Literature Review

Introduction

This literature review aims to explore the existing body of knowledge on the
impact of flexible working hours on job satisfaction and job performance,
specifically in the context of TNB (The Nasional Berhad). By reviewing relevant
studies and empirical evidence, this review seeks to identify the potential
benefits and challenges associated with implementing flexible working hours
within the organization. However, the effects on job performance may vary
depending on the specific context and implementation of flexible work
arrangements. For Tenaga Nasional Berhad, introducing flexible working hours
should be done carefully considering the company's unique needs and workforce
characteristics and addressing potential challenges to maximize the benefits of
this work arrangement.

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

Alderfer's ERG Theory is a motivational theory that was developed by

psychologist Clayton Alderfer in the 1960s as an extension of Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs. The theory suggests that human needs can be categorized into three
main levels: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (hence the acronym ERG).
Existence Needs (E): These needs are at the most basic level and are similar to
Maslow's physiological and safety needs. They include the requirements for
survival and well-being, such as food, shelter, clothing, and physical safety.
Satisfying existence needs helps create a foundation for higher-level needs.
Relatedness Needs (R): These needs are about establishing and maintaining
meaningful interpersonal relationships. They correspond to Maslow's social
needs and involve the desire for social interaction, friendship, and a sense of
belonging. Meeting relatedness needs contributes to feelings of acceptance and
support from others. Growth Needs (G): These needs align with Maslow's
esteem and self-actualization needs. They are related to personal development,
self-improvement, and the realization of one's full potential. Growth needs to
encompass intrinsic motivation, the desire to grow as an individual, and
achieving challenging goals.

ERG Theory differs from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in several ways. For
example, it does not strictly follow a hierarchical order, as individuals can pursue
needs from different levels simultaneously. Additionally, unlike Maslow's theory,
ERG Theory acknowledges the potential for regression if higher-level needs
cannot be fulfilled. Overall, Alderfer's ERG Theory provides valuable insights into
human motivation and can be used to understand employees' needs in the
workplace, design more effective reward systems, and foster a positive work
environment that supports individual growth and well-being.

Vrooms’s Theory

Vroom's Theory, also known as Expectancy Theory, was developed by Victor H.

Vroom in 1964. It is a motivation theory that attempts to explain why individuals
choose to engage in certain behaviors and how they make decisions regarding
their actions in the workplace. Vroom's Theory suggests that people's motivation
to perform a specific task or behavior is based on their perception of the
expected outcomes and the desirability of those outcomes.

In summary, Vroom's Expectancy Theory proposes that motivation is a product of

these three factors: the expectation of achieving a specific performance level (E-
to-P expectancy), the belief that this performance will lead to desirable outcomes
(P-to-O expectancy), and the perceived value of those outcomes (valence). The
theory suggests that individuals will be more motivated to engage in a particular
behavior if they believe that their efforts will result in successful performance and
that this performance will lead to desirable rewards.
Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction refers to feelings resulting from a worker’s perception of the extent to
which their job satisfies their needs (Kong et al., 2018). According to Herzberg’s two-
factor theory (1959), job satisfaction differs from job dissatisfaction to a great extent.
Whereas satisfaction is achieved based on motivating factors which are present at
work (e.g. opportunities for growth), the lack of such factors causes the absence of
satisfaction. In turn, dissatisfaction can be prevented by satisfying hygiene factors
(e.g. salary), but these factors do not cause satisfaction per se. In this study, the
focus is placed on job satisfaction. Employee job satisfaction is important as it affects
turnover, organizational commitment, and individual performance and is, therefore, a
main determinant of organizational performance (Dorta-Afonso et al., 2021). Based
on comparing actual outcomes with the desired outcome, employees’ emotional
reaction defines their job satisfaction. Overall, flexible arrangements are significantly
related to the job satisfaction of employees (Azara, Khana, & Van Eerdeb, 2018).

Another study has concluded in their research that employers are encouraged to
implement strategies to enhance job satisfaction and work-life balance through work
arrangements and rewards, which will not only positively impact their firms but
increase productivity. They also reported that there is a clear linear relationship
between schedule flexibility with employee job satisfaction as if working from home
increases employee job satisfaction but working on weekends negatively impacts
worker`s satisfaction (Andrade, H. Westover, & A. Kupka, 2019). In a collectivistic
and developing economy, flexibilities act as an important antecedent. In collective
societies, family social support is common. This might be a reason for less work-
family conflict for women professionals. (Kipkoech K. V., 2018), argues that flexible
work arrangements (flexible time, shift schedules) enable employees to manage both
responsibilities harmoniously. Thus, enhancing commitment, engagement, and
quality of delivering service in public hospitals, resulted in client satisfaction.

Quitting from an adverse working environment is next to low job satisfaction and
higher work-life conflict. Evidence has been found in support of this theory
Employees' absenteeism and intention to stay can be predicted by their level of job
satisfaction (Azara, Khana, & Van Eerdeb, 2018). How people feel about their jobs,
is usually their work attitude, indicating their job satisfaction, which not only reflects
an overall opinion about a worker’s well-being, but relationship to important
outcomes (Baeza, Gonzalez, & Wang, 2018). Moreover, there are employees that
are satisfied with their job will produce more, provide greater quality of work, and
enhance business competitiveness, performance, and success (Andrade et al.
(2019). Another study concurs that employee job satisfaction is essential for
organized retail stores because employees interact with the customers, therefore
employees must be satisfied in order to maximize their productivity to deliver better
services (Sumanthi et al. 2020).

Performance

Job Performance is an achievement stage as a work accomplishment by an

individual from the organization (Eliyana, Ma’arif, & Muzakki, 2019). Performance is
a Virgana: The Effect of Job Performance through Organizational Culture 89
condition the level of achievement of results an organization associates with the
vision and mission of an organization run (Virgana, 2018). Job performance which is
influenced by numerous factors is realized when an individual is able to successfully
achieve the task appointed to him/her subject to fewer constraints at the workplace
(Matsuo,2019). Organizational behaviour academia is in acute need of examining
the intervening role of job satisfaction in the relationship between work conditions
and job performance (Yuen et al 2018). The research on the work conditions of
organizations in emerging economies is still inadequate.

Preceding scholars have mainly focused on various factors to enhance the

performance of the employees such as training, security/safety, working hours, and
job redesigning (Kiazad et al 2019). However, not many studies have focused on
employee motivation level which plays a vital role in employee satisfaction level and
how they perform at work (Yuen et al 2018). In addition, the natural tendency of an
employee, manifested through motivation is another crucial factor for satisfaction of
employees and performance (Kiazad et al. 2019; Yuen et al.2018). The performance
assessment of civil servants is used as a control of productive work behavior to
achieve agreed work results and not an assessment based on the personality of a
civil servant (Mextaria, Sukmawati, & Hubeis, 2019). Thus, it can be said that Job
Performance is an important part of the organization's life to gain competitive
advantage, achieving stage as a work accomplishment by an individual.

Relationship between Flexible working Hours, Job satisfaction, and

Performance

It was shown in the study by Govender et al. (2018) that performance and flexible working
arrangements have a strong positive relationship, and the study found that flexible working
arrangements enhanced employee retention and job satisfaction, which led to increased
productivity. There is a significant and positive relationship between flexible working arrangements
and performance in the workplace, as well as education, age, wages, quality of manager-employee
relationships, years of experience, the area of the market in which the workplace is operated, and
competition are important factors and positively correlate with the tendency to implement flexible
working arrangements. Giovanis (2018). There is a positive relationship between the dimensions of
the quality of work life and the level of organizational commitment, and it was found that the
variables affecting organizational commitment are (material work conditions, work-life balance,
wages, and rewards, security, and job stability) Al-Biyari (2018). The roles of work systems and
procedures for human resources personnel contribute significantly to achieving outstanding
performance for individuals. Kharshi (2019).

And the study of Hsu et al. (2019) studied the links between the effect of long working hours and the
balance between work and private life and job satisfaction mediated by occupational stress and
tested whether controlling working time helps mitigate the effects of long working hours and
occupational stress. This study used the descriptive analytical method, and the tool used for
measurement is the questionnaire, and the study population consisted of (369) individuals. The
results revealed that there is a significant correlation between long working hours, professional
tension, and work-life balance, as well as a relationship between occupational stress and work-life
balance. and job satisfaction the most important recommendations are the need to review labour
laws to prevent excessive working hours and enhance working time flexibility.

There exists a statistically positive relationship between flexibility in work arrangements and the job
satisfaction of nurses in public hospitals in Nakuru County. Kiprono (2018), in his study, on flexible
work arrangements on employee performance in Kericho County Referral Hospital, Kenya, concluded
that flexible work arrangements contributed highly to employee performance. He further argued
that flexibility is a very important aspect of employee job satisfaction.
Factors Affecting the Success of Flexible Working Hours
Kong, H., Wang, S., & Fu, X. (2015). Meeting career expectation: Can it enhance job satisfaction of
Generation Y? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(1), 147–168.

Dorta-Afonso, D., Gonzalez-de-la-Rosa, ´ M., García-Rodríguez, F.J., RomeroDomínguez, L., 2021.

Effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on hospitality employees’ outcomes through their
organizational commitment, motivation, and job satisfaction. Sustainability 13 (6), 3226.

Azara, S., Khana, A., & Van Eerdeb, W. (2018). Modelling linkages between flexible work
arrangements' use and organizational outcomes. Journal of Business Research, 134-143.
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Kipkoech, K. V. (2018). Flexible working arrangements on employee performance in Kericho County

referral hospital, Kenya. 1-73.

Baeza, M. A., Gonzalez, J. A., & Wang, Y. (2018). Job flexibility and job satisfaction among Mexican
professionals: a socio-cultural explanation. Employee Relations, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-12-
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Andrade, M. S., Westover, J. H. and Kupka, B. A. (2019) ‘The role of work-life balance and worker
scheduling flexibility in predicting global comparative job satisfaction’, International Journal of
Human Resource Studies, 9(2), pp. 80–115. doi: 10.5296/ijhrs.v9i2.14375.

Sumathi, K., Khanum, R. and Supriya, G. K. (2020) ‘Employee job satisfaction at organized retails -
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10.34293/management.v7i4.2150.

Matsuo, M. (2019). Effect of learning goal orientation on work engagement through job

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Virgana, V. (2018). The increasing performance of school principal through remuneration,

personality, and job satisfaction. International Journal of Human Capital Management, 2(2), 45 –59.

Mextaria, Y., Sukmawati, A., & Hubeis, A. V. S. (2019). The evaluation of lecturer’s performance and
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Govender, L., Migiro, S.O. and Kyule, A.K., (2018). Flexible work arrangements, job satisfaction and
performance. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 10(3 (J)), pp.268-277

Giovanis, E. (2018). The relationship between flexible employment arrangements and workplace
performance in Great Britain. International Journal of Manpower, 51-70.

Al-Biyari, Samar Saeed, (2018), “The quality of work life and its impact on the organizational
commitment of the employees of the Ministries of Labor and Social Development in the Gaza Strip”,
(unpublished master’s thesis), Islamic University, Palestine

Kharashi, Faisal (2019). The effectiveness of the Employee performance of human resources
management and its role in achieving the outstanding performance of individuals in the sports
institution (a field study in the Directorate of Youth and Sports of the State of M'sila), University of
Mohamed Boudiaf, M'sila, Algeria.
Hsu, Y.Y., Bai, C.H., Yang, C.M., Huang, Y.C., Lin, T.T. and Lin, C.H., 2019. Long hours’ effects on work-
life balance and satisfaction. BioMed Research International, 2019

Kiprono, V. K. (2018). Flexible working arrangements on employee performance in Kericho County

Referral Hospital, Kenya. Unpublished Research, Nairobi, Kenya.