Exploring Determinants of Job Satisfaction Among Restaurant Employees from Review Data Using Mixed Method Research

To ensure high-quality customer service, it is of utmost importance for restaurant employees to experience high job satisfaction. Recent indicate that many job seekers place more trust in information provided by job portal websites rather than one directly offered by companies. Therefore, this study adopts mixed-method research based on employee-generated corporate reviews within the restaurant service sector sourced from the Korean job portal site “JobPlanet.” Following a qualitative extraction of 10 determinants of job satisfaction from reviews using topic modeling, we conducted a survey to quantitatively explore the asymmetric relationships between the identified determinants and job satisfaction. The findings of this study categorize work environment and promotion opportunities as satisfiers, a work-life balance and customer service as dissatisfiers, and the remaining components as hybrid factors. As such, the unveiled determinants are expected to serve as valuable references for HR departments across various restaurant businesses seeking to enhance their policies.