Reward Systems Outweigh Career Development in Public Utility Employee Job Satisfaction

General Background: Employee job satisfaction is essential to human resource management and organizational performance. Specific Background: Declining satisfaction levels highlight concerns regarding career opportunities, compensation, and benefits in public service organizations. Knowledge Gap: Inconsistent findings regarding career development and job satisfaction require further empirical investigation. Aims: This study examines the relationships between career development, reward systems, and employee job satisfaction using a quantitative approach involving 126 permanent employees. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: Career development showed a significant positive relationship with job satisfaction (β = 0.326; p = 0.002), while reward systems demonstrated a stronger relationship (β = 0.507; p < 0.001). Both variables explained 62.5% of the variance in job satisfaction (R² = 0.625). Novelty: The study provides comparative empirical evidence demonstrating the stronger contribution of reward systems relative to career development in public service organizations. Implications: Transparent performance-based rewards and equitable career advancement opportunities are essential considerations for supporting employee job satisfaction. Highlights: Professional advancement demonstrated a significant positive coefficient (β = 0.326). Compensation and recognition mechanisms recorded a larger coefficient (β = 0.507). The structural model explained 62.5% of the outcome variance. Keywords: Career Development, Reward System, Job Satisfaction