Financial performance was defined as profit per square foot, and scaled by square footage, since larger stores are expected to generate more profits because of economies of scale and a wider product offering. Control variables from the company’s records included store age, number of employees, and transactions per square foot. A final control variable
was unemployment-rate data, obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

COMMENTS BY HASA

Employee satisfaction is multi-faceted. This paper reveals a chain between the employee satisfaction and the firm profitability with illustrating the effect of the intervening factors.  However, we believe that it is the employee commitment and engagement that finally plays a role in the customer satisfaction and retention, leading to the firm profitability.  Future research should be focused on uncovering linkage between employee satisfaction and employee engagement.  In addition, comprehensive construct should be built to measure employee satisfaction.  This will help to understand what factors in employee satisfaction play a significant role in employee commitment and engagement.

For HR practitioners, we should understand whether investment in employee satisfaction will necessarily lead to employee commitment and engagement.  In addition, we should try to understand, with employee satisfaction controlled, what other factors will play a role in employee engagement.