organizational commitment
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ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT ANDJOB SATISFACTION: A STUDY OF
EMPLOYEES IN THE INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IN
BANGALORE, INDIA
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Philosophy
By
Jasmine Sonia(Roll No.0930008)
Supervisor
T.BHAMA
Lecturer-Department of Management studies
2010
DECLARATION
I Jasmine Sonia hereby declare that the dissertation, entitled “Organizational commitment
and Job satisfaction: A study of employees in the Information Technology Industry in
Bangalore, India” submitted to Christ University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Management is a record of original and
independent research work done by me during the academic year 2009-2010 under the
supervision and guidance of Ms. T. Bhama, Department of Management studies , Christ
University ,and it has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree/Diploma/Associate
ship/Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate of any University.
Date: Signature of the candidate
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the dissertation, entitled “Organizational commitment and Job
satisfaction: A study of employees in the Information Technology Industry in Bangalore,
India” submitted to Christ University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award
of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Management is a record of original research work
done by Ms. Jasmine Sonia During the period 2009-2010 of her study in the Department of
Management studies at Christ University, Bangalore, under my supervision and guidance and
the dissertation has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree/Diploma/Associate
ship/Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate of any University .
Date: Signature of the Guide
T.Bhama (Lecturer)
Department of Management Studies,
Christ University
APPROVAL OF DISSERTATION
The dissertation entitled “Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction: A study of
employees in the Information Technology Industry in Bangalore by Jasmine Sonia is
approved for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Management.
Examiners:
1. _____________________________ _________________________
2.______________________________ _________________________
3.______________________________ _________________________
Chairman:
______________________________
(Seal)
Date:
Place:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express my sincere gratitude to the management of Christ University for giving me an
opportunity to complete Master of Philosophy in Management. I am greatly indebted to Fr.
Thomas T .V. (Director, Institute of Management) for his guidance and who always remained
as a source of inspiration.
I remember the efforts taken by the Research centre of the Christ University for establishing a
universal research culture and motivating the research scholar to accomplish this study.
I am greatly thankful to my guide Ms. T. Bhama (Lecturer, Department of Management
studies) for her constant guidance, support, patience and encouragement to complete this
work on time.
I extend my profound gratitude to Prof. Harold Andrew Patrick (Professor and coordinator
OB and HRM) for giving me all the necessary guidance and suggestion.
I would like to thank Dr. Mihir Dash for helping me in data analysis and for giving all the
necessary suggestion for the interpretation of data.
I remember with gratitude all the IT employees who have shown interest in filling my
questionnaire, without which the research work could not have materialized.
I would like to thank my family, colleagues, and friends for all their love and encouragement
in all stages of my dissertation work.
Lastly, I thank God for making me who I am and giving me all blessings to complete this
journey.
JASMINE SONIA
ABSTRACT
The integral part of any management process is to manage the people at work. A well
managed organisation sees worker as the root cause of quality and productivity .An effective
organisation will always promote a sense of commitment and satisfaction among its
employees. The significance and importance of the concept of organizational commitment in
terms of leading to beneficial organizational and desirable outcomes such as increased
productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, has been documented by many studies such
as those of Steers (1977); Porter et al. (1974); Reiches (1985) and Tett and Meyer (1993).
One way to address issue of employee turnover is to understand the job satisfaction and
commitment level of employees. Organizations often try to foster commitment in their
employees to achieve stability and reduce costly turnover. It is commonly believed that
committed employees will also work harder and be more likely to “go the extra mile” to
achieve organizational objectives. Research has consistently demonstrated that commitment
does indeed contribute to a reduction in turnover. Motivated employees are needed in our
rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help organizations survive. Motivated
employees are more productive. To be effective, managers need to understand what motivates
employees within the context of the roles they perform. A lot of studies are conducted
separately on commitment, satisfaction and motivation but very few studies are there on IT
sector linking these three .So it is crucial to conduct a study on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment in information technology industry and also to identify the
important motivating factors to retain the highly talented workforce.
The review of related literature on Organizational commitment, Job satisfaction and
Motivation has helped the researcher to identify the gap and has provided an insight to the
direction of current study. The population for the study was all technical employees in the
Information technology Industry in Bangalore city. For the present study data was collected
with the help of structured questionnaire from 300 employees working in software industry.
The study is concentrated on Bangalore IT industry. The researcher used non probabilistic
sampling (purposive sampling) method as sampling design. Samples were selected from 10
top IT multinational companies. Samples were drawn from three levels of management
including entry level, middle level and top level employees. The pertinent information for the
study is collected from both primary and secondary sources.
The independent variable in this study is job satisfaction. The overall Job satisfaction was
measured using the 15-item questionnaire developed by Prof.Harold Andrew Patrick in 2009,
designed to measure 15 aspects of job. The aspects of overall job satisfaction are job
security,interest,opportunity for advancement,appreciation,company policy and management
practises, intrinsic aspects of a job,salary,supervision,social aspects of job, working
conditions,communication,hours,ease, benefits ,and fair treatment. Responses were collected
with the help of 7 point likert scale.
The dependant variable, organizational commitment was measured using the revised
Organizational Commitment Scales (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993) that is, the Affective
Commitment Scale (ACS), the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) and the Normative
Commitment Scale (NCS) with 24 questions on 7-point Likert scales. The Kovach ten job-
related factors developed by kovach , Kenneth (1999) were used to determine what motivates
the employees in software industry. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of
importance of the factors and relative ranking according to motivational importance. The
statistical technique used to analyse the data were descriptive statistics, The Pearson’s
correlation, ANOVA, Regression and Friedman test. Data was analysed with the help of
SPSS.
The major findings of the study were:
1. The level of organizational commitment was moderate, with relatively higher variability in
affective commitment. Mean value was highest for Continuance commitment indicating
employees are staying back with the organization because of the cost of leaving the
organisation or it’s too much trouble to go somewhere else.
2. IT employees were showing only a moderate level of job satisfaction. Amongst the items
comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest satisfaction levels were
related to the social aspects of the job, working conditions (excluding working hours), interest
(from intrinsic aspects of the job), job security, communication, and ease of the job (as an
intrinsic aspect of the job). On the other hand, employees had lowest satisfaction levels for
working hours, supervision, appreciation from management, and salary. It shows that IT
employees are dissatisfied with the working hours, supervision, appreciation from
management and the salary they are getting.
3. To increase the Job satisfaction and commitment it is very important to identify the
motivational factors. . The most important motivational factors for IT employees were good
wages, promotion/growth, job security, interesting work, and appreciation of work.
4. There was significant positive correlation of job satisfaction with affective commitment and
normative commitment, and negative correlation with continuance commitment. This
indicates that higher the level of job satisfaction greater the level of affective commitment and
normative commitment. If employees are staying back with the organization because of the
cost of leaving the organisation or it’s too much trouble to go somewhere else then there will
be less satisfaction.
5. Amongst the items comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest
correlation with affective commitment were related to the salary, benefits, fair treatment,
opportunity for advancement, and supervision. The items with moderate correlation were
appreciation (from management),interest (from intrinsic aspects of job),job security and
intrinsic aspects of job(excluding ease).The job satisfaction items with lowest correlation
were working conditions(excluding hours),social aspects of job, and communication. So it
clearly indicates the importance of salary, benefit, fair treatment, opportunity for advancement
and a good supervision in increasing the positive emotional attachment to the organisation.
6. Regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction had a significant impact on
Organizational commitment. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact
on affective commitment, explaining 67.0% of the variation in affective commitment. Thus,
when job satisfaction increases, affective commitment would tend to increase with it. Job
satisfaction was not found to have a significant impact on continuance commitment,
explaining only 1.2% of the variation in continuance commitment. Thus, when job
satisfaction increases, continuance commitment would be expected to slightly decrease with
it. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact on normative commitment,
explaining 35.1% of the variation in normative commitment. Thus, when job satisfaction
increases, normative commitment would tend to increase with it, but less so than affective
commitment.
It is the interest of all organization to secure commitment and reduce employee turnover. So
this topic has attracted the interest of many researchers. This study confirms the relationship
between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. So managers need to make effort to
develop human resource policies that are in alignment to the needs and motivation of the
employees. The findings of this study have pointed out some salient issues in the IT field. It is
imperative for IT company management to meet the demands of their personnel to strengthen
their motivation, satisfaction, and commitment to minimize turnover.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DISSERTATION APPROVAL
DECLARATION
CERTIFICATE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER
CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION1.1 Information Technology Industry 1.2 Indian Information Technology Industry1.3 Organizational Commitment1.4 Affective Commitment 1.5 Continuance commitment1.6 Normative Commitment1.7 Benefit of Organizational Commitment1.8 Job Satisfaction1.9 The causes of Job Satisfaction1.10 Theoretical Framework1.11 History and Back ground of the study1.12 Theories of Job satisfaction1.13 Determinants of Job satisfaction1.14 Outcomes of Job satisfaction
1.15 Motivation1.16 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation1.17 The role of motivation1.18Theories of motivation1.19 Scope and area of study1.20 Resume of succeeding chapters
CHAPTER 11-REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Studies on Job satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Motivation 2.3 OverviewCHAPTER 111- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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3.1 Introduction 3.2 Statement of the Problem 3.3 Operational Definitions 3.4 Variables under Investigation 3.5 Objectives of the study 3.6 Hypotheses 3.7 Setting 3.8 Population 3.9 Sample of the study 3.10 Profile of the respondents 3.11 The Instruments 3.12 Data Collection 3.13 Analysis 3.14 Conclusion
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CHAPTER 1V-STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Characteristics and distribution of sample 4.3 Demographic Profile of respondents 4.4 Descriptive Statistics 4.5 ANOVA- Organizational commitment 4.6 ANOVA-Job satisfaction 4.7 ANOVA-Motivation 4.8 Correlation Analysis 4.9 Regression AnalysisCHAPTER V-SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Need for the study 5.3 Statement of the problem 5.4 Objectives of the study 5.5 Variables under investigation 5.6 Hypotheses 5.7 Population 5.8 Sample of the study 5.9 The instruments 5.10 Analysis 5.11 Major findings of the study 5.12 Implications of the study 5.13 Limitation of the study 5.14 Suggestions for further research 5.15 Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHYAPPENDIX-PROFORMA
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 showing the distribution of sample according to the age level of
employees
Table 3.2 indicating the frequency and percentage of gender distribution of
respondents
Table 3.3 indicating the frequency and percentage of qualification of
respondents
Table 3.4 indicating the marital status of respondents
Table 3.5 indicating frequency and percentage of experience of respondents in
the current company
Table 3.6 indicating frequency and percentage of total experience of
respondents
Table 3.7 indicating reliability analysis of the Job satisfaction questionnaire
Table 3.8 indicating reliability analysis of the organizational commitment
questionnaire
Table 3.9 indicating reliability analysis of ranking of the motivational factors
Table 4.1 indicating the frequency and percentage of gender distribution of
respondents
Table 4.2 showing the distribution of the sample according to the age level of
employees
Table 4.3 indicating the frequency and percentage of qualification of
respondents
Table 4.4 indicating the marital status of respondents
Table 4.5 indicating frequency and percentage of experience of respondents in
the current company
Table 4.6 indicating frequency and percentage of total experience of
respondents
Table 4.7 indicating the frequency and percentage of size of the organization
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Table 4.8 indicating frequency and percentage of different managerial levels
Table 4.9 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Affective
commitment
Table 4.10 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Continuance
commitment
Table 4.11 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Normative
commitment
Table 4.12 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Organizational
commitment
Table 4.13 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Job satisfaction
Table 4.14 indicating the mean and standard deviation for overall Job
satisfaction
Table 4.15 indicating Friedman’s mean rank test for motivational factors of
IT employees
Table 4.16 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and gender
Table 4.17 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Age
Table 4.18 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and
Qualification
Table 4.19 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Marital
Status
Table 4.20 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Years in
present Position
Table 4.21 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Overall
work experience
Table 4.22 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Management
level
Table 4.23 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and gender
Table 4.24 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Age
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Table 4.25 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Qualification
Table 4.26 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Marital Status
Table 4.27 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Years in Present position
Table 4.28 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Overall work experience
Table 4.29 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Management level
Table 4.30 indicating Motivation and Gender Mean
Table 4.31 indicating Mean for Motivation and Age
Table 4.32 indicating Mean for Motivation and Qualification
Table 4.33 indicating Mean for Motivation and Marital Status
Table 4.34 indicating Mean for Motivation and Years in present Position
Table 4.35 indicating Mean for Motivation and overall work experience
Table 4.36 indicating Mean for Motivation and Management level
Table 4.37 indicating Pearson correlation between Job satisfaction and
Organizational commitment
Table 4.38 indicating Pearson correlation between 15 items in Job satisfaction
and Affective commitment
Table 4.39 indicating regression of Affective commitment on Job satisfaction
Table 4.40 indicating regression of Normative commitment on Job satisfaction
Table 4.41 indicating regression of Continuance commitment on Job satisfaction
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
In today’s competitive world, the biggest challenge which the organizations are facing is to
retain talented employees. Job satisfaction is necessary to promote functional employee
behaviours in the organization. For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a
work force that is motivated and committed to high quality performance. Job Satisfaction can
be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a predictor of work
behaviours such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Further, job
satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work
behaviours. One common research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated with life
satisfaction.
Securing Commitment and retaining good employees are very important to achieve stability
and reduce costly turn over. Various outcomes are influenced by organizational commitment
such as decreased turn over, higher motivation and organizational support. An employee who
is affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to
remain a part of the organization. This employee commits to the organization because he/she
"wants to". Organizational commitment is recognized as a key factor in the employment
relationship. Similarly, it also is widely accepted that one way to reduce voluntary turnover is
by strengthening employee commitment to the firm.
So it is crucial to identify the level of job satisfaction, motivating factors and its influence on
organizational commitment to retain talented work force in software industry.
1.1INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY
The word "software" had been coined as a prank by at least 1953, but did not appear in print
until the 1960s. Before this time, computers were programmed either by customers, or the few
commercial computer vendors of the time, such as UNIVAC and IBM. The first company
founded to provide software products and services was Computer Usage Company in 1955.
The software industry began in the late 1950s when the use of computers for business
applications expanded rapidly creating a huge demand for people with programming
experience. A number of people who had learned their programming skills working for
computer manufacturers or for the large companies and government agencies that were the
first computer users saw this as an opportunity to start their own companies and sell their
services under contract.
The first such company, Computer Usage Corporation (CUC), was founded in 1955 by Elmer
Kubie and John W. Sheldon, two former IBM employees. The company was founded with
$40,000 in start-up capital which supported a staff of five in addition to the two founders. Its
first project was a program written for California Research Corporation to simulate the flow
of oil. CUC became a public company in 1960 and by 1967 had a staff of over 700 people in
12 offices around the U.S. and revenues over $13 million. Unfortunately, it suffered financial
losses in the late 1970s and eventually went bankrupt in 1986.
In 1959, seven Univac programmers founded Applied Data Research (ADR) to market their
programming skills to computer manufacturers such as Sperry Rand and Honeywell to
develop systems software. ADR went public in 1965 and, in the late 1960s, became one of
the first companies to successfully sell software products. It continued to be one of the largest
U.S. software product companies until it was acquired by Ameritech for $215 million in 1986.
Fletcher Jones and Roy Nutt, who had gained their computer experience in the aerospace
industry, founded Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in 1959 with $100 and a contract
from Honeywell to develop a business-language compiler called FACT. By 1963, CSC was
the largest software company with revenues close to $4 million. CSC continues to thrive
today as one of the world largest information technology services firms with more than $10.2
billion in revenues.
The software industry expanded in the early 1960s, almost immediately after computers were
first sold in mass-produced quantities. Universities, government, and business customers
created a demand for software. Many of these programs were written in-house by full-time
staff programmers. Some were distributed freely between users of a particular machine for no
charge. Others were done on a commercial basis, and other firms such as Computer Sciences
Corporation (founded in 1959) started to grow. The computer-makers started bundling
operating systems software and programming environments with their machines. When
Digital Equipment Corporation brought a relatively low-priced micro-computer to market, it
brought computing within reach of many more companies and universities worldwide, and it
spawned great innovation in terms of new, powerful programming languages and
methodologies. New software was built for micro-computers, and others, including IBM,
followed DECs example quickly, resulting in the IBM AS400 amongst others.
The industry expanded greatly with the rise of the personal computer in the mid-1970s, which
brought computing to the desktop of the office worker. In subsequent years, it also created a
growing market for games, applications, and utilities. DOS, Microsoft's first product, was the
dominant operating system at the time.
In the early years of the 21st century, another successful business model has arisen for hosted
software, called software as a service, or SaaS; this was at least the third time this model had
been attempted. SaaS reduces the concerns about software piracy, since it can only be
accessed through the Web, and by definition no client software is loaded onto the end user's
PC.
The information technology (IT) industry has become of the most robust industries in the
world. IT, more than any other industry or economic facet, has an increased productivity,
particularly in the developed world, and therefore is a key driver of global economic growth.
Economies of scale and insatiable demand from both consumers and enterprises characterize
this rapidly growing sector.
1.2INDIAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY
The Indian information technology (IT) industry has played a major role in placing India on
the international map. The industry is mainly governed by IT software and facilities for
instance System Integration, Software experiments, Custom Application Development and
Maintenance (CADM), network services and IT Solutions. According to Nasscom's findings
Indian IT-BPO industry expanded by 12% during the Fiscal year 2009 and attained aggregate
returns of US$ 71.6 billion. Out of the derived revenue US$ 59.6 billion was solely earned by
the software and services division. Moreover, the industry witnessed an increase of around
US$ 7 million in FY 2008-09 i.e. US$ 47.3 billion against US$ 40.9 billion accrued in FY
2008-09.
The origin of IT industry in India can be traced to 1974, when the mainframe manufacturer,
Burroughs, asked its India sales agent, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), to export
programmers for installing system software for a U.S. client. The IT industry originated under
unfavourable conditions. Local markets were absent and government policy toward private
enterprise was hostile. The industry was begun by Bombay-based conglomerates which
entered the business by supplying programmers to global IT firms located overseas.
During that time Indian economy was state-controlled and the state remained hostile to the
software industry through the 1970s. Import tariffs were high (135% on hardware and 100%
on software) and software was not considered an "industry", so that exporters were ineligible
for bank finance. Government policy towards IT sector changed when Rajiv Gandhi became
Prime Minister in 1984. His New Computer Policy (NCP-1984) consisted of a package of
reduced import tariffs on hardware and software (reduced to 60%), recognition of software
exports as a "deli censed industry", i.e., henceforth eligible for bank finance and freed from
license-permit raj, permission for foreign firms to set up wholly-owned, export-dedicated
units and a project to set up a chain of software parks that would offer infrastructure at below-
market costs. These policies laid the foundation for the development of a world-class IT
industry in India. Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro,
Infosys, and HCL are renowned in the global market for their IT prowess. The Indian IT &
ITES industry continues to grow at a blistering pace. The availability of an abundant, high-
quality and cost-effective pool of skilled knowledge workers is India’s main advantage in the
global IT and ITES-BPO industry.
1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
The job satisfaction attitude has received the most attention over the years. Recently the more
global organizational commitment has emerged out of the research literature as being
important to understanding and predicting organizational behaviour.
Organizational commitment can be considered to be affective responses or attitudes which
link or attach an employee to the organization. As an attitude, organizational commitment is
most often defined as a strong desire to remain a member of a particular organization, a
willingness to exert high levels of effort on behalf of the organization and a definite belief in
and acceptance of the values and goals of the organization.
According to Meyer and Allen's (1991) three-component model of commitment, prior
research indicated that there are three "mind sets" which can characterize an employee's
commitment to the organization:
1.4 AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT
Affective commitment is defined as the employee's positive emotional attachment to the
organization. An employee who is affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of
the organization and desires to remain a part of the organization. This employee commits to
the organization because he/she "wants to". In developing this concept, Meyer and Allen drew
largely on Mow day, Porter, and Steer’s (1982) concept of commitment, which in turn drew
on earlier work by Kanter (1968).
1.5 CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT
The individual commits to the organization because he/she perceives high costs of losing
organizational membership (cf. Becker's 1960 "side bet theory"), including economic costs
(such as pension accruals) and social costs (friendship ties with co-workers) that would be
incurred. The employee remains a member of the organization because he/she "has to".
1.6 NORMATIVE COMMITMENT
The individual commits to and remains with an organization because of feelings of
obligation. These feelings may derive from many sources. For example, the organization may
have invested resources in training an employee who then feels a 'moral' obligation to put
forth effort on the job and stay with the organization to 'repay the debt.' It may also reflect an
internalized norm, developed before the person joins the organization through family or other
socialization processes, that one should be loyal to one's organization. The employee stays
with the organization because he/she "ought to". Normative commitment involves the
employee’s feelings of obligation to stay with the organization.
1.7 BENEFIT OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Organizational Commitment implies an intention to persist in a course of action. Therefore,
organizations often try to foster commitment in their employees to achieve stability and
reduce costly turnover. It is commonly believed that committed employees will also work
harder and be more likely to “go the extra mile” to achieve organizational objectives.
Research has consistently demonstrated that commitment does indeed contribute to a
reduction in turnover.
Research consistently shows that employees who want to stay (high ACS) tend to perform at a
higher level than those who do not (low ACS). Employees who remain out of obligation (high
NCS) also tend to out-perform those who feel no such obligation (low NCS), but the effect on
performance is not as strong as that observed for desire. Finally, employees who have to stay
primarily to avoid losing something of value (e.g., benefits, seniority) often have little
incentive to do anything more than is required to retain their positions.
1.8 JOB SATISFACTION
Job satisfaction is a result of employee’s perception of how well their job provides those
things that are viewed as important. There are three important dimensions to job satisfaction.
First, job satisfaction is an emotional response to a job situation. Second, job satisfaction is
often determined by how well out comes meet or exceed expectations. Third job satisfaction
represents several related attitudes.
1.9 THE CAUSES OF JOB SATISFACTION
Five predominant models of job satisfaction focus on different causes.
Need Fulfilment: These models propose that satisfaction is determined by the extent to which
the characteristics of a job allow an individual to fulfil his or her needs. Unmet needs can
affect both satisfaction and turnover.
Discrepancies: These models propose that satisfaction is a result of met expectations. Met
expectation represent the difference between what an individual expects to receive from a job
and what he or she actually receives. When expectations are greater than what is received a
person will be dissatisfied. This model predicts that individual will be satisfied when her or
she attains out comes above and beyond expectation.
Value Attainment: Satisfaction result from the perception that a job allows fulfilment of an
individual’s important work values. Managers can thus enhance employee satisfaction by
structuring the work environment and its associated rewards and recognition to reinforce
employee values.
Equity: In this model, satisfaction is a function of how fairly an individual is treated at work.
Satisfaction result from ones perception that work outcomes, relative to inputs, compare
favourably with a significant others outcomes/inputs.
Dispositional/Genetic components: This model is based on the belief that job satisfaction is
partly a function of both personal traits and genetic factors. It implies that stable individual
differences are important in explaining job satisfaction.
1.10 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK
The term job satisfaction refers to the general attitude of an individual towards his/her
job(Robbins,2003).Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of one’s job; an affective reaction to one’s job; and an attitude towards
one’s job. Weiss (2002) has argued that job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that
researchers should clearly distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect
(emotion), beliefs and behaviours. This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our
jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviours. Job satisfaction can
also be defined as either as the overall or general job satisfaction of an employee or as the
satisfaction with certain facets of the job such as the work itself ,co-workers,supervision,pay,
working conditions, company policies, procedures and opportunities for promotion(Smith et
al.,1969).Based upon these two view points of job satisfaction , it may be measures either as
the general or overall satisfaction of an employee with the job or it may be measured as the
satisfaction of an employee with the various work facets. For the present study the former
view of job satisfaction has adopted.
1.11 HISTORY AND BACK GROUND OF THE STUDY
One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne studies. These
studies (1924-1933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business School,
sought to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers’
productivity. These studies ultimately showed that novel changes in work conditions
temporarily increase productivity (called the Hawthorne Effect). It was later found that this
increase resulted, not from the new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed.
This finding provided strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which
paved the way for researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction.
Scientific management also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction. Frederick
Winslow Taylor’s 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that there was a
single best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in
industrial production philosophies, causing a shift from skilled labour and piecework towards
the more modern approach of assembly lines and hourly wages. The initial use of scientific
management by industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to
work at a faster pace. However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving
researchers with new questions to answer regarding job satisfaction. It should also be noted
that the work of W.L. Bryan, Walter Dill Scott, and Hugo Munsterberg set the tone for
Taylor’s work.
Some argue that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation
for job satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs
in life – physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-
actualization. This model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop
job satisfaction theories.
1.12 THEORIES OF JOB SATISFACTION
Affect Theory
Edwin A. Locke’s Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction
model. The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy
between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job. Further, the theory states that how
much one values a given facet of work (e.g. the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates
how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. When a person
values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively
(when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one
who doesn’t value that facet.
Dispositional Theory
Another well known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional Theory. It is a very
general theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them to have
tendencies toward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of one’s job. This approach
became a notable explanation of job satisfaction in light evidence that job satisfaction tends to
be stable over time and across careers and jobs. Research also indicates that identical twins
have similar levels of job satisfaction.
Two-Factor Theory (Motivator-Hygiene Theory)
Frederick Herzberg’s two factor theory (also known as Motivator Hygiene Theory) attempts
to explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace .This theory states that satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are driven by different factors – motivation and hygiene factors, respectively.
An employee’s motivation to work is continually related to job satisfaction of a subordinate.
Motivation can be seen as an inner force that drives individuals to attain personal and
organization goals . Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to
perform, and provide people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition,
promotion opportunities. These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or
the work carried out. Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as pay,
company policies, supervisory practices, and other working conditions.
1.13 DETERMINANTS OF JOB SATISFACTION
While analyzing the various determinants of job satisfaction, we have to keep in mind
that: all individuals do no derive the same degree of satisfaction though they perform the same
job in the same job environment and at the same time. Therefore, it appears that besides the
nature of job and job environment, there are individual variables which affect job satisfaction.
Thus, all those factors which provide a fit among individual variables, nature of job, and
situational variables determine the degree of job satisfaction. Let us see what these factors are
Individual factors:
Individuals have certain expectations from their jobs. If their expectations are met from the
jobs, they feel satisfied. These expectations are based on an individual’s level of education,
age and other factors.
Level of education:
Level of education of an individual is a factor which determines the degree of job satisfaction.
For example, several studies have found negative correlation between the level of education,
particularly higher level of education, and job satisfaction. The possible reason for this
phenomenon may be that highly educated persons have very high expectations from their jobs
which remain unsatisfied. In their case, Peter’s principle which suggests that every individual
tries to reach his level of incompetence, applies more quickly.
Age:
Individuals experience different degree of job satisfaction at different stages of their life. Job
satisfaction is high at the initial stage, gets gradually reduced, starts rising up to certain stage,
and finally dips to a low degree. The possible reasons for this phenomenon are like this. When
individuals join an organization, they may have some unrealistic assumptions about what they
are going to drive from their work. These assumptions make them more satisfied. However,
when these assumptions fall short of reality, job satisfaction goes down. It starts rising again
as the people start to assess the jobs in right perspective and correct their assumptions. At the
last, particularly at the far end of the career, job satisfaction goes down because of fear of
retirement and future outcome.
Other factors:
Besides the above two factors, there are other individual factors which affect job satisfaction.
If an individual does not have favourable social and family life, he may not feel happy at the
workplace. Similarly, other personal problems associated with him may affect his level of job
satisfaction. Personal problems associated with him may affect his level of job satisfaction.
Nature of job:
Nature of job determines job satisfaction which is in the form of occupation level and job
content. Occupation level: Higher level jobs provide more satisfaction as compared to lower
levels. This happens because high level jobs carry prestige and status in the society which and
the itself becomes source of satisfaction for the job holders. Job content: Job content refers to
the intrinsic value of the job which depends on the requirement of skills for performing it,
degree of responsibility and growth it offers. A higher content of these factors provides higher
satisfaction. For example, a routine and repetitive lesser satisfaction; the degree of satisfaction
progressively increases in job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment
Situational variables:
Situational variables related to job satisfaction lie in organizational context – formal and
informal. Formal organization emerges out of the interaction of individuals in the
organization. Some of the important factors which affect job important factors which affect
job satisfaction are given below:
Working conditions: Working conditions, particularly physical work environment, like
conditions of workplace and associated facilities for performing the job determine job
satisfaction. These work in two ways. First, these provide means job performance. Second,
provision of these conditions affects the individual’s perception about the organization. If
these factors are favourable, individuals experience higher level of job satisfaction.
Supervision: The type of supervision affects job satisfaction as in each type of supervision;
the degree of importance attached to individuals varies. In employee-oriented supervision,
there is more concern for people which is perceived favourably by them and provides them
more satisfaction. In job oriented supervision, there is more emphasis on the performance of
the job and people become secondary. This situation decreases job satisfaction.
Equitable rewards: The type of linkage that is provided between job performance and
rewards determines the degree of job satisfaction. If the reward is perceived to be based on the
job performance and equitable, it offers higher satisfaction. If the reward is perceived to be
based on considerations other than the job performance, it affects job satisfaction adversely.
Opportunity: It is true that individuals seek satisfaction in their jobs in the context of job
nature and work environment by they also attach importance to opportunities for promotion
that these job offer. If the present job offers opportunity of promotion is lacking, it reduces
satisfaction.
Work group: Individuals work in group either created formally of they develop on their own
to seek emotional satisfaction at the workplace. To the extent such groups are cohesive; the
degree of satisfaction is high. If the group is not cohesive, job satisfaction is low. In a
cohesive group, people derive satisfaction out of their interpersonal interaction and workplace
becomes satisfying leading to job satisfaction
1.14 OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION
To society as a whole as well as from an individual employees stand point, job satisfaction in
and of itself is a desirable outcome. The most important outcomes of job satisfaction are
Satisfaction and Productivity: There are many variables which can affect productivity. The
most important of which is rewards. If people receive rewards they feel equitable, they will be
satisfied and this is likely to result in greater performance effort.
Satisfaction and Turnover: If there is considerable job dissatisfaction there is likely to be
high turnover. There are other factors such as commitment to the organization play a role in
the relationship between satisfaction and turnover.
Satisfaction and Absenteeism: Research has pretty well demonstrated an inverse relationship
between satisfaction and absenteeism. When satisfaction is high, absenteeism tends to be low.
Other effects such as Citizenship Behaviours: Research reports that highly satisfied
employees tend to have a better mental and physical health, learn new job related tasks more
quickly, have fewer on-the-job accidents, and file fewer grievances. Also on the positive side,
it has recently been found that satisfied employees are more likely to exhibit prosocial
citizenship behaviours and activities.
1.15 MOTIVATION
Motivation is a basic psychological process. Motivation is a process that starts with
physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behaviour or drive that is
aimed at a goal or incentive. In a systems sense, motivation consists of these three interacting
and interdependent elements:
Needs: Needs are created whenever there is a physiological or psychological imbalance
Drives: A physiological drive is defined as a deficiency with direction
Incentives: At the end of the motivation cycle is the incentive, defined as anything that will
alleviate a need and reduce a drive.
1.16 INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION
Intrinsic motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists since the
early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high educational
achievement and enjoyment by students. Intrinsic motivation has been explained
by Fritz Heider's attribution theory, Bandura's work on self-efficacy, and Ryan
and Deci's cognitive evaluation theory.
Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. Money is the most obvious
example, but coercion and threat of punishment are also common extrinsic motivations.
While competing, the crowd may cheer on the performer, which may motivate him or her to
do well. Trophies are also extrinsic incentives. Competition is in general extrinsic because it
encourages the performer to win and beat others, not to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the
activity.
1.17 THE ROLE OF MOTIVATION
Why do we need motivated employees? The answer is survival (Smith, 1994). Motivated
employees are needed in our rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated employees help
organizations survive. Motivated employees are more productive. To be effective, managers
need to understand what motivates employees within the context of the roles they perform. Of
all the functions a manager performs, motivating employees is arguably the most complex.
This is due, in part, to the fact that what motivates employees changes constantly (Bowen &
Radhakrishna, 1991). For example, research suggests that as employees' income increases,
money becomes less of a motivator (Kovach, 1987). Also, as employees get older, interesting
work becomes more of a motivator.
1.18 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Jeremy Bentham’s “The Carrot and the Stick Approach”:
Possibly the essence of the traditional view of people at work can be best appreciated by a
brief look at the work of this English philosopher, whose ideas were also developed in the
early years of the Industrial Revolution, around 1800. Bentham’s view was that all people are
self-interested and are motivated by the desire to avoid pain and find pleasure. Any worker
will work only if the reward is big enough, or the punishment sufficiently unpleasant. This
view - the ‘carrot and stick’ approach - was built into the philosophies of the age and is still to
be found, especially in the older, more traditional sectors of industry.
The various leading theories of motivation and motivators seldom make reference to the
carrot and the stick. This metaphor relates, of course, to the use of rewards and penalties in
order to induce desired behaviour. It comes from the old story that to make a donkey move,
one must put a carrot in front of him or dab him with a stick from behind. Despite all the
research on the theories of motivation, reward and punishment are still considered strong
motivators. For centuries, however, they were too often thought of as the only forces that
could motivate people.
At the same time, in all theories of motivation, the inducements of some kind of ‘carrot’ are
recognized. Often this is money in the form of pay or bonuses. Even though money is not the
only motivating force, it has been and will continue to be an important one. The trouble with
the money ‘carrot’ approach is that too often everyone gets a carrot, regardless of performance
through such practices as salary increase and promotion by seniority, automatic ‘merit’
increases, and executive bonuses not based on individual manager performance. The ‘stick’,
in the form of fear–fear of loss of job, loss of income, reduction of bonus, demotion, or some
other penalty–has been and continues to be a strong motivator. Yet it is admittedly not the best
kind. It often gives rise to defensive or retaliatory behaviour, such as union organization,
poor-quality work, executive indifference, failure of a manager to take any risks in decision
making or even dishonesty. But fear of penalty cannot be overlooked. Whether managers are
first-level supervisors or chief executives, the power of their position to give or with hold
rewards or impose penalties of various kinds gives them an ability to control, to a very great
extent, the economic and social well-being of their subordinates.
Reinforcement Theory B.F. Skinner, who propounded the reinforcement theory, holds that by designing the
environment properly, individuals can be motivated. Instead of considering internal factors
like impressions, feelings, attitudes and other cognitive behaviour, individuals are directed by
what happens in the environment external to them. Skinner states that work environment
should be made suitable to the individuals and that punishment actually leads to frustration
and de-motivation. Hence, the only way to motivate is to keep on making positive changes in
the external environment of the organization.
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
As per this theory a shift from external rewards to internal rewards results into motivation. It
believes that even after the stoppage of external stimulus, internal stimulus survives. It relates
to the pay structure in the organization. Instead of treating external factors like pay,
incentives, promotion etc and internal factors like interests, drives, responsibility etc,
separately, they should be treated as contemporary to each other. The cognition is to be such
that even when external motivators are not there the internal motivation continues. However,
practically extrinsic rewards are given much more weight age.
The incentive theory of motivationA reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action (i.e. behaviour)
with the intent to cause the behaviour to occur again. This is done by associating positive
meaning to the behaviour. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately,
the effect would be greater, and decreases as duration lengthens. Repetitive action-reward
combination can cause the action to become habit. Motivation comes from two sources:
oneself, and other people. These two sources are called intrinsic motivation and extrinsic
motivation, respectively. Applying proper motivational techniques can be much harder than it
seems. Steven Kerr notes that when creating a reward system, it can be easy to reward A,
while hoping for B, and in the process, reap harmful effects that can jeopardize your goals.
A reinforce is different from reward, in that reinforcement is intended to create a measured
increase in the rate of a desirable behaviour following the addition of something to the
environment.
Vroom’s Valence x Expectancy theory:The most widely accepted explanations of motivation have been propounded by Victor
Vroom. His theory is commonly known as expectancy theory. The theory argues that the
strength of a tendency to act in a specific way depends on the strength of an expectation that
the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the
individual to make this simple, expectancy theory says that an employee can be motivated to
perform better when there is a belief that the better performance will lead to good
performance appraisal and that this shall result into realization of personal goal in form of
some reward.
The theory focuses on three things:
Efforts and performance relationship
Performance and reward relationship
Rewards and personal goal relationship
Drive-reduction theories
There are a number of drive theories. The Drive Reduction Theory grows out of the concept
that we have certain biological drives, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive
increases if it is not satisfied (in this case by eating). Upon satisfying a drive the drive's
strength is reduced. The theory is based on diverse ideas from the theories of Freud to the
ideas of feedback control systems, such as a thermostat.
Cognitive dissonance theory
Suggested by Leon Festinger, this occurs when an individual experiences some degree of
discomfort resulting from an incompatibility between two cognitions. For example, a
consumer may seek to reassure himself regarding a purchase, feeling, in retrospect, that
another decision may have been preferable. Another example of cognitive dissonance is when
a belief and behaviour are in conflict.
Key Experiences and Motivation
Prof. Gad Yair from The Hebrew University has developed a line of research on Key
Experiences, especially relating to educational events. His approach to motivation follows his
longstanding interest in outstanding motivating events - either short term and contextual or
long-term. He first published a series of papers using the Experience Sampling Method (all
three in 2000). This has led to his major study of key experiences, motivation and long-term
outcomes. His papers on Key experiences in higher education and on the role of those
experiences in educational turning points are readily available over the net. The concept of
key educational experiences refers to singular, short and intense educational encounters that
proved to have strong and long-lasting effects on adults.
Need theories
Need hierarchy theoryAbraham Maslow's theory is one of the most widely discussed theories of
motivation.
The theory can be summarized as follows:
• Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behaviour. Only
unsatisfied needs influence behaviour, satisfied needs do not.
• Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the
complex.
• The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at
least minimally satisfied.
• The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show.
The needs, listed from basic (lowest-earliest) to most complex (highest-latest) are
as follows:
• Physiology (hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.)
• Safety/Security/Shelter/Health
• Belongingness/Love/Friendship
• Self-esteem/Recognition/Achievement
• Self actualization
(I) Physiological needs:
These are important needs for sustaining the human life. Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep,
medicine and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need
satisfaction. Maslow was of an opinion that until these needs were satisfied to a degree to
maintain life, no other motivating factors can work.
(ii) Security or Safety needs:
These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food
or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm.
(iii) Social needs:
Since people are social beings, they need to belong and be accepted by others. People try to
satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship.
(iv) Esteem needs:
According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to
be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. This kind of need produces such
satisfaction as power, prestige status and self-confidence. It includes both internal esteem
factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and external esteem factors such as
states, recognition and attention.
(v) Need for self-actualization:
Maslow regards this as the highest need in his hierarchy. It is the drive to become what one is
capable of becoming; it includes growth, achieving one’s potential and self-fulfilment. It is to
maximize one’s potential and to accomplish something.
As each of these needs are substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant. From the
standpoint of motivation, the theory would say that although no need is ever fully gratified, a
substantially satisfied need no longer motivates. So if you want to motivate someone, you
need to understand what level of the hierarchy that person is on and focus on satisfying those
needs or needs above that level.
Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition, particularly among practicing managers.
This can be attributed to the theory’s intuitive logic and ease of understanding.
Theory X and Theory Y” of Douglas McGregor:
McGregor, in his book “The Human side of Enterprise” states that people inside the
organization can be managed in two ways. The first is basically negative, which falls under
the category X and the other is basically positive, which falls under the category Y. After
viewing the way in which the manager dealt with employees, McGregor concluded that a
manager’s view of the nature of human beings is based on a certain grouping of assumptions
and that he or she tends to mould his or her behaviour towards subordinates according to these
assumptions.
Under the assumptions of theory X:
• Employees inherently do not like work and whenever possible, will
attempt to avoid it.
• Because employees dislike work, they have to be forced, coerced or
threatened with punishment to achieve goals.
• Employees avoid responsibilities and do not work fill formal
directions are issued.
• Most workers place a greater importance on security over all other
factors and display little ambition.
In contrast under the assumptions of theory Y:
• Physical and mental effort at work is as natural as rest or play.
• People do exercise self-control and self-direction and if they are
committed to those goals.
• Average human beings are willing to take responsibility and exercise
imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving the problems of the
organization.
• That the way the things are organized, the average human being’s
brainpower is only partly used.
On analysis of the assumptions it can be detected that theory X assumes that lower-order
needs dominate individuals and theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate
individuals. An organization that is run on Theory X lines tends to be authoritarian in nature,
the word “authoritarian” suggests such ideas as the “power to enforce obedience” and the
“right to command.” In contrast Theory Y organizations can be described as “participative”,
where the aims of the organization and of the individuals in it are integrated; individuals can
achieve their own goals best by directing their efforts towards the success of the organization.
Herzberg’s two-factor theory
Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain
factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, they don't lead to
dissatisfaction but no satisfaction.
The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime, but "respect for me as a
person" is one of the top motivating factors at any stage of life.
He distinguished between:
Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive
satisfaction, and
Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not motivate if
present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.
The name Hygiene factors is used because, like hygiene, the presence will not make you
healthier, but absence can cause health deterioration.
The theory is sometimes called the "Motivator-Hygiene Theory" and/or "The Dual Structure
Theory."
Herzberg's theory has found application in such occupational fields as information systems
and in studies of user satisfaction.
Alderfer’s ERG theory
Alderfer, expanding on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, created the ERG theory (existence,
relatedness and growth). Physiological and safety, the lower order needs, are placed in the
existence category, while love and self esteem needs are placed in the relatedness category.
The growth category contains our self-actualization and self-esteem needs.
Self-determination theory
Self-determination theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, focuses on the
importance of intrinsic motivation in driving human behaviour. Like Maslow's hierarchical
theory and others that built on it, SDT posits a natural tendency toward growth and
development. Unlike these other theories, however, SDT does not include any sort of
"autopilot" for achievement, but instead requires active encouragement from the environment.
The primary factors that encourage motivation and development are autonomy, competence
feedback, and relatedness.
McClelland’s Theory of Needs:
David McClelland has developed a theory on three types of motivating needs:
Need for Power
Need for Affiliation
Need for Achievement
Basically people for high need for power are inclined towards influence and control. They like
to be at the centre and are good orators. They are demanding in nature, forceful in manners
and ambitious in life. They can be motivated to perform if they are given key positions or
power positions.
In the second category are the people who are social in nature. They try to affiliate themselves
with individuals and groups. They are driven by love and faith. They like to build a friendly
environment around themselves. Social recognition and affiliation with others provides them
motivation.
People in the third area are driven by the challenge of success and the fear of failure. Their
need for achievement is moderate and they set for themselves moderately difficult tasks. They
are analytical in nature and take calculated risks. Such people are motivated to perform when
they see at least some chances of success.
McClelland observed that with the advancement in hierarchy the need for power and
achievement increased rather than Affiliation. He also observed that people who were at the
top, later ceased to be motivated by this drives.
Equity Theory:
As per the equity theory of J. Stacey Adams, people are motivated by their beliefs about the
reward structure as being fair or unfair, relative to the inputs. People have a tendency to use
subjective judgment to balance the outcomes and inputs in the relationship for comparisons
between different individuals. Accordingly, this observation is illustrated in a diagram in the
subsequent page:
If people feel that they are not equally rewarded they either reduce the quantity or quality of
work or migrate to some other organization. However, if people perceive that they are
rewarded higher, they may be motivated to work harder.
Broad theories
The latest approach in Achievement Motivation is an integrative perspective as lined out in
the "Onion-Ring-Model of Achievement Motivation" by Heinz Schuler, George C. Thornton
III, Andreas Frintrup and Rose Mueller-Hanson. It is based on the premise that performance
motivation results from the way broad components of personality are directed towards
performance. As a result, it includes a range of dimensions that are relevant to success at work
but which are not conventionally regarded as being part of performance motivation.
Especially it integrates formerly separated approaches as Need for Achievement with e.g.
social motives like Dominance.
Goal-setting theory
Goal-setting theory is based on the notion that individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a
clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward in itself. A goal's efficiency is
affected by three features: proximity, difficulty and specificity. An ideal goal should present a
situation where the time between the initiation of behaviour and the end state is close. This
explains why some children are more motivated to learn how to ride a bike than mastering
algebra. A goal should be moderate, not too hard or too easy to complete. In both cases, most
people are not optimally motivated, as many want a challenge (which assumes some kind of
insecurity of success). At the same time people want to feel that there is a substantial
probability that they will succeed. Specificity concerns the description of the goal in their
class. The goal should be objectively defined and intelligible for the individual.
1.19 SCOPE AND AREA OF STUDY
Specific employee attitude relating to Job satisfaction and Organizational commitment are
of major interest to the field of Organizational behaviour and the practise of human
resource management.
Job satisfaction is a significant determinant of organizational commitment. So the current
study concentrates on identifying the link between job satisfaction and organizational
commitment.
The study shall serve the following purpose
• Will help in identifying the factors which motivates employees in soft ware industry.
• Improves knowledge about the factors which can create commitment
• Helps to develop commitment-oriented organization policies.
• Helps to bring out new and motivating ideas in Human resources planning
• Will help to reduce employee turn over
• It can improve the quality of HR practises
1.20 RESUME OF SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS
The current chapter deals with introduction into the Information technology industry and the
topic under study. The second chapter will be covering review of relevant literature and third
chapter deals research methodology. The fourth chapter will be having the statistical analysis
and interpretation of the data collected. Fifth chapter covers summary and conclusion.
CHAPTER 11
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
CHAPTER 11
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The loss of skilled IT professionals is very expensive. Annual rates of turnover in IT
departments have been estimated up to 20% or more. In addition to the cost of replacing the
experienced staff turnover takes its toll on productivity and morale through disruption of
projects, heavier workloads and negative impact on team cohesion. Some sources view high
turnover as inevitable consequence of tremendous demand for technology skills .The only
remedy for this trend is research and development to increase commitment among IT
professionals.
The literature review of this thesis is divided into three parts. The first part begins with
literature review on job satisfaction. Second part covers organizational commitment and the
last part on motivation. Finally from the review of literature gap is identified for the current
study.
2.2 STUDIES ON JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND
MOTIVATION
The present study is based on the rationale that turnover intentions among software
professionals are largely in agreement with theoretical models of job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and turnover. Research on turnover and retention in IT does not
much support the claim that IT turnover can be independent of job satisfaction, but rather
suggest that IT employees seem to be quicker to change jobs than other employees when they
are dissatisfied with their current employer (Hacker, 2003)
Adnan, Riaz . and Muhammad, Ramay. (2010) conducted a study to find out the antecedents
of Job satisfaction in telecom sector. The research was conducted to identify the factors that
lead to job satisfaction and commitment of employees working for telecom sector in Pakistan.
Through questionnaire survey responses from 221 employees working at managerial and non-
managerial positions were collected, which showed the significant association of supervision
and collegiality and open communication on job satisfaction. The correlation results show the
high association of performance appraisal system with career development and management,
which indicates that if employees are promoted on the basis of performance, then it increases
job satisfaction. Secondly, communication is also found highly correlated with job satisfaction
and job commitment, pertaining that open flow of communication not only provides
satisfaction but also confer a sense of loyalty to and identification with the organization.
Thirdly, job satisfaction was found most significantly related with job commitment in this
study.
According to the study conducted by Gunlu, Ebru; and Aksarayli, Mehmet (2010) on Job
satisfaction and Organizational commitment of hotel managers in Turkey, the findings
indicate that extrinsic, intrinsic, and general job satisfaction have a significant effect on
normative commitment and affective commitment. In addition, the findings suggest that the
dimensions of job satisfaction do not have a significant effect on continuance commitment
among the managers of large-scale hotels. When the characteristics of the sample are
regarded, age, income level, and education have a significant relationship with extrinsic job
satisfaction whereas income level indirectly affects affective commitment.
Several studies are done on the area of job satisfaction in software industry. According to the
2009 Job Satisfaction Survey, released on June 28 by the Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM) at its 61st Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans the
result shows majority of the employees (58%) reports that the current recession has not
affected the overall job satisfaction. The employees those who participated in the survey sited
job security as the number one aspect of job satisfaction.
The study conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development(CIPD)in
2009 reports that job satisfaction among employees in UK has increased despite of
recession.CIPD suggest that rise could be attributed to the fact that people are more likely to
adopt a grin and bear it attitude during recession. The survey also suggests that there are some
underlying problems that could cause weakened morale in the near future. 75% of
respondents have stated that their organisation has been affected by the recession with half of
them reporting an increase in work-related stress as a consequence.
According to the results of a job satisfaction survey conducted by ExecuNet nearly two-thirds
(64 per cent) of the 306 IT executives who responded to the survey said they were satisfied
with their jobs.
Despite having to cope with massive budget cuts, salary freezes and demoralized staffs, most
employed IT executives are more satisfied with their jobs in 2009 than they have been in
previous years, according to the results of a job satisfaction survey conducted by ExecuNet.
Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of the 306 IT executives who responded to the survey said
they were satisfied with their jobs. That's an 11 percent increase over 2008, when 286 IT
leaders responded to the survey. In 2007, only 41 percent of IT executives reported being
happy with their jobs even though the economy was arguably much stronger then than it is
now.
IT executives cited work they enjoy (checked by 13 per cent), a good relationship with their
bosses (12.5 per cent), and a comfy fit with their employers (10.2 per cent) as the primary
reasons for job satisfaction.
Among the 36 percent of IT leaders who indicated that they aren't happy with their jobs, their
top reasons were limited advancement opportunities (noted by 14 per cent), compensation
(11.3 per cent) and lack of challenge (10 per cent).
The comparative study conducted by Catherine.T. Kwantes (2009) among engineers on job
satisfaction and organizational commitment in India and in America revealed that Job
satisfaction is found to relate to affective commitment in both the Indian and American
samples.
Mahmoud AL-Hussami (2008) conducted a study on Nurses' Job Satisfaction: The
Relationship to Organizational Commitment, Perceived Organizational Support, Transactional
Leadership, Transformational Leadership, and Level of Education in South-eastern United
States. The findings indicated that there was a strong correlation between job satisfaction an
organizational commitment. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment were found to be
significantly related in all 20 of the correlation items. The results suggested that the nurses'
strongest attitudes towards organizational commitment and job satisfaction were their feelings
of strong loyalty to their organization and satisfaction with the job itself. Also nurses' job
satisfaction and perceived organizational support were determined to be significantly related.
A correlation of (N=55), R (55) =.93, P < .05 was obtained between job satisfaction and
organizational support.
Mosadeghrad,A.M;Ferlie,E.and Rosenberg.(2008) undertook a study to find out the
relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention
among hospital employees .The result indicated that hospital employees are moderately
satisfied and committed. Employee’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment were
closely inter related and correlated with turnover intention. As job satisfaction and
organizational commitment have strong correlation with turnover, it is very important to
reinforce them by applying the right human resource policies.
Adeyinka Tella; C.O Ayeni; and S O Popoola (2007) conducted a study on Work Motivation,
Job Satisfaction, and Organisational Commitment of Library Personnel in Academic and
Research Libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria. The findings of this study reveal that a correlation
exists between perceived motivation, job satisfaction, and commitment, although correlation
between motivation and commitment was negative. No difference was observed in the
perceived motivation of professional and non-professional library personnel. Moreover,
findings also show that differences exist in the job satisfaction of library personnel in
academic and research libraries, and that no relationship exists in the organizational
commitment of library personnel based on their years of experience.
According to the study conducted by Smeenk; Elisinga; Teelken J.C (2006) among Dutch
university employees revealed that compensation, training and development, positional tenure
and career mobility have significant effect on organizational commitment. Age ,organizational
tenure, level of autonomy, working hours, social involvement and personal importance
significantly affect the employees organizational commitment in the hegemonist faculty.
A study conducted by Ali Mohammed (2005) on the relationship between job satisfaction,
organisational commitment and turnover intention among hospital employees in Iran
identified that employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment were closely inter
related and correlated with turnover intention .
The study conducted by Curtin university of technology on job satisfaction and affective
commitment of employees in tourism industry (2005) revealed that the three most important
factors to motivate employees are interesting work, job security and opportunities for
advancement and development. The study identified that all 10 factors of the Kovach’s Ten
Job –Related factors were important towards creating job motivation for employees in the
tourism industry in Sarawak, Malaysia. Satisfaction towards ‘salary’ was found to have a
significant positive relationship with affective commitment. However, age did not moderate
the relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. All the five facets
of job satisfaction did not show significant relationships with continuance commitment. Age
did not have a direct influence on continuance commitment. Similarly, no significant
interaction effect between facets of job satisfaction and age on continuance commitment was
found in this study. Only satisfaction towards supervision showed a significant positive
relationship with normative commitment. It is plausible that when employees judge the
organization to be providing good supervision, positive feelings of well being will be created.
This is likely to stimulate them to reciprocate by increasing their sense of obligation to the
organization and the belief that staying is the ‘right thing’ to do to the organization. Age also
did not have a direct effect and interaction effect with the facets of job satisfaction to predict
normative commitment.
According to the study conducted by A.K Paul and Anathraman (2004) among Indian
software professionals, the study's results emphasize the role of such HRD variables as
inculcating and enhancing organizational commitment, and suggest that HRD practitioners
and researchers should further develop commitment-oriented organization policies.
According to the study conducted by Timothy Lee Dore (2004) on the relationship between
job characteristics, job satisfaction and turnover intention among software developers, the
result of the study uncovered several factors that can influence turnover intentions. Identified
in the study as statistically significant job characteristics that can be influenced by
management are training, autonomy, feedback, task significance and skill and variety.
Job satisfaction as a significant determinant of organizational commitment has been well
documented in numerous studies (Porter et al., 1974; Mottaz, 1987; Williams and Anderson,
1991; Vanderberg and Lance, 1992; Knoop, 1995; Young, Worchel and Woehr, 1998; Testa,
2001).
A large number of research reviews have concluded that organizational commitment plays an
important role in predicting work behaviour. Research has also shown that organizational
commitment significantly correlates with job satisfaction, organizational citizenship
behaviour, turnover intentions, work performance, employee motivation and thus appears to
be a crucial factor in understanding and enhancing work effectiveness ( Mowday , 1982;
Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Cohen, 1993a and 1993b; Meyer and Allen, 1997; Meyer et al.,
2002; Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran, 2005; Riketta and Van Dick, 2005; Chughtai and
Zafar, 2006; and Kumar and Giri, 2007). Employees with low level of commitment are more
likely to leave their organizations whereas highly committed employees wish to remain with
their employing organizations (Mowday et al., 1982; Cohen, 1993a and 1993b; and Meyer et
al., 2002).
The significance and importance of the concept of organizational commitment in terms of
leading to beneficial organizational and desirable outcomes such as increased effectiveness,
reducing absenteeism and turnover, has been documented by many studies such as those of
Steers (1977); Porter et al. (1974); Reiches (1985) and Tett and Meyer (1993). These positive
linkages between organizational commitment and desirable organizational outcomes may be
due to the findings by Hrebiniak and Alutto (1972) as well as Angle and Perry (1983) that
organizational commitment is considered to be the result of an individual-organization
relationship, where individuals attach themselves to the organization in return for certain
valued rewards or payments from the organization. Hence, it is likely that job satisfaction is a
dominant factor influencing organizational commitment of employees.
Overall the historical disconnect between the business line and the IT department is a key
contributor to job dissatisfaction among software developers and consequently to turnover
intentions(McEachern,2001).Rapid obsolescence of acquired knowledge and skills that
characterizes IT has contributed to a mind set in which changing jobs frequently viewed as a
professional asset as opposed to a stigma or liability(Hacker,2003).
Several sources emphasize that even with generous financial rewards; IT employees are likely
to be dissatisfied in a work environment that stifles creativity and fails to respect their
professional expertise (Fisher, 2000; Rouse, 2001; Thatcher, 2002).
Guimares and Igbaria (1992) found that for information systems the most powerful predictors
of turnover intention s were organizational commitment, overall job satisfaction, role
dynamics and employee age and tenure.
A study conducted to find out how the cross strait employees in Taiwan and Mainland China
affect human resource management on organizational commitment and organizational
citizenship behaviour found that age significantly influence organizational commitment and
selection and retention have significance for the value commitment and retention commitment
(Chen,H.R;Liu.y;Cheng,B.W;Chiu H.C,2009).
A study conducted to identify the important motivational factors for professionals in Greek
hospitals (2009) found that Hospital employees report being motivated more by intrinsic
factors, implying that these should be a target of effective employee motivation. Furthermore,
existing individual differences should be a concern in the manager's motivational agenda,
despite this indeed being sometimes unfeasible. The next best thing is strategies for specific
demographic and professional subgroups, exploiting empirical information from studies such
as the present. The problems and solutions to motivation issues can be complex, and thus
research and the timeless theories of Maslow, Herzberg and others (despite not ever having
received empirical support from research) can offer ideas and solutions to motivation
problems.
Motivation is not observed directly. “Motivation is an internal state that causes people to
behave in a particular way to accomplish particular goals and purposes. It is possible to
observe the outward manifestations of motivation but not motivation itself” (Denhardt et al.,
2008,). For instance, the acquisition of money may be an extrinsic motivator, but it is simply
the manifestation of the internal drive to meet intrinsic needs like purchasing food, paying
rent for shelter, or acquiring high social status.
Motivation is different from satisfaction. “Put simply, satisfaction is past oriented, whereas
motivation is future oriented” (Denhardt et al., 2008, p. 147). Motivation is not directly
controllable. “Motivation is not something that people do to others. Motivation occurs within
people’s minds and hearts. Managers can influence the motivational process, but they cannot
control it” (Denhardt et al., 2008, p. 148).
While a worker may be very satisfied by the compensation of their job, there are countless
instances where these workers are not entirely motivated to continue doing what they
can (Igalens & Roussel, 1999).
In North Vietnam a study was conducted to identify the motivating factors among rural health
workers by Marjolein Dieleman; Pham Viet Cuong; Le Vu Anh; Tim Martineau (2003). The
study showed that motivation is influenced by both financial and non-financial incentives.
The main motivating factors for health workers were appreciation by managers, colleagues
and the community, a stable job and income and training. The main discouraging factors were
related to low salaries and difficult working conditions.
Research on work motivation confirms that it improves workers' performance and
satisfaction. For example, Brown and Shepherd (1997) examine the characteristics of the
work of teacher-librarians in four major categories: knowledge base, technical skills, values,
and beliefs. He reports that they will succeed in meeting this challenge only if they are
motivated by deeply-held values and beliefs regarding the development of a shared vision.
Jayarantne, Vinokur, and Chess (1994) examine agency-influenced work and employment
conditions, and assess their impact on social workers' job satisfaction. Some motivational
issues were salary, fringe benefits, job security, physical surroundings, and safety. Certain
environmental and motivational factors are predictors of job satisfaction. While Colvin (1998)
shows that financial incentives will get people to do more of what they are doing, Silverthrone
(1996) investigates motivation and managerial styles in the private and public sector. The
results indicate that there is a little difference between the motivational needs of public and
private sector employees, managers, and non-managers.
Motivation is not always conscious. Unconscious motivation is quite central to Sigmund
Freud’s theories of human behaviour. Freud posits that most human behaviour is the result of
unconscious repressed memories, impulses, and desires that influence and drive many human
behaviours (Freud, 1976). A manifestation of this idea is the “Freudian slip” where an
accidental word slip actually betrays true internal feelings and intentions.
Content theories are centered around the assumption that individuals all share a similar set of
human needs and that we are all motivated to satisfy those needs (e.g., Maslow, 1946;
McGregor, 1957; Herzberg, 1968; Alderfer, 1969; McClelland, 1988). Process theories are
centered around the rational cognitive process and say that while most people may have
similar needs, the importance and placement of those needs is different for everyone; that it is
something highly subjective (e.g., Skinner, 1935; Festinger, 1957; Adams, 1963; Vroom,
1967; Porter & Lawler, 1968; Kahler, 1975; Locke et al., 1990)
Motivation is a very important part of understanding behaviour. Luthan (1998) asserts that
motivation should not be thought of as the only explanation of behaviour, since it interacts
with and acts in conjunction with other mediating processes and with the environment. Luthan
stress that, like the other cognitive process, motivation cannot be seen. All that can be seen is
behaviour, and this should not be equated with causes of behaviour. While recognizing the
central role of motivation, Evans (1998) states that many recent theories of organizational
behaviour find it important for the field to re-emphasize behaviour. The key to understanding
the process of motivation lies in the meaning of, and relationship among, needs, drives, and
incentives. Relative to this, Minner, Ebrahimi, and Watchel, (1995) state that in a system
sense, motivation consists of these three interacting and interdependent elements, i.e., needs,
drives, and incentives.
According to the study conducted by Buckingham and Coffman(1999), to build commitment,
managers must communicate with employees; assess their capacity to engage in various
initiatives; give honest feedback; develop their strengths; identify their ‘blind-spots’; make
decisions; and most of all, value each person’s unique style and capabilities .
Management researchers have long believe that organizational goals are unattainable without
the enduring commitment of members of the organizations. Motivation is a human
psychological characteristic that contributes to a person's degree of commitment (Stoke,
1999). It includes the factors that cause, channel, and sustain human behaviour in a particular
committed direction. Stoke, in Adeyemo (1999) goes on to say that there are basic
assumptions of motivation practices by managers which must be understood. First, that
motivation is commonly assumed to be a good thing. One cannot feel very good about oneself
if one is not motivated. Second, motivation is one of several factors that go into a person's
performance. Factors such as ability, resources, and conditions under which one performs are
also important. Third, managers and researchers alike assume that motivation is in short
supply and in need of periodic replenishment. Fourth, motivation is a tool with which
managers can use in organizations. If managers know what drives the people working for
them, they can tailor job assignments and rewards to what makes these people "tick."
Motivation can also be conceived of as whatever it takes to encourage workers to perform by
fulfilling or appealing to their needs. To Olajide (2000), "it is goal-directed, and therefore
cannot be outside the goals of any organization whether public, private, or non-profit".
2.3 OVERVIEW
In IT sector high turnover is not an inevitable consequence of the technology field, but a
problem that can be successfully addressed by understanding root causes and adopting HR
strategies that can improve commitment, satisfaction and motivation among employees.
Thus with the review of literature, it becomes evident that though a lot of studies are
conducted separately on commitment, satisfaction and motivation but very few studies are
there on IT sector linking these three .So it is crucial to conduct a study on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment in information technology industry and also to identify the
important motivating factors to retain the highly talented workforce.
CHAPTER 111
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 111
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Job Satisfaction can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a
predictor of work behaviours .Although several studies are done in the field of organizational
commitment for almost four decades; few studies have involved software professionals. A
study in India reveals that HRM practices such as employee-friendly work environment,
career development, development oriented appraisal, and comprehensive training show a
significant positive relationship with organizational commitment. This study examines the
organizational commitment, what motivates the employees involved in the software industry
in India, their level of job satisfaction and the influence of job satisfaction on organizational
commitment.
3.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction -A study of employees in the Information
Technology industry in Bangalore, India.
3.3 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
3.3.1 Organizational Commitment
The current study based on the Three-Component Model (TCM) of commitment (Meyer &
Allen, 1991;1997), the TCM Employee Commitment Survey measures three forms of
employee commitment to an organization: desire-based (affective commitment), obligation-
based (normative commitment) and cost-based (continuance commitment).
Research conducted to test the three-component model of commitment has demonstrated that
commitment can be characterized by different mindsets – desire, obligation, and cost (Meyer
& Allen, 1991, 1997). Employees with a strong affective commitment (high ACS scores) stay
because they want to, those with strong normative commitment (high NCS scores) stay
because they feel they ought to, and those with strong continuance commitment (high CCS
scores) stay because they have to do so.
Affective Commitment: Affective Commitment is defined as the employee's positive
emotional attachment to the organization. An employee who is affectively committed strongly
identifies with the goals of the organization and desires to remain a part of the organization.
This employee commits to the organization because he/she "wants to". In developing this
concept, Meyer and Allen drew largely on Mowday, Porter, and Steers's (1982) concept of
commitment, which in turn drew on earlier work by Kanter (1968).
Continuance Commitment: The individual commits to the organization because he/she
perceives high costs of losing organizational membership (cf. Becker's 1960 "side bet
theory"), including economic costs (such as pension accruals) and social costs (friendship ties
with co-workers) that would be incurred. The employee remains a member of the organization
because he/she "has to".
Normative Commitment: The individual commits to and remains with an organization
because of feelings of obligation. These feelings may derive from many sources. For example,
the organization may have invested resources in training an employee who then feels a 'moral'
obligation to put forth effort on the job and stay with the organization to 'repay the debt.' It
may also reflect an internalized norm, developed before the person joins the organization
through family or other socialization processes, that one should be loyal to one's organization.
The employee stays with the organization because he/she "ought to".
3.32 Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal
of one’s job; an affective reaction to one’s job; and an attitude towards one’s job. Weiss (2002)
has argued that job satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly
distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect (emotion), beliefs and
behaviours .This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards our jobs by taking into
account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviours.
Job satisfaction can also be defined as either as the overall or general job satisfaction of an
employee or as the satisfaction with certain facets of the job such as the work itself ,co-
workers,supervision,pay, working conditions, company policies, procedures and
opportunities for promotion(Smith et al.,1969).Based upon these two view points of job
satisfaction , it may be measures either as the general or overall satisfaction of an employee
with the job or it may be measured as the satisfaction of an employee with the various work
facets. For the present study the former view of job satisfaction has adopted.
3.4 VARIABLES UNDER INVESTIGATION
Dependent variable-The dependent variable is Organizational Commitment (Affective
commitment, Normative commitment and Continuance commitment)
Independent Variable- The independent variable in this study is job satisfaction.
Demographic Variables-Gender, Age, Experience, Education, Management level and Marital
status
3.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objectives set for the study are
1. To determine organizational commitment of software professionals using the revised
Organizational Commitment Scales (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993)
2. To measure the job satisfaction level of software professionals.
3. Identify the relationship between level of job satisfaction and organizational
Commitment.
4. Examine whether the commitment and job satisfaction will differ according to
the age level of the employees.
5. Relative ranking of motivating factors using Kovach’s (1999) Ten Job-Related Factors.
3.6 HYPOTHESES
The following hypotheses is developed from the objectives
H1: The higher the level of job satisfaction, the greater the level of Affective
commitment.
H2: Job satisfaction and commitment will differ according to age of the employees.
3.7 SETTING
This study focused on the Bangalore IT industry as Bangalore is also referred to as the
Silicon Valley of India. In India Bangalore has the highest number of software companies. So
the current study concentrated on Bangalore IT professionals.
3.8 POPULATION
The population for the study was all technical employees in the Information technology
Industry in Bangalore city. There are around 1200 IT and ITES organizations operating in
India. In these are 250 are multinational companies. There are around 200 IT companies in
Bangalore and 160 of these companies have their technology related operations in Bangalore.
Research design -The research design which is used in this study is descriptive.
3.9 SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
The sample-For the present study data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire
from 300 employees working in software industry. The study is concentrated on Bangalore IT
industry. The researcher used non probabilistic sampling (purposive sampling) method as
sampling design. Samples were selected from 10 top IT multinational companies. Samples
were drawn from three levels of management including entry level, middle level and top
level employees. The pertinent information for the study is collected from both primary and
secondary sources.
Table 3.1 showing the distribution of the sample according to the age level of employees
IT employees based on their age Number of IT employees based on age
Percentage
Below 30 years 116 Male 71 38.7%
Female 45
30-40 yrs 114 Male 67 38%
Female 47
40 yrs and above 70 Male 46 23.3%
Female 24
Total 300 100
3.10 PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS
The respondents selected for the study was drawn from top listed multinational companies in
Bangalore. The following table present the profile of respondents.
Table 3.2 indicating the frequency and percentage of gender distribution of respondents
Gender Frequency PercentageMale 184 61.3
Female 116 38.7Total 300 100
For the current study there was larger percentage of male (61.3%) than female (38.7%) in the
sample.
Table 3.3 indicating the frequency and percentage of qualification of respondents.
Qualification Frequency PercentageGraduate 52 17.3
Post graduate 84 28Professional qualification 164 54.7
Total 300 100
Most of the respondents had professional qualification (54.7%).Others were graduate (17.3%)
and post graduate (28%).
Table 3.4 indicating the marital status of respondents
Marital status Frequency PercentageMarried 182 60.7Single 118 39.3Others - -Total 300 100
For the current study majority of the respondents were married (60.7%), followed by single
(39.3%).
Table 3.5 indicating frequency and percentage of experience of respondents in the
current company
Experience in the current company
Frequency Percentage
Less than 1 yr 63 21
1-2 yrs 94 31.32-3 yrs 25 8.33-4yrs 38 12.74-5 yrs 48 16
5 yrs and above 32 10.7Total 300 100
In terms of experience in the current company most of the respondents were working since 1-
2 years(31.3%) followed by <1 year(21%),4-5 years(16%),3-4 years(12.7%),5 yrs and
above(10.7%) and least being 2-3 yrs(8.3%).
Table 3.6 indicating frequency and percentage of total experience of respondents
Total experience Frequency Percentage
2 yrs and below 59 19.72-5 yrs 94 31.35-10yrs 51 17
10-15 yrs 53 17.715-20yrs 35 11.7
Above 20yrs 8 2.6Total 300 100
In terms of total work experience most of the respondents were in the 2-5
yrs(31.3%),followed by 2 years and below(19.7%),10-15yrs(17.7%),5-10yrs(17%),15-20yrs
(11.7%) and least being above 20 years (2.6%).
3.11 THE INSTRUMENTS
The independent variable in this study is job satisfaction. The overall Job satisfaction was
measured using the 15-item questionnaire developed by Prof.Harold Andrew Patrick in 2009,
designed to measure 15 aspects of job. The aspects of overall job satisfaction are job
security,interest,opportunity for advancement,appreciation,company policy and management
practises, intrinsic aspects of a job,salary,supervision,social aspects of job, working
conditions,communication,hours,ease, benefits ,and fair treatment. Responses were collected
with the help of 7 point likert scale.
Reliability-Pilot study was conducted to test the reliability .The Cronbachs alpha reliability
for the above scale was 0.924.
Reliability Statistics
Table 3.7 indicating reliability analysis of the Job satisfaction questionnaire
Cronbach's Alpha value Number of items
.924 15
15 item questionnaire Scale Mean if
Item Deleted
Scale Variance if Item Deleted
Corrected Item-Total Correlation
Cronbach's Alpha if Item
Deleted
Job security 61.23 248.599 .573 .921Interest 61.00 263.586 .468 .923
Opportunity for advancement 62.10 228.300 .819 .912Appreciation 62.33 228.092 .790 .914
Company policy and management practices
61.70 248.562 .625 .919
Intrinsic aspects of job 61.33 255.264 .498 .923salary 62.43 215.909 .877 .910
supervision 63.67 238.299 .752 .915Social aspects of job 60.97 256.861 .638 .920Working conditions 60.90 258.507 .601 .921
Communication 60.90 261.886 .513 .923Hours 62.87 241.154 .544 .923Ease 61.10 273.679 .161 .928
Benefits 62.47 219.637 .869 .910Fair treatment 62.73 224.823 .836 .912
The dependant variable, organizational commitment was measured using the revised
Organizational Commitment Scales (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993) that is, the Affective
Commitment Scale (ACS), the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) and the Normative
Commitment Scale (NCS) with 24 questions on 7-point Likert scales. The reliability
coefficients for the three dimensions of organizational commitment were ACS scales (0.951),
CCS scales (0.627), NCS scales (0.796) while the overall reliability coefficient for all the 24
items of organizational commitment was 0.805.
Table 3.8 indicating reliability analysis of the organizational commitment questionnaire
Cronbach's Alpha value Number of items
Affective Commitment Scale 0.951 8Continuance Commitment Scale 0.627 8Normative Commitment Scale 0.796 8
.
The Kovach ten job-related factors were used to determine what motivates the employees in
software industry. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of importance of the
factors and relative ranking according to motivational importance.
Table 3.9 indicating reliability analysis of ranking of the motivational factors
Motivational Factors Mean rankinteresting work 4.07
appreciation of work 4.10feeling "in on things" 9.47
job security 3.20good wages 2.03
promotion/growth 3.07good working conditions 5.20
personal loyalty 7.83tactful discipline 8.83
sympathetic help with problems 7.20
3.12 DATA COLLECTION
The investigator collected the data from 300 IT employees working with 10 different IT
multinational companies. Researcher administered the questionnaire after giving sufficient
instruction to the respondents. The confidentiality of the responses was assured to the
respondents. After the data collection data was coded for further analysis.
3.13 ANALYSIS
The following statistical techniques were used to analyze the data.
Descriptive statistics-Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation
The Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationship between each of
the job satisfaction facets and organizational commitment.
ANOVA and Regression Analysis
Friedman test-Kovach’s ten job-related factors were ranked according to the order of
importance in motivating the employees. To analyse the data statistical package for social
sciences (SPSS) was used.
3.14 CONCLUSION
This chapter described the methodology adopted. This study used a descriptive design. The
purpose of descriptive surveys, according to Ezeani (1998), is to collect detailed and factual
information that describes an existing phenomenon. Data was collected from 300 IT
employees working in Bangalore city. The details of the statistical analysis are presented in
the next chapter.
CHAPTER 1V
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
OF DATA
CHAPTER IV
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
4.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers analysis of the data and interpretation of the results. Data analysis
involves uncovering patterns and trends in data set and data interpretation is explaining those
patterns and trends.
Data was collected from 300 IT employees working with different multinational companies in
Bangalore. The SPSS –version 18 was used to analyze the data. The statistical techniques
used for the study were ANOVA, Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Friedman test,
Regression, mean and standard deviation. The purpose of the study is to determine the
organizational commitment and job satisfaction of IT employees, and identify the
relationship.
4.2 CHARACTERISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE
For the current study sample size was 300.Sample was selected from different multinational
IT companies in Bangalore city representing three managerial levels. After collecting the data,
it was coded for analysis. Numeric codes were used to convert responses.
4.3DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS
The respondents were a cross-section of three hundred IT professionals with diverse
backgrounds.
Table 4.1 indicating the frequency and percentage of gender distribution of respondents
Gender Frequency Percent Valid percent Cumulative
Male 184 61.3 61.3 61.3Female 116 38.7 38.7 100Total 300 100 100
For the current study there was larger percentage of male (61.3%) than female (38.7%).
Table 4.2 showing the distribution of the sample according to the age level of employees
Age Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulativepercent
Below 30 yrs 116 38.7 38.7 38.730-40yrs 114 38 38 76.740-50yrs 70 23.3 23.3 100
Total 300 100 100
In terms of age, 38.7% of the respondents were below 30 years of age, 38.0% of the respondents were in the age group 30 - 40 years, and 23.3% of the respondents were in the age group 40 - 50 years.
Table 4.3 indicating the frequency and percentage of qualification of respondents
Qualification Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative PercentGraduate 52 17.3 17.3 17.3
Post graduate 84 28 28 45.3Professional qualification 163 54.3 54.3 99.7
Others 1 .3 .3 100Total 300 100 100
Most of the respondents had professional qualification (54.7%).Others were graduate (17.3%)
and post graduate (28%).
Table 4.4 indicating the marital status of respondents
Marital Status Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative percent
Married 182 60.7 60.7 60.7Single 118 39.3 39.3 100Total 300 100 100
For the current study majority of the respondents were married (60.7%), followed by single
(39.3%).
Table 4.5 indicating frequency and percentage of experience of respondents in the
current company
Experience in the current company
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1-2yrs 63 21.0 21.0 21.02-3yrs 94 31.3 31.3 52.33-4yrs 25 8.3 8.3 60.74-5yrs 38 12.7 12.7 73.35-6yrs 48 16.0 16.0 89.3
6+ 32 10.7 10.7 100Total 300 100 100
In terms of experience in the current company most of the respondents were working since 2-
3 years(31.3%) followed by 1-2 year(21%),5-6 years(16%),4-5 years(12.7%),6 yrs and
above(10.7%) and least being 3-4 yrs(8.3%).
Table 4.6 indicating frequency and percentage of total experience of respondents
Total experience
Frequency Percent Valid percent Cumulative percent
2 yrs and below 59 19.7 19.7 19.7
2-5 yrs 94 31.3 31.3 51.05-10yrs 51 17 17 68.0
10-15 yrs 53 17.7 17.7 85.715-20yrs 35 11.7 11.7 97.4
Above 20yrs 8 2.6 2.6 100Total 300 100 100
In terms of total work experience most of the respondents were in the 2-5
yrs(31.3%),followed by 2 years and below(19.7%),10-15yrs(17.7%),5-10yrs(17%),15-20yrs
(11.7%) and least being above 20 years (2.6%).
Table 4.7 indicating the frequency and percentage of size of the organization
Size of the Organization
Frequency Percent Valid percent Cumulative percent
>1000employees
300 100 100 100
In terms of size of the organization, all the respondents were from organizations with one
thousand or more employees.
Table 4.8 indicating frequency and percentage of different managerial levels
Management level
Frequency Percent Valid percent Cumulative percent
Entry level 152 50.7 50.7 50.7Middle level 69 23.0 23.7 73.7Senior level 79 26.3 26.3 100.0
Total 300 100 100
In terms of management level, 50.7% of the respondents were at entry-level, 23.0% of the
respondents were at middle-level, and 26.3% were at senior-level.
4.4 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
4.4.1 Affective Commitment
Table 4.9 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Affective commitment
Mean 3.7508
Standard deviation 1.26335Percentiles 25 2.6250
50 3.375075 5.0000
The level of affective commitment varied in the range 2.00 - 6.00, with two clusters, one in
the range 2.00 - 4.00, representing low affective commitment, and another in the range 4.00 -
6.00, representing high affective commitment.
8.006.004.002.000.00
AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT
40
30
20
10
0
Fre
qu
ency
Mean =3.7508Std. Dev. =1.26335
N =300
Histogram
4.4.2Continuance Commitment
Table 4.10 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Continuance commitment
Mean 4.0054Standard deviation .66946
Percentiles 25 3.500050 4.000075 4.5000
The level of continuance commitment was moderate for IT employees, varying in the range
3.00 - 5.00.
6.004.002.00
CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT
40
30
20
10
0
Fre
qu
ency
Mean =4.0054Std. Dev. =0.66946
N =300
Histogram
4.4.3Normative Commitment
Table 4.11 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Normative Commitment
Mean 3.4175Standard deviation .51985
Percentiles 25 3.125050 3.312575 3.7500
The level of normative commitment was moderate for technical employees working in IT
companies, varying in the range 2.50 - 5.00.
5.505.004.504.003.503.002.502.00
NORMATIVE COMMITMENT
50
40
30
20
10
0
Fre
qu
enc
y
Mean =3.4175Std. Dev. =0.51985
N =300
Histogram
4.4.4 Organizational Commitment
Table 4.12 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Organizational Commitment
Mean Standard Deviation
Continuance Commitment 4.0054 .66946Affective Commitment 3.7508 1.26335
Normative Commitment 3.4175 .51985
The level of organizational commitment was moderate, with relatively higher variability in
affective commitment. Mean value was highest for Continuance commitment indicating
employees are staying back with the organization because of the cost of leaving the
organisation or it’s too much trouble to go somewhere else.
4.4.5 Job Satisfaction
Table 4.13 indicating the mean and standard deviation for Job satisfaction
Mean Standard deviation
Social aspects of job 5.57 .895Working conditions(excluding hours) 5.46 1.070
Intrinsic Aspects of job(excluding ease) 5.42 .980Interest(from intrinsic aspect of job) 5.33 .919
Job security 5.33 1.127Communication 5.11 .982
Ease(from intrinsic aspect of job) 5.10 .939Benefits 4.47 1.665
Company policy and management practises 4.39 1.305Opportunity for advancement 4.30 1.480
Fair treatment 4.01 1.543Salary 3.97 2.086
Appreciation(from management) 3.74 1.506Supervision 3.25 1.590
Hours(from working conditions) 2.69 1.403
Amongst the items comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest
satisfaction levels were related to the social aspects of the job, working conditions (excluding
working hours), interest (from intrinsic aspects of the job), job security, communication, and
ease of the job (as an intrinsic aspect of the job). On the other hand, employees had lowest
satisfaction levels for working hours, supervision, appreciation from management, and salary.
Table 4.14 indicating the mean and standard deviation for overall Job Satisfaction
Mean 4.5422Standard deviation .77886
Percentiles 25 4.000050 4.566775 5.1833
8.006.004.002.000.00
JOB SATISFACTION
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Fre
qu
en
cy
Mean =4.5422Std. Dev. =0.77886
N =300
Histogram
The level of job satisfaction was moderate, varying in the range 2.50 - 5.50, peaking near
5.00.
4.4.6 Motivational Factors
Table 4.15 indicating Friedman’s mean rank test for motivational factors of IT employees
Motivational Factors Mean Rank
Interesting work 4.17Appreciation of work 4.50Feeling “in on things” 9.27
Job security 3.48Good wages 1.53
Promotion /growth 2.01Good working conditions 5.59
Personal loyalty 7.74
Tactful discipline 9.30Sympathetic help with problems 7.41
Test Statistics
N 300Chi-Square 2361.009df 9Asymp.sig. .000
a. Friedman test
There was significant difference in importance of different motivational factors. The most
important motivational factors were good wages, promotion/growth, job security, interesting
work, and appreciation of work.
4.5 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GROUPS-ANOVA
Organizational Commitment
Report
GenderMen Women Total
MeanAffective commitment Std.Deviation
3.7582 3.7392 3.75081.27948 1.24276 1.26335
MeanContinuance commitment Std.Deviation
4.0258 3.9731 4.0054.67373 .66427 .66946
Mean Normative commitment Std.Deviation
3.4552 3.3578 3.4175.57663 .57663 .51985
Table 4.16 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and gender
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsGender Within groups
.025477.19
129
.0251.601
.016 .900
Total 3477.219
8299
Continuance Commitment Between the groupsGender Within groups Total
.198133.809134.007
1298299
.198
.449.441 .507
Normative Commitment Between the groupsGender Within groups Total
.67580.12780.802
1298299
.675
.2692.510
.114
There was no significant difference in organizational commitment between men and women
IT professionals.
Hypothesis- H2: Job satisfaction and commitment will differ according to age of the
Employees.
Report
Age<30yrs 30-40yrs 40-50yrs Total
MeanAffective commitment Std.Deviation
2.6099 4.1941 4.9196 3.7508.46132 1.19828 .55781 1.26335
MeanContinuance commitment Std.Deviation
4.1713 3.4441 4.6446 4.0054.48188 .47244 .45625 .66946
Mean Normative commitment Std.Deviation
3.1175 3.5702 3.6661 3.4175.43216 .50222 .44064 .51985
Table 4.17 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Age
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsAge Within groups Total
269.022208.196477.219
2297299
134.511.701
191.885
.000
Continuance Commitment Between the groupsAge Within groups Total
67.71866.289134.00
2297
33.859.223
151.699
.000
7 299
Normative Commitment Between the groupsAge Within groups Total
17.42563.37680.802
2297299
8.713.213
40.830 .000
There was significant difference in organizational commitment between age groups.
Organizational commitment was highest for IT professionals in the 40 - 50 yr. age group. In
particular, continuance commitment was lowest for IT professionals in the 30 - 40 yr. age
group.
Report
QualificationGraduate Post
graduateProfessional qualification
Others Total
Affective Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
3.3798 3.8452 3.8282 2.5000 3.75081.25391 1.26134 1.25347 1.2633
Continuance Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
4.1611 4.1146 3.8972 4.3750 4.0054.69985 .61213 .67414 .66946
Normative Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
3.4351 3.3973 3.4210 3.6250 3.4175.66027 .47496 .49534 .51985
Table 4.18 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Qualification
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsQualification Within groups Total
10.448466.771477.219
3296
3.4831.577
2.208
.087
299
Continuance Commitment Between the groupsQualification Within groups Total
4.305129.702134.007
3296299
1.435.438
3.275
.021
Normative Commitment Between the groupsQualification Within groups Total
.09580.70780.802
3296299
.032
.273.117 .950
There was significant difference in continuance commitment between IT professionals with
different qualifications. Continuance commitment was lowest for those with professional
qualifications. There was no significant difference in affective commitment and in normative
commitment between qualifications.
Report
Marital StatusMarried Single Total
MeanAffective commitment Std.Deviation
4.1813 3.0869 3.75081.20108 1.05555 1.26335
MeanContinuance commitment Std.Deviation
4.0144 3.9915 4.0054.77750 .45811 .66946
Mean Normative commitment Std.Deviation
3.4938 3.2998 3.4175.46256 .58015 .51985
Table 4.19 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Marital Status
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsMarital Status Within groups Total
85.749391.470477.219
1298299
85.7491.314
65.275
.000
Continuance Commitment Between the groupsMarital Status Within groups Total
.038133.969134.007
1298299
.038
.450.083 .773
Normative Commitment Between the groups 2.695 1 2.695 10.28 ..001
Marital Status Within groups Total
78.10780.802
298299
.262 3
There was significant difference in affective commitment and in normative commitment
between married and single IT professionals. Both affective commitment and normative
commitment were significantly lower for single IT professionals. There was no significant
difference in continuance commitment between married and single IT professionals.
Report
Years in present position1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6+ Total
Affective Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
2.7718 3.0027 4.1100 4.2467 4.9297 5.2383 3.7508
.66620 .98646 1.22598 1.00147 .47749 .62810 1.26335
Continuance Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
4.0496 3.9441 3.6550 4.0757 4.4349 3.6445 4.0054.43738 .56100 .64477 .86678 .64412 .77973 .66946
Normative Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
3.1210 3.2832 3.7050 3.6250 3.6589 3.5625 3.4175.40033 .58406 .38676 .36646 .45527 .45570 .51985
Table 4.20 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Years in present Position
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsYears in present position Within groups Total
263.075214.143477.219
5294299
52.615.728
72.236
.000
Continuance Commitment Between the groups Years in present position Within groups Total
16.754117.252134.007
5294299
3.351.399
8.402 .000
Normative Commitment Between the groupsYears in present position Within groups Total
14.40366.39980.802
5294299
2.881.226
12.755
.000
There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on years in the current
position. Affective commitment increased with years in the current position. Continuance
commitment varied considerably with years in current position, and was lowest for IT
professionals in their present position for six years or more. Normative commitment also
varied considerably with years in current position and was highest for professionals in their
position for 3-4 yrs.
Report
Overall work experience2 yrs and
below
2-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20+ Total
Affective Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
2.6102 2.9215 4.1863 5.1274 4.8179 5.3438 3.7508
.41980 .87490 .99699 .64043 .58027 .48985 1.26335
Continuance Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
4.1377 4.0013 3.4387 3.9505 4.6250 4.3438 4.0054.45111 .56781 .52343 .80352 .55984 .58152 .66946
Normative Commitment Mean Std.Deviation
3.0572 3.3497 3.4828 3.6557 3.6500 3.8594 3.4175.33261 .59894 .44442 .38128 .41102 .66291 .51985
Table 4.21 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Overall work experience
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsOverall work experience Within groups Total
311.655165.563477.219
5294299
62.331.563
110.685 .000
Continuance Commitment Between the groups Overall work experience Within groups Total
31.924102.083134.007
5294299
6.385.347
18.388 .000
Normative Commitment Between the groups Overall work experience Within groups Total
14.76966.03380.802
5294299
2.954.225
13.151 .000
There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on overall work
experience. Affective commitment generally increased with overall work experience.
Continuance commitment varied considerably with overall work experience, and was lowest
for IT professionals with overall work experience of 5 -10 yrs. and 10 - 15 yrs. Normative
commitment generally increased with overall work experience.
Report
Management LevelEntry Middle Senior Total
MeanAffective commitment Std.Deviation
2.6686 4.7065 4.9984 3.7508.48150 .85126 .60893 1.26335
MeanContinuance commitment Std.Deviation
4.0313 3.4438 4.4462 4.0054.54917 .50800 .65739 .66946
Mean Normative commitment Std.Deviation
3.1480 3.7283 3.6646 3.4175.38263 .56513 .43048 .51985
Table 4.22 indicating ANOVA for Organizational commitment and Management level
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Affective Commitment Between the groupsManagement level Within groups Total
364.013113.206477.219
2297299
182.006.381
477.502
.000
Continuance Commitment Between the groups Management level Within groups Total
37.21196.796134.007
2297299
18.605.326
57.087 .000
Normative Commitment Between the groups Management level Within groups Total
22.52358.27980.802
2297299
11.262.196
57.391 ..000
There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on management level.
Affective commitment was highest for senior-level IT professionals. Continuance
commitment was highest for senior-level, and lowest for middle-level IT professionals.
Normative commitment was highest for middle- and senior-level IT professionals.
4.6 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GROUPS-JOB SATISFACTION
Report
Job Satisfaction
Gender Mean Std.Deviation
Men 4.5261 .81339Women 4.5678 .72341
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.23 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and gender
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsGender Within groups Total
.124181.257181.381
1298299
.124
.608.204 .652
There was no significant difference in job satisfaction between men and women IT professionals.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Age Mean Std.Deviation
Below 30 yrs 3.8713 .6039330-40yrs 4.8655 .6482340-50yrs 5.1276 .23556
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.24 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Age
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsAge Within groups Total
88.12393.257181.381
2297299
44.062.314
140.325
.000
There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals in different age
groups. Job satisfaction generally increased with age.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Qualification Mean Std.Deviation
Graduate 4.3218 1.02430Post graduate 4.6135 .71868Professional qualification 4.5800 .70868
Others 3.8667 -
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.25 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Qualification
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsQualification Within groups Total
3.642177.739181.381
3296299
1.214.600
2.022
.111
There was no significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals based on
qualifications.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Marital Status Mean Std.Deviation
Married 4.7689 .59890Single 4.1927 .89008Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.26 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Marital Status
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsMarital Status Within groups Total
23.768157.613181.381
1298299
23.768.529
44.938
.000
There was significant difference in job satisfaction between married and single IT
professionals. Married IT professionals were generally more satisfied than single IT
professionals.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Years in present position Mean Std.Deviation
1-2yrs 3.9894 .64148
2-3yrs 4.2121 .778323-4yrs 4.9520 .69563
4-5yrs 4.7702 .65791
5-6yrs 5.0750 .29451
6+ 5.2104 .36987
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.27 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Years in Present position
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsYears in present position Within groups Total
63.584117.797181.38
5294
12.717.401
31.739
.000
1 299
There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals based on years in
the current position. Job satisfaction generally increased with years in current position.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Overall work Experience Mean Std.Deviation
2 Yrs and below 3.8994 .36291
2-5yrs 4.1213 .817025-10yrs 4.8850 .57008
10-15yrs 5.2616 .34514
15-20yrs 4.9810 .25595
20yrs and above 5.3583 .25927
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.28 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Overall work experience
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsOverall work experience Within groups Total
86.52194.860181.381
5294299
17.304.323
53.631
.000
There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals based on overall
work experience. Job satisfaction generally increased with overall work experience.
Report
Job Satisfaction
Management Level Mean Std.Deviation
Entry level 3.9412 .54894
Middle level 5.1739 .50633Senior level 5.1468 .30239
Total 4.5422 .77886
Table 4.29 indicating ANOVA for Job satisfaction and Management level
Sum of Squares
df Mean Square
F Sig.
Job Satisfaction Between the groupsManagement level Within groups Total
111.31470.067181.381
2297299
55.657.236
235.919
.000
There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals at different levels
of management. Job satisfaction was lower at entry-level than at middle- and senior-level of
management.
4.7 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GROUPS-MOTIVATION
Table 4.30 indicating Motivation and Gender Mean
Mean
4.22 4.06 4.16
4.45 4.54 4.49
9.24 9.30 9.27
3.38 3.61 3.47
1.54 1.52 1.53
2.14 1.79 2.01
5.53 5.66 5.58
7.77 7.70 7.74
9.27 9.35 9.30
7.41 7.42 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
men women Total
Gender
There was no difference between men and women IT professionals in the importance of
different motivational factors.
Table 4.31 indicating Mean for Motivation and Age
Mean
4.43 4.14 3.74 4.16
4.56 4.34 4.60 4.49
9.22 9.26 9.34 9.27
3.20 3.60 3.70 3.47
1.41 1.68 1.49 1.53
2.00 2.18 1.74 2.01
5.76 5.19 5.91 5.58
7.59 8.24 7.20 7.74
9.52 8.93 9.56 9.30
7.32 7.33 7.70 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
below 30 yrs. 30 - 40 yrs. 40 - 50 yrs. Total
Age
There was no difference between IT professionals in different age groups in the importance of
different motivational factors.
Table 4.32 indicating Mean for Motivation and Qualification.
Mean
3.79 4.36 4.18 4.00 4.16
4.85 4.58 4.32 5.00 4.49
9.40 9.30 9.21 8.00 9.27
3.42 3.42 3.51 3.00 3.47
1.56 1.60 1.48 2.00 1.53
2.52 1.94 1.88 1.00 2.01
5.58 5.30 5.72 6.00 5.58
7.69 7.74 7.75 9.00 7.74
9.00 9.37 9.36 10.00 9.30
7.19 7.39 7.50 7.00 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
graduate post-graduateprofessionalqualification others Total
Qualification
There was no difference between IT professionals with different qualifications in the
importance of different motivational factors.
Table 4.33 indicating Mean for Motivation and Marital Status
Mean
4.07 4.30 4.16
4.48 4.49 4.49
9.33 9.17 9.27
3.55 3.33 3.47
1.58 1.46 1.53
1.95 2.10 2.01
5.46 5.76 5.58
7.76 7.71 7.74
9.28 9.34 9.30
7.46 7.34 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
married single Total
Maritial Status
There was no difference between married and single IT professionals in the importance of
different motivational factors.
Table 4.34 indicating Mean for Motivation and Years in present Position
Mean
4.49 4.33 3.96 4.21 3.56 4.00 4.16
4.32 4.70 4.68 4.34 4.33 4.44 4.49
9.16 9.44 9.08 9.21 9.23 9.25 9.27
3.37 3.13 3.64 3.89 3.81 3.50 3.47
1.30 1.46 1.64 1.63 1.65 1.81 1.53
1.98 2.24 2.08 1.79 1.94 1.66 2.01
5.70 5.45 5.28 5.61 5.65 5.84 5.58
7.56 7.66 8.32 7.87 7.46 8.19 7.74
9.70 9.21 9.04 8.95 9.52 9.09 9.30
7.43 7.36 7.36 7.50 7.58 7.22 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
1 2 3 4 5 6+ Total
Years in Present Position
There was difference between IT professionals based on years in the current position in the
importance of different motivational factors. Promotion/growth was more important than
salary for IT professionals in their present position for six years or more.
Table 4.35 indicating Mean for Motivation and overall work experience
Mean
4.61 4.03 4.20 4.17 3.97 2.88 4.16
4.46 4.55 4.20 4.55 4.83 3.88 4.49
9.29 9.22 9.29 9.26 9.20 9.75 9.27
3.15 3.43 3.73 3.43 3.49 4.75 3.47
1.27 1.49 1.73 1.66 1.46 2.13 1.53
1.83 2.40 2.20 1.57 1.54 2.38 2.01
5.88 5.49 5.02 5.81 5.91 5.00 5.58
7.47 7.71 8.41 7.89 7.23 7.13 7.74
9.58 9.30 8.76 9.43 9.51 9.00 9.30
7.46 7.38 7.18 7.26 7.83 8.13 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
2 yrs. andbelow 2 - 5 yrs. 5 - 10 yrs. 10 - 15 yrs. 15 - 20 yrs.
20 yrs. andabove Total
Overall Work Experience
There was difference between IT professionals based on overall work experience in the
importance of different motivational factors. Job security was less important than interesting
work and appreciation of work for IT professionals with twenty or more years of overall work
experience.
Table 4.36 indicating Mean for Motivation and Management level
Mean
4.44 3.90 3.85 4.16
4.57 4.23 4.56 4.49
9.24 9.26 9.32 9.27
3.40 3.38 3.67 3.47
1.38 1.86 1.53 1.53
1.95 2.48 1.71 2.01
5.54 5.35 5.86 5.58
7.71 8.26 7.35 7.74
9.41 8.87 9.47 9.30
7.34 7.28 7.67 7.41
MF1. Interesting work
MF2. Appreciation of work
MF3. Feeling "in on things"
MF4. Job security
MF5. Good wages
MF6. Promotion/growth
MF7. Good working conditions
MF8. Personal loyalty
MF9. Tactful discipline
MF10. Sympathetic help with problems
entry level middle level senior level Total
Management Level
There was no difference between IT professionals at different levels of management in the
importance of different motivational factors.
4.8 CORRELATION ANALYSIS
HYPOTHESIS
H1: The higher the level of job satisfaction, the greater the level of Affective commitment.
Table 4.37 indicating Pearson correlation between Job satisfaction and Organizational commitment
Correlations
1 -.034 .531**
.278 .000
-.034 1 -.073
.278 .102
.531** -.073 1
.000 .102
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT
CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT
NORMATIVE COMMITMENT
AFFECTIVECOMMITMENT
CONTINUANCECOMMITMENT
NORMATIVECOMMITMENT
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (1-tailed).**.
There was significant positive correlation of job satisfaction with affective commitment and
normative commitment, and negative correlation with continuance commitment.
Table 4.38 indicating Pearson correlation between 15 items in Job satisfaction and Affective commitment
Correlations
.389
.000
.409
.000
.604
.000
.496
.000
.316
.000
.328
.000
.855
.000
.558
.000
.295
.000
.258
.000
.299
.000
.348
.000
-.008
.446
.787
.000
.700
.000
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (1-tailed)
JS1. Job Security
JS2. Interest (from intrinsic aspects of job)
JS3. Opportunity for advancement
JS4. Appreciation (from management)
JS5. Company policy and management practices
JS6. Intrinsic aspects of job (excluding ease)
JS7. Salary
JS8. Supervision
JS9. Social aspects of job
JS10. Working conditions (excluding hours)
JS11. Communication
JS12. Hours (from working conditions)
JS13. Ease (from intrinsic aspects of job)
JS14. Benefits
JS15. Fair treatment
AFFECTIVECOMMITMENT
Amongst the items comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest correlation
with affective commitment were related to the salary, benefits, fair treatment, opportunity for
advancement, and supervision. The items with moderate correlation were appreciation (from
management),interest (from intrinsic aspects of job),job security and intrinsic aspects of
job(excluding ease).The job satisfaction items with lowest correlation were working
conditions(excluding hours),social aspects of job, and communication.
4.9 REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Regression of Affective Commitment on Job Satisfaction:
Model Summary
.819a .670 .669 .72663Model1
R R SquareAdjustedR Square
Std. Error ofthe Estimate
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
ANOVAb
319.878 1 319.878 605.842 .000a
157.341 298 .528
477.219 299
Regression
Residual
Total
Model1
Sum ofSquares df Mean Square F Sig.
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
Dependent Variable: AFFECTIVE COMMITMENTb.
Table 4.39 indicating regression of Affective commitment on Job satisfaction
Coefficientsa
-2.281 .249 -9.175 .000
1.328 .054 .819 24.614 .000
(Constant)
JOB SATISFACTION
Model1
B Std. Error
UnstandardizedCoefficients
Beta
StandardizedCoefficients
t Sig.
Dependent Variable: AFFECTIVE COMMITMENTa.
Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact on affective commitment,
explaining 67.0% of the variation in affective commitment. Thus, when job satisfaction
increases, affective commitment would tend to increase with it.
Regression of Normative Commitment on Job Satisfaction:
Model Summary
.595a .354 .351 .41866Model1
R R SquareAdjustedR Square
Std. Error ofthe Estimate
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
ANOVAb
28.570 1 28.570 163.003 .000a
52.232 298 .175
80.802 299
Regression
Residual
Total
Model1
Sum ofSquares df Mean Square F Sig.
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
Dependent Variable: NORMATIVE COMMITMENTb.
Table 4.40 indicating regression of Normative commitment on Job satisfaction
Coefficientsa
1.615 .143 11.272 .000
.397 .031 .595 12.767 .000
(Constant)
JOB SATISFACTION
Model1
B Std. Error
UnstandardizedCoefficients
Beta
StandardizedCoefficients
t Sig.
Dependent Variable: NORMATIVE COMMITMENTa.
Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact on normative commitment,
explaining 35.1% of the variation in normative commitment. Thus, when job satisfaction
increases, normative commitment would tend to increase with it, but less so than affective
commitment.
Regression of Continuance Commitment on Job Satisfaction:
Model Summary
.108a .012 .008 .66669Model1
R R SquareAdjustedR Square
Std. Error ofthe Estimate
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
ANOVAb
1.554 1 1.554 3.497 .062a
132.453 298 .444
134.007 299
Regression
Residual
Total
Model1
Sum ofSquares df Mean Square F Sig.
Predictors: (Constant), JOB SATISFACTIONa.
Dependent Variable: CONTINUANCE COMMITMENTb.
Table 4.41 indicating regression of Continuance commitment on Job satisfaction
Coefficientsa
4.426 .228 19.401 .000
-.093 .050 -.108 -1.870 .062
(Constant)
JOB SATISFACTION
Model1
B Std. Error
UnstandardizedCoefficients
Beta
StandardizedCoefficients
t Sig.
Dependent Variable: CONTINUANCE COMMITMENTa.
Job satisfaction was not found to have a significant impact on continuance commitment,
explaining only 1.2% of the variation in continuance commitment. Thus, when job
satisfaction increases, continuance commitment would be expected to slightly decrease with
it.
In the present chapter the data has been analysed and interpreted. The following chapter will
cover the summary, findings, implications and limitations of the study.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The current study focussed to provide both theoretical and practical contribution to the
existing literature by examining the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational
commitment of technical employees in Bangalore and to suggest some managerial
implications. This chapter is on summary and conclusion .It covers the need for the study,
statement of the problem, scope of the study, operational definitions, variables of the study,
sampling technique, tools of the study, statistical techniques used, major findings,
implications and limitation of the study.
5.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY
The integral part of any management process is to manage the people at work. A well
managed organisation sees worker as the root cause of quality and productivity .An effective
organisation will always promote a sense of commitment and satisfaction among its
employees. The significance and importance of the concept of organizational commitment in
terms of leading to beneficial organizational and desirable outcomes such as increased
effectiveness, reducing absenteeism and turnover, has been documented by many studies such
as those of Steers (1977); Porter et al. (1974); Reiches (1985) and Tett and Meyer (1993). In
order to make employees satisfied and committed to their jobs there is need for strong and
effective motivation at the various levels.
One way to address issue of employee turnover is to understand the job satisfaction and
commitment level of employees. A lot of studies are conducted separately on commitment,
satisfaction and motivation but very few studies are there on IT sector linking these three .So
it is crucial to conduct a study on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in
information technology industry and also to identify the important motivating factors to retain
the highly talented workforce.
5.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction -A study of employees in the Information
Technology industry in Bangalore, India.
5.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main objectives set for the study are
1. To determine organizational commitment of software professionals using the revised
Organizational Commitment Scales (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993)
2. To measure the job satisfaction level of software professionals.
3. Identify the relationship between level of job satisfaction and organizational
Commitment.
4. Examine whether the commitment and job satisfaction will differ according to the age
level of the employees.
5. Relative ranking of motivating factors using Kovach’s Ten Job-Related Factors.
5.5 VARIABLES UNDER INVESTIGATION
Dependent variable-The dependent variable is Organizational Commitment (Affective
commitment, Normative commitment and Continuance commitment)
Independent Variable- The independent variable in this study is job satisfaction.
Demographic Variables-Gender, Age, Experience, Education, Marital status and
management level.
5.6 HYPOTHESIS
The following hypothesis is developed from the objectives
H1:The higher the level of job satisfaction, the greater the level of Affective
Commitment.
H2: Job satisfaction and commitment will differ according to age of the Employees
The hypothesis is tested with different statistical techniques .Pearson’s Correlation analysis,
ANOVA, and Regression was used to analyse the collected information.
5.7 POPULATION
The population for the study was all technical employees in the Information technology
Industry in Bangalore city. There are around 1200 IT and ITES organizations operating in
India. In these are 250 are multinational companies. There are around 200 IT companies in
Bangalore and 160 of these companies have their technology related operations in Bangalore.
Research design -The design which is used in this study is descriptive.
5.8 SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
For the present study data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire from 300
employees working in software industry. The study is concentrated on Bangalore IT industry.
The researcher used non probabilistic sampling (purposive sampling) method as sampling
design. Samples were selected from 10 top IT multinational companies. Samples were drawn
from three levels of management including entry level, middle level and top level employees.
The pertinent information for the study is collected from both primary and secondary sources.
5.9 THE INSTRUMENTS
The independent variable in this study is job satisfaction. The overall Job satisfaction was
measured using the 15-item questionnaire developed by Prof.Harold Andrew Patrick in 2009,
designed to measure 15 aspects of job. Responses were collected with the help of 7 point
likert scale.
The dependant variable, organizational commitment was measured using the revised
Organizational Commitment Scales (Meyer, Allen and Smith 1993) that is, the Affective
Commitment Scale (ACS), the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) and the Normative
Commitment Scale (NCS) with 24 questions on 7-point Likert scales.
The Kovach ten job-related factors, developed by kovach, Kenneth. (1999) were used to
determine what motivates the employees in software industry. The respondents were asked to
indicate the degree of importance of the factors and relative ranking according to motivational
importance.
5.10 ANALYSIS
The following statistical techniques were used to analyze the data.
Descriptive statistics-Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation
The Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationship between each of
the job satisfaction facets and organizational commitment.
ANOVA and Regression
Friedman test-Kovach’s ten job-related factors were ranked according to the order of
importance in motivating the employees. To analyse the data statistical package for social
sciences (SPSS) was used.
5.11 MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
5.11.1Demographic Profile
Gender- For the current study there was larger percentage of male (61.3%) than female (38.7%).
Age- In terms of age, 38.7% of the respondents were below 30 years of age, 38.0% of the respondents were in the age group 30 - 40 years, and 23.3% of the respondents were in the age group 40 - 50 years.
Qualification- Most of the respondents had professional qualification (54.7%).Others were
graduate (17.3%) and post graduate (28%).
Marital Status- For the current study majority of the respondents were married (60.7%),
followed by single (39.3%).
Experience in the current organisation- In terms of experience in the current company most
of the respondents were working since 2-3 years(31.3%) followed by 1-2 year(21%),5-6
years(16%),4-5 years(12.7%),6 yrs and above(10.7%) and least being 3-4 yrs(8.3%).
Total experience- In terms of total work experience most of the respondents were in the 2-5
yrs(31.3%),followed by 2 years and below(19.7%),10-15yrs(17.7%),5-10yrs(17%),15-20yrs
(11.7%) and least being above 20 years (2.6%).
Size of the organization- In terms of size of the organization, all the respondents were from
organizations with one thousand or more employees.
Managerial level- In terms of management level, 50.7% of the respondents were at entry-level, 23.0% of the respondents were at middle-level, and 26.3% were at senior-level.
5.11.2 General Findings
1. The level of organizational commitment was moderate, with relatively higher variability in
affective commitment. Mean value was highest for Continuance commitment indicating
employees are staying back with the organization because of the cost of leaving the
organisation or it’s too much trouble to go somewhere else.
2. IT employees were showing only a moderate level of job satisfaction. Amongst the items
comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest satisfaction levels were
related to the social aspects of the job, working conditions (excluding working hours), interest
(from intrinsic aspects of the job), job security, communication, and ease of the job (as an
intrinsic aspect of the job). On the other hand, employees had lowest satisfaction levels for
working hours, supervision, appreciation from management, and salary. It shows that IT
employees are dissatisfied with the working hours, supervision, appreciation from
management and the salary they are getting.
3. To increase the Job satisfaction and commitment it is very important to identify the
motivational factors. . The most important motivational factors for IT employees were good
wages, promotion/growth, job security, interesting work, and appreciation of work.
5.11.2 HYPOTHESIS RELATED FINDINGS
1. There was significant positive correlation of job satisfaction with affective commitment and
normative commitment, and negative correlation with continuance commitment. This
indicates that higher the level of job satisfaction greater the level of affective commitment and
normative commitment. If employees are staying back with the organization because of the
cost of leaving the organisation or it’s too much trouble to go somewhere else then there will
be less satisfaction.
2. Amongst the items comprising the scale for job satisfaction, the items with highest
correlation with affective commitment were related to the salary, benefits, fair treatment,
opportunity for advancement, and supervision. The items with moderate correlation were
appreciation (from management),interest (from intrinsic aspects of job),job security and
intrinsic aspects of job(excluding ease).The job satisfaction items with lowest correlation
were working conditions(excluding hours),social aspects of job, and communication. So it
clearly indicates the importance of salary, benefit, fair treatment, opportunity for advancement
and a good supervision in increasing the positive emotional attachment to the organisation.
3. Regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction had a significant impact on
Organizational commitment. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact
on affective commitment, explaining 67.0% of the variation in affective commitment. Thus,
when job satisfaction increases, affective commitment would tend to increase with it. Job
satisfaction was not found to have a significant impact on continuance commitment,
explaining only 1.2% of the variation in continuance commitment. Thus, when job
satisfaction increases, continuance commitment would be expected to slightly decrease with
it. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant positive impact on normative commitment,
explaining 35.1% of the variation in normative commitment. Thus, when job satisfaction
increases, normative commitment would tend to increase with it, but less so than affective
commitment.
4. There was no significant difference in organizational commitment between men and
women IT professionals. So the gender doesn’t play any role.
5. There was significant difference in organizational commitment between age groups.
Organizational commitment was highest for IT professionals in the 40 - 50 yr. age group. In
particular, continuance commitment was lowest for IT professionals in the 30 - 40 yr age
group. Affective commitment was lowest for IT employees below 30 yrs and it was increasing
with the age. So it clearly indicates the importance of increasing affective commitment among
young employees as it can reduce turnover cost.
6. There was significant difference in continuance commitment between IT professionals with
different qualifications. Continuance commitment was lowest for those with professional
qualifications. There was no significant difference in affective commitment and in normative
commitment between qualifications.
7. There was significant difference in affective commitment and in normative commitment
between married and single IT professionals. Both affective commitment and normative
commitment were significantly lower for single IT professionals. There was no significant
difference in continuance commitment between married and single IT professionals.
8. There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on years in the
current position. Affective commitment increased with years in the current position.
Continuance commitment varied considerably with years in current position, and was lowest
for IT professionals in their present position for six years or more. Normative commitment
also varied considerably with years in current position, and was low for IT professionals in
their present position for six years or more.
9. There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on overall work
experience. Affective commitment generally increased with overall work experience.
Continuance commitment varied considerably with overall work experience, and was lowest
for IT professionals with overall work experience of 5 -10 yrs. and 10 - 15 yrs. Normative
commitment generally increased with overall work experience.
10. There was significant difference in organizational commitment based on management
level. Affective commitment was highest for senior-level IT professionals. Continuance
commitment was highest for senior-level, and lowest for middle-level IT professionals.
Normative commitment was highest for middle- and senior-level IT professionals.
11. There was no significant difference in job satisfaction between men and women IT
professionals.
12. There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals in different
age groups. Job satisfaction generally increased with age of IT employees. The logic will be
as workers grow older, alternative employment opportunities become limited, making their
current jobs more attractive.
13. There was no significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals based on
qualifications.
14. There was significant difference in job satisfaction between married and single IT
professionals. Married IT professionals were generally more satisfied than single IT
professionals.
15. There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals based on
years in the current position. Job satisfaction generally increased with years in current
position and experience.
16. There was significant difference in job satisfaction between IT professionals at different
levels of management. Job satisfaction was lower at entry-level than at middle- and senior-
level of management.
17. There was no difference between men and women IT professionals in the importance of
different motivational factors.
18. There was no difference between IT professionals in different age groups in the
importance of different motivational factors.
19. There was no difference between IT professionals with different qualifications in the
importance of different motivational factors.
20. There was no difference between married and single IT professionals in the importance of
different motivational factors.
21. There was difference between IT professionals based on years in the current position in
the importance of different motivational factors. Promotion/growth was more important than
salary for IT professionals in their present position for six years or more.
22. There was difference between IT professionals based on overall work experience in the
importance of different motivational factors. Job security was less important than interesting
work and appreciation of work for IT professionals with twenty or more years of overall work
experience.
23. There was no difference between IT professionals at different levels of management in the
importance of different motivational factors.
5.12 IMPLICATIONS
1. The study revealed that there is only moderate level of Job satisfaction and Organizational
commitment for IT employees. From the review of literature it is clear that IT employees
seem to be quicker to change jobs than other employees when they are dissatisfied with their
current employer (Hacker, 2003).So it cites the importance of improving their job satisfaction
and commitment.
2. Another important finding of the study is amongst the items comprising the scale for job
satisfaction; IT employees are dissatisfied with the working hours, supervision, appreciation
from management and the salary they are getting. So the IT companies should pay more
attention in improving working hours, good supervision, and appreciation for the work they
are doing. IT mncs should pay more attention to the salary of the employees as it has highest
correlation with affective commitment. It can reduce the employee turnover and the cost
associated with it. It is possible that when employees judge the organization to be providing
good supervision, positive feelings of well being will be created. This is likely to stimulate
them to reciprocate by increasing their sense of obligation to the organization and the belief
that staying is the ‘right thing’ to do to the organization.
3. For any organization the most important challenge is to retain the talented work
force.Inorder to retain the talented work force it is very important to identify what motivates
them. The study revealed that the most important motivational factors for IT employees were
good wages, promotion/growth, job security, interesting work, and appreciation of work. The
findings of this study provide valuable insights for the management to create a motivated and
committed workforce.
4. There was significant positive correlation of job satisfaction with affective commitment
and normative commitment, and negative correlation with continuance commitment. An
employee who is affectively committed strongly identifies with the goals of the organization
and desires to remain a part of the organization. This employee commits to the organization
because he/she "wants to”. As there is high correlation between job satisfaction and affective
commitment organization should concentrate on developing affective commitment-oriented
organization policies.
5. For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is motivated
and committed to high quality performance. Amongst the items comprising the scale for job
satisfaction, the items with highest correlation with affective commitment were related to the
salary, benefits, fair treatment, opportunity for advancement, and supervision. This means that
if an IT organization can give importance to these factors it can reduce employee turnover and
can increase affective commitment of its employees.
6. There was significant difference in organizational commitment between age groups.
Affective commitment was lowest for IT employees below 30 yrs and it was increasing with
the age. The commitment of younger workers is likely to be more affected by disappointment
with pay and promotion opportunities than the commitment of older employees who have
achieved their advancement and income potential compared to younger employees who often
make job choices on the basis of income and career potential. Older employees, on the other
hand, have higher needs for affiliation and lower needs for achievement. So to increase the
affective commitment of younger employees organisation should pay more attention towards
their salary and opportunity for advancement.
7. There was difference between IT professionals based on years in the current position in the
importance of different motivational factors. Promotion/growth was more important than
salary for IT professionals in their present position for six years or more. So when we plan the
HRD variables it should be according to their experience level. Achievement needs will be
higher for less experienced and affiliation needs will be motivating factor for experienced
employees. So the HR policies should be planned based on employee need.
5.13 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The study has the following limitations
• Time limit of the researcher is one major limitation
• The survey is subjected to the bias and prejudices of the respondents. Hence 100%
accuracy can’t be assured.
• The research is confined to Bangalore city only, so the result might be indicative not
conclusive
• The findings of the research are based on what the respondent have stated as true
• As the study is planning to conduct on software professionals in Bangalore city, so the
same result may not hold true for other areas.
5.14 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
1. A study on the relationship between human resources management practises and
organizational commitment of IT employees.
2. A study on the relationship between job satisfaction, organisational commitment and
turnover intention among IT professionals can be undertaken.
3. A study can be conducted to find out the antecedents of organizational commitment and Job
satisfaction among Indian IT employees.
5.15 CONCLUSION
A major challenge faced by all IT organization is, developing and maintaining Organizational
commitment and Job satisfaction. It is the interest of all organization to secure commitment
and reduce employee turnover. So this topic has attracted the interest of many researchers.
This study confirms the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
So managers need to make effort to develop human resource policies that are in alignment to
the needs and motivation of the employees. The findings of this study have pointed out some
salient issues in the IT field. It is imperative for IT company management to meet the
demands of their personnel to strengthen their motivation, satisfaction, and commitment to
minimize turnover.
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APPENDIX
APPENDIX-1
PROFORMA
Christ University Institute of Management
Bangalore – 560029
Dear Respondent,
I am doing my dissertation titled “Organizational commitment and Job satisfaction: A
study of employees in the IT industry in Bangalore, India.” in partial fulfilment of my
M.Phil (Management) course.
You are requested to participate in the study. Your consent for the participation in the study is
voluntary. However, your participation will help the progress of research and scientific
knowledge in this field. All information collected is for research purpose and will be kept
confidential .If you have any doubt about the study, you are free to contact the investigator for
clarification.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Regards,
Jasmine Sonia
Research Scholar
Christ University
Gender: Male Female
1. Age: Below 30 yrs 30-40 40-50
2. Qualification : Graduate Post Graduate Professional Qualification
Others specify
3. Marital Status: Married Single Others 4. Position/Designation: (Specify)
………………………………………………………………..
5. How long have you been in this position: < 1 Year 1-2 Years 2-3Years
3-4 Years 4-5 Years 5 Years and Above
6. Work Experience: 2years and below 2-5yrs 5-10yrs 10-15 yrs
15-20yrs above 20 yrs
7. Size of the Organization: Less than 500 employees 500-1000 Employees
More than 1000 Employees
Instructions: Kindly read the items carefully and Tick in the appropriate box. Please
do not omit any item.
Kindly tick in the appropriate Box
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Slightly Disagree
Undecided
Slightly Agree
Agree
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1 I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this organization
2 I enjoy discussing my organization with people outside it
3 I really feel as if this organizations problems are my
own
4 I do not think I could become as attached to another organization as I am to this one
5 I feel like part of the family at my organization
6 I feel emotionally attached to this organization
7 This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me
8 I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization
9 It would be hard for me to leave my organization right now, even if I wanted to
10
My life would be disrupted if I decided I wanted to leave my organization now
11 I am afraid of what might happen if I quit my job without having another one lined up
12
It would be costly for me to leave my organization now
13
Right now staying with my organization is a matter of necessity as much as desire
14
I feel that I have few options to consider leaving this organization
15
One of the serious consequences of leaving this organization would be scarcity of available alternatives
16
One of the major reasons I continue to work for this organization is that leaving would require personal sacrifice-another organization may not match the overall benefits I have here
17
I think that people these days move from organization to organization too often
18
I believe that a person must always be loyal to his/her organization
19
Jumping from organization to organization seems unethical to me
20
I believe that loyalty is important and therefore I feel a strong sense of moral obligation
21
If I got another offer for a better job elsewhere I would not feel it was right to leave my organization
22
I was taught to believe in the value of remaining loyal to one organization
23
Things were better in the days when people stayed with one organization for most of their careers
24
I think that wanting to be a company man or company woman is sensible
INSTRUCTIONS: The following is a list of job, work and organization related items. Kindly indicate your level of satisfaction with the items on a ‘7-point’ scale as shown below. 1 indicating highly dissatisfied and 7 indicating highly satisfied. Be HONEST and CANDID in your response and do not omit any item.
Highly Dissatisfied
Employees' Ranking
11. Job Security2. Interest (from intrinsic aspects of job)3. Opportunity for advancement4. Appreciation (from management)5. Company policy and management practices6. Intrinsic aspects of job (excluding ease)7. Salary8. Supervision9. Social aspects of job10.Working conditions (excluding hours)11.Communication12.Hours (from working conditions)13.Ease (from intrinsic aspects of job)14.Benefits15.Fair treatment
Instructions: Kindly read the items carefully and rank
the items, regarding your view about motivating
factors. Please do not omit any item. Please indicate
the extent of your motivational importance by selecting
a number from 1 to 10. 1 indicates highest ranking and
10 indicates least motivating factor. Do not repeat the
number while ranking.
Items
Interesting work
Appreciation of work
Feeling "in on things"
Job security
Good wages
Promotion/growth
Good working conditions
Personal loyalty
Tactful discipline
Sympathetic help with problems