-
文献信息
文献标题：
Factors
Influencing
Employee
Job
Satisfaction:
A
Conceptual
Anal
ysis
（员工工作满意度影响因素的概念分析）
文献作者及出处：
Hee
O
C,
Yan
L
H,
Rizal
A
M,
et
al.
Factors
Influencing
Employee
Job
Satisfaction:
A
Conceptual
Analysis[J].
International
Journal
of
Academic
Research
in
Business
and
Social
Sciences,
2018,8(6),331-340.
字数统计：
英文
3575
单词，
2
0442
字符；中文
6162
汉字
外文文献
Factors Influencing Employee Job
Satisfaction: A
Conceptual Analysis
Abstract
As
environment become increasingly dynamic,
innovation is getting
more and more
important.
The most
effective sources of innovation are
often ideas
emerged from within an
organization, usually from employees. High
turnover and low
productivity which
badly affect an organization can be the result job
dissatisfaction.
Understanding
the
factors
that
contribute
to
job
satisfaction
is
essential
because
it
helps
to
identify
the
reasons
and
areas
which
employees
are
not
satisfied
with.
Through
this
understanding,
changes
and
adjustments
of
organizational
policies,
organization structure and job design
can be altered to enhance the level of employee
job
satisfaction.
This
study
only
focused
on
three
most
common
prevailing
factors
which are job stress, lack of
communication, and pay that influence job
satisfaction at
workplace.
Job
stress
has
been
generally
defined
as
a
factor
which
has
negative
impact
on
job
satisfaction.
The
higher
the
stress
level
is,
the
more
likely
that
an
employee is not happy and
not satisfied with his job. Lack of communication
or bad
communication
dampens
employees’
job
satisfaction
because
employees
tend
to
perform
at
a
lower level when they feel
neglected.
Besides, lack of
communication
can also lead to confusion between
management and other employees throughout the
organization
which
might
incur
frustration
and
resentment.
Employees
need
to
feel
appreciated,
as
employees
and
as
human.
Employee’s
job
satisfaction
and
organizational retention
rate can be boosted through a healthy compensation
plan with
room
for
bonuses
and
pay
rises.
Through
the
understanding
of
the
factors,
organizations
can
be
aware
of
the
symptoms
beforehand
and
take
precaution
to
support
and
increase
the
job
satisfaction
level
of
employees.
In
order
for
an
organization to sustain and grow its
business, job satisfaction is the long term
solution
for talent retention and
increased performance and productivity.
Keywords:
Employee
Job
Satisfaction,
Perceived
Stress,
Lack
Of
Communication, Pay.
Introduction
The
requirements of individuals have been changed due
to the increase in quality
of
life
and
economic
growth
in
the
societies
(Tutuncu
&
Kozak,
2007).
Most
individuals
spend
a
large
part
of
their
lives
at
work;
the
change
of
requirements
towards life
has also changed their expectations, emotions and
feelings towards their
jobs (An, Cha,
Moon, Ruggiero, & Jang, 2014). There is growing
interest towards job
satisfaction in
organizations as employee job satisfaction is
crucial to the success of
any
business.
Improvements
of
job
satisfaction
have
positive
effect
on
employees’
motivation,
performance,
and
productivity.
These
are
important
elements
that
an
organization
needs
to
maintain
a
competitive
workforce
in
order
to
deal
with
challenges
arise
from
the
competitive
business
environment
(Marzuki,
Permadi,
&
Sunaryo, 2012). Job satisfaction is
also directly related to a lower employee turnover
rate, lower absenteeism rate, higher
productivity, and better performances which are
closely
associated
to
the
organization’s
cost
efficiency
for
business
(Gazioglu
&
Tansel,
2006).
The
relationship
between
job
satisfaction
and
performance
was
a
relatively
recent
study
which
indicated
that
the
degree
of
job
satisfaction
felt
by
employees
determines their work performance. The study of
the relationship between
job
satisfaction and performance validated the common
belief that “a happy worker is
a
productive worker” (Marzuki, Permadi, & Sunaryo,
2012). In this case, increasing
and
maintaining the degree of employee job
satisfaction should be a priority for every
employer
(Gregory,
2011).
Understanding
the
factors
that
contribute
to
job
satisfaction
is
essential
because
it
helps
to
identify
the
reasons
and
areas
which
employees
are
not
satisfied
with.
Through
this
understanding,
changes
and
adjustments
of
organizational
policies,
organization
structure
and
job
design
can
be
altered to
enhance the level of employee job satisfaction.
There are numerous factors
that might
discourage the employees and lead to job
dissatisfaction such as high stress,
lack
of
organizational
communication,
lack
of
recognition,
limited
opportunity
for
personal
and
career
growth, job
characteristics,
job
security, pay, social
relationship
within
an
organization
and
many
more.
However,
this
study
only
focused
on
three
most common prevailing factors which
influence job
satisfaction at
workplace. The
three factors
discussed in this study were job stress, lack of
communication, and pay.
This
study
intends
to
establish
a
conceptual
framework
which
contributes
towards
talent
retention,
increased
performance
and
productivity
in
the
dynamic
business
environment.
Job Satisfaction
Job
satisfaction
refers
to
an
employee’s
emotional
state
which
covers
the
complete range of emotions from
positive to negative (Zhang, Yao, & Cheong, 2011).
Thus,
job
satisfaction
can
also
be
defined
as
pleasantness
or
unpleasantness
of
employees
during
their
work.
Besides,
job
satisfaction
can
also
be
described
as
a
positive feeling about a job or job
experience (Tutuncu & Kozak, 2007). On the other
hand,
Fisher
(2000)
claimed
that
job
satisfaction
is
a
kind
of
attitude
and
attitudes
generally
contain
two
components
which
are
affective
component
(feeling
and
emotional)
and
cognitive
component
(comparison,
judgment
and
belief).
Job
satisfaction can be seen as the result
of a chain reaction involving the motivation to
satisfy a need. This chain combines
several factors or motivators which will influence
or
induce
an
individual
to
perform
(Marzuki,
Permadi,
&
Sunaryo,
2012).
Early
theory of motivation
developed by Maslow which is the Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Need
had
provided
ground
for
further
studies
on
the
factors
that
motivate
human.
The
theory
proposed
that
human
motives
are
based
on
needs
that
start
in
an
ascending
order from the lowest level to the
highest level. The hierarchy moves from lower
level
needs
such
as
physiological
needs,
safety
and
security,
social
needs
to
higher
level
needs such as self-
esteem and self-actualization needs. Individuals
cannot move to the
next higher level
until all needs at the lower level are satisfied.
When one set of needs
is satisfied, it
no longer served as a motivator (Marzuki, Permadi,
& Sunaryo, 2012).
Another
theory
which
contributed
to
the
related
literatur
e
is
the
Herzberg’s
motivation-hygiene
theory.
This
theory
developed
by
Herzberg
is
also
known
as
two-
factor theory.
Herzberg’s motivation
-hygiene theory
emphasized that satisfaction
and
dissatisfaction
were
two
distinct
variables
which
were
not
part
of
a
single
continuum.
The
opposite
of
job
satisfaction
is
no
job
satisfaction;
similarly
the
opposite
of
job
dissatisfaction
is
no
job
dissatisfaction.
Herzberg
identified
two
groups
of
needs;
motivators
refer
to
human
needs
to
achieve
and
experience
psychological
growth
which are related to
job
such as recognition
for achievement,
promotion
and
etc.
Another
group
which
is
called
hygiene
factor
is
referred
to
the
basic
human
biological
needs
such
as
salary,
security,
working
conditions
and
etc
(Marzuki, Permadi, &
Sunaryo, 2012). Hygiene factors determine the
extent to which
an
employee
can
avoid
job
dissatisfaction
(Zhang,
Yao,
&
Cheong,
2011).
In
the
literature, the importance of job
satisfaction is often linked to work performance
and
organizational
productivity
or
to
other
important
work-related
attitudes
and
behaviors
—
such as
absenteeism, turnover, and reduction of litigation
(Zhang, Yao, &
Cheong, 2011). Refer to
Branham (2005), Gallup studies reported that
organizations
with
higher
employee
satisfaction
achieved
86
percent
customer
ratings,
76
percent
more
success
in
lowering
turnover,
44
percent
higher
profitability
and
78
percent
safety
records.
Thus
employee
happiness
at
work
should
be
paid
attention
by
the
employers.
Employee job dissatisfaction can bring disasters
to an organization which
badly
affects
the
daily
operation,
such
as
lack
of
interest
for
their
responsibilities,
tardiness
in
showing
up
for
work,
mild
to
severe
withdrawal
from
their
jobs
and
diminishing
job
performance.
All
these
may
end
up
with
employees
leaving
the
organization which cause
high employee turnover in the organization
(Gregory, 2011).
Put in another way,
employees who perceive their jobs as satisfactory
are more likely
to
work
and
stay
in
the
current
jobs
and
in
the
current
organization
in
the
future.
Otherwise, employees are more likely to
leave and which in
turn will
influence the
performance of
the organization and its costs (Tutuncu & Kozak,
2007). Employers
are faced with the
task to motivate employees and create high job
satisfaction among
their employees.
Thus, understanding of the factors which influence
job satisfaction is
essential for
employers. Through the understanding of the
factors, organizations will
be able to
make relevant changes to prevent employee
frustration and low employee
job
satisfaction
(Dawal
&
Taha,
2006).
In
this
study,
job
satisfaction
has
been
proposed
as the dependent variable in the theoretical
framework (Refer to Figure 1).
The
influence of the three factors (job stress, lack
of communication, and pay) to job
satisfaction would be discussed in the
following sections.
Job
Stress
Job stress is generally defined
as “an employee’s feelings of
job
-related hardness,
tension,
anxiety,
frustration,
worry,
emotional
exhaustion,
and
distress”
(Mahfood,
Pollock,
&
Longmire,
2013).
Refer
to
empirical
studies
(Lambert
&
Pauline,
2008;
Mahfood, Pollock & Longmire, 2013),
stress had been identified as one of the major
factors that inversely related to job
satisfaction. It was stated by Branham (2005) that
at least 25 to 50 percent of employees
are unable to work at their best due to stress,
and
this
undeniably
negatively
influence
their
job
satisfaction
which
subsequently
leads to low productivity and high
employee turnover. There are many causes which
lead to job stress. For instance,
insufficient organizational support in supplying
tools
necessary
to
perform
a
job
efficiently
would
generate
higher
stress
level
especially
when the
employees are expected to perform at a required
level. Besides, cost cutting
practices
through
eliminating
positions
and
disbursing
the
workload
to
other
employees also contribute to increased
job stress level. Employees would have to take
on
overbearing
workload
which
erodes
their
personal
time
and
the
unreasonable
amount of work would
increase employees’ anxiety level
tremendously. At the same
time,
retrenchment
can
trigger
panic
and
anxiety
among
the
remaining
employees
which
increase
their
stress
level
during
work.
Untrustworthy
employers
can
be
another source of stress. Distrust can
be raised from various different situations such
as harassment. It becomes difficult to
work in an uncomfortable working environment
consistently,
stress
and
anxiety
increased
by
trying
to
avoid
troublesome
confrontations
and
situations
(Gregory,
2011).
It
had
also
been
discussed
that
promotion and career
advancement can be one of the leading factors to
job stress. The
increased stress may
come from heavier workloads, extra responsibility
and reduced
leisure
time
(Mahfood,
Pollock,
&
Longmire,
2013).
Job
stress
has
been
generally
defined as a
factor which has negative impact on job
satisfaction in previous literature.
The higher the stress level is, the
more likely that an employee is not happy and not
satisfied
with
his
job.
Thus,
the
following
proposition
is
formulated
for
this
study
which
job stress has been viewed as an antecedent of job
satisfaction:
Proposition 1: Job stress
will be negatively related to job satisfaction.
Lack of Communication
Communication
can
be
interpreted
as
the
exchange
of
information
between
a
sender and a receiver.
Communication is a fundamental management activity
in every
organization
because
it
is
crucial
for
employees
to
receive
correct
information
regarding to
their jobs. Communication has been widely valued
in organization today;
it
has
been
seen
more
multidimensional
than
just
message
exchange
or
provide
information about
people’s work. Communication is about
relationships which it acts
as
the
social
glue
that
ties
employees
within
the
organization
together
(Steingrí
msdó
ttir, 2011). Communication
channels can be divided into two categories
which
are
formal
communication
and
informal
communication.
The
most
popular
formal
communication
ways
are
face-to-
face
communication
and
technical
communication.
Informal communication is communication stemmed
naturally from
people’s
interactions.
People
can
talk
about
their
feelings,
create
relationships
and
discuss
any
issue
that
matter
to
them
each
time.
It
is
believed
that
informal
communication
is
the
communication
which
established
the
actual
relationships
among people in an organization.
However, informal communication tends to increase
rumours or carry wrong information
within the organization
(Steingrí
msdó
ttir, 2011).
Right communication channel is vital
for an organization. By choosing channels can
make
a
real
difference
in
how
the
message
is
received.
Different
communication
channels are
suitable and fit for different kinds of
information and achieve different
objectives
(Steingrí
< br>msdó
ttir,
2011).
Lack
of
communication
in
organization
leaves
employees feeling disconnected from the
organization. Generally this is the result of
management personnel who do not know
how to relate their employees on a personal
or
professional
level.
Lack
of
communication
or
bad
communication
dampens
empl
oyees’ job satisfaction
because employees tend to perform at a lower level
when
they feel neglected
(Gregory, 2011). Besides, lack of communication
can also leads to
confusion
between
management
and
other
employees
throughout
the
organization
which
might
incur
frustration
and
resentment.
The
organizational
morale
can
be
negatively
affected by
gossips and rumours due
to
lack of communication
too.
The
deteriorating
working
environment
can
cause
job
dissatisfaction
and
high
employee
turnover
(Ashe-Edmunds,
2014).
In an organization, managers
should communicate
with lower level
employees. Managers act as the connection of the
organization which
will give employees
a sense of belongings and worth in the
organization. Supervisors
should also
become the role model to promote friendly
relationships with employees
in
order to
achieve a healthier
working environment.
It
is
imperative that
managers
and
supervisors
respect
all
the
employees,
their
opinions
and
their
work.
Understanding
of
the
organization’s
direction
and
goals
and
clarification
of
expectations
associated
with
different
positions
should
be
communicated
and
conveyed
to
the
employees
to
assist
employees
in
understanding
their
direct
relationships with the organization and
how their work affects others’ work
(Gregory,
2011).
In
addition,
performance
reviews
can
be
utilized
as
a
managerial
communication tool because they give
administrators an idea of those employees that
are contributing to the organization’s
success and those who need to work harder. In
general, employees may be unaware of
their performance measures and have no sense
of
how
they
can
improve.
Without
communication
through
performance
reviews,
it
would
be
tough
for
employees
to
make
any
progress
in
their
efficiency
which
also
negatively impact their personal or
professional
development, and in turn,
incur job
dissatisfaction
(Gregory,
2011).
Therefore,
in
light
of
the
above
discussion,
it
is
proposed
that:
Proposition
2:
Lack
of
communication
will
be
negatively
related
to
job
satisfaction.
Pay
Compensation
is
the
total
amount
of
the
monetary
and
non-
monetary
pay
provided to
an employee by an employer in
return for work performed as
required.
The monetary pay
includes fixed pay which the amount and payment
are guaranteed
and flexible pay which
contains variable pay such as goal-base pay,
overtime and etc.
Non-monetary pay
includes all kinds of employee benefits such as
family assistance,
recreational
opportunities,
complementary
pension
plans,
health
insurance
and
etc
(Igalens
& Roussel, 1999). It was suggested in previous
literature (Money & Graham,
1999;
Green
&
Heywood,
2008)
that
monetary
pay
is
the
primary
motivator
for
employee
performance
and
a
determinant
of
job
satisfaction.
Employees
generally
prefer
their
work
efforts
to
be
recognized
and
rewarded
thus
recognition
of
an
employee’s hard work is
essential to
his
or her job satisfaction. However, too
often
organizations
are
more
focused
on
production
and
revenues,
rather
than
their
own
employees (Gregory, 2011). By rewarding
employees monetarily or non-monetarily as
incentive, employees would feel that
their hard work and achievements have not gone
unnoticed. Employees need to feel
appreciated, as employees and as human (Branham,
2005).
By
linking
the
money
and
performance
tends
to
motivate
employees
to
be
more
productive
and
hence
they
would
be
more
willing
to
work
harder
towards
success (The Chicago School of
Professional Psychology, 2012). Through rewarding,
employees
are
more
optimistic
about
future
employment
in
the
organization
too
(Greg
ory,
2011).
It
is
believed
that
employee’s
job
satisfaction
and
organizational
retention
rate
can
be
boosted
through
a
healthy
compensation
plan
with
room
for
bonuses
and
pay
rises
(The
Chicago
School
of
Professional
Psychology,
2012).
However,
organizations
should
be
very
prudent
in
planning
of
pay
structure
and
should
set
confidentiality
policy
for
individual
employee’s
pay
amount.
Normally
organizations choose to underpay those
employees who are willing to work hard for
minimal pay while to pay more to those
who are not willing to work for minimal pay.
The pay disparity will eventually lead
to great degree of job dissatisfaction when the
hard
workers
realized
they
are
not
being
paid
fairly
(Branham,
2005).
Refer
to
the
Society
of
Human
Resource
Management
research
report
conducted
in
May
2014;
pay has been identified as the most
important drivers for job satisfaction by which 60
percent of employees rated
compensation/pay as very important and 36 percent
rated
it
as
important.
Compensation/pay
was
also
claimed
as
the
leading
factor
of
job
satisfaction across four generations of
employees which are millennial, Generation X,
Baby Boomers and Veterans (Miller,
2014). It is noteworthy that there was previous
studies indicated that the pay amount
or salary amount is not the main determinant for
job
satisfaction.
The
comparison
of
income
which
employees
set
up
as
referential
point is more significant in
influencing employee job satisfaction. Given the
similar
qualifications
and
specifications,
if
an
employee
believes
that
the
salary
offered
in
other
organization
is
higher,
he
or
she
will
be
dissatisfied
even
his
or
her
salary
is
considered high as compared with the
salaries in the organization he or she works in
(Al-Zoubi,
2012).
According
to
Miller
(2014),
more
than
half
of
employees
feel
satisfied
if
they
are
paid
competitively
with
the
local
market.
As
a
result
of
the
empirical
studies, it is believed that pay is able to
influence the job satisfaction level
of
employees. Therefore, the following statement is
proposed:
Proposition 3: Pay will be
positively related to job satisfaction.
Theoretical Framework
There
are
many
empirical
studies
and
literature
focused
on
the
topic
of
job
satisfaction.
Numerous
factors
which
will
influence
job
satisfaction
have
been
discussed
individually.
The
factors
include
limited
personal
and
career
growth,
job
characteristics,
job
security,
organizational
support,
social
relationship
within
organization,
relationship
with
immediate
superior
and
etc.
Different
factors
are
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
上一篇：SMT相关日语
下一篇：中考英语阅读理解练习题(有答案解析)