Why Employees Recommend Their Employer: Key Factors Driving Job Satisfaction at a Public University Hospital

Purpose – This paper identifies key organizational drivers of job satisfaction and employer recommendation in public hospitals, addressing the lack of studies jointly examining these outcomes in a single model. Aims(s) – The primary aim of this paper is to identify which organizational factors most influence employees’ job satisfaction and their willingness to recommend their employer in a public hospital setting. A secondary aim is to assess the extent to which job satisfaction mediates the relationship between these factors and organizational attractiveness. Design/methodology/approach – The study relies on a cross-sectional survey to collect data from 5,535 participants. Data was analyzed using PLS-SEM to test both direct and mediating relationships between seven organizational factors and two outcomes (job satisfaction and willingness to recommend one’s employer). Findings – Our model demonstrates strong explanatory power for job satisfaction and employees’ willingness to recommend their employer. Value congruence and leadership & communication emerge as key positive predictors of satisfaction, while organizational support and value congruence are the strongest predictors of employees’ willingness to recommend their employer. Job satisfaction also plays a significant mediating role in linking organizational factors to the willingness to recommend one’s employer. Leadership and communication negatively impact on the willingness to recommend employers despite their positive influence on job satisfaction. Limitations of the study – The research is cross-sectional, limiting causal inference. Both predictors and outcomes were measured via self-reported, singlesource data. The study was conducted in one Swiss public hospital, limiting generalizability. Originality/value – This paper offers a novel, integrative model linking multiple HRM practices to job satisfaction and employer recommendation in a public healthcare setting. It contributes to the public HRM literature by operationalizing employer attractiveness and by quantifying the mediating role of job satisfaction using a large sample and robust PLS-SEM methodology.