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C S S R 0 8’ 0 9 14 - 15 March 2009

C O N F E R E N C E ON S C I E N T I F I C & S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

A Study About Gender, Education Level, Salary And Job Satisfaction

Ruhana Zainuddin1 and Syaidatul Zarina Mat Din2


1
Faculty of Information Technology & Quantitative Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor, MALAYSIA
2
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor, MALAYSIA
ruhanamy2000@yahoo.com, sasai2003@johor.uitm.edu.my

ABSTRACT

In recent years there has been a substantial rise in the number of women entering the work force. One
consequence of this trend is that it has generated considerable interest in the relationship between
gender and job satisfaction. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of gender, salary
and educational level on the job satisfaction of employees. A questionnaire was administered to 290
employees. This paper examines how gender, education level and salary influenced job satisfaction.
The analyses used were t-test, Anova and correlation analysis. Three hypotheses were constructed
and tested. All the results were found to be significant. This study will add to the literature about job
satisfaction in Malaysia.

Keywords: gender, education, salary, job satisfaction

1. I"TRODUCTIO"

Job satisfaction is one of the most widely discussed and enthusiastically studied constructs in such related
disciplines as industrial-organizational psychology, personnel and human resource management and
organizational management.
Job satisfaction also plays a central role in the study of behavior at work. For the practitioner,
knowledge of the determinants, the consequences and other correlates of job satisfaction can be vital. The
study of job satisfaction should be able to contribute to the general psychology of motivation, preferences
and attitudes. Job satisfaction is conceptualized as a general attitude toward an object, the job. Locke
(1976) defined job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of
one’s job experiences”. In general job satisfaction refers to an individual’s positive reactions to a
particular job. It is an affective reaction to a job that results from the person’s comparison of actual
outcomes with those that are desired, anticipated or deserved (Oshagbemi, 1999).
The topic of job satisfaction is important because of its relevance to the physical and mental well
being of employees, Work is an important aspect of people’s life and most people spend most of their time
working. An understanding of factors involved in job satisfaction is necessary and relevant in improving
the well being and life of significant number of people.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is defined as the degree to which an individual feels positively or negatively about his or
her job (Goodman et al, 2007). Job satisfaction can be conceived of as a multi-dimensional concept that
includes a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings by which employees perceive their job (Davis and
Newstrom, 1999). Another definition for job satisfaction is; it is an emotional response to tasks,
leadership, peer relationships and organizational politics, as well as other physical and social conditions of
the workplace (Stewart, 1998).

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C O N F E R E N C E ON S C I E N T I F I C & S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

Employee satisfaction has become one of the main corporate objectives in recent years (Stewart,
1996). Organizations cannot reach competitive levels of quality, either at a product level or a customer
service level, if their personnel do not feel satisfied or do not identify with the company.
The results obtained by Bernal et. al. (2005) showed that the job satisfaction of Spanish workers is an
element that is susceptible to improvement. Moreover, it is observed that the level of job satisfaction is
determined by four factors: “economic aspects”, “interpersonal relations”, “working conditions”, and
“personal fulfillment”. A subsequent analysis according to workers’ gender shows that although men and
women take into account the same dimensions, the degree to which each dimension has an impact is
different for each sub-sample.
Tziner and Vardi (1984) defined work satisfaction as an affective response or reaction to a wide range
of conditions or aspects of one’s work such as pay, supervision, working conditions and/or the work itself.
Others define it as an affective orientation towards anticipated outcome (Wanous & Lawler, 1972) or a
statement to describe the feelings of employees about their work (Arches, 1991). This statement expresses
the gap between what individuals feel they should receive from their work (ideally speaking) and what
they derive from the actual situation. A sense of satisfaction or its absence is, thus, an individual’s
subjective, emotional reaction to his or her work (Abu-Bader, 1998).

2.2 Gender

Inconsistencies in finding concerning the relationship between gender and job satisfaction may be due to
a variety of factors. Not only might males and females in the same organizations differ in the job level,
promotion prospects, pay and so on, they may differ in the extent to which the same job satisfies their
needs. A job high on skill utilization and career prospects may results in higher job satisfaction for
females than for males, whereas in occupational allowing little scope for social relationships, the
differences in satisfaction might be in the opposite direction.
Gender differences were found to be apparent in the job satisfaction levels of university teachers.
Female faculty were more satisfied with their work and co-workers, whereas, their male colleagues were
more satisfied with their pay, promotions, supervision and overall job satisfaction (Okpara et al, 2005).
There was significant difference between employed women and men’s job satisfaction. Women were
found to be more intrinsically satisfied than men (McNeely, 1984). McNeely also discovered a significant
difference between female professionals and male professionals, with females being more satisfied.
Oshagbemi, T. (2000) found that female academics at higher ranks namely, senior lecturers, readers and
professors, were more satisfied with their jobs than male academics of comparable ranks.
In addition, Tuch and Martin (1991) and Mi’ari’s (1996) in their research revealed that female
employees were significantly more satisfied than male employees. These findings were supported by
Jayaratne and Chess (1983) who reported a statistically significant difference between male and female
social work administrators regarding role ambiguity and work load.
This is contrary to the findings by Greenberg and Baron (1993) who reported that employed women,
in general, seem to be less satisfied with their work than their counterpart, men.
A study done by Abu-Bader (2005) failed to detect job satisfaction differences based on gender. Both
male and female social workers reported similar scores of job satisfaction (66.4 and 64.7, respectively).
These findings were supported by Barber (1986) and Greenberger et al(1989) in which found no
significant job satisfaction differences between male and female human service workers. In addition,
Rentner and Bissland’s (1990) in their study failed to detect differences between male and female public
relations workers regarding their overall work satisfaction.
Al-Ajmi (2006) in his study confirmed that the employee’s gender has no significant effect on her/his
perception of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Therefore, male and female employees in
Kuwait have the same level of satisfaction and commitment.
Donohue and Heywood (2003) in their study find no gender satisfaction gap, but does find that the job
satisfaction of women is less sensitive to both actual and comparison earnings than that of men.

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C O N F E R E N C E ON S C I E N T I F I C & S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

Moreover, estimates an expanded specification showing substantial gender differences in the influence of
fringe benefit provision (including childcare) on job satisfaction.

2.3 Salary

Earnings are the primary reason why people go to work. A review of the literature Carvajal (1999)
suggested that the level of earnings exerts a substantial and positive effect on job satisfaction; other things
equal, greater earnings lead to greater satisfaction.
A study done by Santhapparaj and Syed Shah Alam (2005) among academic staff in private
universities in Malaysia indicated that pay, promotion, working condition and support of research have
positive and significant effect on job satisfaction. Man-Whitney U test results showed that female staff
were more satisfied with all the facets (eg: pay, promotion, fringe benefits, working condition and support
of teaching) than their male counterparts. This seems that women enjoyed their working environment and
they do not have higher expectation in terms of promotion or salary, in general.
Sararaks and Jamaluddin (1997) revealed factors found to be significantly associated with job
satisfaction were age, job designation, income, duration of service and intention to resign Ball and Chik
(2001) stated job-fit index, self esteem, income were found to bear significant relationships with job
satisfaction.

2.4 Education

Many researchers have found positive relationships between education levels and job satisfaction (Rogers,
1991). Falcone (1991) in her study found that educated managers expressed more job satisfaction in both
public and private sectors than less educated managers. In a survey that was conducted in four
municipalities in the Midwest and Southwest of the USA, Howard and Frink (1996) found that individuals
with greater levels of education would experience more growth opportunities than those who are less
educated.
Meanwhile, Donohue and Heywood (2004) found that white-collar women appeared negative
association between education and job satisfaction.
Andres and Grayson (2002) mentioned that in an analysis of the 1991 Canadian General Social
Survey carried out for the current paper, however, job satisfaction did vary by education. Overall, 55% of
respondents indicated that they were very satisfied with their jobs. Among individuals with post-graduate
education, however, 65% reported that they were very satisfied. At the other end of the spectrum only
42% and 46% of those reporting no schooling and elementary school respectively had jobs with which
they were very satisfied.

3. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of gender on job satisfaction (Okpara, 2005;
Oshagbemi, 2000 and Greenberg and Baron, 1993). The second objective is to find if salary and job
satisfaction are related (Sararaks and Jamaluddin, 1997; Ball and Chik, 2001; Carvajal, 1999) . The third
objective is to find the correlation between job satisfaction and educational level (Andres and Grayson,
2002; Rogers, 1991 and Falcone, 1991).

4. HYPOTHESES

For this study three hypotheses were constructed:


HA1: There exists a significant difference between male and female workers in terms of job satisfaction.
HA2: There exists a significant difference in terms job satisfaction among groups with different education
level.
HA3: There exists a significant correlation between salary level and job satisfaction.
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C O N F E R E N C E ON S C I E N T I F I C & S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

5. METHODOLOGY

5.1 Survey Instrument

The target population was all workers in Malaysia. A total of 290 workers participated in this study, 152
males and 138 females.
Data for the study was collected from primary data in order to gather information relating to the study.
The survey instruments involved in this study were a set of questionnaire forms, which were administered
personally, which were completed and returned by respondents.
Additional instruments included computer programs (Microsoft Word and SPSS) for loading and
analyzing the data.

5.2 Analysis

The analysis was conducted by using independent samples T-test, Anova and Pearson coefficient of
correlation. The initial results consist of respondent’s profile. The next results were obtained by using
independent samples t test to see the differences between female and male in terms of their job
satisfaction. ANOVA was conducted to determine if there are any significant differences in different
education level in terms of job satisfaction.
Correlation analysis was conducted to determine the correlation between salary level and job
satisfaction.

6. RESULTS A"D CO"CLUSIO"S

6.1 Respondents Profile

The results showed that 52.35 percent were degree holders and above and the rest were SPM
holders and below. The mean age of all respondents was 35.9 years old. The salary ranges from RM500 to
RM8,500 with mean value of RM1950 per month.

6.2 Hypotheses

The first hypothesis was tested by using independent sample t tests. From the t test results (t value =
2.030, p < 0.05), hypothesis one was rejected. Thus there is sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a
difference in terms of job satisfaction between male and female workers. The male workers (mean =
3.2112) seemed to be more satisfied with their job than the female counterpart (mean = 3.0496).
The second hypothesis was tested by using ANOVA. The results from SPSS output was significant (F
value =0.892, p < 0.001). Therefore hypothesis two was also rejected. There is enough evidence to
conclude that job satisfaction depends on education level. From the mean values, the level of satisfaction
increases with increase level of education of workers.
The third hypothesis was tested by using correlation analysis. From SPSS output the result was
significant (r value = 0.346, p < 0.000).Thus hypothesis three was also rejected. There exists significant
correlation between salary level and job satisfaction.

7. DISCUSSIO"

The objective of this study was to see the relationship between job satisfaction and factors such as gender,
salary and education level. These factors are considered responsible of affecting job satisfaction. From the
first hypothesis, it was found that gender had an effect on job satisfaction whereby male were more
satisfied than female. This result agrees with Greenberg and Baron (1993). However this is contrary to the
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C S S R 0 8’ 0 9 14 - 15 March 2009
C O N F E R E N C E ON S C I E N T I F I C & S O C I A L R E S E A R C H

research findings by Abu-Bader (2005), Barber (1986), Greenberger et al (1989) and Rentner and
Bissland’s (1990) who failed to detect job satisfaction differences based on gender.
The second hypothesis was rejected. The workers with higher education level were more satisfied
with their jobs than the lower education ones. This agrees with Falcone (1991) and Howard and Frink
(1996) who found that educated managers expressed more job satisfaction in both public and private
sectors than the less educated managers.
The third hypothesis was also rejected. This result was supported by studies by Santhapparaj and Syed
Shah Alam (2005) and Sararaks and Jamaluddin (1997) who found that job satisfaction and income was
positively correlated.
From all the findings discussed above, the researchers can conclude that education and salary were
found to influence job satisfaction. It is, therefore, recommended that management should encourage their
employees to pursue higher education by offering scholarships, grants, work release programs and study
leave with full pay and benefits. The human resource department should take into account the
discrepancies that exist according to the gender and give more attention to female workers so as to
increase their job satisfaction.

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