How can emotional salary influence job satisfaction? Evidence from Portuguese project managers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59476/mtt2026.v2i22.780Keywords:
project managers, emotional salary, job satisfactionAbstract
In an increasingly globalised and competitive environment, strategic human resource management has assumed a crucial role in sustaining organisational performance and long-term competitive advantage. Within this domain, the notion of emotional salary, defined as the set of non-financial rewards and benefits offered to employees, has attracted growing scholarly and managerial attention as a mechanism for enhancing motivation, well-being, and job satisfaction. Despite this rising interest, empirical research analysing emotional salary in project-based contexts remains limited, particularly in Portugal. Addressing this gap, our study explores the relationship between emotional salary and job satisfaction among project managers in Portugal, considering both the higher-order construct and its underlying dimensions. Data were collected via an online survey, yielding 100 valid responses from professionals operating across diverse industries. The empirical analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), allowing for the assessment of both aggregate and disaggregate effects. The findings indicate that emotional salary positively and significantly influences job satisfaction when modeled as a composite construct. However, a more granular analysis reveals that only specific dimensions, such as strategic management and motivation, demonstrate significant effects. These results suggest that project managers do not value all non-financial benefits equally, but rather prioritise those that directly enhance their sense of purpose, recognition, and alignment with organisational objectives. By offering a nuanced perspective on emotional salary within project management contexts, this study contributes to the literature on international human resource management and employee well-being. Furthermore, it provides practical implications for organisations aiming to design more targeted human resource strategies to improve satisfaction and retention among highly skilled professionals.
References
1. Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., & Soane, E. C. (2013). The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(2), 330–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2012.679950
2. Colakoglu, S. S., Erhardt, N., Pougnet-Rozan, S., & Martin-Rios, C. (2019). Reviewing creativity and innovation research through the strategic HRM lens. In Buckley, M. R., Wheeler, A. R., Baur, J. E., & Halbesleben, J. R. B. (Eds), Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Emerald Publishing (Vol. 37, pp. 227–271). https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-730120190000037007
3. Díaz-García, G., Almorza Gomar, D., & González Arrieta, G. (2023). How does emotional salary influence job satisfaction? A construct to be explored. Revista Andaluza de Ciencias Sociales, 23, 57–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/anduli.2023.i23.04
4. Elrehail, H., Harazneh, I., Abuhjeeleh, M., Alzghoul, A., Alnajdawi, S., & Ibrahim, H. M. H. (2020). Employee satisfaction, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: The case of Northern Cyprus. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 29(2), 125–149. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-01-2019-0001
5. Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151312
6. Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
7. Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
8. Hulin, C. L., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Job attitudes. In Handbook of Psychology, I.B. Weiner (Ed.), 255–276. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471264385.wei1211
9. Ilies, R., & Judge, T. A. (2004). An experience-sampling measure of job satisfaction and its relationships with affectivity, mood at work, job beliefs, and general job satisfaction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 13(3), 367–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320444000137
10. Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2012). Job attitudes. Annual Review of Psychology, 63(1), 341–367. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100511
11. Mabaso, C. M., & Dlamini, B. I. (2018). Impact of compensation and benefits on job satisfaction. Research Journal of Business Management, 11(2), 80–90. https://doi.org/10.3923/rjbm.2017.80.90
12. Macdonald, S., & Maclntyre, P. (1997). The generic job satisfaction scale: Scale development and its correlates. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 13(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1300/J022v13n02_01
13. Nauman, S., Bhatti, S., Jalil, F., & Bint E Riaz, M. (2021). How training at work influences employees’ job satisfaction: roles of affective commitment and job performance. International Journal of Training Research, 19(1), 61–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/14480220.2020.1864444
14. Nicolò, G., Zanellato, G., Tiron-Tudor, A., & Tartaglia Polcini, P. (2023). Revealing the corporate contribution to sustainable development goals through integrated reporting: a worldwide perspective. Social Responsibility Journal, 19(5), 829–857. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-09-2021-0373
15. Özpehlivan, M., & Acar, A. Z. (2015). Assessment of a multidimensional job satisfaction instrument. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 210, 283–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.368
16. Peluso, A. M., Innocenti, L., & Pilati, M. (2017). Pay is not everything: Differential effects of monetary and non-monetary rewards on employees’ attitudes and behaviours. In Evidence-based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship (Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 311–327). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-07-2015-0031
17. Phan, P. T., Pham, C. P., Tran, N. T. Q., Le, H. T. T., Nguyen, H. T. H., & Nguyen, Q. L. H. T. T. (2020). Factors affecting the work motivation of the construction project manager. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(12), 1035–1043. https://doi.org/10.13106/JAFEB.2020.VOL7.NO12.1035
18. Prince, S., Chapman, S., & Cassey, P. (2021). The definition of entrepreneurship: is it less complex than we think?. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 27(9), 26–47. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2019-0634
19. Quintero-Arango, L. F. Q., & Betancur-Arias, J. D. B. (2018). Modelo de salario emocional para la fidelización de los colaboradores en la búsqueda de una organización competitiva. Revista Espacios, 39(41), 1–8. https://www.revistaespacios.com/a18v39n41/a18v39n41p08.pdf
20. Randeree, K., & Ghaffar Chaudhry, A. (2012). Leadership–style, satisfaction and commitment: An exploration in the United Arab Emirates' construction sector. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 19(1), 61–85. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699981211192571
21. Ravina-Ripoll, R., Díaz-García, G. A., Ahumada-Tello, E., & Galván-Vela, E. (2024). Emotional wage, happiness at work and organisational justice as triggers for happiness management. Journal of Management Development, 43(2), 236–252. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-02-2023-0046
22. Rezvani, A., Chang, A., Wiewiora, A., Ashkanasy, N. M., Jordan, P. J., & Zolin, R. (2016). Manager emotional intelligence and project success: The mediating role of job satisfaction and trust. International Journal of Project Management, 34(7), 1112–1122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.05.012
23. Rojas Valero, E. A., & Blanco Jiménez, M. (2023). El salario emocional. Una revisión sistemática a la literatura. Innovaciones de Negocios, 20(39), 102–121. http://eprints.uanl.mx/26220/7/26220.pdf.crdownload
24. Rožman, M., Zabukovšek, S. S., Bobek, S., & Tominc, P. (2021). Gender Differences in Work Satisfac-tion, Work Engagement and Work Efficiency of Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case in Slovenia. Sustainability, 13(16), 8791. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168791
25. Saldívar, A. K. E., & Moctezuma, J. A. T. (2020). Salario emocional: una solución alternativa para la mejora del rendimiento laboral. NovaRua, 12(20), 72–89. https://doi.org/10.20983/novarua.2020.20.5
26. Salvador-Moreno, J. E., Torrens-Pérez, M. E., Vega-Falcón, V., & Noroña-Salcedo, D. R. (2021). Diseño y validación de instrumento para la inserción del salario emocional ante la COVID-19. RETOS. Revista de Ciencias de la Administración y Economía, 11(21), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.17163/ret.n21.2021.03
27. Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Hair, J. F. (2017). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. In Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., & Vomberg, A. (eds), Handbook of Market Research (pp. 587–632). Springer. https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-57413-4_15
28. Singh, A., & Banerji, R. (2022). Happiness at work, organization citizenship behaviour and workplace diversity: a study on Indian private sector bank employees. Industrial and Commercial Training, 54(3), 460–475. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-05-2021-0037
29. Tarigan, J., Cahya, J., Valentine, A., Hatane, S., & Jie, F. (2022). Total reward system, job satisfaction and employee productivity on company financial performance: evidence from Indonesian generation z workers. Journal of Asia Business Studies, 16(6), 1041–1065. https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-04-2021-0154
30. Valero, E. R., & Jiménez, M. B. (2023). El salario emocional. Una revisión sistemática a la literatura: The Emotional salary. A systematic review of the literature. Innovaciones de Negocios, 20(39), 102–121. https://doi.org/10.29105/revin20.39-413
31. Vinh, N. Q., Hien, L. M., & Do, Q. H. (2022). The relationship between transformation leadership, job satisfaction and employee motivation in the tourism industry. Administrative Sciences, 12(4), 161. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci12040161
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana Rita Gonçalves, Carina Silva, Telma Mendes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
