Job satisfaction according to Locke (1976) as cited in Makin et al (1996) was defined as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. Feldman & Arnold (1983) also defined Job satisfaction as the amount of overall positive affect (or feelings) that individuals have towards their jobs. Another school of thought also believes that job satisfaction is inherent and for that matter heredity is a factor in job satisfaction (Arvey et al, 1989, 74, p.187-192) as cited in McKenna (2000). This is interpreted to mean that organisations may have less influence over job satisfaction than has been commonly believed. McKenna (2000, p.276) also submitted that Job satisfaction is associated with how our personal expectations at work are in line with outcome.
Previously Related Studies:
Job satisfaction as predictor of organizational commitment
There has always been a “chicken-and-egg debate” (Vondrasek, 2000) over issues regarding the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment, several researchers have made the case that job satisfaction is a predictor of organisational commitment (Porter et al, 1974; Price, 1977; Rose, 1991) as cited in Vondrasek, 2000.
The scope of this work focuses on job satisfaction and its relationship with organisational commitment. Similar studies were sought in reviewing the literature with few found. Five significant articles were identified. Lok (1997) in a study of “the Influence of Organisational Culture, Subculture, Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction on Organisational Commitment”, the results of this study revealed that the job satisfaction dimensions have the strongest associations with organisational commitment. Vondrasek also submitted in year 2000 in a study of job satisfaction as a predictor of organisational commitment that a significant positive relationship was found to exist between job satisfaction and organisational commitment. In another study into “determinants of organisation commitment amongst knowledge workers”, by Kinnear & Sutherland (2001), it came out that job satisfaction has a positive effect on organisational commitment. A later investigation into Psico-economic analysis of a scientific organisation and implications of management: the Electro-technical National Institute by Coccia and Monticone (2002) has their results showing that job satisfaction has a good correlation with commitment and low correlation with research & development performance. An empirical study of organizational commitment: A multi-level approach by Lee and Jamil (2003) also found a positive relationship to exit between job satisfaction and organisational commitment at the individual-level.
Philosophical Stance
The approach of this research is quantitative, coupled with a survey method with a questionnaire as the data collection technique. This in effect makes the research philosophy reflects the principles of positivism and for that matter the philosophical stance of a natural scientist (Saunders et al., 2003).
Positivism is defined by Remenyi et al., (1998:32) as cited in Saunders et al., 2003) as a research philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by physical and natural scientists.
The criticisms of the Positivistic paradigm are listed below: Collis and Hussey (2003)
- It is impossible to treat people as being separate from their social contexts and they cannot be understood without examining the perceptions they have of their own activities.
- A highly structured research design imposes certain constraints on the results and may ignore more relevant and interesting findings.
- Researchers are not objective, but part of what they observe. They bring their own interests and values to the research.
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Capturing complex phenomena in a single measure is, at best, misleading. For example it is possible to assign a numerical value to a person’s intelligence.
see table page 6 file
Problem Statement
To what extent does job satisfaction in an organisation predict organisational commitment?
Theoretical Framework
The variable of primary interest to this research is the dependent variable - organisational commitment. Job satisfaction – the independent variable, is used as a predictor of organisational commitment.
It will be interesting to note that if employees are highly satisfied with their jobs and derive high levels of job satisfaction they are most likely to be committed to the organisation than if they are not satisfied. One usually feels obligated to be loyal and committed to the source that offers satisfaction and happiness – avenue through which one’s tea is sugared and bread buttered.
On the basis of the above argument, I theorize that there is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
Schematic Diagram of the Theoretical Framework
Independent Variable Dependent Variable
Hypothesis
From the theoretical framework discussed above, two hypotheses were developed for this research, and it is shown as H1 and H2 below:
H1 There is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
H2 There is no relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
In this section, details of the research design and instrumentation for the questionnaire survey are provided. The methodology for the data collection and the details of the operationalisation (how major variables will be measured) will be described.
The research will be done in a natural environment (natural environment is where events normally occur without any interference) Sekaran (1992). Because the purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment, a natural setting or environment is most preferred. Ethical issues will be avoided by choosing this type of setting.
Because this research will attempt to investigate the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable, this study is analytical research in nature.
The population for this research will be each individual employee in these five (5) medium size business organisations in Cardiff. Population According to Sekaran (1992) refers to the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate. Saunders et al (2003) also defined population as simply the complete set of cases or group members. A representative sample will be drawn from the population to participate in this research. Jankowicz (1991), defined sample as a set of people, occurrences or objects chosen from a large population in order to represent that population to a larger or lesser extent. The sample will be drawn by using proportionate stratified random sampling. Stratified random sampling according to Sekaran (1992) is a process of segregation, followed by random selection of subjects from each stratum. Saunders et al (2003) also defined it as a probability sampling procedure in which the population is divided into two or more relevant strata and a random sample (systematic or simple) is drawn from each strata. The characteristics of the population are not yet known, since no data has been collected.
The data for this research will be collected once. Thus a set of survey questionnaires will be distributed to the respondents and after that no questionnaires will be distributed again.
Data Collection Technique
The data collection technique that will be used to collect data will be solely a questionnaire survey. Sekaran (1992) defined questionnaire as a formulated written set of questions to which respondents record their answers, usually within rather closely defined alternatives. Saunders et al (2003) also defined questionnaire as a general term including all data collection techniques in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order.
The questionnaire will be used to assess the effect of job satisfaction on organisational commitment. Survey research is especially appropriate for making analytical studies of large populations and may be used for explanatory purposes as well (Lok, 1997) hence it is appropriate for this study. The self administered postal questionnaire design will be adopted for the purpose of this research. The self administered postal questionnaire design has been chosen because of the following reasons:
- It can survey a large sample at a reasonable cost. In this study employees from five (5) medium scale business organisations will be surveyed.
- It is relatively easy to design and many questions can be asked.
- It is relatively objective, can be anonymous and is able be analysed statistically. Lok (1997); Saunders et al (2003); Jankowicz (1991).
There are however some problems that are associated with this type of questionnaire technique. Notably among these problems are:
- Open and complicated questions cannot be asked repeatedly in the questionnaire.
- Response may be contaminated by consulting with others.
- Respondents might not be in the target group. Lok (1997); Saunders et al (2003); Jankowicz (1991).
These problems having been acknowledged, attempt will be made to minimise the associated problems and limitations.
Instruments for the survey questionnaire
The survey questionnaire that will be used in this study to collect the data will be a combination of job satisfaction questionnaire and organisational commitment questionnaire from established measuring tools.
The following will be chosen for this research work: Job satisfaction will be measured using the 20-item short form of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss et al., 1967) as cited in Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire has been shown to have generally good psychometric properties and correlates well with other measures of Job Satisfaction (Gillet & Schwab, 1975) as cited in Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000. Survey questionnaire will include age, education level, tenure, position, marital status, years in employment, and hours per week.
Organizational commitment, the dependent variable for this study, will be measured with the 15-item scale developed by Porter et al. (1974). This scale (Cronbach α = 0.87) was designed to assess an employee’s identification with and involvement in the organization. Previous research (Porter et al., 1974; Mowday et al., 1979) as cited in Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000 has demonstrated that this 15-item scale possesses adequate psychometric properties, and the data pertaining to its reliability and validity were generally positive (Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000).
Procedure
Questionnaires will be mailed to the respondents in each of the five medium size business organisations in Cardiff. Accompanying each questionnaire will be a letter from a key management official indicating company support for the project and encouraging participation, a letter from the researcher promising participants complete confidentiality, and a pre-addressed, stamped envelope to return the questionnaire (Lee and Jamil, 2003). By so doing respondents confidence will be won and the response rate in relation to the usable questionnaires will be very high and encouraging.
Operationalisation (Measuring of the major variables)
The three dimensional Allen and Meyer (1990) instrument, incorporating the Porter et al, (1974) commitment questionnaire as cited in Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000; will provide measures of organisational commitment. Using a five point Likert-type format, the response categories for each item will range from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Each question will be given a score ranging from one to five depending on whether the respective question had positive or negative impact on organisational commitment. The responses for each item will then be summed, and an average calculated to yield an organisational commitment score. Organisational commitment will be measured on three dimensions, namely:
(a) Affective;
(b) Continuance; and
(c) Normative
The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire short form consists of 20 questions focusing on intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement factors of employee attitude. This form “can be scored on three scales: intrinsic satisfaction, extrinsic satisfaction and general satisfaction” (Weiss, et al., 1967) as cited in Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire short form utilizes a Likert-type scale with five response alternatives ranging from "Very Dissatisfied" (weighted 1) to "Very Satisfied" (weighted 5) for each of the 20 factors (Lok, 1997; Lee and Jamil, 2003; Vondrasek, 2000).
REFERENCES
Allen, N. J. & Meyer, J. P. (1990) the Measurement and Antecedents of Affective, Continuance and Normative Commitment to the Organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(1), 1-18
Coccia, M. and Monticone, A (2002) To Psycho-Economics Analysis of to Scientific Organization and Management Implications: the Italian Electronics Institute "G. Ferraris" [online] (cited, winter 2002) Available from URL:
Collis, J. And Hussey, R. (2003) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan
Eugene Mckenna (2000) Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour: A Student Handbook, East Sussex: Psychology Press Ltd
Feldman, D.C and Arnold, H.J (1983) Managing Individual and Group Behaviour in Organisations, Tokyo: McGraw-Hill
Jankowicz, A.D (1991) Business Research Project for Students, London: Chapman & Hall
Kinnear, L. and Sutherland, M (2001) Determinants of organisation commitment amongst knowledge workers [online], Embark Magazine [cited, Nov 2001] Available from URL:
Lee, B. H. and Jamil, M. (2003) An Empirical Study of Organizational Commitment: A Multi-Level Approach [online], Journal of Behavioural and Applied Management, 4(3) 176 [cited winter 2003] Available from URL:
Lok, P. (1997) The Influence of Organisational Culture, Subculture, Leadership Style and Job Satisfaction on Organisational Commitment [online], [cited 1997] Available from URL:
Makin P., Cooper C. and Cox, C. (1996) Organisations and the Psychological Contract, Leicester: British Psychological Society
Martin T.N and O’laughlin M.S (1984) Predictors of Organisational Commitment: The Study of Part-Time Army Reservists, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 25, 273-279.
Mowday, R., Porter, L.W. And Steers, R.M. (1982) Employee- Organisation Linkages: The Psychology Of Commitment, Absenteeism, And Turnover. San Diego: Academic Press.
Murray, R.B. And Ryan A. M. (2003) Personality and Work: Reconsidering the Role of Personality in Organisations, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Porter, L. W., Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., & Boulian, P. V. (1974) Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, And Turnover Among Psychiatric Technicians. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59, 603-609.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. And Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students, London: Pearson Education Limited
Sekaran, U (1992) Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach, Canada: John Wiley & Sons
Vondrasek, D. A. (2000) A study of relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment among restaurant employees, [online], [cited, 2000] Available from URL
