CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the study
Job satisfaction is the most widely researched job attitude and among the most extensively researched subjects in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology (Judge & Church, 2000). It has been linked to productivity, motivation, absenteeism/tardiness, accidents, mental/physical health, and general life satisfaction (Landy, 1978, Wegge, Schmidt, Parkes & Van Dick, 2007). Job satisfaction is considered as one of the most important construct in I/O Psychology because of its role to understanding of many activities that takes place in the work environment. It is an extent to which an individual or worker performs his/her work effectively. Other factors that affect job satisfaction are work schedule and occupational stress, which form the basis for this study.
According to Kerber & Campbell (1987), measurement of job satisfaction helps identify specific aspects of a job that require improvement. Employee job satisfaction is a central attention in the researches and discussions in work and organizational psychology. It is opined that a happy employee is productive and vice versa (Syptak, Marsland & Ulmer, 1999). In reality, employees are more satisfied when they enjoy the environment in which they work. The extent to which an employee is satisfied with his/her work determines the growth or collapse of the organization where he/she works (Thompson & Phua, 2012).
However, organizations tend to focus more on predicting employees’ job performance rather than its satisfaction. In recent times, research has been conducted on employees’ job satisfaction unlike its initial state where it was being ignored. Locke (1976) described job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. Most organizations in African countries (Nigeria especially) seems to ignore the important of their employees’ job satisfaction but focuses more on the organizations’ productivity and sales increase.
Appreciation, recognition and appraisal works hand in hand in enhancing employees’ job satisfaction. In any organization where these essential tools are lacking, the organization suffers and this might lead to collapse or relapse of the organization (Latham & Budwoth 2007). Also leadership style of managers and/or supervisors in charge goes a long way to determine if the success and growth of the organization is guaranteed or threatened (Teven, 2007). Organizations rely greatly on its employees’ talents to achieve organizational success, and when job satisfaction is lacking, these valued employees’ are tempted to quit; negatively affecting the organizational effectiveness. An appropriate style of leadership and employees’ job satisfaction with their jobs are factors that are essential and fundamental to organizational success (Lok & Crawford, 2001).
Another major factor on this is that an organization is an open system which involves inter-relatedness of sub-systems (Morgan, 1986). Job satisfaction must be directed towards the organizational goals that are relevant and impactful to the job (Staw & Cohen-Charash, 2005). There are certain factors that must be taken into consideration when determining how satisfied an employee is with his/her job, and it is determined based on employee’s work situation or importance.