s research indicated that leadership empowerment significantly enhances nursing staff’s job satisfaction [ 21 ]. Additionally, Liu discovered that the support provided by hospital senior leadership is closely associated with employee satisfaction [ 22 ].

In China, while leadership research has gained some traction in areas such as business and education, it remains relatively scarce within healthcare institutions. Existing studies primarily focus on the nursing sector, and comprehensive assessments of leadership at the leading public hospitals (top 10% of Chinese hospitals) have not been extensively conducted [ 23 , 24 ]. Research on leadership and healthcare professionals’ satisfaction often relies on single indicators to measure job satisfaction, such as overall job satisfaction or specific aspects like compensation satisfaction and burnout levels [ 25 ]. This narrow focus may fail to fully capture the multidimensional nature of employee satisfaction, which includes aspects such as workload, ability utilization, sense of achievement, initiative, training and self-development, and interpersonal communication [ 26 ]. Additionally, most existing studies focus on the job satisfaction of nurses or physicians in isolation, lacking comparative research across different groups within healthcare institutions, such as doctors, nurses, and administrative personnel [ 27 , 28 , 29 ].

Therefore, this study utilized the MSQ to conduct a thorough assessment of employee satisfaction and assess the impact of leadership support on the satisfaction of healthcare personnel in China’s leading public hospitals. Through this research, we aim to enhance the core competitiveness of hospitals and provide valuable data to support leadership assessments in developing countries’ healthcare institutions. Moreover, this study seeks to contribute to the broader international understanding of effective leadership practices in China’s leading public hospitals, with implications for global health management strategies.

Study design and participants

From July to December 2021, a cross-sectional survey study was conducted on healthcare professionals in China’s 3 leading hospitals. The 3 leading hospitals represent three regions in China with different levels of social and economic development, one in the eastern, one in the central, and one in the western. In each hospital, a convenience sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey among physicians, nurses, and administrative staff.

Criteria for inclusion of healthcare professionals: (1) employed at the hospital for at least 1 year or more; (2) formal employees of the hospital (full-time staff); (3) possessing cognitive clarity and the ability to independently understand and respond to electronic questionnaires, as assessed by their leaders. Exclusion criteria: (1) diagnosed with mental health disorders that impair their ability to participate, as identified by the hospital’s mental health professionals; (2) unable to communicate effectively due to severe language barriers, hearing impairments, or other communication disorders, as determined by their direct supervisors or relevant medical evaluations; (3) visiting scholars, interns, or graduate students currently enrolled in a degree program.

Instrument development

Leadership support.

In reference to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) framework and Supporting Relationship Theory [ 6 , 30 , 31 ], we determined the survey scale after three expert discussions involving 5–7 individuals. These experts included personnel from health administrative departments, leading public hospital leaders, middle management, and researchers specializing in hospital management. Their collective expertise ensured that the survey comprehensively assessed leadership support within hospitals from the perspective of healthcare personnel. The Leadership Support Scale consists of 5 items: Environmental Support: ‘My leaders provide a work environment that helps me perform my job,’ Resource Support: ‘My leaders provide the resources needed to improve my work,’ Decision Support: ‘My leaders support my decisions to satisfy patients,’ Research Support: ‘My leaders support my application for scientific research projects,’ and Innovation Encouragement: ‘My leaders encourage me to innovate actively and think about problems in new ways‘ (Supplementary material). All questionnaire items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the 5-item scale is 0.753.

Job satisfaction

The measurement of job satisfaction was carried out using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) [ 32 , 33 ], which has been widely used and has been shown by scholars to have good reliability and validity in China [ 34 , 35 ]. The questionnaire consists of 20 items that measure healthcare personnel’s satisfaction with various aspects of their job, including individual job load, ability utilization, achievement, initiative, hospital training and self-development, authority, hospital policies and practices, compensation, teamwork, creativity, independence, moral standards, hospital rewards and punishments, personal responsibility, job security, social service contribution, social status, employee relations and communication, and hospital working conditions and environment. Responses to these items were balanced and rated on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 = Very Dissatisfied, 2 = Dissatisfied, 3 = Neither Dissatisfied nor Satisfied, 4 = Satisfied, and 5 = Very Satisfied. Scores range from 20 to 100, with higher scores indicating higher satisfaction. In this study, a comprehensive assessment of healthcare personnel’s job satisfaction was made using a score of 80 and above [ 32 ], where a score of ≥ 80 was considered satisfied, and below 80 was considered dissatisfied. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the questionnaire in this survey was 0.983.

Investigation process

The survey was administered through an online platform “Wenjuanxing”, and distributed by department heads to healthcare professionals within their respective departments. The selection of departments and potential participants followed a structured process: (1) Potential participants were identified based on the inclusion criteria, which were communicated to the department heads. (2) Department heads received a digital link to the survey, which they forwarded to eligible staff members via email or internal communication platforms. (3) The informed consent form was integrated into the survey link, detailing the research objectives, ensuring anonymity, and emphasizing voluntary participation. At the beginning of the online survey, participants were asked if they agreed to participate. Those who consented continued with the survey, while those who did not agree were directed to end the survey immediately.

According to Kendall’s experience and methodology, the sample size can be 5–10 times the number of independent variables (40 items) [ 36 , 37 ]. Our sample size is ten times the number of independent variables. Considering potentially disqualified questionnaires, the sample size was increased by 10%, resulting in a minimum total sample size of 460. Therefore, we distributed 500 survey questionnaires.

Data analysis

We summarized the sociodemographic characteristics of healthcare personnel survey samples using descriptive statistical methods. For all variables, we calculated the frequencies and percentages of categorical variables. Different sociodemographic characteristics in relation to healthcare personnel’s perception of leadership support and satisfaction were analyzed using the Pearson χ² test. We employed a binary logistic regression model to estimate the risk ratio of healthcare personnel satisfaction under different levels of leadership support. Estimates from three sequentially adjusted models were reported to transparently demonstrate the impact of various adjustments: (1) unadjusted; (2) adjusted for hospital of origin; (3) adjusted for hospital of origin, gender, age, education level, job type, and department. For the binary logistic regression model, we employed a backward stepwise regression approach, with inclusion at P  < 0.05 and exclusion at P  > 0.10 criteria. In all analyses, a two-tailed p -value of < 0.05 was considered significant, and all analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Demographic characteristics and job satisfaction

This study recruited a total of 500 healthcare personnel from hospitals to participate in the survey, with 487 valid questionnaires collected, resulting in an effective response rate of 97.4%. The majority of participants were female (77.21%), with ages concentrated between 30 and 49 years old (73.71%). The predominant job titles were mid-level (45.17%) and junior-level (27.31%), and educational backgrounds were mostly at the undergraduate (45.17%) and graduate (48.25%) levels. The marital status of most participants was married (79.88%), and their primary departments were surgery (38.19%) and internal medicine (24.85%). The overall satisfaction rate among the sampled healthcare personnel was 74.33%. Differences in satisfaction were statistically significant among healthcare personnel of different genders, ages, educational levels, job types, hospitals, and departments ( P  < 0.05). Table  1 displays the participants’ demographic characteristics and job satisfaction.

By analyzed the satisfaction level of healthcare personnel in different dimensions, the results show that “Social service” (94.3%) and “Moral values” (92.0%) have the highest satisfaction. “Activity” (66.8%) and “Compensation” (71.9%) were the least satisfied. Table  2 shows participants’ job satisfaction in different dimensions.

Perception of different types of leadership support among healthcare professionals

Overall, surveyed healthcare personnel perceived significant levels of support from hospital leadership for research encouragement (96.92%), innovation inspiration (96.30%), and the work environment (93.63%), while perceiving lower levels of support for decision-making (81.72%) and resource allocation (80.08%). Female healthcare personnel perceived significantly higher levels of resource support compared to males ( P  < 0.05). Healthcare personnel in the 30–39 age group perceived significantly higher levels of resource, environmental, and research support compared to other age groups ( P  < 0.05). Healthcare personnel with senior-level job titles perceived significantly lower levels of resource and decision-making support compared to associate-level and lower job titles, and those with doctoral degrees perceived significantly lower levels of resource support compared to other educational backgrounds ( P  < 0.05).

Clinical doctors perceived significantly lower levels of resource and environmental support compared to administrative personnel and clinical nurses, while administrative personnel perceived significantly lower levels of decision-making support compared to clinical doctors and clinical nurses ( P  < 0.05). Among healthcare personnel in internal medicine, perceptions of resource, environmental, research, and innovation support were significantly lower than those in surgery, administration, and other departments, whereas perceptions of decision-making support in administrative departments were significantly lower than in internal medicine, surgery, and other departments ( P  < 0.05). Figure  1 displays the perception of leadership support among healthcare personnel with different demographic characteristics.

Perception of leadership support among healthcare professionals with different demographic characteristics in China’s leading public hospitals (* indicates P  < 0.05, ** indicates P  < 0.01, and *** indicates P  < 0.001.)

The impact of leadership support on job satisfaction among healthcare professionals

The study results indicate that healthcare personnel who perceive that their leaders provide sufficient resource, environmental, and decision-making support have significantly higher job satisfaction than those who feel that leaders have not provided enough support ( P  < 0.05). Similarly, healthcare personnel who perceive that their leaders provide sufficient research and innovation inspiration have significantly higher job satisfaction than those who believe leaders have not provided enough inspiration ( P  < 0.05). Table  3 displays the univariate analysis of leadership support on healthcare professional satisfaction.

With healthcare personnel satisfaction as the dependent variable, leadership resource support, environmental support, decision-making support, research support, and innovation inspiration were included in the binary logistic regression model. After adjusting for hospital, gender, age, education level, job type, and department, leadership’s increased resource support (OR: 4.312, 95% CI: 2.412  ∼  7.710) and environmental support (OR: 4.052, 95% CI: 1.134  ∼  14.471) were found to enhance the satisfaction levels of healthcare personnel significantly. Additionally, healthcare professionals in Hospital 2 (OR: 3.654, 95% CI: 1.796 to 7.435) and Hospital 3 (OR: 2.354, 95% CI: 1.099 to 5.038) exhibited higher levels of satisfaction compared to those in Hospital 1. Table 4 displays the binary Logistic regression analysis of leadership support on satisfaction among healthcare professionals.

This study aimed to determine the impact of support from hospital senior leadership on the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel and to explore the effects of demographic and different types of support on the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel in China. The research indicates that hospital leadership’s resource support, environmental support, and decision-making support have a significantly positive impact on the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel. These forms of support can assist healthcare personnel in better adapting to the constantly changing work environment and demands, thereby enhancing their job satisfaction, and ultimately, positively influencing the overall performance of the hospital and the quality of patient care.

Our research indicates that, using the same MSQ to measure job satisfaction, the job satisfaction among healthcare personnel in China’s top-tier hospitals is at 74.33%, which is higher than the results of a nationwide survey in 2016 (48.22%) [ 38 ] and a survey among doctors in Shanghai in 2013 (35.2%) in China [ 39 ]. This improvement is likely due to the Chinese government’s recent focus on healthcare personnel’s compensation and benefits, along with corresponding improvement measures, which have increased their job satisfaction. It’s worth noting that while job satisfaction among healthcare personnel in China’s top-tier hospitals is higher than the national average in China, it is slightly lower than the job satisfaction of doctors in the United States, as measured by the MSQ (81.73%) [ 40 ]. However, when compared to the job satisfaction by the MSQ of doctors in Southern Nigeria (26.7%) [ 32 ], nurses in South Korea (65.89%) [ 41 ], and nurses in Iran (59.7%) [ 42 ], the level of job satisfaction among healthcare personnel in China’s top-tier hospitals is significantly higher. This suggests that China has achieved some level of success in improving healthcare personnel’s job satisfaction. Studies have shown that for healthcare professionals, job satisfaction is influenced by work conditions, compensation, and opportunities for promotion, with varying levels of satisfaction observed across different cultural backgrounds and specialties [ 29 , 43 ]. Furthermore, the observed differences in job satisfaction levels can be influenced by cultural factors unique to China, including hierarchical workplace structures and the emphasis on collective well-being over individual recognition.

Leadership support can influence employees’ work attitudes and emotions. Effective leaders can establish a positive work environment, and provide constructive feedback, thereby enhancing employee job satisfaction [ 44 , 45 ]. Our research results show that clinical physicians perceive significantly lower levels of resource and environmental support compared to administrative staff and clinical nurses, while administrative staff perceive significantly lower levels of decision-making support compared to clinical physicians and clinical nurses. This difference can be attributed to their different roles and job nature within the healthcare team [ 9 ]. Nurses typically have direct patient care responsibilities, performing medical procedures, providing care, and monitoring patient conditions, making them in greater need of resource and environmental support to efficiently deliver high-quality care [ 46 ]. Doctors usually have responsibilities for clinical diagnosis and treatment, requiring better healthcare environments and resources due to their serious commitment to patients’ lives. Administrative staff often oversee the hospital’s day-to-day operations and management, including budgeting, resource allocation, and personnel management. Their work may be more organizationally oriented, involving strategic planning and management decisions. Therefore, they may require more decision-making support to succeed at the managerial level [ 47 ].

The job satisfaction of healthcare personnel is influenced by various factors, including the work environment, workload, career development, and leadership support [ 48 , 49 ]. When healthcare personnel are satisfied with their work, their job enthusiasm increases, contributing to higher patient satisfaction. Healthcare organizations should assess the leadership and management qualities of each hospital to enhance their leadership capabilities. This will directly impact employee satisfaction, retention rates, and patient satisfaction [ 50 ]. Resource support provided by leaders, such as data, human resources, financial resources, equipment resources, supplies (such as medications), and training opportunities, significantly influences the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel [ 51 ]. From a theoretical perspective, researchers believe that leaders’ behavior, by providing resources to followers, is one of the primary ways to influence employee satisfaction [ 7 ]. These resources can assist healthcare personnel in better fulfilling their job responsibilities, improving work efficiency, and thereby enhancing their job satisfaction.

In hospital organizations, leaders play a crucial role in shaping the work environment for healthcare personnel and providing decision-making support [ 52 , 53 ]. Hospital leaders are committed to ensuring the safety of the work environment for their employees by formulating and promoting policies and regulations. They also play a key role in actively identifying and addressing issues in the work environment, including conflicts among employees and resource shortages. These initiatives are aimed at continuously improving working conditions, enabling healthcare personnel to better fulfill their duties [ 54 ]. The actions of these leaders not only contribute to improving the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel but also create the necessary foundation for providing high-quality healthcare services.

It is worth noting that our research results show that in the context of leading public hospitals in China, leadership support for research, encouragement of innovation, and decision-making do not appear to significantly enhance the job satisfaction of healthcare personnel, which differs from some international literature [ 23 , 55 , 56 ]. International studies often suggest that fostering innovation is particularly important in influencing healthcare personnel’s job satisfaction [ 57 , 58 ]. Inspiring a shared vision is particularly important in motivating nursing staff and enhancing their job satisfaction and organizational commitment [ 59 ]. This may reflect the Chinese healthcare personnel’s perception of leadership’s innovation encouragement, scientific research encouragement, and decision support, but it does not significantly improve their job satisfaction. However, material support (resources and environment) can significantly increase their satisfaction.

Strengths and limitations of this study

For the first time, we analyzed the role of perceived leadership support in enhancing healthcare providers in China’s leading public hospitals. We assessed the impact of perceived leadership on healthcare professional satisfaction across five dimensions: resources, environment, decision-making, research, and innovation. The sample includes physicians, nurses, and administrative staff, providing a comprehensive understanding of leadership support’s impact on diverse positions and professional groups.

However, it’s important to note that this study exclusively recruited healthcare professionals from three leading public hospitals in China, limiting the generalizability of the research findings. Additionally, the cross-sectional nature of the study means that causality cannot be established. There is also a potential for response bias as the data were collected through self-reported questionnaires. Furthermore, the use of convenience sampling may introduce selection bias, and the reliance on electronic questionnaires may exclude those less comfortable with digital technology.

Implications for research and practice

The results of this study provide important empirical evidence supporting the significance of leadership assessment in the context of Chinese hospitals. Specifically, the findings underscore the critical role of leadership support in enhancing job satisfaction among healthcare professionals, which has implications for hospital operational efficiency and the quality of patient care. For hospital administrators and policymakers, the study highlights the need to prioritize leadership development programs that focus on the three dimensions of leadership support: resources, environment, and decision-making. Implementing targeted interventions in these areas can lead to improved job satisfaction. Moreover, this study serves as a foundation for comparative research across different cultural and organizational contexts, contributing to a deeper understanding of how leadership practices can be optimized to meet the unique needs of healthcare professionals in various regions.

Our study found a close positive correlation between leadership support in Chinese leading public hospitals and employee job satisfaction. They achieve this by providing ample resources to ensure employees can effectively fulfill their job responsibilities. Furthermore, they create a comfortable work environment and encourage active employee participation. By nurturing outstanding leadership and support, hospitals can enhance employee job satisfaction, leading to improved overall performance and service quality. This is crucial for providing high-quality healthcare and meeting patient needs.

Data availability

Data are available upon reasonable request.

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This study was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2020-RC630-001), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (3332022166), and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2021-I2M-1-046).

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JZ, TL, and YL designed the study. JZ collected the original data in China, reviewed the literature, performed the analyses, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. TL and YL critically revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of data and the final approved version.

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Zhao, J., Liu, T. & Liu, Y. Leadership support and satisfaction of healthcare professionals in China’s leading hospitals: a cross-sectional study. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 1016 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11449-3

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Mohammed Al-Haziazi Arab Open University, Muscat, Oman Al-Haziazi, M. (2024). Critical analysis of drivers of employee engagement and their impact on job performance. (0), a2633. 14 Apr. 2024; 09 July 2024; 30 Aug. 2024 © 2024. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study examines the impact of drivers of employee engagement on job performance and investigates the relationship between employee engagement and job performance. The purpose of this study is to assess how various factors, such as job characteristics, organisational support, support from superiors, rewards, recognition, and organisational justice, influence employee engagement and subsequently affect job performance. The researcher is motivated by the need to understand the drivers of employee engagement and their implications for job performance in organisations, particularly in the context of the Sultanate of Oman. The study was conducted based on a closed-ended questionnaire across various industries in the Sultanate of Oman, focusing on three levels of management: junior, middle, and senior. Non-probability convenience sampling was utilised. The study employed models of drivers leading to employee engagement and assessed their impact on job performance. The study reveals that drivers of employee engagement significantly affect job performance across all levels of management. Job characteristics and rewards and recognition emerged as strong predictors of job performance. Organisations are encouraged to prioritise the development and nurturing of employee engagement, fostering a two-way relationship between employers and employees. Engaged employees contribute to higher retention rates, increased productivity, profitability, growth, and customer satisfaction. This study provides valuable insights into the relationship between employee engagement and job performance in the Sultanate of Oman, offering guidance for the development of effective employee engagement strategies aimed at improving organisational outcomes. employee engagement; job performance; productivity; relationship; rewards. In today’s competitive business environment, organisations recognise the fact that their most valuable asset is their workforce. The strategic management of human resources has emerged as a key differentiator, enabling companies to adapt, innovate, and excel (Barney & Wright, ). As markets become increasingly complex, investing in employee engagement is crucial for sustaining high performance and achieving long-term success (Alam et al., ; Barreiro & Treglown, ; Saks, ). Human resources bring a competitive advantage by contributing knowledge, skills, and capabilities to an organisation (Hafiza et al., ). Employee engagement is an important predictor of job performance (Christian et al., ). Engaged employees are more likely to contribute to a high-performance organisation (Mishra et al., ). Organisations constantly seek solutions to motivate their employees to be more engaged in their work (Cole et al., ). Engaged employees are more efficient and productive, add to the top line, and are more likely to stay with the company (Dabke & Patole, ). Engagement refers to the extent of emotional and intellectual dedication an employee demonstrates towards their organisation and its achievements. Engaged employees are inclined to speak favourably about the organisation, exhibit greater retention rates, and contribute to its daily effectiveness (Mishra et al., ). Their profound commitment to their employers precipitates significant enhancements in business outcomes, such as decreased absenteeism, turnover, shrinkage, safety incidents, and product defects. Employee engagement is continuous and highly specific to each organisation (Gupta & Sharma, ). Mohapatra and Sharma ( ) believed that an organisation and its staff have a synergetic bond in which they depend on each other to achieve their desires. Engagement must then be an ongoing process rather than an individual event. Employee engagement can also contribute to organisational success. Having satisfied employees who perform well, are in the right jobs, and are present and committed helps foster engagement (Bin & Shmailan, ). Employee engagement and performance outcomes are interconnected; heightened levels of employee engagement correspond to increased feelings of belongingness, enthusiasm, passion, and work knowledge. Consequently, this fosters improved employer–employee relations, resulting in reduced confusion, fewer conflicts, decreased absenteeism, lower turnover rates, and enhanced role comprehension. This role of knowledge increases effectiveness and efficiency and leads employees to take up extra work or duties to further the organisation’s performance and reputation, expediting its process of advancement (Tanwar, ). According to Shuck and Wollard ( ), employee engagement is an ‘emergent working condition and a positive cognitive, emotional and behavioural state directed toward organisational outcomes’. Studies on employee engagement have become important in recent academic research because organisations face challenges in improving the performance and productivity of employees from different generations (Douglas & Roberts, ). This situation poses a significant challenge for both academic researchers in organisational studies and professionals in the field concerning how to improve employee engagement, which is believed to influence organisational performance and outcomes (Harter et al., ). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of employee engagement factors on job performance, investigate the relationship between employee engagement and job performance, and suggest practices to improve employee engagement in the Sultanate of Oman. Many researchers have tried to identify drivers of employee engagement and developed models to draw implications for managers. In this study, the author has developed a conceptual model consisting of job characteristics, organisational support, rewards and recognition, and organisational justice, all of which lead to employee engagement and contribute to job performance (see ). Drivers of employees’ engagement and contribution to job performance. Gallup characterises employee engagement as the active participation in and passion for one’s work (Markos & Sridevi, 2010 ; Turner & Turner, 2020 ). Employee engagement entails a favourable disposition exhibited by the employee towards the organisation and its principles. A fully engaged employee comprehends the business environment and collaborates with peers to enhance job efficacy for the organisation’s advancement. Fostering engagement demands concerted efforts from the organisation, necessitating a two-way relationship between employers and employees (Robinson et al. 2004). The connection between employee engagement and important business results is considerable. Studies have revealed a positive link between employee engagement and organisational performance outcomes (Markos & Sridevi, 2010 ). Job characteristics are regarded as the ‘system factors’ that can impact employees’ behavioural outcomes (Williams, 2002 ). This is because of the influence of job attractiveness on the level of effort that employees are willing to invest in their job responsibilities (Johari & Yahya, 2016 ). Empirical evidence (Christen et al. 2006 ; Grant, 2008 ; Wood et al., 2012 ) has demonstrated a significant and direct influence of job characteristics on job performance. According to Organisational Support Theory, employees develop overall perceptions concerning the extent to which their organisations furnish sufficient resources and appreciate them as individuals, encompassing the probability of the organisation rewarding their performance and assisting them during difficult circumstances (Cullen et al., 2014 ). A positive perception of the support employees receive from an organisation contributes to beneficial outcomes for both the employees and the organisation itself. Additionally, organisational support is associated with increased levels of job satisfaction and enhanced performance. It increases performance in standard work-related activities, helps surpass the predetermined standards, and increases organisational identification significantly (Köse, 2016 ; Turunç & Çelik, 2010 ). Research has shown that frontline supervision plays a pivotal role in fostering employee engagement, underscoring the significance of proficient communication and managerial support (Mishra et al., 2014 ). Sparrowe and Liden ( 2005 ) acknowledged the fact that the quality of the relationship between supervisors and subordinates correlates with engagement. Similarly, Brunetto et al. ( 2013 ) proposed that the supervisor–subordinate relationship affects teamwork quality, which in turn positively influences engagement levels. Hafiza et al. ( 2011 ) found that reward systems increase employee satisfaction, which directly influences performance. According to San et al. ( 2012 ), if an organisation fails to reward employees, employee performance will decrease; furthermore, an efficient reward system can be a good motivator, but an inefficient reward system demotivates employees and causes low productivity, internal conflicts, absenteeism, high turnover, a lack of commitment and loyalty, lateness, and grievances. Therefore, organisations must develop strategic reward systems to retain competent employees and maintain a competitive advantage (Edirisooriya, 2014 ). Ajila and Abiola ( 2004 ) concluded that reward systems increase employee performance by enhancing skills, knowledge, and abilities to achieve organisational objectives. Conversely, the impact of organisational justice may be contingent upon cultural context and could have a diminished role in fostering employee engagement within Eastern cultures, where leaders tend to adopt a more directive approach in decision-making processes (He et al., 2014 ). Organisational justice refers to an employee’s perceptions of their organisation’s policies and procedures (Loi et al., 2012 ). According to research by Brebels et al. ( 2011 ), fairness in the workplace is a significant factor that encourages cooperative behaviour and improves job performance. Conversely, as noted by Skarlicki et al. ( 2008 ), a perceived lack of fairness can result in harmful and unethical behaviours like retaliation. Research design Research approach. This research was conducted within various industries in the Sultanate of Oman. Data collection, processing, and analysis were carried out from April 2023 to June 2023. Primary and secondary data are used in this research. The primary data were collected through a closed-ended questionnaire, and the secondary data were obtained through relevant literature. Research method The primary method utilised in this study was a closed-ended questionnaire. This questionnaire focused on evaluating several drivers of employee engagement, including job characteristics, organisational support, support from superiors, rewards and recognition, and organisational justice. Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with each statement on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The questionnaire included 35 statements, and it was pretested. Cronbach’s alpha was found to be 0.839, meeting the reliability condition. Sample definition and selection The study’s sample was drawn from several sectors in Oman, including oil, gas, and energy; manufacturing; retail; education; information technology; construction; banking and insurance; and services. The focus was on employees across three management levels: junior, middle, and senior. Using a non-probability convenience sampling method, participants were selected based on accessibility and willingness to partake in the study. This approach was deemed appropriate given the exploratory nature of the research and the aim to capture diverse perspectives across industries. Research procedure The research procedure commenced with the researcher providing a detailed explanation of the study’s purpose prior to data collection, ensuring transparency and ethical compliance. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Arab Open University, Oman, adhering to all stipulated ethical requirements, including confidentiality assurances. Subsequently, a validity test was conducted involving academicians, practitioners, and an English proofreading expert to assess the appropriateness of formulated objectives and statements. Following this, a reliability test was performed on the questionnaire, which consisted of 35 statements, resulting in a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.839, meeting reliability standards. As this falls within the range from 0.60 to 0.90, one might suggest that all the scales met the reliability condition (Hair et al., 1998 ). The questionnaire was then distributed directly to the targeted population encompassing the oil, gas, and energy; manufacturing; retail; education; information technology; construction; banking and insurance; and service sectors of the Sultanate of Oman, with data collection and analysis conducted using SPSS software. Out of 151 initial samples, 133 were deemed valid after excluding instances of missing or duplicate information. Furthermore, rigorous evaluation led to the identification and removal of 12 erroneous samples, resulting in a final dataset of 121 samples for subsequent analysis and hypothesis testing. Throughout the process, meticulous attention was paid to maintain accuracy and integrity in data collection and analysis procedures. Statistical analysis The study conducted a comprehensive statistical analysis to derive insights from the collected data. Descriptive statistics summarised the variables, while inferential techniques such as ANOVA, Chi-square tests, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression were employed to explore relationships and test hypotheses. This rigorous analysis facilitated the identification of patterns and predictive factors related to employee engagement and job performance, enabling evidence-based recommendations for enhancing engagement practices in Oman. Survey results The demographic analysis provided insights into the respondents’ composition based on gender, age, management level, and type of organisation, accompanied by their corresponding frequencies and percentages. Notably, 64% of respondents identified as male, whereas 36% were female. Age-wise, 10% were under 25 years old, representing recent graduates, while 45% fell within the 26–40 years old age range, and 35% were aged between 41 years and 55 years. Moreover, 10% of respondents were above 55 years old. In terms of management hierarchy, 15% held lower-level positions, 48% occupied middle-management roles, and 37% were part of upper management. The distribution across various organisational sectors indicated 17.2% in oil, gas, and energy and 26.4% in education, with the remaining percentages dispersed across sectors such as manufacturing, retail, construction, banking and insurance, information technology, and service. Multivariate test on management levels and drivers of employee engagement H0: There is no significant difference in the drivers of employee engagement between management levels. One can infer from Table 1 that the test yielded a significant result (Wilk’s A = 0.934, F [10, 228] = 2.791, p = 0.001). A separate ANOVA was conducted for each dependent variable, with each ANOVA evaluated at an alpha level of 0.05.  Multivariate tests on management levels and drivers of employee engagement. Table 2 shows that a significant difference was found in organisational support between management levels: F (2,118) = 1.425, p = 0.045.  Tests of between-subjects effects on management levels and drivers of employee engagement. The estimated marginal means across management levels reveal distinct values for key factors impacting employee engagement. For organisational support, middle management demonstrates the highest mean score of 19.8889, followed by senior management with 19.1556 and junior management with 19.5517. Similarly, middle management leads in supervisor support with a mean of 20.0862, while senior management follows with 19.1111 and junior management with 20.4444. In rewards and recognition, middle management scores the highest (17.5345), followed by senior management (16.5556) and junior management (16.5000). Lastly, for organisational justice, middle management achieves the highest mean score (18.8448), with senior management at 17.9333 and junior management at 18.7778. These findings underscore the substantial influence of management levels on various aspects of employee engagement, suggesting a partial rejection of the null hypothesis (H0). Association between management levels and employee engagement levels (H1) A Chi-square analysis was carried out to find the significant association between management levels and employee engagement levels: H0: There is no significant association between management levels and employee engagement levels. H1: There is a significant association between management levels and employee engagement levels. Table 3 shows a significant association between management levels and employee engagement levels at 5%. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. The table shows that employee engagement is high for middle management.  Association between management levels and employee engagement levels. Relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels (H2) Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to find the relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels: H0: There is no significant relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels. H2: There is a significant relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels. Table 4 shows a significant relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels at 1%. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. The table shows that all drivers of employee engagement are positive and highly correlated with employee engagement levels.  Relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels. Association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels (H3) A Chi-square analysis was carried out to find the significant association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels: H0: There is no significant association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels. H3: There is a significant association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels. Table 5 shows a significant association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels at 5%. Hence, the null hypothesis is rejected. The table shows that high employee engagement levels result in high job performance levels.  Association between employee engagement levels and job performance levels. Relationship between employee engagement levels and job performance levels (H4) Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to find the relationship between employee engagement levels and job performance levels: H0: There is no significant relationship between employee engagement levels and job performance levels. H4: There is a significant relationship between employee engagement levels and job performance levels. The analysis indicates a significant relationship between employee engagement levels and job performance levels, with a correlation coefficient ( R ) of 0.295 and a p -value of 0.001. This suggests a positive correlation between employee engagement and job performance, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Impact of drivers of employee engagement on job performance (H5) Multiple regression was used to predict the impact of drivers of employee engagement on job performance. Table 6 displays the unstandardised regression coefficient (B), the unstandardised standard error of regression coefficients (SE B), the standardised regression coefficient (β), R 2 , and F for changes in R 2 .  Multiple regression for job performance based on drivers of employee engagement. Table 6 shows that the drivers of employee engagement together explain 38.5% of the variation in job performance. The adjusted R 2 (0.35) for the overall study on the five factors shown in Table 6 suggests a moderate effect on job performance. The F value (9.182; degree of freedom [ df ] 5.115) is significant, which indicates that the model fits well. The table shows that job characteristics and rewards and recognition significantly impact job performance. The independent variable with a higher level of β has a stronger impact on the dependent variable. This study’s results reveal that rewards and recognition (β = 0.406, p < 0.01) are the most influential factors impacting on job performance, followed by job characteristics (β = 0.248, p < 0.05); both show significant and positive influences. The Standardised Coefficients Beta column gives the coefficients of significant independent variables in the regression equation Y = 0.248 (Job Characteristics) + 0.406 (Rewards and Recognition). This suggests that Job Characteristics and Rewards and Recognition are significant predictors and play significant roles in job performance. Outline of the results The results reveal a significant effect of the drivers of employee engagement across the levels of management. Employee engagement was measured and found to be highest in middle management. Pearson correlation analysis was carried out to find the relationship between drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement levels. The findings show that all drivers of employee engagement are positively and highly correlated with employee engagement levels. Multiple regression was performed for job performance based on drivers of employee engagement. This comprehensive approach highlights that all drivers of employee engagement are positively and significantly correlated with both subjective and objective performance measures. The results underscore the importance of addressing specific drivers of engagement, such as job characteristics and recognition and reward systems, to enhance organisational performance. These findings emphasise the need for tailored engagement strategies across different management levels to maximise employee engagement and ultimately improve job performance. Practical implications This research has several practical implications. Firstly, the findings suggest that managers should be aware of the positive impact of various drivers of employee engagement. Secondly, this study further enhances our comprehension of the significance accorded by top management to their responsibility in preserving and enhancing a firm’s reputation (Chetty & Price, 2024 ). Employee engagement should not be a one-time exercise, but it should instead be integrated into the company culture (Bedarkar & Pandita, 2014 ). Prior research has shown that organisations that invest in employees are viewed as better employers by external audiences (Gill, 2010 ). This study emphasises the roles that job characteristics, organisational support, support from superiors, rewards and recognition, organisational justice, and employee engagement play in job performance. By incorporating both subjective and objective measures of job performance, our findings suggest that organisations benefit from a holistic approach to performance assessment. This includes leveraging objective metrics alongside employee self-assessments and peer reviews to capture a complete picture of job performance. Organisations characterised by high levels of employee engagement experience enhanced employee retention because of decreased turnover rates and reduced intentions to leave the company. Moreover, they exhibit heightened levels of productivity, profitability, growth, and customer satisfaction. Conversely, enterprises with disengaged employees encounter inefficiencies, talent attrition, diminished employee commitment, and elevated absenteeism. They demonstrate diminished customer orientation, reduced productivity, and lower operating and net profit margins (Markos & Sridevi, 2010 ). Robertson-Smith and Markwick ( 2009 ) underscored the role of engagement in allowing employees to invest themselves in their work and fostering a sense of self-efficacy. Research suggests that engaged employees may experience improved health and harbour positive attitudes towards their work and the organisation. Additionally, engaged employees demonstrate superior task performance with fewer errors compared to their disengaged counterparts (Gonring, 2008 ). Organisations are encouraged to adopt ‘radical transparency’, prioritising communication with employees as a fundamental practice. By disseminating information widely, companies foster a sense of inclusion among employees and cultivate a shared commitment to the organisation’s mission. This engenders a foundation of trust between the organisation and its employees, thereby promoting employee engagement (Mishra et al., 2014 ). Additionally, top management should ensure that employees have access to necessary resources, provide adequate training to enhance their competencies, implement reward systems, cultivate a unique corporate culture that values diligence and preserves success narratives, and establish robust performance management mechanisms. Limitations and recommendations The study has some limitations. Firstly, this research employed convenience sampling to accomplish its objectives. Therefore, the limitations associated with convenience sampling apply to this study. Secondly, the sample size is another limitation, as it is insufficient to represent all industries. To foster engagement, companies are advised to practise transparency, starting with open communication with employees. Providing resources, training, establishing reward mechanisms, fostering a corporate culture that values hard work, and developing a robust performance management system are essential strategies for top management. Organisations in the Sultanate of Oman must develop effective employee engagement strategies that include value-added activities to generate future improvement in job performance. This study significantly advances the field of organisational behaviour by identifying key drivers of employee engagement and assessing their impact on job performance across management levels. Through rigorous statistical analysis, it provides empirical evidence supporting the theoretical link between employee engagement and organisational outcomes, such as productivity and profitability. The study enriches theoretical understanding by emphasising the importance of integrating employee engagement into organisational culture, highlighting its role as a fundamental aspect of organisational functioning. Additionally, it offers practical insights for managers, bridging the gap between theory and practice and guiding the development of effective engagement strategies. By identifying areas for future research, the study contributes to ongoing discourse, paving the way for further empirical investigations and theoretical development in this field. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of employee engagement factors on job performance, investigate the relationship between employee engagement and job performance, and suggest practices to improve employee engagement in the Sultanate of Oman. The analysis of the data involved the utilisation of various statistical tools, revealing a significant impact of employee engagement drivers across management levels. Particularly, engagement was found to be highest among middle management. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to ascertain the relationship between these drivers and engagement levels, indicating a positive and highly correlated association. Additionally, multiple regression was performed to assess job performance based on engagement drivers, with results highlighting the significant predictive roles of job characteristics and rewards and recognition. Acknowledgements Competing interests. The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article. Author’s contributions M.A.-H. contributed to the conceptualisation, design, and implementation of the research, analysis of the results, and writing of the article. Ethical considerations Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the Arab Open University Ethical Research Committee (no. 105/23). Funding information This research did not receive funding from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Data availability The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, M.A-H., upon reasonable request. 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SA Journal of Human Resource Management    |    ISSN: 1683-7584 (PRINT)    |    ISSN: 2071-078X (ONLINE) ISSN: 2071-078X This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn more about DOAJ’s privacy policy. Hide this message You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience and security. The Directory of Open Access Journals Quick search. International Journal of Business, Law, and Education (Jul 2024) Relationship Between Employee Training, Career Development, and Job Satisfaction: A Case Study of Medium Scale Enterprise in Bandung City Syamsu Rijal, Revi Sesario Affiliations Read online This study examines the relationships between employee training, career development, and job satisfaction within medium-scale enterprises in Bandung City. Utilizing a quantitative approach, data were collected from 200 employees through structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity assessments, normality and multicollinearity tests, and Pearson correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS software. The findings reveal that employee training and career development are significantly positively correlated with job satisfaction. Specifically, career development shows the strongest correlation with job satisfaction, followed by employee training. These results underscore the importance of investing in comprehensive training programs and robust career development initiatives to enhance job satisfaction. The study's implications for practice suggest that medium-scale enterprises should strategically focus on employee development to foster a more motivated and satisfied workforce, ultimately contributing to organizational success. Future research should explore these relationships longitudinally and in diverse organizational contexts. employee training career development job satisfaction medium-scale enterprises bandung city WeChat QR code Information Author Services Initiatives You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader. All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess . Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. 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[ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] Click here to enlarge figure I Round Survey (n = 22) II Round Survey (n = 21) Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Female 17 77% 16 76% Male 5 23% 5 24% <40 6 27% 5 24% 40–50 13 59% 13 62% >50 3 14% 3 14% Portuguese 19 86% 19 90% Brazilian 3 14% 2 10% Graduate 8 36% 8 38% Master’s 11 50% 10 48% Doctorate 3 14% 3 14% Nurse 1 5% 1 5% Nurse Specialist 16 73% 15 71% Nurse Manager 2 9% 2 10% Professor 3 14% 3 14% 10–19 8 36% 7 33% 20–29 11 50% 11 52% ≥30 3 14% 3 14% Primary Health Care 12 55% 11 52% Hospital 7 32% 7 33% Academic Institution 3 14% 3 14% Item Mean (SD) CV I-CVI * 1 Total duration of the program 3.52 (0.58) 0.165 0.95 2 Number of sessions 3.39 (0.64) 0.189 0.90 3 Duration of each session 3.17 (0.70) 0.221 0.86 4 Content of Session 1 3.57 (0.50) 0.139 1 5 Content of Session 2 3.61 (0.49) 0.135 1 6 Contents of Session 3 3.61 (0.49) 0.135 1 7 Contents of Session 4 and 5 3.61 (0.49) 0.135 1 8 Contents of Session 6 3.61 (0.49) 0.135 1 9 Contents of Session 7 3.65 (0.48) 0.130 1 10 Contents of Session 8 3.61 (0.49) 0.135 1 Session Duration Content Session 1 3 h Presentation of the Program to Promote Positive Nursing Practice Environments. Characteristics and variables related to clients and professionals. Session 2 3 h Characteristics and variables related to institutions. Session 3 3 h Attributes of a Positive Nursing Practice Environment. Session 4 3 h Outcomes of a Positive Nursing Practice Environment related to institutions and clients. Session 5 3 h Outcomes of a Positive Nursing Practice Environment related to professionals. Session 6 3 h Group dynamics. Conclusion of the Program to Promote Positive Nursing Practice Environments The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. Share and Cite Pereira, S.; Fassarella, C.; Ribeiro, O. Development and Validation of the “Program to Promote Positive Nursing Practice Environments”: Modified Delphi Study. Healthcare 2024 , 12 , 1748. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12171748 Pereira S, Fassarella C, Ribeiro O. Development and Validation of the “Program to Promote Positive Nursing Practice Environments”: Modified Delphi Study. Healthcare . 2024; 12(17):1748. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12171748 Pereira, Soraia, Cintia Fassarella, and Olga Ribeiro. 2024. "Development and Validation of the “Program to Promote Positive Nursing Practice Environments”: Modified Delphi Study" Healthcare 12, no. 17: 1748. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12171748 Article Metrics Article access statistics, further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi. Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals 166 IMAGES (PDF) A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION OF THE BANKS Employee Satisfaction Survey (PDF) RESEARCH STUDY ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTIONON TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Employee Satisfaction Survey: 30 Questions for Success Employee Satisfaction Surveys: Why Are They Important? Employee Satisfaction Survey in Word and Pdf formats VIDEO Studies show that work satisfaction is the highest in decades Lecture 30: Managerial challenges of employee training -2 How Effective Are Engagement Surveys In Improving Employee Motivation? PODCAST HIGHLTIGHTS Lecture 22: Managerial challenges of employee selection Lecture 20: Steps of employee selection process BUSINESS STUDIES GRADE 12 || MAY/JUNE POSSIBLE ESSAY QUESTIONS 2024 COMMENTS The Contribution of Communication to Employee Satisfaction in Service This study contributes to the literature by showing the complex ways to achieve employee satisfaction, so that managers are cognizant of the 16 alternatives at their disposal. In addition, we reveal the ways that lead to the absence of employee satisfaction, alerting managers to the 15 undesired alternatives that require the exercise of caution. PDF Employee Well-being, Productivity, and Firm Performance: Evidence and meta-analysis of research studies done by the Gallup Organization for their clients investigating the nexus between employee satisfaction and various firm performance outcomes. Taken together, the evidence very much suggests the answer to the overarching question is "yes" - there is a strong business case for promoting Exploring Determinants of Job Satisfaction: A Comparison Between Survey Having explored the factors influencing job satisfaction on the basis of the two-factor theory (Herzberg et al., 1959), previous studies have mainly used survey analyses through interviews or questionnaires (Alrawahi et al., 2020; Lo et al., 2016; Matei & Abrudan, 2016; Sanjeev & Surya, 2016).However, these types of methodologies using survey data pose the risk of incorporating the researcher ... Work Values and Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Basic This study tested a model in which BPS and PNF mediated the contribution of work values, grouped into factors, on job satisfaction. Importantly, this study is the first, to our knowledge, to test this mediating association by including both PNS and PNF at work to predict job satisfaction, which allows to identify how each mediated specific ... Exploring the Impact of Workplace Relationships and Employee Job In a study, it was found that supportive workplace relationships were associated with job satisfaction and the promotion of employee well-being (Bella, 2023). In a similar study, it was found that ... (PDF) SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF JOB SATISFACTION ... OVERVIEW AND BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS. Rosana Oktaviani 1*, Sopiah. 1,2 Universitas Negeri Malang. E-mail: 1) [email protected], 2) [email protected]. Abstract. Job ... Job Satisfaction: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Analysis in a The aim of this study is to analyze simultaneously knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward job satisfaction in a general population in a large metropolitan area. The data acquired from 1043 questionnaires—administered to subjects with an average age of 35.24 years—revealed that only 30% is satisfied by his job. Making sense of employee satisfaction measurement Technological frames of reference and the study of employee satisfaction measurement systems. Taking a sensemaking perspective on technology in organizations, Orlikowski and Gash (1994) developed the conceptual framework of technological frames of reference (TFR). Orlikowski and Gash (1994, p. 178) initially defined TFR as the … Employee satisfaction trajectories and their effect on ... Over the past two decades, research has firmly established an association between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction (Bitner 1995; Brown and Lam 2008; Harter et al. 2002; Hogreve et al. 2017).Implicit in this association is that firms' investments to increase employee satisfaction spill over to customers and favorably influence customer satisfaction (e.g., Hogreve et al. 2017 ... The Impact of Work Environment on Job Satisfaction In other words, satisfaction is an emotional response to the job and results from mentally challenging and interesting work, positive recognition for performance, feelings of personal accomplishment, and the support received from others. 4 This corresponds with the research on burnout, which is contrary and includes cynicism, exhaustion, and ... How Companies Can Improve Employee Engagement Right Now October 13, 2021. Illustration by Simo Liu. Summary. A year and a half into the pandemic, employees' mental "surge capacity" is likely diminished. Managers must take proactive steps to ... The impact of healthy workplaces on employee satisfaction, productivity 3.4 Applied research methods to study health and satisfaction and/or productivity. The discussed papers on health and satisfaction and/or productivity show a variety of research designs and research methods . Ten studies conducted a before-after study; four studies used an experiment in a lab setting. Research: A Little Recognition Can Provide a Big Morale Boost Her research applies behavioral science to improve public-sector employee well-being, and she is currently co-leading a research program at WWCSC called 'Happier, Healthier Professionals' to ... Work engagement and employee satisfaction in the practice of ... Sustainable human resource management (SHRM) views employees as a very important resource for the organisation, while paying close attention to their preferences, needs, and perspectives. The individual is an essential element of SHRM. The article focuses on analyzing selected SHRM issues related to the individual employee's level of job engagement and employee satisfaction. The main objective ... A Study on Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment Abstract. Employee satisfaction is a factor in motivation, retention and goal achievement in the place of work and. commitment is a factor that include no excess work load, treating employee with ... Employee Engagement vs. Employee Satisfaction and ... Showing up and staying: Engaged employees make it a point to show up to work and do more work -- highly engaged business units realize an 81% difference in absenteeism and a 14% difference in ... Correlation between Employee Performance, Well-Being, Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is the result of a person's attitude towards work and the factors associated with their work and life in general [15,16,21,22] and is closely related to work performance [15,16,21,22,31]. Several studies found a positive correlation between job satisfaction, the organizational climate , and overall performance [21,22]. Research: How Incentive Pay Affects Employee Engagement, Satisfaction Research: How Incentive Pay Affects Employee Engagement, Satisfaction, and Trust. by. Chidiebere Ogbonnaya, Kevin Daniels, and. Karina Nielsen. March 15, 2017. Most managers would agree that ... Job Satisfaction or Employee Engagement: Regardless of Which Comes Considering the importance of employee engagement and job satisfaction to the success and reputation of an organization, it is incumbent upon HRD and HRM practitioners to collaboratively research and evaluate current and relevant leadership theories, and based on the findings, develop strategies and interventions for improving leadership training. The Impact of Management by Objectives (MBO) on Employee Satisfaction This study explores the impact of the Management by Objectives (MBO) method as a performance appraisal tool on employee satisfaction. By employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we examine the relationships between various components of the MBO approach and their influence on employee satisfaction and effectiveness. The results emphasize the crucial role that different MBO components play ... The Relationship Between Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, And employees and employees with low satisfaction. Leaders within the federal government need to understand the relationship between employee engagement, job satisfaction, and employee performance, as decreased employee performance can result in decreased productivity, increased turnover, and have negative financial implications. A Study of Job Satisfaction and Its Effect on the Performance of Like the study by Azim et al. , who observed no statistical significance between marital status and job satisfaction, present research also concluded that marital status of the employee had no significant relationship with their job satisfaction. The present study also shows the insignificant relation of family system with job satisfaction. Brief report: the role of mind-wandering (spontaneous vs ... In essence, when employees experience boredom at work, their spontaneous mind-wandering can lead to harmful behaviors, affecting their colleagues and organizations. On the other hand, deliberate mind-wandering can improve job satisfaction. This study provides valuable insights for managing job boredom and suggests future research directions. (PDF) The role of Emotional intelligence on employee Job satisfaction This exploratory study therefore investigated whether there is a significant correlation between the EIBs of leaders and the job satisfaction of their employees.The survey included a rating by the ... PDF A Study of Employee Satisfaction with a Focus on Employee Incentives This research endeavors to examine the relationship between employee satisfaction and the effectiveness of employee incentives within organizational settings. Employee satisfaction is a critical factor influencing productivity, retention, and overall organizational success. This study specifically investigates how various Leadership support and satisfaction of healthcare professionals in Healthcare professionals' job satisfaction is a critical indicator of healthcare performance, pivotal in addressing challenges such as hospital quality outcomes, patient satisfaction, and staff retention rates. Existing evidence underscores the significant influence of healthcare leadership on job satisfaction. Our study aims to assess the impact of leadership support on the satisfaction of ... Critical analysis of drivers of employee engagement and their impact on The study employed models of drivers leading to employee engagement and assessed their impact on job performance. Main findings: The study reveals that drivers of employee engagement significantly affect job performance across all levels of management. Job characteristics and rewards and recognition emerged as strong predictors of job performance. Relationship Between Employee Training, Career Development, and Job This study examines the relationships between employee training, career development, and job satisfaction within medium-scale enterprises in Bandung City. Utilizing a quantitative approach, data were collected from 200 employees through structured questionnaires. Healthcare This study adhered to the recommendations for the Conducting and Reporting of Delphi Studies (CREDES) . The study procedures, outlined in Figure 1, include: preparatory work with a scoping review, ... The Impact of Work Environment on Job Satisfaction: Pre-COVID Research to Inform the Future. Nurse Lead. 2021, 19, 585-589. [Google Scholar] ... The impact of employee satisfaction on customer satisfaction On 19 October 2023, the Delphi study's second phase began, with experts previously involved asked to rank factors affecting job satisfaction in Malaysia's manufacturing sector. they used a scale ... essay homework paper phd project resume review speech thesis