Relationships between job embeddedness and employees' life satisfaction

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between organisation embeddedness and life satisfaction, and community embeddedness and life satisfaction. The study also examined relationships between each sub-dimension of organisation embeddedness and community embeddedness and life satisfaction. These sub-dimensions are "links", "fit" and "sacrifice". Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 549 employees in organisations located in four major business centres in South Africa. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings - Both organisation embeddedness and community embeddedness were positively related to life satisfaction. Regarding the sub-dimensions of organisation embeddedness, only organisation fit and sacrifice were positively related to life satisfaction. As regards the sub-dimensions of community embeddedness, only community fit was positively related to life satisfaction. Practical implications - Adopting practices which embed employees in the organisation and communities where they live is potentially beneficial for both organisations and employee well-being. Originality/value - The bulk of research on job embeddedness (JE) and work-related outcomes has focussed on benefits for the organisation. The effects of embeddedness on employee well-being have been largely overlooked. The current study is an attempt to redress this imbalance in JE research.