Consequences of Job Satisfaction

Jump to:

• Effects of Job Satisfaction 

• Definitions of Job Satisfaction

• Theories of Job Satisfaction

• Measuring Job Satisfaction

• Independent Impacts on Job Satisfaction

• Personal Factors on Job Satisfaction

INTRODUCTION

Job satisfaction has been largely examined over the last few decades by many hospitality sectors. Job satisfaction is of much significance in the hospitality industry because hospitality is a people business (Beck et al. 2006). The hospitality industry consider measuring job satisfaction and recognising its predictors is of paramount significance for the following reasons: (Defranco & Schmidgall, 2000)

• The human dominating aspect of the industry
• Keeping labour turnover at a definite level is important
• Staffs’ dis/satisfaction with the services offered

Workforce is the most significant element and the merely sustainable success factor of a company. A company is considered to be effective if it is able to achieve its goals and objectives.

Furthermore, job satisfaction is an interesting subject to employees and even researchers. Managers who recognize their workers’ job satisfaction levels would make all needed arrangement to create a more dynamic working environment (Tutuncu and Kozak, 2007). Companies carry out job satisfaction surveys in order to handle, coach and retain workers. Thus job satisfaction is important to successful achievement of a company.

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Since the start of organisational science, staff job satisfaction has been considered as important factor for organisation development. Staff behaviour and company effectiveness are influenced by job satisfaction. Managers are trying hard to influence job satisfaction positively, by identifying employees’ satisfaction levels, in order to form a favourable and dynamic working environment. Thus, improving job satisfaction in organisations has become a day to day discussion. (Tutuncu and Kozak, 2007)

IMPORTANCE OF JOB SATISFACTION

Various disciplines such as management sciences, economics and psychology have studied job satisfaction, which is a common researched subject matter in work and organizations. The reason behind it is that many researchers consider that job satisfaction influence workers’ performance, efficiency, endeavor, absenteeism and turnover. Furthermore, job satisfaction is considered an important factor to forecast an individual’s welfare in general and his intentions to either maintain or quit his job. According to Chi (2009) employee satisfaction is very significant in helping organizations to reach their financial targets. The implication of this statement is that if management pay close attention to their employees, the latter will surely take care of the customers. Satisfied workers shall be more motivating and endeavoured than dissatisfied ones. Currently, service organizations are investing a lot for employee retention, as nearly all hospitality experts believe that decreasing employee turnover shall impact on the bottom-line. Moreover, satisfied workers are more likely to give better service, which shall result in a satisfactory service experience.

POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF JOB SATISFACTION

• Productivity

Studies have revealed that there is a positive but weak relationship between job satisfaction and productivity (Johns, 1996). Luthans (1989) as well agrees with John’s statement. According to Ostroff (1992), companies with more satisfied workers are more effective than companies with fewer workers. Hence, the more satisfied workers are more productive and result in higher effectiveness of companies. Luthans further adds that the most satisfied worker is not necessarily the most productive employee. Moreover, Robbins et al. (2003) state that at organizational level, there is a strong association between job satisfaction and productivity which is not the same at individual level.

• Organizational Commitment

Organizational commitment is the level to which workers show a strong willingness to stay in their company. They have the desire to work hard towards the success of their organization. Employees who are committed to their organization, they actually develop levels of satisfaction consistent with their commitment (Aldag and Kuzuhara, 2002)

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF JOB SATISFACTION

• Health

According to Spector (1997) employees who do not like their jobs may experience negative physical and mental health problems. However, Luthans (2002) contradicts Spector and states that workers with high levels of job satisfaction experience enhanced mental and physical health.

• Absenteeism

Every company would like to have the minimum rate of employee absenteeism as the latter is an indication of poor staff job satisfaction. Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman (1989) state that job satisfaction level is linked to absenteeism. Absenteeism is a way to flee a disagreeable working atmosphere (Nel et al. 2004). Rollinson et al. (1999) affirm that there is an inverse association between job satisfaction and absenteeism. Hence as job satisfaction increases, absenteeism shall decrease. However, Johns (1996) found a moderate relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism. Robbins et al. (2003) further report that the moderate relationship between the two variables is due to factors like sick leaves and employees’ time off.

• Turnover

Turnover is the voluntary or involuntary permanent withdrawal from a company. Voluntary turnover may occur, as maybe workers want to seek new job prospects or they want to express their dissatisfaction with jobs. French (2003) states that high employee turnover rate is due to dissatisfaction of workers at their workplace. Research conducted by Steel and Ovalle (1984) found that a moderate relationship between job satisfaction and turnover which implies that less satisfied employees are more likely to leave their jobs.

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction is described by Spector (1997) as how an employee feels about his job. Ellickson and Logsdon (2002) further support Spector’s statement by defining job satisfaction as the level to which workers like and enjoy their work.

The term job satisfaction is comprised of a range of desired and non-desired job occurrences. It is as well defined as the degree of fit between job characteristics and the expectations of the worker. This type of ‘fit’ that workers are in search of can be split into several categories: intrinsic work interest, salary & rewards, professional relationship and level of control. Thus the concept of job satisfaction is multidimensional as for example, workers can gain satisfaction with co-workers but dissatisfied with their work itself. Based on this concept, job satisfaction occurs if expectations are fulfilled, otherwise the consequences of poor working experiences result to dissatisfaction (Hoynala, 2009)

Job satisfaction can be defined as an emotional reaction to determine how well the expectations and hopes of workers have been met (Luthans, 1989, cited in Hall, Nuko, Peltzer & Zuma, 2005).

According to Tagavi et al. (2010), job satisfaction is an attribute which recognizes the amount of people’s concern about their job and preference to their professions.

Keplor and Minor (1994) stated that job satisfaction is the achievement and pleasure gain from one’s job. It is not the salary, promotion and benefits but the good experiences from the job that create satisfaction.

Steyn and Van Wyn (1999, cited in Hall, Nuko, Peltzer and Zuma, 2005) has illustrated job satisfaction in his research as the gratification occurring from an employee’s feeling of his job.

As per Nelson & Quick (2006), job satisfaction is an agreeable condition which comes from the positive evaluation of a worker’s job experiences.

FEATURES OF JOB SATISFACTION

There are two features in order to understand the concept of job satisfaction (Cherrington 1994) and they are:

• Facet Satisfaction
• Overall Satisfaction

Facet Satisfaction

Facet satisfaction can be described as the tendency for a worker to be either very satisfied or less satisfied with the different aspects of his job like salary, supervision, working conditions, co-workers, professional relationship, work itself and opportunities for promotion (Johns, 1998). Job satisfaction of workers would be known by the level of satisfaction based on the various job aspects.

Overall satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a significant feature which organisations wish for their workers. Overall satisfaction is all about the inner condition of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the person. Satisfaction, described as pleasant colleagues, good salary, sympathetic supervisors and attractive jobs, result to positive experiences of the individual. Whereas poor salary, non-inspiring jobs and disapproval among colleagues are causes of dissatisfaction, leading to negative experiences of the worker. Hence, overall satisfaction is a feeling which depends on the intensity of positive and negative experiences. (Cherrington, 1994). Hence, job satisfaction would be the sum of the satisfaction of each job aspect.

JOB SATISFACTION THEORIES

Job Satisfaction has been categorized into three theoretical frameworks and they are content theories, process theories and situational theories.

• Content Theories

Maslow (1954) and Herzberg (1966) are the two content theorists who stated that when needs are fulfilled they lead to overall job satisfaction (Locke, 1976). As per Locke, content theorists said that true job satisfaction could be obtained by giving individual sufficient responsibility to let them develop psychologically. If employees are given this opportunity to grow mentally, subsequently job satisfaction is the pleasant emotional state after one’s work experience. An individual’s need can be fulfilled by the work itself (Herzberg) and the environment (Maslow).

• Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow reports that job environment has a hierarchical need which begins with the individual needs met by the job and then further higher sophisticated needs will have to be met.

Abdullah (2002) claims that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is categorized into 5 levels:

Level 1 (Psychological Needs)

The first level is the about the satisfaction of psychological needs, which influence positively the worker’s competence (Edwards, 1993 cited in Arnolds & Boshoff, 2001). Today, psychological needs are satisfied through monthly fair salaries. These needs are met if the worker has good working conditions, attractive salaries; subsidize housing and free meals at work place (Huczynski & Buchanana, 1991)

Level 2 (Safety Needs)

Level 2 is comprised of the safety needs of the employee. At this level, the employer must make available to the worker a secure working atmosphere (Abdullah, 2002). Safety for the employee implies job security and fringe benefits, which shall improve his job performance (Smith and Tisak, 1993 cited in Arnolds & Boshoff, 2001). Level 1 and Level 2 are primary needs and the last 3 levels are the secondary needs.

Level 3 (Social Needs)

Level 3 is about the employee’s social needs, focusing on the professional relationship with colleagues and superiors (Abdullah, 2002). Employees need to belong to social group to overcome loneliness. This level of need is achieved through frequent contacts with people. At this stage, workers’ social support is important to improve their work skills.

Level 4 (Esteem Needs)

At this stage, the esteem needs is divided in two sections:

Esteem needs are classified as internal and external. Internal needs are related to self-esteem, like achievement, capability and confidence to face the difficult and stressful working atmosphere. External needs are related to reputation, status and work recognition. When these esteem needs are fulfilled, the employee gain more self-confidence and strength.

Level 5 (Self Actualization)

Level 5 is the last level of Maslow’s hierarchy. When the previous 4 levels are satisfied fully, it is then the self-actualization needs are considered (Heller & Hindle, 1998). The employee’s self actualization needs are improved by opportunities for promotion, independence, challenging tasks and use of one’s skills.

• Herzberg

Herzberg named the hierarchical need as a ‘two factor’ theory of motivating job attitudes. Herzberg stated hygiene factors (extrinsic) which are supervision, working conditions, professional relationship, co-workers and salary are the causes of dissatisfaction. The motivational factors (intrinsic) which are the work itself and opportunities for promotion motivate people to work. Herzberg’s and Maslow’s theories were significant for the evaluation of job satisfaction.

From a company’s point of view, job satisfaction is imperative, as it results to high dedication of employees towards their organisation and this high commitment further leads to company’s success and achievement as a whole (Feinstein, 2000). Determinedly, employees who are dissatisfied with their work leave the company, this decrease motivation of the staffs who are still working there. Hence, workers become poor performers and less competent and they may disrupt the working environment and quit their job (Sonmezer and Eryaman, 2008)

FACTORS THAT AFFECT JOB SATISFACTION IN TERMS OF HERZBERG’S THEORY

Hygiene Needs:

• Reflect Job Context and lower level needs
• Negative Job Environment create demands for

Hygiene Factors:

• More money
• Better supervision
• Good working conditions
• Job security
• Which influence
• Level of dissatisfaction
• Level of job performance
• Level of satisfaction
• Which influence

Motivators:

• Achievement
• Responsibility Growth
• Work Itself
• Recognition

Motivator Needs:

• Reflect job content and higher level needs
• Positive Job Opportunities allow worker to achieve

Source: Grobler et al. (2002, p. 107).

Herzberg’s two factor theory is an important framework for managers who wish to understand job satisfaction and related job dimensions (Schermerhorn, 1993). Herzberg’s two factor helps to remember that jobs have two main aspects: Job content (job tasks) and Job context (work environment in which they work). Managers should all the time eradicate the poor hygiene factors of job dissatisfaction and enhance the motivator factors so as to increase job satisfaction.

• Process Theories

Vroom (1964) and Adams (1963) are the two process theorists who discussed about job satisfaction including values, needs and expectations (Gruneberg, 1979). Gruneberg stated that some persons wish to achieve higher than others and when a job offer no opportunity for achievements, thus these individuals become more disturbed compared to those people who have minimum needs. Adams affirmed that what workers contribute to their work in a ratio compared with the results they obtained from their work. If the employees identified that the result of their hard work is not equal to their co-workers, there will be no equity and hence leading to job dissatisfaction.

• Situational Theories

Glisson & Durick (1988) and Quarstein et al.(1992) are the situational theorists who consider that job satisfaction is the outcome of interaction of workers, their work itself and job dimensions (Hoy & Miskel, 1996). They illustrated 3 job dimensions:

• Individual characteristics, which include age, gender, level of education.
• Job characteristics, which include salary, work challenge, job variety and job importance.
• Company characteristics, which include supervision, advice, culture and professionalism.

Glisson and Durick tried to make use of these 3 job dimensions to forecast job satisfaction. In their research, they found out job characteristics to be the highest determinant of job satisfaction.

Nevertheless, Quarstein et al. split job characteristics into situational characteristics (worker evaluation before accepting a job) and situational occurrences (worker evaluation after accepting a job). According to the authors, overall satisfaction can be better known based on situational characteristics and situational occurrences together.

JOB SATISFACTION MEASUREMENT THEORIES

7 job satisfaction dimensions from Smith, Kendall & Hulin (1969), Weiss, Davis, England & Lofquist (1977) and Paul E.Spector (1994) will be adapted by the author throughout this research.

Researchers have proposed several theories for revealing satisfaction or dissatisfaction of employees’ at work. Each theory gives a different facet of job satisfaction.

• Job Descriptive Index (Smith, Kendal & Hulin, 1969)

The JDI assesses satisfaction through the 5 facets of jobs which is comprised of: Work itself, salary, supervision, co-workers and promotion. JDI is a technique which is easy to use with low educated individuals, as it includes questions on likert scale and single word answers, like Yes or No. The 5 factors are used to measure the level of job satisfaction and a summary question is used to measure the overall job satisfaction level. The question can be as follows: ‘I enjoy doing my job’.

• Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire (Weiss, Davis & England, 1967)

The MSQ measures intrinsic satisfaction, extrinsic satisfaction and general satisfaction as the sum of the two. Intrinsic satisfaction includes achievement, independence, security and variety. Extrinsic satisfaction includes pay, promotion, policies, supervision, co-workers and working conditions.

• Porter’s need and satisfaction questionnaire

It is based on Maslow’s requirement hierarchy. Maslow’s theory is established on meeting the requirements of primary human needs (physiologic and safety requirements) and secondary needs (being liked, being respected and the need to prove). From this point of view, Porter correlates the conditions of what employees currently perceive and ideally accept (Strawser, 2000)

• Face Scale (Kunin 1955)

In this method, the respondent is requested to choose the most appropriate face figure which represents how likely they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the attributes under investigation.

• Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector 1985)

Spector (1985) developed Job Satisfaction Survey which measures 9 facets of satisfaction including: Traditional nature of work, supervision, co-workers, promotion, pay, benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures and communication. Total satisfaction was assessed as the mean of the 9 facets.

ANTECEDENTS OF JOB SATISFACTION

The factors influencing job satisfaction are: (Nel et al., 2004)

• Organisational Factors
• Personal Factors

Conceptual framework

The conceptual framework followed the objectives of the study and was developed by integrating variables from different theories on job satisfaction from literature review. Independent variables were classified into job satisfaction dimensions (work itself, pay, supervision, opportunities for promotion, professional relationship, working conditions and co-workers) and personal factors (gender, age, educational level, years of service, post occupied)

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

• Work Itself

According to Qu, Ryan & Chu (2001), the work itself is one of the dimensions of job satisfaction and it holds much importance, as the employee’s job satisfaction depends on it (Locke, 1995). Robbins et al. (2003) described work itself as the level to which the employee is inspired with his job and obtain opportunities to progress in his career. Employees get satisfaction when their jobs give them the opportunities to apply and capabilities in real work situations (Robbins, 1993). Lacey (1994) states that workers gain more satisfaction when their jobs gave their psychological and physical encouragement. Nevertheless, Johns (1996) opposed the statement of author Lacey and affirms that there exist employees who prefer simple and untiring jobs. Most significant to staffs’ job satisfaction is to make them believe that their job is important and their responsibilities have an important effect on their organisations. It is not necessary that employees find all their roles and responsibilities inspiring but the employees should be made aware of the significance of their tasks which lead to company’s success.

• Pay

All workers wish for reasonable salary and when they are well paid they ultimately turn into satisfied individuals. In 2000, Oshagbemi carried out a research in UK and he found a major relationship between salary and job satisfaction. On the other hand, Young, Worchel and Woehr (1998) were not successful during their study in setting an association between pay and job satisfaction. Clark (2005) too states that salary is not the only major factor leading to job satisfaction. Furthermore, Brainard (2005) during his PhD research established an extremely week association between pay and job satisfaction. As per the Social Comparison theory of Sweeney and Mc Farlin (2005) points out employees are influenced at the time when they judge their salary with their colleagues. Thus, the higher is their pay the more importance they receive as an individual.

Employees consider fringe benefits as being very important and they can even refuse highly paid jobs in favor of more attractive benefit packages. Workers in hospitality sectors like Airports of Mauritius (AML) are likely to have one of the uppermost degrees of job satisfaction of any other sector. The reason is that AML staffs receive many travel opportunities and this distinctive benefit is free or reduced free transportation and this element attracts many job seekers.

• Supervision

Supervision is an important factor linked to job satisfaction where the supervisor should be able to provide emotional support and technical assistance to his subordinates (Robbins et al., 2003). Supervisors are responsible for the low or high level of self-confidence of employees at workplace (Ramsey, 1997). The way a supervisor behave and approach his employees may as well determine job satisfaction level of the worker (Sherman & Bohlander, 1992). Wech (2002) states that high professional relationship brings high level of job satisfaction and a trustful relationship is developed with the supervisor and his subordinate.

Study on supervision means determining the level to which workers gain satisfaction from the professional relationship with their superior, that is, the leadership style. Rollinson et al., (1999) describe two main types of leadership styles: Autocratic and Democratic. The leadership style can further be divided and thus there are four styles of leadership in any company. First of all, there is totally autocratic, whereby the leader is extremely strict and uses fear in his method of working. The decisions are taken by the superiors only. Then there is the partially autocratic style, where the superior gives rewards to motivate their subordinates and subordinates are involved very little in decision making. Thirdly, there is consultative style, where subordinates are consulted for some activities but still it is the management who takes the main decisions. Finally there is democratic style where there is total staff participation. The superiors and subordinates have a very close professional relationship and decision making involves both operational and management level.

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In 1999 Packard and Kauppi carried out a research and found that workers having democratic supervisors are more satisfied than employees having autocratic or laissez faire supervisors. Careful assessment and decisions must be taken during selection of a supervisor. However, one must bear in mind that excellent workers are not all the time exemplary supervisors. A supervisor has complex roles and responsibilities. All supervisors need good management talents and the aptitude to treat all workers fairly.

• Opportunities for promotion

A promotion means a move up to a higher post, with more responsibilities and better financial rewards (Aldags and Kuzuhura, 2002). According to Pergamit & Veum (1999); Peterson et al., (2003); Sclafane (1999), job satisfaction is linked to opportunities for promotion. Ellickson and Logsdon (2002) agree with the statement above and they conducted a research on municipal government workers. They affirmed a positive relationship between opportunities for promotion and job satisfaction. In the past history, authors have widely discussed on job satisfaction which is associated with employee’s perception of equity. Perception of equity is described the level to which a worker perceives the way he is treated on a fair basis comparing to other employees in the organisation. (Khalifa, 2010). Employees are satisfied with promotion when the latter are frequent, important and desirable. Nevertheless, simply giving rewards does not guarantee job satisfaction. Satisfaction with promotion is as well dependent on efforts placed in doing one’s job. Furthermore McKenna states that the level of satisfaction also depends on how the company deals with promotions. The promotion system may be merit based, experienced based or the combination of both. Actually, employees experience job satisfaction when promotion decisions are taken in a fair way.

• Co-workers

Kreitner and Kinicki (2001) affirm that helpful and pleasant colleagues lead to increasing level of job satisfaction. Madison (2000) carried out a research on 21000 women from high positions and found that the women suffered from job dissatisfaction because they did not have the support of their colleagues at work. Furthermore, Berta (2005) did a survey with 1250 Food Brand workers and a positive association was found between relationship among co-workers and job satisfaction.

• Professional Relationship

Some aspect forming part of employee job satisfaction is the social contact it brings, thus allowing staffs some time for socialization, for example, during lunch time. This further develop

friendship and teamspirit at work place. Employees spend most of their time at work with their colleagues and co-operative work mates lead to job satisfaction. Today, in all companies, tasks are carried out as teamwork. Rollinson et al. (1999) affirm that employees working in teams obtain more job satisfaction compared to workers in non-cohesive group. Non-cohesive groups are those who do not like working in each other’s companionship despite having same objectives. Organisations benefits a lot from high level job satisfaction when there are several cohesive groups working together. Professional relationship among colleagues depends on how they communicate among themselves. Without good communication, they would not be efficient, work well together and be satisfied with their jobs.

• Working Conditions

When doing a study on job satisfaction, working condition becomes an important factor to consider. Every employee wishes for working conditions which give highest comfort. According to McKenna(2000) when working conditions are of good quality, impressive, secured and comfortable, it creates job satisfaction, although not essentially high job satisfaction. However, the lack of such working conditions causes a bad impact on employees’ physical well-being, which prevents him to give his best at work (Baron and Greenberg, 2003). Working conditions will positively influence job satisfaction when employees are provided with a comfortable working atmosphere. Arnold and Feldman (1996) explains that elements like lighting, cleanliness, noise, working hours, temperature, ventilation and resources form part of working conditions. When jobs are physical hard and mentally challenging and upon it the working conditions are poor, this ultimately leads to low working performance. On the other hand, Arnold and Feldman (1996) reported that if working conditions are too approving, then this could make the employees take their work for granted. Furthermore, employees use poor working conditions as a justification to discuss with management, as the workers may believe that the company does not recognize their hard work. For this reason, Arnold and Feldman (1996) deem essential to study how working conditions influence employees’ satisfaction. If all equipment and facilities are up-to-date, it is obvious this will motivate employees to work and thus leading to job satisfaction.

PERSONAL CORRELATES AND JOB SATISFACTION

Personal correlates are classified into age, gender, years of service, educational level and post occupied.

• Age and job satisfaction

Several studies have shown a relationship between age and job satisfaction. Drafke and Kossen (2002) claimed that older workers are usually better-off with their job than the younger employees, while experienced worker are more highly satisfied than less experienced ones. Job satisfaction rises with age, as older workers possess more working experience, thus they have more reasonable vision of work and life compared to the younger workers.

Mottaz (1987) states that there are 4 important factors explaining the link between age and job satisfaction.

Cohort theory

Cohort differences may have an influence on age and job satisfaction relationship. Younger workers give more importance to intrinsic rewards such as challenging tasks, whereas older workers are more attached to extrinsic rewards like salary and fringe benefits.

Job change

Seeing that older workers hold more seniority and working experience, thus they move towards satisfying jobs very effortlessly.

Grinding down

Older workers consider rewards such as interesting job and promotion as secondary seeing that they are difficult to obtain. Thus they are less demanding and are more satisfied than the young workers.

Theory of accommodation

According to the theory of accommodation, after working in an organisation for some time, the workers adjust themselves to the conditions of the workplace, they stay as satisfied staffs.

However, Luthans and Thomas (1989) cited in Oshagbemi (2003) found that the r