In a longitudinal study involving a fast food chain, with responses from both
customers and employees, Bernhardt, Donthu, and Kennett (2000) found that job
satisfaction is positively correlated to customer satisfaction. They suggested that
the positive and significant relationship between employee satisfaction and customer
satisfaction has also been supported by other research (i.e., Schneider,
1991; Tornow & Wiley, 1991; Wiley, 1991).
Although job satisfaction has been a popular research topic in the hospitality
literature, nonsupervisory employeesworking in casual restaurants have not been
extensively studied. Most studies of job satisfaction have examined employees
holding managerial positions in hospitality firms and employees working in
hotels. Furthermore, few studies have used the MSQ short form as a research
instrument. Weiss et al. (1967) suggested that the MSQ, with its 20 facets of job
satisfaction, helps obtain a more individualized representation of job satisfaction
than other measures of job satisfaction.
The constructs of employee motivation and job satisfaction have been
approached from many directions. Contributing factors have been often identified
as intrinsic or extrinsic. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the job
satisfaction of nonsupervisory restaurant employees working in casual restaurants.
The MSQ short form was used in this study to explore underlying dimensions
of job satisfaction. Selected categories of employees were compared with
respect to derived satisfaction scores. Another purpose of this studywas to test the
factor structure of the MSQ short form.