
==== Front
Heliyon
Heliyon
Heliyon
2405-8440
Elsevier

S2405-8440(24)12074-9
10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36043
e36043
Research Article
Participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture Panacea for job satisfaction regulatory role of work-life balance
Nassani Abdelmohsen A. nassani@ksu.edu.sa
a
Badshah Waqar waqar.badshah@istanbul.edu.tr
b
Grigorescu Adriana adriana.grigorescu@snspa.ro
cd⁎
Cozorici Angela Nicoleta angela.cozorici@usm.ro
e
Yousaf Zahid muhammadzahid.yusuf@gmail.com
f⁎⁎
Zhan Xiaoyu xiao@xiao.ro
g
a Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, P.O. Box 71115, Riyadh, 11587, Saudi Arabia
b Management Information System, Istanbul University, Turkey. Süleymaniye, Kaptanı Derya, İbrahim PaşaYkş. No:5, 34126, Fatih, İstanbul, Turkey
c Department of Public Management, Faculty of Public Administration, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Expozitiei Boulevard, 30A, Bucharest, 012104, Romania
d Academy of Romanian Scientists, Ilfov Street 3, 050094, Bucharest, Romania
e Department of Economics, Economic Informatics and Business Management, Faculty of Economics, Administration and Business, “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava, Strada Universității 13, Suceava, 720229, Romania
f Higher Education Department, Government College of Management Sciences, Mansehra, 21300, Pakistan
g Doctoral School of Economics and Humanities, Faculty of Economics, Valahia University of Targoviște, Str. Aleea Sinaia, nr. 13, 130004, Târgoviște, Romania
⁎ Corresponding author. 6 Povernei Street, 010643, Bucharest, Romania. adriana.grigorescu@snspa.ro
⁎⁎ Corresponding author. muhammadzahid.yusuf@gmail.com
08 8 2024
30 8 2024
08 8 2024
10 16 e360438 11 2023
16 7 2024
8 8 2024
© 2024 The Authors
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
This study examines the direct influence of participatory leadership (PL) and supportive organisational culture (SOC) on employee job satisfaction (JC). Additionally, the research delves into the mediating role of work-life balance in the relationship between PL, SOC, and job satisfaction. Data was collected using 450 questionnaires through random sampling from hotels managing food security in Saudi Arabia. These findings indicate a direct correlation between participatory leadership, supportive organisational culture, and job satisfaction. Furthermore, work-life balance was found to mediate the relationship between PL, SOC, and job satisfaction. Given the importance of a supportive organisational culture for robustness, this study suggests that hotels, particularly those managing food security in Saudi Arabia, should prioritise fostering a supportive culture. They should also encourage democratic leadership and formulate strategies to help employees achieve work-life balance (WLB), leading to enhanced job satisfaction.

Keywords

Job satisfaction
Work-life balance
Participatory leadership
Supportive organisational culture
==== Body
pmc1 Introduction

In the modern era, social, cultural, and economic changes have influenced people's work and lives. Individual job satisfaction has grown extensively in the most significant management disciplines [1]. In particular, high living standards and the significance of work and personal life boost people's demands for work and family. The association between professional and personal lives is bidirectional [2]. Therefore, every individual's working life may affect their family life, and family life can also influence their professional life, as personal and job responsibilities are interrelated. Work-life balance (WLB) is a crucial aspect that presents challenges for employees in both the public and private sectors. It involves more than just juggling work and personal roles [3]. Work-life balance affects employees' psychological, mental, social, and financial well-being. Job satisfaction is a byproduct of participatory leadership and has a long-term influence on employee performance. A well-maintained work-life balance significantly impacts employee behaviours, well-being, attitudes, and effectiveness. The rivalry among market competitors in food security hotels could lead management to provide excessive work responsibilities to employees to fulfill their targeted goals. Consequently, employees often strive to earn recognition in their companies by dedicating extra hours to their jobs. This can negatively affect their family life, potentially affecting their children's upbringing and leading to strained family relationships [4].

Understanding the mediating role of WLB helps organisations recognise how leadership and culture collectively impact employee satisfaction and retention. Employees who perceive a positive work-life balance are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs and remain with their employers. This satisfaction stems from a culture that values and supports employees' needs and often reflects participatory leadership practices. Therefore, WLB can be seen as a measure of these practices' effectiveness and the organisational culture's overall health. The mediation of WLB in the relationship between participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture is relevant for its implications on performance and productivity. Employees who feel that their work-life balance is respected and supported are more likely to be engaged and productive at work. This outcome benefits organisations that aim to improve their performance while fostering a positive and supportive work environment. Organisations can identify strategies to enhance employee well-being and organisational outcomes by investigating their mediating roles.

Most firms aim to maintain employee satisfaction and improve their performance to attain competitive benefits [5]. Participatory leadership supports employee motivation and growth opportunities while fostering a supportive organisational culture that encourages employees to consider and excel as leaders in their respective fields [6]. An individual's job satisfaction is influenced by a combination of emotional, environmental, and physiological factors [7]. A supportive organisational culture encourages individual job commitment, which significantly impacts firm profitability and employee performance [8]. Job satisfaction refers to attitudes and activities that make employees feel valued and motivated to contribute to the company's performance [9]. Employee job satisfaction in an organisation is influenced by various factors such as reward culture, growth opportunities, participatory decision-making power, compensation, and supervisory support [10]. A supportive organisational culture fosters employees who understand the organisation's needs and perform under core beliefs and values to accomplish the company's objectives [11]. A supportive organisational culture enhances employees' competence to generate innovative ideas for operational activities with the firm [12]. However, a firm cannot succeed in achieving job satisfaction, emotions, and loyalty when there is a weak, supportive organisational culture [13]. Job satisfaction is vital for accomplishing company goals and objectives in commerce. Accordingly, participative leaders explore unique ways to encourage their employees, which in turn encourages them to present their best to the firm [14]. Job satisfaction is a crucial aspect of every organisation and all policies should aim to enhance employees' job satisfaction [15].

Based on the available literature, no studies have explored the joint effect of participatory leadership, supportive organisational culture, and work-life balance on job satisfaction. The current research aims to fill the gap in the literature by investigating the role of work-life balance in participatory leadership and the direct relationship between supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction in food security hotels in Saudi Arabia. Hotel food security is essential and strongly related to employee job satisfaction, as job dissatisfaction affects attitudes toward customers and service quality. The study delved into the direct impact of participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture on job satisfaction. The study aims to understand how participatory leadership and a supportive organisational culture enhance employee job satisfaction in Saudi Arabia's food security firms. The research objectives were to establish a positive correlation between participatory leadership, a supportive organisational culture, and job satisfaction, as well as the regulatory role of WLB in both.

Organisations must enhance job satisfaction among employees, evaluate cultural policies, and assess leadership behaviour to remain competitive and profitable. Without this, they may face various issues and challenges that could hinder their success in the market, regardless of their position. This study aims to assess the direct impact of participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture on job satisfaction among employees in Saudi Arabia's food security hotels. Additionally, we explored the mediating effect of work-life balance in these relationships, while many studies have identified the determinants of job satisfaction, such as public service motivation [16], ethical leadership [17], and transformational leadership [18]. Correlation and structural equation modeling analyses were conducted on a database collected through a survey to achieve the research objectives.

This research's empirical model contributes to the existing literature in several ways.1. The study investigates the direct influence of participatory leadership on job satisfaction.

2. The study investigates the positive correlation between a supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction.

3. The study investigates the mediating role of work-life balance in the relationship between participatory leadership and job satisfaction and between a supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction.

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 reviews the relevant literature from previous studies. Section 3 outlines the methodology employed in this study. Section 4 presents the results and analysis of the study's constructs, and the final section discusses the findings and concludes.

2 Review of literature

2.1 Participatory leadership and job satisfaction

Participatory or democratic leadership is the skill of a person in charge to influence, direct, encourage, and mobilise staff, as well as invite employees and other residents to become involved in practices that can lead to a willingness to perform hard, voluntary tasks to accomplish the desired firm goals [19]. It is a leadership style in which organisational members work together, make participatory decisions, and are satisfied with their job responsibilities [20]. Participatory leadership involves providing guidelines, supporting staff, and involving them in decision-making and problem-solving activities to enhance personal and organisational objectives, thereby increasing job satisfaction [21]. Previous studies also found that more than 55 % of the research findings point out that leadership style positively impacts employee job satisfaction and enhances organisational labor productivity [22]. Ethical leaders prioritise job evaluations [23], while democratic leaders implement employee participation schemes to improve responsibility and employee satisfaction [24]. Participatory leadership aims to enhance collaboration and management communication, thereby enhancing psychological happiness in the hotel industry by assessing their willingness to perform tasks [25]. Democratic leaders conduct surveys and group discussions to assess employee satisfaction and concerns, enabling management to make satisfactory adjustments to encourage proactive information sharing and supervision [26].H1 Participatory leadership is positively associated with job satisfaction.

2.2 Supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction

This study investigates the distinctive cultures of different businesses and identifies the ones that have been proven to be more beneficial. Supportive organisational culture refers to an organisation's consistent beliefs, practices, assumptions, and values that encourage collaborative communication and ideas or knowledge sharing between different groups, thus enhancing employee satisfaction with their jobs [13]. A supportive organisational culture is based on values, beliefs, morals, and activities that sustainably meet customer expectations and make efforts to meet organisational objectives [27]. Job satisfaction refers to the thoughts or emotions that interpret employees' feelings about their responsibilities. Prior literature has also identified that a supportive organisational culture has the propensity to benefit firms, as it fosters employee solidarity, equality, motivation, identity, and commitment to an organisation, which in turn promotes job satisfaction among employees [28]. Supportive organisational culture is a group of norms and values shared by employees and management and is mainly based on a cognitive structure that describes how different workers think and make decisions [29]. It permits employees to cooperate and act together in the values of the systems and statements that direct the organisation in a way that attains its goals; hence, this culture strongly influences employee job satisfaction [30]. Supportive organisational culture is based on invisible norms that dramatically impact the profitability and performance of the business and its employee satisfaction; subsequently, norms and assumptions should become the priority [31].H2 Supportive organisational culture is directly linked with job satisfaction.

2.3 Mediating role of work-life balance between participatory leadership (PL) and job satisfaction

Participatory or democratic leadership encourages the participation of employees in different decision-making activities, specifically the concerns and challenges associated with their work responsibilities, which could allow employees to gain a deep understanding of the rationale behind their decisions [32]. This style minimises misunderstandings and employee dissatisfaction by allowing employees to focus on family needs and commitments, leading to job satisfaction [33]. Work-life balance is a person's ability to deal with work responsibilities, meet family commitments, and perform non-work activities [34]. Participatory leadership promotes a sense of belonging and a good work environment, encourages work-life balance, generates organisational loyalty, and raises affective commitments [35]. Employee participation in different management activities can enhance coordination within a firm and increase employee job satisfaction [36]. A firm's success in acquiring goals is largely dependent on its leaders' ability to effectively manage resources. Thus, leadership helps determine employee performance [37]. Democratic leaders encourage employee participation, delegate authority to subordinates, and rely on others' ideas and knowledge to meet targeted tasks or objectives. This leadership style improves employee commitment and increases job satisfaction by making employees feel valued and empowered within the organisation [38].H3 Work-life balance mediates between participatory leadership and job satisfaction.

2.4 Work-life balance mediates between supportive organisational culture (SOC) and job satisfaction

It is very tricky to generate job satisfaction because contentment can only be realised if influencing variables, such as participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture, are well acknowledged and accommodated by employees within the organisation [39]. Job satisfaction is the positive feeling that employees have about their work responsibilities, which leads to better performance, increased activity, and overall performance [40]. A supportive organisational culture fosters continuous improvement and quality formation through a value system that includes philosophies, norms, procedures, expectations, attitudes, and beliefs, enhancing employee satisfaction [41]. The company's sustainability is influenced by its supportive organisational culture. Building such a culture requires constant hard work and dedication [42]. So far, no study has been carried out on supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction in the food security hotels of Saudi Arabia; as such, the study focuses on the role of supportive organisational culture in improving employee job satisfaction in Saudi Arabian food security hotels, with work-life balance potentially mediating this relationship. This could make a significant contribution to knowledge. When employees' needs, desires, and expectations are satisfied by the organisation, they experience a balance between their professional and personal lives.H4 Supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction are mediated through work-life balance.

2.5 Theoretical framework

Based on the developed hypothesis, the study proposes that participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture significantly impact employee job satisfaction, with WLB mediating this relationship, as illustrated in Fig. 1.Fig. 1 Theoretical framework.

Fig. 1

3 Methodology and data collection

The current research was conducted on the food security and productive safety of hotels explicitly established in Saudi Arabia. The research participants were chosen from among the staff members of hotels in Saudi Arabia that engage in food security. The target population for this study was all members, such as the owners, managers, operational managers, and workforce, in ensuring productive food security and resource preservation. The firm's proximity to the researchers' work office gives eased access to relevant data and participants. The study surveyed 11 out of 50 hotels in Riyadh, focusing on those closer to the university. Managers of eight hotels agreed to participate in this quantitative research method, selected 450 respondents as the sample size, and administered questionnaires for data collection. These questionnaires were divided with the assistance of hotel management in Saudi Arabia. A parallel translation technique was used, wherein adapted items were initially interpreted from English to Saudi Arabia and then translated back into English by experts. Subsequently, all disparities were resolved through discussions among the experts. Four workers enrolled in the implementation of the executive development plan in a similar industry pre-checked the accuracy of the Saudi Arabian version of the questionnaire. After one month, we received 343 completed questionnaires that were used for further analysis and presented a return rate of 76.22 % from hotels in Saudi Arabia that involved productive food security practices. We informed the management and attached a letter to a questionnaire about the research objectives and procedures to ensure anonymity. The questionnaire is divided into two sections. Section 1 included all respondents' demographic details, such as gender, education, age, and field experience. Section 2 consisted of all the items in the study constructs.

Multi-item scales adapted from previous studies were used to analyse the study hypotheses. Nevertheless, a 5-point Likert scale was used for all study items, ranging from 1 (highly disagree) to 5 (highly agree).

The variables and the items measured are presented in Table 1.Table 1 Variables and items.

Table 1Variable	Items	Sample item	
Participatory leadership	A three-item scale was used to measure participatory leadership, adapted from Ref. [43].	This construct evaluates the leadership ability of management to increase job satisfaction. The sample item is “I have participated in implementing changes occurring and proposed in our firm”. All items were adapted to fit the construct.	
Supportive organisational culture	A five-item scale was adapted from Ref. [13] to measure supportive organisational culture.	These variables asked employees how a supportive culture helps achieve competitive benefits. The example item is “In our firm, group discussions and information sharing revise the thinking of all members in a group.” All items were adapted to fit the construct.	
Work-life balance	The work-life balance was measured through 9 items scale adapted from Ref. [44].	Item 8 measures how balancing personal and official life helps satisfy needs. The sample question is, “I can deal with the situations that occur due to the conflict between my roles that are specific to my professional and family life.” All items were adapted to fit the construct.	
Job satisfaction	An eight-item scale was used and adapted from Ref. [13] to measure job satisfaction.	This construct evaluates the employee's satisfaction with firm policies, strategies, and incentives that increase their performance. The example item is “The benefits and opportunities our firm offers are as good as other firms mostly offer.” All items were adapted to fit the construct.	
Source: authors' concept

The confirmatory factor analysis CFA technique confirms the factors used in the research that show the correlation between observed variables and their underlying latent constructs [45]. CFA can be tested rigorously and enable the validation of theoretical models. It also helps ensure the validity of the constructs and confirms model fitness. CFA mitigates risks and minimises errors.

4 Analysis and results

This study used correlations, descriptive statistics, linear regression, and path analysis [46,47] to analyse the data. We also examine the validity and reliability of the constructs [48].

In terms of the overall sample size, 74.89 % of the respondents were male and 25.11 % were female. However, 41 % of employees had a bachelor's degree, 32.71 % had a master's degree, and 26.29 % had a Matric certificate. However, the participants' average tenure ranged from 5 to 8 years.

SEM allowed us to simultaneously estimate the multiple and interrelated dependence relationships of the proposed construct. This capability is crucial for testing the theoretical model that involves complex interactions between participatory leadership, supportive organisational culture, work-life balance, and job satisfaction, providing a more accurate understanding of these relationships than could be achieved through separate analyses. This enabled us to examine the causal pathways between variables, offering insights into how changes in one variable may lead to changes in another. This feature is instrumental in testing hypotheses regarding directional relationships among variables within the theoretical framework.

Table 2 presents the results of discriminant validity. For satisfactory results, the value of AVE and shared variance among variables and model constructs should be less than the AVE value of the observing variables [48]. This ensured that the constructs were differentiated from each other. The square root of the AVE values is on the diagonal, and the correlation between the variables is shown in Table 2. Furthermore, the corresponding values are smaller than the diagonal values of the columns and rows, proving that discriminant validity exists in this study.Table 2 Discriminant validity.

Table 2Sr No	Details	1	2	3	4	
1	Participatory leadership	0.819				
2	Supportive organisational culture	0.597	0.802			
3	Work-life balance	0.614	0.714	0.861		
4	Job satisfaction	0.634	0.687	0.667	0.821	
Source: research results

Reliability was confirmed, from 0.92 to 0.98, indicating the construct was reliable. According to Fornell and Larcker's approach [48], the average variance extracted (AVE) > 0.60, factor loading (FL) > 0.70, Composite Reliability (CR) > 0.60, and Cronbach's alpha value were higher than 0.70 (see Table 3).Table 3 Results FL, T-value, alpha, CR, AVE.

Table 3Variables Details	F-L	t-value	Alpha	CR	AVE	
Participatory leadership			0.82	0.94	0.74	
PL-1	0.84	15.78				
PL-2	0.85	14.58				
PL-3	0.88	13.63				
Supportive organisational culture			0.86	0.96	0.72	
SOC-1	0.88	15.21				
SOC-2	0.82	14.47				
SOC-3	0.78	14.23				
SOC-4	0.83	13.52				
SOC-5	0.84	14.69				
Work-life balance			0.88	0.92	0.76	
WLB-1	0.86	15.47				
WLB-2	0.84	14.21				
WLB-3	0.88	13.52				
WLB-4	0.81	14.46				
WLB-5	0.80	15.43				
WLB-6	0.82	15.43				
WLB-7	0.86	15.21				
WLB-8	0.81	14.24				
WLB-9	0.84	15.25				
Job satisfaction			0.84	0.98	0.78	
JS-1	0.82	15.63				
JS-2	0.81	14.51				
JS-3	0.88	13.57				
JS-4	0.86	14.58				
JS-5	0.84	15.48				
JS-6	0.86	15.44				
JS-7	0.88	15.26				
JS-9	0.82	14.24				
Source: research results

Table 4 presents CFA, the examined singularity of the construct's Participatory leadership, Supportive organisational culture, Work-life balance, and Job satisfaction. A baseline 4-factor model and three alternative models were established to explore model fitness [49]. Results show our 4-factor model was fit to the data (RMSEA = 0.05, χ2 = 1065.42, df = 465; χ2/df = 2.291; CFI = 93; GFI = 0.92).Table 4 Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Table 4Model Detail	χ2	Df	χ2/df	RMESA	GFI	CFI	
Hypothesized four-factor model	1065.42	465	2.291	0.05	0.92	0.93	
Three-factor model	1155.44	370	3.123	0.14	0.85	0.86	
Two-factor model	1225.75	365	3.358	0.16	0.73	0.74	
Single-factor model	1435.23	345	4.160	0.25	0.62	0.63	
Source: research results

Table 5 presents the results for the correlation, mean, and standard deviation. The results prove our research and show that participatory leadership has a positive association with job satisfaction (r = 32), supportive organisational culture has a positive association with job satisfaction (r = 36), and work-life balance has a positive association with job satisfaction (r = 24). The results of the VIF show that this study does not entail multicollinearity because the values are less than 10.Table 5 Correlations.

Table 5Variable	Mean	SD	Alpha	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	
1	Business Size	3.02	1.07	0.84	1.00							
2	Respondent Experience	1.25	0.48	0.81	0.147**	1.00						
3	Respondent Education	1.65	0.34	0.84	0.125**	0.45*	1.00					
4	Participatory leadership	1.18	0.45	0.88	−0.14	0.05	1.00	1.00				
5	Supportive organisational culture	3.45	0.36	0.85	−0.01	−0.12	0.01	−0.10	1.00			
6	Work-life balance	3.47	0.42	0.83	0.03	−0.15	0.063*	−0.02	0.184**	1.00		
7	Job satisfaction	3.36	0.64	0.81	−0.05	−0.33	−0.04	0.032*	0.367**	0.247**	1.00	
Source: research results; Note:*<0.005; **0.000

Table 6 shows the results of testing H1 and H2. Participatory leadership positively predicted job satisfaction (B = 0.24, p = sign), and H1 was supported. Similarly, H2 was accepted when supportive organisational culture positively impacted job satisfaction (B = 18), p = sign), and H2 was accepted.Table 6 Hypothesis testing of H1 & H2.

Table 6Key	Hypothesis Relationship	B Value	T Value	P Values	Decision	
Model #1	Participatory leadership →Job satisfaction	0.247	3.147	0.000	Supported	
Model #2	Supportive Organisational Culture→Job satisfaction	0.182	4.138	0.003	Supported	
Source: research results; Note:*<0.005; **0.000

H3 posits that a work-life balance culture acts as a mediator between participatory leadership and job satisfaction (JS). The analysis was carried out using the Preacher and Hayes method [46,47] with 5000 bootstrap samples at a 95 % confidence level. Table 7 showcases the results, highlighting the indirect role of participatory leadership on job satisfaction through work-life balance, represented as PL→WLB→JS. The table details the direct, indirect, and total effects via different paths labelled ‘a, b, c, c’’ and ‘ab’.•Path ‘a’ demonstrates that participatory leadership predicts work-life balance (B = 0.458, t = 10.475, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘b’ confirms the direct effect of work-life balance on job satisfaction (B = 0.354, t = 10.426, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘c’ corroborates the total influence of participatory leadership on job satisfaction (B = 0.246, t = 0.632, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘c’ indicates that when work-life balance is accounted for, the direct effect of participatory leadership on job satisfaction becomes marginal and non-significant, confirming mediation (B = 0.185, t = 2.324, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘ab’ displays the findings for the indirect role, with the outcomes confirming that work-life balance serves as a mediator (B = 0.165, Lower = 0.1875, Upper = 0.2432).

Table 7 Mediation effect of work-life balance between PL &Job satisfaction.

Table 7Construct Detail	Model	Beta	SE	T	Sig	
Participatory leadership→Work Life Balance (Path a)	PL-WLB	0.458	0.452	10.475	0.000	
Work-Life Balance→Job satisfaction (Path b)	WLB-JS	0.354	0.257	10.426	0.000	
Participatory leadership→Job satisfaction (Path c)	PL -JS	0.246	0.632	8.741	0.000	
Participatory leadership→Job satisfaction (Path c')	PL -JS	0.185	0.452	2.324	0.000	
Bootstrap for the indirect effect of IV on DV through mediator "ab path"	
Model Detail	Data	Boot	Bias	SE	Lower	Upper	Sig	
PL→WLB→JS	0.165	0.2476	0.001	0.05	0.1875	0.2432	0.0000	
Model summary for DV Model: R2 = 0.1624; F = 32.6541; P = 0.000.

Source: research results; Note:*<0.005; **0.000

Thus, H3 is accepted, confirming that the link between participatory leadership (PL) and job satisfaction (JS) is mediated by work-life balance (WLB).

Figure-2 shows Path Analysis of WLB-PL-JS.Fig. 2 Mediating role of work life balance between PL & JS

Fig. 2

H4 suggests that a work-life balance culture mediates the relationship between Supportive Organisational Culture (SOC) and Job satisfaction (JS). Based on Preacher and Hayes' method [46,47], the analysis was performed using the 5000 bootstrap technique at a 95 % confidence interval. Table 7 details the results concerning the indirect effect of Supportive Organisational Culture on job satisfaction via work-life balance, represented as SOC→WLB→JS. Table 8 illustrates the direct, indirect, and total effects through different pathways, labelled ‘a, b, c, c'’ and ‘ab’.•Path ‘a’ indicates that SOC influences WLB (B = 0.547, t = 10.325, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘b’ reveals the direct effect of WLB on JS (B = 0.453, t = 10.368, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘c’ affirms the comprehensive impact of SOC on JS (B = 0.364, t = 8.143, p = 0.000).

•Path ‘c' suggests that when factoring in work-life balance, the direct influence of SOC on JS becomes diminished and statistically non-significant, verifying complete mediation (B = 0.284, t = 1.214, p = 0.541).

•Path ‘ab’ in the concluding section of Table 6 displays the results of the indirect effect. The data confirm that work-life balance is a mediator (B = 0.248, Lower = 0.1685, Upper = 0.2265).

Table 8 Mediation effect of Work-Life Balance between Supportive Organisational Culture &Job satisfaction.

Table 8Construct Detail	Model	Beta	SE	T	Sig	
Supportive Organisational Culture→Work Life Balance (Path a)	SOC→WLB	0.547	0.324	10.325	0.000	
WLB→Job satisfaction (Path b)	WLB→JS	0.453	0.365	10.368	0.000	
SOC→Job satisfaction (Path c)	SOC→JS	0.364	0.452	8.143	0.000	
SOC→Job satisfaction (Path c')	SOC→JS	0.284	0.521	1.214	0.541	
Bootstrap for the indirect effect of IV on DV through mediator "ab path"	
Model Detail	Data	Boot	Bias	SE	Lower	Upper	Sig	
SOC→WLB→JS	0.248	0.2858	0.004	0.04	0.1685	0.2265	0.0000	
Model summary for DV Model: R2 = 0.1624; F = 36.4532; P = 0.000.

Source: research results; Note:*<0.005; **0.000

Consequently, H4 is supported, demonstrating that the connection between Supportive Organisational Culture and job satisfaction (JS) is mediated via work-life balance (WLB).

Fig. 3 shows mediation analysis.Fig. 3 Mediating role of work life balance between SOC & JS

Fig. 3

5 Discussions and conclusions

This research model explores mechanisms such as participatory leadership, supportive organisational culture, and work-life balance through which organisations might enhance their employees' job satisfaction, emotion, and commitment in the long term.

This study aimed to measure the direct impact of participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture on job satisfaction and the mediation/regulatory role of WLB.

Hypothesis H1 posits a direct positive effect of participatory leadership on job satisfaction. The findings of H1 support prior studies and suggest that participatory or democratic leadership is the skill of a person in charge to influence, direct, encourage, mobilise staff, and invite employees and other residents to get involved in practices that can lead to a willingness to perform hard voluntary tasks in an attempt to accomplish desired firm goals [30]. It is a leadership style in which organisational members work together, make participatory decisions, and satisfy their job responsibilities [20]. Participatory leadership is the aptitude to provide guidelines to employees, support staff, and involve them in decision-making and problem-solving activities that enhance their efforts to achieve their personal and organisational objectives; thereby increasing job satisfaction [21]. Previous studies also found that more than 55 % of the research findings point out that leadership style positively impacts employee job satisfaction and enhances organisation labour productivity [22]. Democratic leaders have introduced various employee participation schemes to enhance their sense of responsibility and boost employee satisfaction [24]. Participatory leadership aims to enhance employee collaboration and management communication, thereby improving psychological happiness in the hotel industry by assessing their willingness to perform tasks [25]. The results confirmed H1: participatory leadership is positively and significantly interrelated with employees' job satisfaction.

Second, this study proposes that a supportive organisational culture enables firms to accomplish sustainable competitive goals and benefits. H2 continues with prior research that a supportive organisational culture is a consistent set of beliefs, practices, assumptions, and values among employees in the organisation that encourages collaborative communication and ideas or knowledge sharing between different groups, leading to an enhancement in employees’ job satisfaction [13]. A supportive organisational culture is based on values, beliefs, morals, and activities that sustainably meet customer expectations and make efforts to meet organisational objectives [27]. Job satisfaction refers to the thoughts or emotions that employees have regarding their work responsibilities. Prior literature has also identified that a supportive organisational culture has a propensity to benefit the firm, as it fosters solidarity, equality, motivation, identity, and commitment of employees to the organisation, which in turn promotes job satisfaction and emotions in employees [28]. Supportive organisational culture is a group of norms and values shared by employees and management and is mainly based on a cognitive structure that supports the description of how different workers think and make decisions [29]. It permits employees to cooperate and act together in the values of the systems and statements that direct the organisation to attain its goals; hence, this culture strongly influences employee job satisfaction [30].

Hypothesis three of this research highlighted the work-life balance mediating role between participatory leadership and job satisfaction relationships. This knowledge offers a novel means for food security hotels to adopt and implement the latest techniques to boost employee job satisfaction. The outcome shows that participatory or democratic leadership encourages employees' participation in different decision-making activities, specifically the concerns and challenges associated with their work responsibilities, which could allow employees to gain a deep understanding of the rationale behind their decisions [32]. This style effectively minimises misunderstandings regarding management decisions. This leadership style allows employees to prioritise their family needs and commitments, and subsequently become satisfied with their jobs [33]. Work-life balance is a person's ability to balance work responsibilities with family commitments, thereby significantly reducing employee dissatisfaction and enhancing job satisfaction [34]. Participatory leadership promotes a sense of belonging and a good working environment, as well as encourages work-life balance, which generates loyalty for the organisation and raises affective commitments [35]. Employee participation in different management activities can enhance coordination within the firm and, accordingly, increase employees' job satisfaction [36]. A firm's success in acquiring goals is largely dependent on its leaders' ability to efficiently manage organisational resources. Thus, leadership can help determine employee performance [37]. The findings support H3: work-life balance significantly mediates participatory leadership and job satisfaction.

A supportive organisational culture helps firms adapt to the required modifications promptly and appropriately regarding concerns and challenges related to job satisfaction. Thus, H4 focuses on how work-life balance mediates the relationship between supportive organisational culture and job satisfaction. The study confirms that job satisfaction requires employee recognition and acceptance of influencing variables, such as participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture, and this finding is consistent with previous studies [39]. Job satisfaction is the positive feeling that employees have about their work responsibilities; satisfied employees can perform well in their jobs, be active, and perform better than workers who do not obtain job satisfaction [40]. A supportive organisational culture focuses on a value system that generates an effective environment conducive to continuous improvement and quality formation, including philosophies, norms, procedures, expectations, attitudes, and beliefs that increase employee satisfaction [41]. A supportive organisational culture is significant for a company, as it is linked to its sustainability; building such a culture requires constant hard work and dedication [42].

5.1 Theoretical contribution

The current research contributes to the theoretical framework in various ways and supports all study hypotheses. This study provides an experimental confirmation of the theories, specifically in the context of enhancing employee job satisfaction. First, we suggest that participatory leadership encourages employees' decision-making participation schemes, supports their ideas and viewpoints, and makes them feel empowered and valuable to the organisation, thus increasing employees' job satisfaction. Second, our study shows that a supportive organisational culture significantly and directly influences job satisfaction. Supportive organisational culture refers to the patterns, values, norms, and systems of beliefs developed in an organisation that provides instructions for the behaviour of its members to reduce issues and challenges related to employees' job satisfaction. Third, we suggest that work-life balance mediates the relationship between participatory leadership and job satisfaction. Work-life balance is the performance intended to assist employees in doing their work responsibilities and non-professional activities better. Democratic leaders develop work-and-family friendly or family-responsive policies that enhance employee job satisfaction. Finally, our study demonstrates that work-life balance is a broader concept and is described as a satisfactory degree of engagement or ‘fit’ among multiple roles in any person's life. A supportive organisational culture is the core value and belief that employees are imbued with appropriate ways to feel, think, and understand various related problems. This creates motivation and increases job satisfaction among employees. This research corroborates that work-life balance is an imperative aspect that links participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture with job satisfaction.

5.2 Practical contribution

This study offers several practical guidelines for the management, administration, and policymakers of food security hotels. This empirical model provides the broadest understanding of hotel management in terms of boosting employee job satisfaction, emotions, and performance. The research findings suggest that hotel managers who want to boost job satisfaction must establish work-life balance policies. In the present world, society is highly conscious of a supportive organisational culture to achieve its goals and objectives; employees also want their leaders to design participation schemes and motivate them to make decisions in their work responsibilities. Management must also recognise that participatory leadership is a major and leading resource for achieving job satisfaction. Accordingly, the current research suggests that food security hotels should design a supportive organisational culture that is also outfitted with democratic leadership skills and develop schemes to support employees in their work-life balance practices that add to their job satisfaction.

5.3 Limitations and future research

This study offers valuable insights, but its limitations suggest future research should use qualitative or longitudinal methods for data collection, addressing potential causality obscurity. Second, our study did not investigate penalties for employee job satisfaction in financial or non-financial terms. Third, this study was conducted on food security hotels in Saudi Arabia; thus, future research should be conducted in other sectors or regions using this empirical model. Finally, our study focused on the work-life balance mediating the role of participatory leadership and supportive organisational culture in employees' job satisfaction; however, future studies could use other determinants to mediate job satisfaction.

Funding

Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2024R87), 10.13039/501100002383 King Saud University , Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Institutional Review Board statement

The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (GCMS Mansehra) of Govt College of Management Sciences, Mansehra (6543-35, 2ndJan 2023).

Informed consent statement

Written informed consent was not required for this study because no information has been obtained from the patient(s)/human subjects to be published in this paper, and the questionnaires were anonymized.

Data availability statement

The data associated with the study have not been deposited into a publicly available repository; they are available on demand.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Abdelmohsen A. Nassani: Validation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Waqar Badshah: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Data curation. Adriana Grigorescu: Writing – review & editing, Validation, Project administration, Conceptualization. Angela Nicoleta Cozorici: Supervision, Methodology, Investigation. Zahid Yousaf: Writing – original draft, Software, Resources, Investigation. Xiaoyu Zhan: Writing – original draft, Visualization, Formal analysis.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2024R87 ), 10.13039/501100002383 King Saud University , Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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