The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural relationships among work values, perceived risks, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction of school food service (SFS) workers, and to suggest policy implications. The data used in this study were...
The purpose of this study is to analyze the structural relationships among work values, perceived risks, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction of school food service (SFS) workers, and to suggest policy implications. The data used in this study were collected from 3,185 SFS workers working in school in A local government. For data analysis, the SPSS and AMOS programs were used, and descriptive statistics, reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed. The results of the descriptive statistics showed that SFS workers perceived their work values (M=1.54), job satisfaction (M=2.15), and life satisfaction (M=2.65) to be low, while perceived risk was high. The results indicated that job satisfaction was higher among women and those with more work experience, but also revealed that life satisfaction decreased as work experience increased. Work values had a positive effect on job satisfaction but a negative effect on life satisfaction. Perceived risk had a negative effect on both job and life satisfaction, whereas job satisfaction had a positive effect on life satisfaction. In addition, the results indicated that job satisfaction had significant mediating effect on the relationship between work values, perceived risks, and life satisfaction. In particular, while the direct effect of work values on life satisfaction was negative, whereas the indirect effect mediated by job satisfaction was positive; consequently, the total effect of work values on life satisfaction was also found to be positive. Based on these findings, this study discusses theoretical and policy implications for enhancing the job and life satisfaction of SFS workers.