The Impact of Working Conditions and Personality Traits on the Job Satisfaction of Employees in a Sample of a Regional Retail Company in the Middle East Region
Authors:   , Hilal Margaritta 
Published: June 2024

The aim of the study is to explore the impact of 7 components of working conditions (leadership, work-life balance, work environment, reward and recognition, development and career growth, communication, teamwork) and the Big Five Personality traits (i.e. neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) on job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction is considered an important topic for organizations as it contributes to raising profits and retaining high performing employees. Job satisfaction aspects studied are: being excited to come to work, being satisfied with day-to-day responsibilities, being dedicated to one’s job, seeing one’s organization as a great place to work, seeking other job opportunities. Job satisfaction is particularly important for the company that I work in, which is a retail franchisee that operates in the Middle East Region. For the past seven years, it has conducted 4 surveys to understand employees’ level of satisfaction and has developed action plans to ensure implementation of goals leading to better productivity and motivation. The satisfaction surveys had fluctuating results throughout the years, and the management was asking three questions: Why were there still dissatisfied employees? Could it be that employees’ personality influences their overall satisfaction? Do working conditions affect satisfaction the most? I was inspired by the experience that my company underwent and was willing to conduct this study to help the management understand more what was impacting job satisfaction the most. Job satisfaction and the factors that impact it are one of the most examined subjects in organization behavior. Literature reveals the impact of working conditions on job satisfaction and the relationships of employee personality traits with their job satisfaction have been studied from different angles, in different studies. However, the studies that were done did not explore the impact of employee working conditions factors and Big Five personality factors on employee job satisfaction in the same study. This study aims to do that. The survey questionnaire which was used as a tool was composed of 35 questions measuring three factors: assessment of employee personality traits, employee evaluation of working conditions, and employee level of job satisfaction. The sample consisted of 407 employees randomly selected from the seven biggest countries the examined company operates in: Jordan, Egypt, KSA, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, UAE. The hypotheses examined the impact of different aspects of working conditions and the impact of different personality traits on job satisfaction factors and job satisfaction overall. Those hypotheses were tested on different job satisfaction aspects and job satisfaction overall using Regression analysis, Factor analysis, and Independent T-Test and the answers were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the survey showed that employees who assessed themselves high on such personality traits as being original, having an active imagination, being considerate, and valuing art will be most likely more satisfied with their job. Moreover, they demonstrated that supporting employee’s career development, creating an environment of teamwork, providing fairly distributed financial packages, offering open communication within the organization, clear directions from managers, job stability and safe & physically comfortable working environment have a significantly positive impact on employee satisfaction. The findings of this study therefore, should provide knowledge to the HR Recruitment and Performance Management officers about the Big Five Personality test and its use as a tool in pre-assessing applicants and understanding the type of applicants who would be suitable for the organization. The study should as well give clarity to the management on what to focus in terms of working conditions to ensure employee satisfaction.