Role of life events stress & individualism-collectivism in predicting job satisfaction.
| Author | Singh, A.P. |
| Position | Statistical data |
The present study was conducted on 210 managerial personnel to examine the role of life events stress and individualism-collectivism in job satisfaction. The results indicate that person positive and total positive stresses were found to be significantly and -positively correlated with satisfaction (job&total). Correlation coefficient of job positive stress was found significantly and positively correlated with satisfaction (management & total). Collectivism was found to be significantly negatively correlated with satisfaction (management &total). Individualism-collectivism was found to be significant predictors of satisfaction (job. management &total). Managers who scored high on positive life events stress and individualism were found to have higher job satisfaction than those who scored high on negative life events stress and collectivism.
Job Satisfaction
A satisfied, happy, efficient, dedicated and hardworking employee is the biggest asset of any organization. Satisfied employees would seem more likely to talk positively about the organization, help others and go beyond the normal expectations in their job. Job satisfaction is often considered to be the most interesting variable in industrial and organizational psychology research (Smither, 1994). Job satisfaction can be defined as an individual's general attitude towards his or her job (Robbins, Odendaal & Roodt, 2003). Job satisfaction is employee reactions towards their work experiences (Berry, 1997), emotional state or reactions towards the job (Gruneberg, 1979; Landy & Conte, 2004), how positive people feel about their jobs, aspects of their jobs (Spector, 1997) and work situations (Wood, Wood & Boyd, 2007). Satisfaction on the job reflects important employee attitude towards their job (Spector, 1997), indicating what makes a job enjoyable and a satisfying working environment (Smither, 1994). Loyal, satisfied and consistent human resources can be a very important factor in making the organization effective. Having this kind of human resources can result in increasing performance levels. But having less satisfied human resources results in producing different problems for organization and its staff. High job satisfaction will decrease occupational stress and create a positive working environment (Fairbrother & Warn, 2003), promote psychological well-being (Limbert, 2004), reduce turnover intention (Dupre & Day, 2007) and ultimately affect the intention to leave the workplace (Harrington, Bean, Pintello & Mathews, 2001). Therefore, maintaining and enhancing job satisfaction is important in order to establish quality worker, workplace and work itself.
Life EventsStress & Job Satisfaction
Extra organizational sources of stress have also been suggested as a major contributor of personal stress which affects the physical and mental well-being of the managers at work. Life events stressors interact between life inside and life outside of the organization. It can lead managers to feel pressure. Family problems (Pahl & Pahl, 1971) and life crisis (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1973) of managers are the prominent sources of life events stress. A life event is indicative of or requires a significant change in the ongoing life patterns of the individual. According to Settersten and Mayer (1997), "A life event is a significant occurrence involving a relatively abrupt change that may produce serious and long lasting effects". Events such as the death of a loved one, divorce or a son or daughter leaving home are often referred to as critical life events because they require a major transition in our lives.
Life events stress model hypothesized that it is possible to make prediction about stress and susceptibility to much wider array of diseases by determining the magnitude of critical life changes taking place within a limited span of time. There are several studies which indicated that stress has been associated with important occupational outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and employee withdrawal behavior (Naumann, 1993; Sullivan & Bhagat, 1992; Tett & Meyer, 1993; William & Hazer, 1986). Studies also show that burnout and higher job related stresses are most responsible factors for job dissatisfaction, decision to leave work field and reducing the number of hours worked (Bennet, Plint & Clifford, 2005).Another study showed that stress is directly related to health and inversely related to global constructive thinking and job satisfaction (Staccianni & Torres, 2004). It is imperative for organizations to recognize common sources of distress and to practice effective management principles or organize such type of activities which may create some positive changes within individuals and energize them.
Individualism-Collectivism & Job Satisfaction
The term individualism-collectivism was coined by Hofstede (1980). Individualism-collectivism is a dimension of culture at both the societal and organizational levels, although most of the research has focused on societal or national culture. Countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia are examples of individualistic cultures. In contrast, collectivistic cultures are those where people have stronger bonds to their groups and group membership which forms a person's self-identity. Asian countries such as China, India and Japan, as well as countries in Latin America are higher in collectivism.
Collectivism and individualism have been conceptualized as syndromes that include beliefs, attitudes, norms, roles, values, and behaviors in different cultures (Triandis, 1989, 1995).Individualistic cultural values emphasize self-reliance, autonomy, competition, personal control, and individual goals. Behavior is governed primarily by personal calculations of gain and loss. In contrast, collectivistic cultural values emphasize filial devotion, harmony, sociability, and a willingness to put aside personal needs for the good of one's social group. Neither individualistic nor collectivistic values should be considered inherently superior, but rather each is the best functional adaptation to a given set of cultural circumstances (Triandis & Gelfand. 1998). Individualism and collectivism in the management of remuneration would seem to have both functional and dysfunctional aspects within an organizational setting. Past studies (e.g., Ramamoorthy & Carroll, 1998; Ramamoorthy & Flood, 2002; 2004) also indicated that individualistic cultures emphasize competitiveness and collectivistic cultures emphasize cooperativeness. However, Hui and Yee (1999) found that job satisfaction positively correlated with collectivism, which replicated earlier studies by Hui, Yee and Eastman (1995). However, it may be that collectivists are only more satisfied in cultures with values congruent with their own (Parkes & Bochner, 2001).Contrast findings are also reported in many studies. Noordin and Jusoff, (2010) in their study found that Australian managers...
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