Human Sustainability Training and Job Satisfaction in Organizations

ABSTRACT This research examines how designing for human sustainability training affects job satisfaction in organizations. It is undertaken at a university in the United Kingdom and is a case study with qualitative methodology. Participants are academics and administrators. The analysis, based on a large data set from 45 face‐to‐face interviews, provided the following findings: training in the University is limited and focuses primarily on the workers' current tasks and roles; training is generally practical, short, limited, and undertaken during working hours; job satisfaction is limited in the University primarily because of limited task variety, high workload, many administrative procedures, and limited training, with limited training being one of the main reasons. Analysis suggests that human sustainability training affects job satisfaction. The conceptual framework developed in this study can also be used to examine human sustainability training and job satisfaction in other sectors such as retail. The paper contributes to the training literature because it studies training from a new perspective based on Kantian principles, as well as it explains how it affects job satisfaction. The paper contributes to the job satisfaction literature because it demonstrates the influence of training on job satisfaction and ways to enhance it through human sustainability training. The present study is significant for the following reasons: it examines human sustainability training, which is based on human sustainability that needs further research; it promotes the United Nations sustainability goals; it examines job satisfaction, which is often low in organizations, and its relationship to training.