Mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between job characteristics and organizational commitment among pharmaceutical sales professionals

In sales-focused firms, worker views like job satisfaction and organization dedication are important factors that determine workforce stability, performance sustainability and retention. Job design is a crucial psychological component that influences behaviour in pharmaceutical field operations, where medical sales people work under target pressure, travel demands and ongoing performance evaluations. This study examines the effects of five fundamental job dimensions autonomy, task importance, task identity, skill variety and feedback on fulfilment with work and commitment to organizational goals among 310 medical sales agents in the Nagapattinam district. It is based on the Job Characteristics Theory. According to the study, workers initially assess job attributes cognitively before become emotionally attached to the company. A structured questionnaire was used to gather primary data and multivariate statistical methods such as Cronbach's Alpha, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), One-Way ANOVA, Binary Logistic Regression, Canonical Correlation Analysis and Path Analysis were used for analysis. For autonomy (α = 0.733), skill diversity (α = 0.668) and task relevance (α = 0.638), reliability analysis revealed good consistency; however, feedback indicated inferior consistency (α = 0.379). The overall dependability of the instrument was α = 0.737. In contrast to organizational commitment (T² = 90.310; F = 22.358; p < 0.001), which showed more consistency (α = 0.701), job satisfaction showed significant variance (T² = 218.851; F = 54.182; p < 0.001).Autonomy was the most predictive of the job aspects (F = 45.797; variance = 84.984), followed by task significance (F = 10.213; variance = 41.254) and feedback (F = 11.672; variance = 47.147). The association between work dimensions and organizational commitment is mediated by job satisfaction, as demonstrated by the variability difference (ΔT² = 128.541). According to the study's findings, job structure does not directly influence organizational commitment; rather, satisfaction does. Employee commitment is stabilized and satisfaction is greatly increased by enhancing decision autonomy, important task roles and reliable feedback systems. Therefore, in sales of medicines organizations, job design serves as a proactive human resources intervention to enhance loyalty and long-term performance sustainability.