Job Satisfaction amongst Technical

Staffs
HENG SHER YIN

University Kebangsaan Malaysia

MUHD ALI IMRAAN B. SALLEH

University Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract:
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify the determining factors
towards job satisfaction for technical and professional staffs.

Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected through the

distribution of questionnaires among the 70 technical staffs, mainly
engineers, pharmacists and architects through convenient sampling. The
questionnaire comprising four basic environmental factors: perception of
quality leadership, remuneration, working environment and supervisory
effect/behavior. Correlation analyses were done to study the relationship of
these basic elements and overall job satisfaction. Multiple linear regression
analyses were conducted to identify the environmental variables that affect
job satisfaction.

Findings: The means for the variables range from 3.96 to 4.99 signifying
that the overall job satisfaction and the environmental factors
(remuneration, working environment, supervisory effect, leadership
perception) is ranging from In different (4) to slightly satisfied (5). Analysis
shows that overall job satisfaction is significantly correlated with
remuneration, working environment and supervisory effect, with a
correlation coefficient of 0.472, 0.511 and 0.288 respectively (p<0.05).
However, analysis shows that there is no relationship between perception on
quality leadership and overall job satisfaction. The results also show that
remuneration have the highest impact on job satisfaction (β= 0:287;
p<0.05).

Research limitation/implications: As this research is a constrict study

towards the technical employees of an organizations, non-technical staffs are
not questioned or interview for comparison. The best valued research could
only be achieved in having certain references towards other non-technical
jobs. Other than that, it is also possible that the respondents have different
interpretation in comparison with the research’s meaning of job satisfaction
where hence the answers achieve could be not be precise and exact.

Originality/value: This study would much present the opportunity for an

organization in understanding the satisfaction of technical/professional
employees. These recommendations can help an organization towards the
retention of their respective employees and take into consideration the
overall effects and relationship of their employees towards the indicated
factors; remuneration, working environment and supervisory effects.

Keywords: Job satisfaction, Remuneration, Working environment,

Supervisory effect, Leadership

Paper type: Research paper

1. Introduction
In Layman’s terms, job satisfaction relates to an individual level of
contentment or satisfaction towards his or her current job per se. It is simply
put that the happier the employees of the organization as a whole, the more
satisfied they are said to be. Others perceived that job satisfaction can be
directly link towards motivation and so on.
Job satisfaction has been a major issue in any organizations today. Technical
or professional – pharmacist, engineers, architects, etc workers in the
industry face varying form of stress per se. Job satisfaction is also considered
to be the degree in which people relates to their jobs. Job satisfaction is an
abstract subjected to an individual employees depending on their motivation
and enthusiasm for how their individual goals and visions for their future
respectively.

In the macro-environment perspective, satisfied employees’ result in job

retention for an organization. As turnover has been seen to increase these
recent years, job retention has been perceived to be important as job
retention increases the value of an organization’s workforce respectfully.
High expenditures of the recruitment and training process can interrupt the
operational cash flow for an organization.

Within the technical field such as the oil and gas industry, the turnover rate
for professionals is medium to high . Even with the high pay-offs that oil and
gas companies offer, job retention seems to be a problem in this industry.
This may have come as the result of harsh and high-risk job situations of the
industry. Technical professionals are regarded to be the workforce that is
behind the success of any physical project or process which is why the
perspective and a study of technical or professionals is in dire need for an
organization.
The study of the causes and consequences of this important employee
attitude is regarded as one of the major domains of industrial-organizational
psychology and organizational behavior. This research will provide an insight
of in regards of the job satisfaction research of technical and professional
workers respectfully.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is in essence to study the determining factors

towards job satisfaction for technical staffs. The demographics factors are
attributed of the respondents in terms of age, gender, education level and
other characteristics respectfully. Although the issue of job satisfaction has
been explored in many situations, this research focuses on the job
satisfaction of technical staffs (engineers, architects, and pharmacist).

An extensive body of research has reported the variance in the determinants

and consequences of job satisfaction across cultures, countries and
professions. Therefore, this research has the opportunity to reassess the
study in lieu of the indicated study demographics and variables.

Companies and organizations needs to be more focused and involved in

terms of ensuring the job satisfaction of their employees. Since most of the
previous studies are done internationally, this research will explore
Malaysian public and private agencies and study their managerial
involvement, awareness and policies respectfully.

The aim of this study is in identification the factors in concerning the job
satisfaction of the technical staffs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Specifically,
the study seeks to examine the relative effects of demographics and
environmental factors on job satisfaction of the technical staffs. The
technical staffs targeted are mostly professionals such as pharmacist,
engineers and architects.

The questionnaire developed; incorporate the factors that are reported to

contribute to job satisfaction of technical staffs commonly.

Objectives of study
This study is conducted in discovering and understanding the job satisfaction
correlations and rate of job satisfaction in Malaysian companies amongst
technical staffs respectfully. In order to do so, these main objectives are
constructed which are:
• To study the importance of perception towards job satisfaction in
Malaysia.
• To indentify the correlations of remuneration and job satisfaction
towards technical employees
• To view the importance of the working environment in regards of job
satisfaction of technical employees
• To study the supervisory effect towards job satisfaction of Malaysian
technical employees.

Literature Review

There are two important factors for studying job satisfaction. Firstly, job
satisfaction is associated with increased productivity and organizational
commitment, lower absenteeism and turnover, and eventually, with
increased organizational effectiveness (Ellickson & Logsdon, 2001). The
benefits that employees receive from their organizations influence the effort,
skill, creativity and productivity that they are willing to give in return (Wright
& Davis, 2003). Secondly, low job satisfaction has negative outcomes, such
as withdrawal behavior, increasing costs, decreasing profits and, eventually,
customer dissatisfaction (Zeffane & Ibrahim & El Mehairi. 2008).

Herzberg et al. (1959) states that there are two groups of factors which
determine job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction- the dual factor theory of job
satisfaction. Herzberg’s (1966) two-factor theory suggests that only job
content-related facets e.g. achievement, responsibility, the nature of work
lead to satisfaction. Whereas, job context-related factors e.g. pay, security,
working conditions lead to job dissatisfaction. However, several reviews have
cast out doubt on Herzberg’s theory.

Quarstein et al. (1992) states the situational occurrences theory whereby job
satisfaction is a function of situational occurrences and situational
characteristics and that any given factor, e.g. pay or recognition, can result
in either job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Unlike the Herzberg’s theory, it
does not distinguish between job content and job context-related factor.
Study done further supports the situational occurrence theory whereby any
given factor can result in overall job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction
(Oshagbemi, 1997).

Job satisfaction has a number of facets such as satisfaction with: work, pay,
and supervision, quality of work life, participation, organizational
commitment, and organizational climate (Lum, Kervin, Clark, Reid & Sirola,
1998). A few studies have also identified how demographic variables vary in
their relationships with the various satisfaction facets. Studies have shown
that demographics in terms of age, education, tenure, and experience
significantly influence job satisfaction. Thus, the significance of demographic
factors influencing job satisfaction is undeniable. It is also suggested that
years-in-profession is the major demographic variable that broadly affects
job satisfaction (Kavanaugh, Duffy & Lilly, 2006). This is an important finding
because it focuses management attention on those who are relatively less
satisfied and are more prone to turnover.

Among determinants of job satisfaction, leadership is viewed as an important

predictor and plays a central role. Leadership is a management function,
which is mostly directed towards people and social interaction, as well as the
process of influencing people so that they will achieve the goals of the
organization. Employees’ job satisfaction was found to be significantly
correlated and was affected by leadership style of managers (Mosadegh &
Yarmohammadian, 2006). Many of times, organizational success in obtaining
its goals and objectives depends on managers and their leadership style. By
using appropriate leadership styles, managers can affect employee job
satisfaction, commitment and productivity. Employees who experience job
satisfaction are more likely to be productive and stay on the job.
Furthermore, more satisfied employees have more innovative activities in
continuous quality improvement and more participation in decision-making
in organizations.

Fringe benefits are significant and positive determinants of job

satisfaction(Artz, 2010).The increased level of job satisfaction resulting from
fringe benefit provisions, have been linked to important productivity
measures such as lower quit rates and absenteeism (Artz, 2010). However,
there are instances that workers can feel locked into a particular job or
employer if the fringe benefits they need or desire cannot be gained at a
better, more satisfying job elsewhere. This job-lock can decrease job
satisfaction. Studies by Abdulla et al. (2010) also shows that environmental
factors such as salary and incentives, nature of the work, public perception,
organization policy and strategy, supervision, among the first few important
predictors of job satisfaction (Abdulla, Djebarni & Mellahi, 2011).

This research is done to identify and to discuss the factors and

considerations of the technical staffs’ jobs which contribute most to their
satisfaction. In this way, one can validly summarize the elements which
workers themselves claim contribute to their job satisfaction. In light of
previous studies on the effect of environmental factor on job satisfaction, a
number of hypotheses were developed and tested.

H1: There will be positive relationship between remuneration and

overall job satisfaction
H2: There will be positive relationship between working
environment and overall job satisfaction
H3: There will be positive relationship between supervisory effect
and overall job satisfaction
H4: There will be positive relationship between perception of
quality leadership and overall job satisfaction

2. Research Methodology:
To identify and classify elements of the group of factors which are of
importance to the job satisfaction of the staffs, the following research
methodology was employed in the study.

Sample
The sample for this study comprises of employees of technical or
professionals background and experience in random companies. A total of 70
respondents have respondent to this survey.
This research emphasizes on the use of convenient sampling as the
researchers are both within technical field and the indicated samples can be
easily required.

Questionnaire and analysis

To measure the job satisfaction of the technical staffs, a questionnaire
comprising four basic job elements and some demographic questions was
constructed. The job elements are:
(1) Perception of quality leadership
(2) Remuneration
(3) Working environment
(4) Supervisory effect/behavior

Respondents were asked to indicate the level of satisfaction or

dissatisfaction which they derived from each of the 4 aspects of their jobs.
The scale ranged from 1 to 7 representing 1 – “Strongly Dissatisfied”, 2 –
“Dissatisfied”, 3 – “Slightly Dissatisfied”, 4 – “Indifferent”, 5 – “Slightly
Satisfied”, 6 – “Satisfied”, 7 –“Strongly Satisfied”. The elements in used are
almost identical with that of the popular Job Descriptive Index which has
been found to produce highly reliable results.5

This research is a quantitative study rather than a qualitative exploratory

type of research where the researcher explores the job satisfaction
determinants respectively. Within this study, the quantitative study is
focused on interpreting data through conversion of information into
percentage. Datas are entered and analyzed using the SPSS software.

3. Results
 Background of the respondents
Respondent Characteristics (N=70)

Respondent Percentage
Characteristics Sub Profile (%)
Field of job Engineer 25.7
Professional 74.3
Less than 3 4.3
Work duration months
3 months-1 2.9
year
1-3+ year 58.6
4-6+ year 18.6
7-10+ years 10.0
10+ years 5.7
Academic level First degree 92.9
Master 7.1
Gender Male 44.3
Female 55.7
Ethnic Malay 38.6
Chinese 47.1
Indian 14.3
RM2,001- 64.3
Monthly gross income RM4,000
RM4,001- 28.6
RM6,000
RM6,001- 7.1
RM8,000
Table 1: Demographic data

Table 1 shows the demographic data of the respondents for the

questionnaire for this study. The respondents consist of 100% technical
consisting of 75.3% professionals (pharmacist, architects, researchers, etc)
and 25.7% engineers. Nearly all of the respondents are degree holders whilst
a fraction (7.1%) is master’s holder. Most of the respondents have 1 to 3
years of working experience and 55.7% of the respondents are female. In
average, the respondent’s demographics consist of young technical staffs
and professionals.

 Reliability analysis
Reliability Analysis

Cronbac N of Varian
Mean SD
h's Alpha Items ce
Overall 113.6
Questionnaire 0.913 24 4 326.06 18.06
Remuneration 0.755 5 19.81 22.04 4.69
WorkingEnviron
0.854 10 44.2 73.72 8.59
ment
SupervisoryEffect 0.914 5 24.74 27.93 5.29
LeadershipPerce
0.887 4 19.97 18.2 4.27
ption
Table 2: Reliability Analysis

Table 2 shows the results of reliability analyses for measurement scales. It

was shown that all research variables exceeded the acceptable standard of
reliability analysis, Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70. These statistical analyses
confirm that measurement scales have measured the same constructs and
met the acceptable standard of construct validity and reliability analyses.

 Pearson’s Correlation Analysis and descriptive statistic

Cronbac
Variable M SD h's 1 2 3 4 5
Alpha
1. Overall Job 4.914 1.031
0.913 1
Satisfaction 3 99
3.962 0.938 0.472
2. Remuneration 0.755 1
9 88 **
3. Working 0.858 0.511 0.625
4.42 0.854 1
Environment 65 ** **
4. Supervisory 4.948 1.057 0.288 0.396 0.418
0.914 1
Effect 6 03 * ** **
5. Leadership 4.992 1.066 0.312 0.745
0.887 0.065 0.159 1
Perception 9 6 ** **

Notes: *p<0.05; **p<0.01

Table 3: Means, standard deviation, Cronbach’s a and Pearson’s correlation

coefficients of the study

Table 3 shows the result of Pearson correlation analysis and descriptive

statistic. The means for the variables are from 3.96 to 4.99 signifying that
the overall job satisfaction and the environmental factors (remuneration,
working environment, supervisory effect, leadership perception) is ranging
from In different (4) to slightly satisfied (5). The measurement scales that
had reliability were used to test research hypotheses. Analysis shows that
overall job satisfaction is significantly correlated with remuneration, working
environment and supervisory effect with a correlation coefficient of 0.472,
0.511 and 0.288 respectively (p<0.05), therefore H1, H2 and H3 was
supported. This result demonstrates that remuneration working environment,
supervisory effect does affect overall job satisfaction, whereas perception of
quality leadership does not.

 Regression Analysis

Standardi
Unstandardiz zed
ed Coefficien
Coefficients ts
Std.
B Error Beta t Sig.
(Constant) 2.262 .688 3.289 .002
Remuneration .312 .149 .284 2.095 .040
Working .321 .170 .267 1.888 .064
Environment
Supervisory Effect .248 .167 .254 1.482 .143
Perception of -.247 .156 -.255 - .118
Leadership 1.584
Table 4: Multiple regression analysis
Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify the
environmental variables that affect job satisfaction. Table 4 presents the
result from multiple regressions, mainly the standardized coefficient beta (b)
for the independent variables (in order of strength of contribution). The
results showed that remuneration have the highest impact on job
satisfaction (β= 0:287; p<0.05). This was followed by working environment
with a Beta coefficient of 0.267, with a p-value of slightly more than 0.05.
The supervisory effect and perception of leadership have no significant effect
on job satisfaction.

In probability theory, the normal distribution is a continuous probability

distribution that is often used as a first approximation to describe real-valued
random variables that tend to cluster around a single mean value. The graph
of the associated probability density function is “bell”-shaped, and is known
as the Gaussian function (bell curve) in which this study has acquired. This
has shown that the data valued are normally distributed as shown by the
figure above.
In statistics, homogeneity describes the properties of a dataset or several
datasets. It relates to the validity of the often convenient assumption that
the statistical properties of any one part of an overall dataset are the same
as any other part. The data that we have acquired are homogenous as we
can see in the Figure of Scatter plot above. We can see from the
homogenous data in searching for further properties that might need to be
treated as varying within a dataset once some initial types of non-
homogeneity have been dealt with particularly.

4. Discussion
In determining the objectives and answering the problems for this study, we
have employed regression analysis in capturing the relative influence the
four independent factors job satisfaction per se. Our findings have then
indicated that these independents are a few determinants that critically
effects job satisfactions for technical employees in Malaysia.
The first determinants have indicated that working environments are one of
the deterring factors for job satisfaction. This determinant is reliable at the
rate of 0.875 of Cronbach’s Alpha relatively. In lieu with past researches, we
have determined that this finding is important even though it is not original
per se.

In terms of significance level, job satisfaction can be seen significantly

correlated with remuneration, working environment and supervisory effect.
Choosing level of significance is seemed as an arbitrary task but for many
applications, a level of 5% is chosen as it is conventionally concerned. This in
terms has supported three of four hypotheses of the study which is H1, H2
and H3 respectively. This is based on the fact that these three determinants
give a p-value higher than the α-level where as H4 gives a p-value lower
than the α-level, thus rejecting it as it is statistically insignificant. This result
demonstrates that remuneration, working environment, and supervisory
effects does affect job satisfaction per se.

From our findings, we have managed to conclude that supervisory effects as

one of the most important and significant determinants for job satisfaction
for employees. This is as the fact the supervisory effect is felt first hand by
the employees in terms of its relevance towards a job nature. As the
respondents are mostly technical staffs, supervisory effects are felt more as
the level of difficulties and technicality of their working nature could be harsh
and strenuous.

Working environment have also been captured as one of the significant

determinants deterring with most literary finding which innate that
environmental issues are not necessary the significant determinants of job
satisfaction respectively. Through our findings, we have discovered that for
technical staffs, the issues of low comfort level for working environment
seems to be the one of the leading factor for job satisfaction. Relatively,
professionals or technical employees’ nature of work coincide with harsh
surroundings hence the tolerance level is higher naturally higher than
management employees. Even so, a more thorough study needs to be done
in correlating non-technical and technical employees in determining the
relevance and significant level differentiation of working environment to job
satisfaction of these different types of working nature. Only after these
limitations are taken care of, then the comparison of the significance can be
related to.

Remunerations can mean different things in different contexts but overall

remunerations cover salaries and fringe benefits or incentives. This relates to
the overall impact on living standards and their importance in providing a
sense of security nonetheless. Furthermore, this can be seen relatively
important due to high cost of living in Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital,
where for instance the residential or expenditures rise during the last few
years. In relevance with remunerations, the availability of promotion and
learning opportunity in an organization can be one contributing factors
affecting job satisfaction.

Perception of quality leaders is captured as non significant in correlating with

job satisfaction. This finding however doesn’t necessarily reflect the true
nature of the total working environment as this study only covers technical
staffs per se. Some literature revealed that employees with supportive and
constructive relationships with the supervisors are more satisfied with their
job. In a society with a moderate power distance like Malaysia, supervisors
play an important role in the quality of the working lives of their subordinates
in exclusion of this study.

4. Research limitation/implications:
Certain limitations towards the research have been found in lieu of the study
by the researchers as per below:

1. Composed onto a singular segment of occupation

The researchers have found that a more comprehensive

study in terms of including more job scope into the study can
give a more comparative element into the study. In addition, a
further look into the elements in question within the non-
technical job scope would prove essential in relations with the
current study respectively.

2. Different interpretation

In conducting the surveys, employees or respective

respondents might not have the relevant understanding towards
the questionnaire’s direction. Many might have been aware on
the terms job satisfaction per se, but could not figuratively relate
into the questions hence the questionnaires answered might not
be precise or exact.

Research implication for the workplace.

The implication of ascertaining the certain important aspects of job

satisfaction serve to fit an organization (with technical/professional
employees). In assumption that the study has achieved the near-perfect
result, an organization of technical/professionals needs to emphasize on the
factors that is highly reflected towards the job satisfactory of their
employees; remuneration, working environment and supervisory effects. In
ascertaining these effects, retention of employees can be achieved.
 5. Conclusion and recommendations
Overall, our findings have shown that for technical staffs in Malaysia, both
intrinsic and extrinsic factors can be a source of job satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. In contrary with most of existing researches on job
satisfaction, our results shows that remuneration, working environment, and
supervisory effects are the most significant determinants of job satisfaction
(in terms of technical staffs).

Our study’s result should however be viewed in light of our research design’s
limitations, which also serve to highlight future research opportunities. As
our studies are in fact involving public and private sector respondents, a
more thorough sample are required in order to establish that environmental
factors are key predictors of job satisfaction in lieu of other literature
respectively. This seems necessary as the balance in achieving the suitable
number of respondents for both public and private sectors is lacking for this
study. Furthermore, limitations such as that our data is only collected for
technical staffs, minimize the availability and chances for comparative
analysis. Other than these, the data is only collected in the Klang Valley and
city Center of Kuala Lumpur and even though, Malaysians roughly shares
similar cultural factors, economical significant differences can be achieve in
a wider sampling. This highlights for the opportunity in seizing future
enquiries in examining wider sampling throughout the nation.

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