Impact of the Quality of Supervisors’ Relationships With Subordinates on Employability and Job Satisfaction of Public Organizations’ Workers (Wplyw jakosci relacji miedzy przelozonym a podwladnym na zatrudnialnosc i satysfakcje zawodowa pracownikow organizacji publicznych)

Changes in the area of employment in public organizations make the enhancement of their workers’ employability acquire special importance. In this context, attention should be paid to the role of supervisors in this process. The theory of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), which indicates that the quality of supervisors’ relationships with subordinates may become an important tool for workers’ employability enhancement, provides an important input on this issue (Schyns, Torka, & Gössling, 2007; Van der Heijden et al., 2009). This paper tries to answer the questions: how do employees of public organizations evaluate their job satisfaction as well as what are the links between the quality of supervisors’ relationships with subordinates, employability and job satisfaction of employees in public organizations? This aim will be achieved by presenting the results of survey research which encompassed 566 pairs of supervisors and subordinates employed in 147 public organizations. The obtained results showed that employees of the examined public organizations highly evaluate the level of their job satisfaction. The carried out analyses also revealed that the quality of relationships between supervisors and subordinates has a positive impact on workers’ employability, which in turn affects their job satisfaction. Moreover, it was found that the quality of relationships between supervisors and subordinates also directly influences employees’ job satisfaction. The issues of public workers’ employability enhancement and the role of supervisors in this process are rarely discussed in the literature on the subject. Little empirical research has taken into consideration specific conditions of employability enhancement in the public sector and their impact on employees’ job satisfaction. The presented results of the study allow for filling this knowledge gap.