© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.Chaichi, KameliaStephenson, Marcus LFouad Salem, SuhaLeong, Mei Kei2023-09-182023-09-182023-09-06Chaichi, K., Stephenson, M.L., Fouad Salem, S. and Leong, M.K. (2025) ‘A sequential mixed method study of employee job satisfaction in upscale restaurants, Malaysia’, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 26(3), pp. 544–575. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2023.2254000.https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/13453https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2023.2254000From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: epub 2023-09-06, issued 2023-09-06, published 2023-09-06Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedThe study determines the main factors affecting job satisfaction in upscale restaurants and their degree of comparative influence. The research initially involves qualitative data analysis of 20 interviews with restaurant employees representing five upscale restaurants in Kuala Lumpur (KL), followed by structural equation modeling of data retrieved from 368 questionnaires from 16 KL restaurants. The impact variance of four main determinants of job satisfaction are revealed, where the “working environment” has the highest impact, followed by “payment and compensation,” “promotion”, and finally, “workplace fairness”. Crucially, “workplace relationships” have a moderating effect on the relationship between the “work environment” and job satisfaction, implicating industry-applied recommendations to strengthen job satisfaction levels.544–575Licence for VoR version of this article starting on 2023-09-06: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality ManagementJob SatisfactionRestaurantsWorkplace RelationshipsFairnessPaymentPromotionWorking Environmentarticle2023-09-16