Correlation between Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Demographic Variables

An Analysis of the Correlation between Employees' Job Satisfaction and Demographic Variables Over the last decades, Job satisfaction has been identified as the major research traditions in organizational psychology. Job satisfaction can significantly influence the company as Job satisfaction can positively affect employee commitment and working performance, which will determine the overall success and development of the company (Feinting, 2000).Empirical research has shown that there are certain variables which may play an important role in mediating Job satisfaction in the oracle. The factors affecting employee Job satisfaction include the personal traits of individuals, Job scope, and organization characteristics. (Gilson and Derrick, 1998). The study of the relationship between length of service and Job satisfaction variables remains among the most promising of these studies (Kirk, 2003). Other demographic variables to consider include age, gender and nationality.Several studies ( e. G. , Betel and Brenner, 1986; Creighton, 1977; Wilting, Arnold, and Conrad, 1978; Gomez-Mejia, 1983; Griffin and Bateman, 1986) indicated that these demographic rabbles (gender, age, education, length of service and nationality) affect work values, which are related to Job satisfaction and commitment to a certain extent. There are also studies that tackled the issue from another perspective, which reported that there is a correlation between Job satisfaction and performance (Herbert, Amasser, Peterson & Capable, 1957).According to Bedpan, Ferris and Kumar (1992), age and Job satisfaction are positively related because an older employee will be able to hold a higher position and obtain a higher salary since they are more experienced, thus aging them more satisfied than younger employee. Besides age, the correlation between gender differences and Job satisfaction have also been widely studied. Witt and Nee (1992) suggested that there is no correlation between the gender differences and the Job satisfaction.In addition, Kirk (2003) has also proposed that there will be significant relationship between the length of service and Job satisfaction, but there is no conclusive evidence that a longer length of service means a higher Job satisfaction. The present study aimed to investigate the degree to which employees' anemographic variables are related to their level of Job satisfaction at work. Based on the literature review, it was hypothesized that age is positively related to Job satisfaction among the employees.Similarly, it was also hypothesized that the length of service is also positively correlated with Job satisfaction. From the research examined, it was anticipated that gender difference and nationality does not have any correlation with Job satisfaction. Methods Participants A total number of 30 employees, who are currently working in the marketing apartment of an international company called Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, took part in the s urvey conducted for the purpose of the research.Out of these 30 participants, 50% of them were men with the remaining 50% were female. The sample has an age range from 18 to 48 years old with a mean age of 29. 63 (SD = 9. 13). In term of nationality, there were 15 Australians, 5 Singapore, 5 New Zealand, 2 Irish, 1 South African, 1 German and 1 English. All participants completed the questionnaire voluntarily with no remuneration. Materials The questionnaire consisted of two parts: The Job Satisfactory Survey and a Demographic Data Sheet.The 3-item Job Satisfactory Survey was constructed to measure the overall Job satisfaction of the participants. It was designed to assess their level of Job satisfaction towards three areas: their Job, scope of work and working in the current organization. The participants were asked to rate their overall level of Job satisfaction based on the three questions on a 7-point Liker scale from 1 (Extremely Dissatisfied) to 7 (Extremely Satisfied). Theref ore, the total scores for the three questions could theoretically range from a minimum score of 3 to a maximum score of 21 .A Demographic Data Sheet was also included in the questionnaire to obtain basic profile information such as gender, age, nationality and length of service from the participants. Procedure All the 30 participants were instructed to gather outside an enclosed meeting room on a Friday evening where they were provided with a set of questionnaire. Each participant was given a maximum time of 15 minutes to complete the survey in the eating room and only one participant was allowed to enter at a time so as to ensure that there would be no distraction.At the end of the session, the questionnaires were collected and placed in a sealed envelope to ensure that all information provided were kept confidential. None of the questionnaires were left uncompleted, thus ensuring the validity of all data collected. The data was being computed and analyzed using the Statistical Pac kage for Social Scientists (SPAS, standard version 19, 2011). Results The results of the analysis of the correlation between the employees' overall Job distraction and demographic variables (length of service, age, gender, nationality) are presented in Table 1.The internal consistency of the 3-item Job Satisfactory Survey was an excellent reliability of 0. 87 in Cockroach's alpha test.