Variations in job satisfaction in service industries: comparative international analysis

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to identify individual, organisational and national factors that have differential effects on job satisfaction and its drivers in service industries. Design/methodology/approach – Based on data from the fifth European Working Condition Survey on ca. 17,000 business economy service employees in 34 countries, multivariate exploratory technique was used, namely classification trees. Findings – The study revealed that job satisfaction differs mostly among countries, occupations, employment contracts and earnings levels (whereas gender, tenure, age and sector do not play important role). Service employees rate highly health and safety aspect of their work and job content, the least satisfying dimensions are pay, job security and career prospects. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on secondary source of information and has a major disadvantage which is inherent in its nature – the analysis is limited to available data; thus, it is possible that other factors (not covered in the questionnaire) contribute to variations in job satisfaction and its drivers in service industries. Practical implications – Findings add to the understanding of the perception of well-being at work; service organisations could learn the factors that should be modified or emphasised in their human resource practices as well as recruitment strategy to attract and retain engaged and loyal employees who are ready to create and deliver value to customers. Originality/value – Although job satisfaction in service industries has been a focus for numerous studies, the issue of factors that have differential effects on well-being at work and its drivers in cross-national context has received relatively little attention from researchers.