CHAPTER - V JOB SATISFACTION AND OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

CHAPTER - V JOB SATISFACTION AND OCCUPATIONAL STRESS 5.1 JOB SATISFACTION Job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon. It is related to various factors like personal nature, social atmosphere, cultural impact, environmental and financial conditions. The nature of the job is also an important factor in deciding the level of job satisfaction of employees. Job satisfaction is the long-term prospect of employment in an organization, which creates a sense of involvement and commitment to the job among employees. Job satisfaction refers to one's feelings or state-of-mind regarding the nature of their work. It is an individual's attitude towards the job or it is an individual's reaction to the job itself. Job satisfaction is also a positive emotional state when a person gets fulfilled of his needs and aspirations. Job satisfaction may be general or specific. Job satisfaction plays a vital role in the life of a man, because it affects positively on the personal and social adjustment of the individual. On the contrary, job dissatisfaction adversely affects on the physical and mental health of the individual. A highly satisfied employee need not necessarily be a profound performer. However, an employee, who is dissatisfied, can cause irreparable damage to the organizational effectiveness. Job dissatisfaction leads to various problems. Some of these are absenteeism, turnover and negative publicity. Absenteeism is inversely related to the level of job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction produces a lack of will to work and forces the employee to go away from work as far as possible. It is 164

also found that dissatisfied worker quits the job over time and seeks satisfaction elsewhere. The study of job satisfaction helps to know the preference and problems of the employees. Many factors influence job satisfaction of employees such as the quality of one's relationship with their supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which they work and degree of fulfillment in their work. First and the most important determinant is supervision and style of leadership. Employee oriented leadership style enhances a greater amount of job satisfaction. On the other hand production oriented leadership may cause low job satisfaction. Job content factors like achievement, responsibility, recognition and advancement leads to job satisfaction. The factors mainly influenced on the job satisfaction of employees are work environment, supervision, pay, promotion and fair rewards and relationship with co-workers. The stress arising from these factors is considered as occupational stress and also known as organizational (occupational) stress where stress arising from personal life of the employees is considered as extraorganizational (personal) stress. The basic fact is that whatever might be the reason, stress can impact on the job satisfaction, which ultimately affects the well-being of the employees. If these above mentioned factors are high, Job satisfaction is high in all organizations. If these five factors are very low, Job satisfaction is also low. 5.2 STRESS & JOB SATISFACTION The relationship between stress and job satisfaction has been studied in a variety of professions. A study by Chung and Fong (1990) on general medical practitioners in Hongkong found that though the medical 165

practitioners' job is considered as hard work, majority of the practitioners were generally satisfied with their work. In another study on military pilots, Ahmadi and Alireza (2006) found that during peace times in Iran, 13.5 % pilots out of 89 military pilots studied experienced high stress. Yet in another study on role stress of scientists and defence personnel in the Antarctic expedition by Roy and Deb (1999), role stress was found to be correlated with job related tension and alienation. In the expedition, both scientists and defence personnel had to play roles that were not in conformity with their occupation. The observation suggested that both the groups would perceive some difficulty in integrating the different roles assigned to them while they were in Antarctica. There has been other study on different on their experiences of job satisfaction and role stress. For example Soleiman et.al. (2007) studied organizational role stress among medical school faculty members in Iran and found that role stress was experienced comparatively in higher degree among faculty members. Chandraiah et. al. (2003) studied the effect of occupational stress on job satisfaction among 105 managers of different age groups and found a positive relationship between role stress and Job satisfaction amongst older managers. Richardson and Burke (1991) studied occupational stress and job satisfaction among physicians. Major sources of stress as indicated were time pressures on the job, and major sources of satisfaction were relationships with patients and colleagues. Correlations indicate that for both female and male physicians, high levels of occupational stress was associated with less satisfaction with medical practice and more negative attitudes about the medicare system and health care in general, and high job satisfaction was 166

related to fewer specific work stressors and more positive attitudes about health care. Similarly in another study, Healy and McKay (1999) found that amongst nurses higher levels of reported nursing stress were associated with lower levels of job satisfaction. Once again, among the medical, Pestonjee and Mishra (1999) examined role stress and job satisfaction amongst junior and senior doctors and found that job satisfaction variables correlated negatively with all the dimensions of role stress in the case of both the groups. As far as teaching profession is concerned, Singh (2007) studied the effects of stress on job satisfaction and work values among female teachers of secondary schools and found that stressed and dissatisfied teachers had less attachment with their institution and less dedication to their profession. In the US context, Langford (1987) examined the relationship between stress and job satisfaction amongst boarding academy teachers and found that stress was a significant determinant of teacher job satisfaction. Similar findings on primary head teachers are reported by Chaplain (2001). The review of literature on the relationship between stress and satisfaction across a variety of professions shows an inverse relationship between them. This study is an extension of literature on the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction amongst IT professional in Chennai city. Job satisfaction scale developed by Rabindra N.Kanungos (1982), widely used questionnaire was used to assess the job satisfaction of the respondents. This scale was modified to suit the in the IT industry. This scale consists of 47 items, covering the job satisfaction factors 167

such as work (20 items), supervision (11 items), pay (6 items), promotion (5 items) and co-workers (5 items). Each item consists of 5 alternatives. They are scored as 1 to 5. Negative statements are scored inversely. The responses are Disagree, More Disagree, Average, Agree and More Agree. The respondents were asked to encircle any one of the alternatives. If the score is below 118, employees have low job satisfaction, if the score is between 119 and 165, employee s job satisfaction is of moderate level, and if the score is above 166, employees job satisfaction is high. The mean score obtained by the respondents in respect of the job satisfaction is analyzed and presented in table 5.1. TABLE 5.1 MEAN SCORE - JOB SATISFACTION FACTORS Job satisfaction factors High level Mean Score Mean Score (%) Middle level Mean Score Mean Score (%) Low level Mean Score Mean Score (%) Mean Score Total Mean Score (%) N=384 Work 42.38 42.38 28.39 28.39 63.80 63.80 41.98 41.98 Supervision 22.75 41.37 16.32 29.67 19.17 34.86 19.07 34.68 Pay 08.09 26.97 05.69 18.97 18.10 60.33 09.67 32.23 Promotions 13.42 53.67 10.73 42.91 05.24 20.97 10.14 40.56 Co-workers 19.17 76.67 14.59 58.34 19.90 79.60 17.40 69.62 Source: Primary data Table 5.1 shows the mean score obtained by the respondents in respect of job satisfaction factors. Out of five variables selected to assess the 168

level of job satisfaction, all the respondents have secured a low mean score except co-workers attitude. High level have obtained the mean score of nearly 42.38 per cent for work environment, 41 per cent for supervision, 27 per cent for pay and 54 per cent for promotion and 77 per cent for co-workers attitude. The middle level have secured the mean score of about 28 per cent for work environment, 30 per cent for supervision, 19 per cent for pay and 43 per cent for promotions and 58 per cent for co-workers attitude. The lower level have got the mean score of 53.8 per cent for work environment, 35 per cent for supervision, 54 per cent for pay, 21 per cent for promotions and 64 per cent for co-workers attitude. The mean score obtained by the different categories of the respondents indicates that the higher level and middle level have low job satisfaction in respect of work, supervision and pay. The higher level have moderate job satisfaction with regard to promotion and high job satisfaction for co-workers attitude. The middle level have low job satisfaction in respect of promotion and moderate job satisfaction in respect of co-workers attitude. The lower level have moderate job satisfaction in respect of work, pay and co-workers attitude whereas they have low satisfaction with regard to supervision and promotion. The common factors which affect the job satisfaction of employees is supervision, for which all the respondents got the mean score of below fifty per cent. It indicates their strong job dissatisfaction in respect way of supervision of the superior officers in the IT industry. The mean score obtained by the total respondents for five job satisfaction factor is also shown in figure 5.1. 169

Mean Score FIGURE 5.1 MEAN SCORE - JOB SATISFACTION FACTORS 45 41.98 40 35 30 25 20 19.07 17.4 15 10 9.67 10.14 5 0 Work Supervision Pay Promotions Co-workers Job Satisfaction Factor 170

5.3 OVER ALL JOB SATISFACTION table 5.2. The overall job satisfaction of the respondents is shown in the TABLE 5.2 OVER ALL JOB SATISFACTION Category Mean score Mean score (%) Higher level 105.81 45.03 Middle level 75.72 32.22 Lower level 126.21 53.71 Average (N=384) 98.27 41.82 Source: Primary data It is understood from the table 5.2 that all the respondents have secured an average mean score of 41.82 per cent in respect of over all job satisfaction. Among them the higher level have secured the mean score of nearly 45 per cent, middle level have secured lowest minimum score of 32.22 per cent and lower level have obtained the moderate mean score of 53.21 per cent. It is inferred from the table that the higher and middle level have low job satisfaction whereas lower level have moderate job satisfaction. The overall job satisfaction of the respondents is also shown in figure 5.2. 171

Mean Score FIGURE 5.2 OVERALL JOB SATISFACTION 140 120 126.21 105.81 100 98.27 80 60 75.72 40 20 0 Higher level Middle level Lower level Category of the respondents Average (N=384) 172

5.4 LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION The total score obtained by the employees for job satisfaction were classified into three levels namely low, medium and high. If the score is below 118, employees have low level of job satisfaction, if the score is between 119 and 165, employee s job satisfaction is of moderate level, and if the score is above 166, employees job satisfaction is high level. The level of job satisfaction of the respondents is shown in table 5.3. TABLE 5.3 LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION Level of job satisfaction High level Middle level Low level Total Low 61 114 29 204 (50.83) (69.51) (29.00) (53.13) Moderate 43 32 57 132 (35.83) (19.51) (57.00) (34.38) High 16 18 14 48 (13.33) (10.98) (14.00) (12.50) Total 120 164 100 384 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Source: Primary data, figure in the bracket is percentage to total It is understood from the table 5.3 that out of 384 respondents, majority of the respondents have secured low job satisfaction, about 34 per cent of the respondents have expressed moderate satisfaction and 13 per cent have obtained high satisfaction. Among the high level, nearly 173

51 per cent of the respondents have low satisfaction, 36 per cent have moderate satisfaction and only 13 per cent have experienced high job satisfaction. Out of 164 middle level almost 70 per cent have exposed low job satisfaction; nearly 20 per cent have moderate satisfaction and a meager portion of the respondents have enjoyed high level of job satisfaction. Among the low level, majority of them have moderate job satisfaction, 29 per cent have expressed low satisfaction and 14 per cent have exposed high level of job satisfaction. 5.5 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS JOB SATISFACTION In order to find whether there is any significant relationship between categories of respondents and their level of job satisfaction, a null hypothesis is framed and tested with the help of t test. t test values were calculated for different combination of categories of respondents. The t values calculated were compared with the Table t values (at 5% level and at 1% level) to test the significance of variation in respect of job satisfaction of the respondents. The results were tabulated and interpreted in respect of overall perceived stress. Null hypothesis There is no significant difference between categories of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction. 174

TABLE 5.4 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS-JOB SATISFACTION Category Count Mean S.D t-vale Result Higher level Middle level Higher level Lower level Middle level Lower level 120 40 22.65 164 54.67 51.86 120 40 22.65 100 33.33 21.83 164 54.67 51.86 100 33.33 21.83 0.44 0.38 0.67 Not significant Not significant Not significant It is inferred from the table 5.4 that irrespective of categories, the level of job satisfaction of all the respondents not significantly differs. It means higher level, middle level and lower level experiences same level of job satisfaction in the IT industry. 5.6 INDIVIDUAL DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION The individual demographic variables and level of job satisfaction is analysed and presented below; 175

5.6.1 SEX AND LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION The sex wise distribution of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction is presented in table 5.5. TABLE 5.5 SEX AND JOB SATISFACTION Sex Low Moderate High Total Male 118 74 22 214 (57.84) (56.06) (45.83) (55.73) Female 86 58 26 170 (42.16) (43.94) (54.17) (44.27) Total 204 132 48 384 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Source: Primary data Table 5.5 shows that out of 204 respondents who experienced low level of job satisfaction, majority of them male and as much as 42 per cent are female respondents. Among the respondent who experienced moderate level of job satisfaction majority of them are male and 45 per cent are female. Out of 48 respondents who enjoyed high level of job satisfaction majority of them are female and 46 per cent are male respondents. It can be inferred that the male are low job satisfaction when compared to their counterpart female in the IT industry. 176

5.6.2 AGE AND JOB SATISFACTION The age of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction in the selected study units is shown in table 5.6. TABLE 5.6 AGE AND JOB SATISFACTION Age (Year) Low Moderate High Total Less than 30 32 53 14 99 (15.69) (40.15) (29.17) (25.78) 30 40 126 56 12 194 (61.76) (42.42) (25.00) (50.52) Above 40 46 23 22 91 (22.55) (17.42) (45.83) (23.70) Total 204 132 48 384 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Source: Primary data Table 5.6 shows that out of 204 respondents who felt low job satisfaction, majority of them are in the age group of 30-40 years. Nearly onefourth of the respondents are in the age group of more than 40 years and 16 per cent of the respondents are less than 30 years of age. Among the respondents who experienced moderate job satisfaction, about 42 per cent per cent are in the age group of 30-40 years, 40 per cent are less than 30 years and 17 per cent are above 40 years of age. Out of 48 respondents who enjoyed high level of job satisfaction, as much as 46 per cent are in the age group of more than 40 years, 29 per cent are less than 30 years and about one-fourth of the respondents are in the age group of 30-40 years. It can be inferred from the table that the professional in the age group of 30-40 years have low job satisfaction in the IT industry. 177

5.6.3 LENGTH OF SERVICE AND JOB SATISFACTION The experience of the sample respondents and their level of job satisfaction in the study units is given in table 5.7. TABLE 5.7 LENGTH OF SERVICE AND JOB SATISFACTION Work experience (Year) Less than 5 5 10 Above 10 years Total Source: Primary data Low Moderate High Total 28 65 16 109 (13.73) (49.24) (33.33) (28.39) 96 28 23 147 (47.06) (21.21) (47.92) (38.28) 80 39 09 128 (39.22) (29.55) (18.75) (33.33) 204 132 48 384 (100.00 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Table 5.7 shows that out of 204 respondents, who experienced high level of job satisfaction, as much as 47 per cent, 39 percent and 14 per cent have the work experience of 5-10 years, above 10 years, and less than 5 years. Similarly, the respondents who experienced moderate job satisfaction, about 49 per cent and 30 per cent and 21 per cent of the respondents have less than 5 years, more than 10 years and 5-10 years of work experience. Out of 48 respondents who experienced high level of job satisfaction, approximately fifty per cent are having the experience of 5-10 years. Nearly 33 per cent of the respondents are having less than five years of experience and 19 per cent 178

are having more than 10 years of experience. It is assumed that the experienced workforces in the IT industry are felt low job satisfaction. 5.6.4 MONTHLY INCOME AND JOB SATISFACTION The monthly income of the respondents and level of job satisfaction study units is given in table 5.8 TABLE 5.8 MONTHLY INCOME AND JOB SATISFACTION Monthly Income (Rs.) Less than 30,000 30,000 40,000 Above 40,000 Total Source: Primary data Low Moderate High Total 73 62 19 154 (35.78) (46.97) (39.58) (40.10) 115 48 21 184 (56.37) (36.36) (43.75) (47.91) 16 22 08 46 (07.84) (16.67) (16.67) (11.98) 204 132 48 384 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Table 5.8 shows that the respondents who experienced low job satisfaction, majority of the respondents monthly income is less than Rs. 30,000 40,000. about 36 per cent of the respondent monthly income is in between less than Rs. 30,000 and small portion of the respondents monthly income is above Rs.40,000. Likewise the respondents who have experienced moderate job satisfaction about 47 and 36 per cent of the respondents monthly income is less than Rs.30,000 and Rs. 30,000-40,000. It is understood from the table that the whose monthly income of less than Rs.40,000 experiences low job satisfaction in the IT industry. 179

5.6.5 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND JOB SATISFACTION The educational qualifications of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction is given in table 5.9 TABLE 5.9 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND JOB SATISFACTION Educational Qualifications Under Graduate Post Graduate Total Source: Primary data Low Moderate High Total 152 118 20 290 (74.51) (89.39) (41.67) (75.52) 52 14 28 94 (25.49) (10.61) (58.33) (24.48) 204 132 48 384 (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) (100.00) Table 5.9 exhibits that out of 204 respondents who experienced low job satisfaction, almost three-fourth of them are under graduate and onefourth are post graduate. Among the respondents who felt moderate level of satisfaction, nearly 89 per cent and 11 per cent are under graduate and post graduate. The respondents who enjoyed high level of job satisfaction, the majority of post graduate have experienced high level of job satisfaction 42 per cent are under graduate, It can be inferred that the under graduate low job satisfaction in the IT industry. To find out whether there is any significant difference between individual demographic variables (sex, age, experience, educational qualifications, income) and the level of job satisfaction of the respondents, a null hypothesis is framed and tested with the help of chi-square test. 180

Null hypothesis There is no significant difference between individual demographic variables and the level of job satisfaction of the respondents. The result is given in table 5.10. TABLE 5.10 CHI-SQUARE TEST Demographic Variable χ² Table value 5% level Table value 1% level H o Accepted / Rejected Significance Sex 2.28 5.991 9.210 Accepted Not significant Age 44.1 9.488 13.277 Rejected **Significant Experience 57.2 9.488 13.277 Rejected **Significant Income 15.6 9.488 13.277 Rejected **Significant Educational Qualifications 43.6 5.991 9.210 Rejected **Significant ** Significant both at 5% level and 1% level. Table 5.10 shows that there is a significant relationship between age, experience income, experience, educational qualifications and the level of job satisfaction of the respondents. However there is no significant association between sex and level of job satisfaction of the respondents. 181

5.7 PERSONALITY AND LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION The personality of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction is analyzed and presented in table 5.11. TABLE 5.11 PERSONALITY AND LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION Level of occupational stress Type A Personality No. of respondents Type B Personality Total Low 158 (63.45) 46 (34.08) 204 (53.13) Moderate 54 (21.69) 78 (57.78) 132 (34.38) High 37 (14.86) 11 (08.15) 48 (12.50) Total Source: Primary data 249 (100.00) 135 (100.00) 384 (100.00 Table 5.11 shows that out of 249 respondents who belongs to Type A personality, majority of them have been low job satisfaction, about 22 per cent of the respondents have experienced moderate level of satisfaction and 15 per cent have enjoyed high level of satisfaction. Among the respondents who belong to Type B responsibility, majority of them have experienced moderate level of satisfaction, 34 per cent have reveled low low satisfaction and 08 pre cent have experienced high job satisfaction. It can be inferred from the table that Type A personality of the experience low job satisfaction as compared to Type B personality. The personality and level of occupational stress experienced by the respondents is also shown in figure 5.3. 182

No. of respondents FIGURE 5.3 PERSONALITY AND LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION 250 200 150 158 204 132 100 50 0 54 37 46 Type A personality 78 11 Personality Type Total 48 Low Moderate High 183

5.8 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE In order to find out whether there is any relationship between personality of the respondents and their level of job satisfaction, a null hypothesis is designed and tested with the help of analysis of variance. The result is shown in table 5.12. Null hypothesis The personality of the respondents influences the level of job satisfaction of the IT. TABLE 5.12 ANNOVA TEST SS df MS F-Value Between groups 2166 1 2166 **0.8001 Within groups 10828 4 2707 Total 12994 5 ** Significant both at 5% level and 1% level. The ANNOVA test result shows that the calculated value is very much less than the tabulated value at 5% and 1% level of significance. Hence, the null hypothesis is accepted. Therefore, the level of job satisfaction is influenced by the personality of the IT. 184

5.9 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION To find out whether there is any relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction, a null hypothesis is framed and tested in table 5.13. Null: Hypothesis IT. The level of occupational stress influences the job satisfaction of the TABLE 5.13 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION SS df MS F-Value Between groups 2858.67 2 1429.33 Within groups 6875.33 6 1145.89 **1.2474 Total 9734.00 8 *Significant at 5% level; ** Significant both at 5% level and 1% level. Table 5.13 shows the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction. The calculated F value is less than table at 5% and 1% level of significance. Hence, it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction. It implies that high level of occupational stress leads to low job satisfaction. 185