EMPLOYEE RECOGNITIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION AMONG EMPLOYEES IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

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1 EMPLOYEE RECOGNITIONS AS PREDICTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION AMONG EMPLOYEES IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY Sanggari Krishnan 1 sanggari@utar.edu.my Wirawahida Kamarul Zaman 2 wirawahida@utar.edu.my Zahari Abd. Malek 3 zahari@utar.edu.my Dr. Mohd Norahim Mohamed Sani 4 mnorahim@ukm.edu.my Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman 123 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 4 Abstract: The purpose of this quantitative correlational research was to study the relationship between different types of employee recognition and job satisfaction among employees in hospitality industry. It also aimed to identify the best predictor of job satisfaction between intrinsic and extrinsic recognitions. The problem investigated was the decreasing level of job satisfaction which relates to lack of recognition in this industry. Past researches focused more on the relationship between extrinsic rewards and satisfaction. Moreover, limited research focused on connection between intrinsic recognition and satisfaction especially in hotel sector. Conversely, current research focuses on importance of both extrinsic and intrinsic recognitions in determining job satisfaction. This cross-sectional survey design included a purposive sample of 210 workers from different hotels around Malaysia. Data were collected using two instruments including Questionnaire (RQ) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive relationship between both types of employee recognition and job satisfaction. Finally, multiple regression analysis yielded significant result which showed the relationship between employee recognitions and satisfaction as suggested by previous research. It has been concluded that intrinsic recognition influences and predicts job satisfaction better than extrinsic recognition. Analysing these relationships contributed to a new dimension of dealing with dissatisfaction among workers in hospitality industry. Organizations could focus more on providing intrinsic recognition as it is very important in keeping employees satisfied and committed. Keywords: Intrinsic rewards, Extrinsic rewards, Job satisfaction 2018 JHLCB 183

2 Introduction First and foremost, recognition given to employees is one of the primary factors and considered as the major determinant of job satisfaction (Hofmans, De Gieter, & Pepermans, 2013). It is provided in two ways, either intrinsic recognition which is related to facets of job itself or extrinsic rewards from outside source. received as a result of performance and contribution to an organization has been found to be the significant factor for improved productivity and satisfaction among employees (Henryhand, 2009). On the contrary, it also increases turnover if given recognition does not tally with employee s contribution. In the same vein, job satisfaction is a crucial aspect in an individual s life and it is one of the most studied areas of research. It is defined as the positive or negative emotional state that arises from a person s assessment or evaluation of the job and experiences (Asadullah, Esmail, & Nagarajan, 2012). As employees are the major asset of organizations, those who are satisfied tend to provide quality work and show higher retention as well as productivity (Arif & Chohan, 2012). This is especially true in labor intensive industry such as hospitality due to its high reliance on labors to provide service to customers (AlBattat & Mat Som, 2013). Moreover, satisfied employees are known to create an effective workforce (Masri, 2009) and therefore they should be retained within a company as it contributes heavily to an organization s success. On the negative side, they would choose to leave if they feel dissatisfied with any aspect of the organization. For instance, the lower salary provided to position which requires intense tasks such as dealing with customers. Hospitality is the industry which has an exceptional contribution to Malaysian as well as global economy. In the year 2009, it contributed approximately 9.0 billion of gross output which is a quite huge amount of contribution (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2010). In this industry, service to customers is the most important element or factor to stay ahead among competitors both at national and global level. However, this industry suffers due to problems related to employee satisfaction and retention as it increases turnover (AlBattat, Mat Som, & Helalat, 2013). This shows the importance of keeping those workers satisfied and this element is highly associated with the expected rewards from employers (Linz & Semykina, 2012). Dissatisfaction towards job affects both the employees and organization negatively. The problem investigated was the decreasing level of job satisfaction which relates to lack of recognition in this industry. Past researches focused more on the relationship between extrinsic rewards and satisfaction. Moreover, limited research focused on connection between intrinsic recognition and satisfaction especially in hotel sector. Conversely, current research focuses on importance of both extrinsic and intrinsic recognitions in determining job satisfaction. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to identify the relationship between different types of employee recognition and job satisfaction among employees in hospitality industry. It also aimed to identify the best predictor of job satisfaction between intrinsic and extrinsic recognitions. 184

3 Relationship Between Employee s and Job Satisfaction Effective recognition towards an employee s contribution was found to be the major determinant of job satisfaction at workplace. This was supported in previous research that recognition towards employees tremendous or even small accomplishments helps to create a good environment and improve performance (O Donnell, 2005). remains as means of guiding employees behavior, enhancing performance, retaining them and also keeping them satisfied as well as motivated (Hofmans et al., 2013). It was found in a research that the recognition including intrinsic and extrinsic, both are positively correlated with job satisfaction among employees (Linz & Semykina, 2012). This means when sufficient amount of recognition is given to employee, they would be more motivated to work. A past study assessed the importance of intrinsic and extrinsic factors for employees in hospitality industry in the United States. It found that intrinsic rewards were not the only cause of satisfaction (Boje & Smith, 2010). On the contrary, a research done among hotel employees in Hong Kong has found that extrinsic factors alone could not guarantee employees satisfaction at workplace (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002). Above all, intrinsic rewards were shown to be contributing to job satisfaction even more than monetary rewards (De Gieter, De Cooman, Pepermans, & Jegers, 2010). Thus, it shows that both rewards are needed in order to improve worker s job satisfaction. These findings assume that the level of job satisfaction based on types of recognition varies according to different context. Previous research has stated that both intrinsic and extrinsic reward factors could cause increase or decrease in job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. However, intrinsic factor is stronger in influencing job satisfaction as compared to extrinsic one (Wernimont, 1966). Research Questions 1) Is there any significant relationship between intrinsic recognition and job satisfaction among employees in hospitality industry? 2) Is there any significant relationship between extrinsic recognition and job satisfaction among employees in hospitality industry? 3) Do both types of employee recognition predict job satisfaction among employees in hospitality industry? Theoretical framework Intrinsic Job Satisfaction Extrinsic 185

4 Methodology A cross-sectional quantitative approach has been adopted in conducting this research. Moreover, the sampling method used to select participants was non-probability sampling with purposive sampling (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, & Zechmeister, 2010). Sample of 210 workers from different hotels around Malaysia were included. They are those employees whom are working in the hospitality industry where their job scope highly requires them to meet and deal with customers. They were ranged from management to operational level staff. All participants were eligible employees and they responded based on their availability and willingness to participate in the study. Prior to conducting the research, approval has been acquired from the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Scientific and Ethical Review Committee (SERC). Data were collected using two instruments including Questionnaire (Mottaz, 1981), Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967). RQ consists of 18 items all together which covers 12 items of intrinsic recognitions and 6 items for extrinsic ones. The reliability of this instrument yielded.91 for task autonomy,.79 for task significance and.87 for task involvement respectively (Oriarewo, Agbim, & Owutuamor, 2013). MSQ consists of 20 descriptive statements altogether which assesses the intrinsic, extrinsic and general satisfaction of employees at workplace (Rains, 2011). The Cronbach s alpha reliability score of all the three constructs shown a range of.84 to.91 for intrinsic subscale,.77 to.82 for extrinsic subscale, and.87 to.92 for general subscale (Yin-Fah, 2010). Result and Discussion Hypothesis 1 and 2 As per Table 1.1, it has been found that the relationship between extrinsic recognition (M = 3.54, SD = 0.44) and job satisfaction (M = 3.44, SD = 0.35) were significant and positively correlated, r (210) =.36, p < Besides, for the intrinsic recognition (M = 3.64, SD = 0.52) and job satisfaction (M = 3.44, SD = 0.35), a higher correlation has been found, r (210) =.45, p < Since the result shows a significant relationship between these variables, hence the null hypothesis can be rejected. This proves that both the intrinsic and extrinsic factors are positively correlated with job satisfaction. In addition, it also stresses that although both recognitions increase satisfaction yet intrinsic recognition has a significant and even stronger relationship compared to extrinsic ones. 186

5 Variable Intrinsic Extrinsic Job Satisfaction Table 1.1: Summary of correlation between all variables Mean Std. Deviation Correlations Intrinsic Extrinsic ** 1 Job Satisfaction **.361** 1 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Hypothesis 3 Intrinsic recognition has shown a significant relationship in terms of predicting job satisfaction whereas extrinsic recognition did not show a significant relationship. This shows that only intrinsic could predict job satisfaction in the current context. The value of F in Table 1.3 indicates the model is significant and fit at significant level.001. Hence, it can be summarized that both employee recognitions including intrinsic and extrinsic have made significant variance in the level of job satisfaction in hospitality industry where r 2 =.45, F (2, 208) = 26.37, p <.001. Furthermore, it has been found that intrinsic recognition (.420) predicts job satisfaction better than extrinsic recognition (.039) based on the beta value. Table 1.2: Coefficients for Intrinsic, Extrinsic towards Job Satisfaction Model Unstandardized Coefficients B Std. Error Standardized Coefficients Beta t Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound 1 (Constant) Extrinsic Intrinsic a. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction

6 Table 1.3: Analysis of Variance for Intrinsic, Extrinsic towards Job Satisfaction. Model ANOVA b Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression a Residual Total a. Predictors: (Constant), Intrinsic, Extrinsic b. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction Table 1.4: Model Summary Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate a a. Predictors: (Constant), Intrinsic, Extrinsic Conclusion Firstly, insight that was gained from this study is that different types of employee recognition have positive relationship with job satisfaction. This finding is seconded by Linz & Semykina (2012), based on their research that both recognitions are positively correlated with job satisfaction. It was found that intrinsic recognition has a stronger relationship with satisfaction than extrinsic ones. This shows that employees in the chosen organization are more focused on the internal recognition that they gain. Traditionally fringe reward and mainly money is offered to motivate them. Therefore, employees are being offered with attractive benefit packages in order for them to perform better. However, the researcher found that they also need more intrinsic recognitions such as praise for good performance. Furthermore, quite a number of participants were from the management level and it shows that they prefer more intrinsic rewards rather than social and organizational rewards. This could be because of their good range of position and salary package compared to operational workers. It would make them to be more concerned on achievements or developments rather than making money. Operation level workers might as well give importance to career advancement and self-development. It could be because there are many stages that low level workers should go through before reaching top position. For instance, in the kitchen department there are different types of position such as commis, butcher, sous chef, chef de partie and executive or head chef. Employees could expect to get more significant and 188

7 meaningful task as they move along the way. They would also look for autonomy depending on their position. Current study entails that professionals and manager should focus on providing more intrinsic recognition instead of extrinsic ones. The reason is because it is the most preferred and expected in current context. This means that providing motivation and internal recognition is highly important. They should feel that given task are significant and they have full autonomy and involvement in completing it. Thus, it would enhance expected behavior from employees causing them to be more satisfied and commit for a longer period of time. Lastly, future studies could also analyse the relationship between level of education, preference of recognition and job satisfaction; the socioeconomic status, recognition and job satisfaction; and the relationship between workload or pressure and employee recognition. References AlBattat, A. R., Mat Som, A. P., & Helalat, A. S. (2013). Overcoming staff turnover in the hospitality industry using Mobley's model. International Journal of Learning and Development, 3(6), AlBattat, A. R., & Mat Som, A. P. (2013). Employee dissatisfaction and turnover crises in the Malaysian hospitality industry. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(5), Arif, A., & Chohan, A. (2012). How job satisfaction is influencing the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB): A study on employees working in banking sector of Pakistan. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 4(8), Asadullah, B., Esmail, S. M., & Nagarajan, M. (2012). Job satifaction among library professionals in Cuddalore and Vellore district. Journal of Advances in Library and Information Science, 1(4), Boje, D., & Smith, R. (2010). Restorying and visualizing the changing entrepreneurial identities of Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Culture and Organization, 16(4), Calvo-Salguero, A., Martínez-De-Lecea, J.-M. S., & Carrasco-González, A.-M. (2011). Work-family and family-work conflict: Does intrinsic-extrinsic satisfaction mediate the prediction of general job satisfaction? The Journal of Psychology, 145(5), Retrieved from De Gieter, S., De Cooman, R., Pepermans, R., & Jegers, M. (2010). The psychological reward satisfaction scale: Developing and psychometric testing two refined subscales for nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66, Henryhand, C. J. (2009). The effect of employee recognition and employee engagement on job satisfaction and intent to leave in public sector. ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, Hofmans, J., De Gieter, S., & Pepermans, R. (2013). Individual differences in the relationship between satisfaction with job rewards and job satisfaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82(1),

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