Higher education and job satisfaction a stydy with postgraduates in HO CHI MINH CITY

A model was developed from extensive literature and a study of 220 postgraduates from many Master programs in Ho Chi Minh City was conducted to examine the relationship between reason fo

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, HO CHI MINH CITY

Lê Thị Mỹ Nhung

HIGHER EDUCATION AND JOB SATISFACTION:

A STUDY WITH POSTGRADUATES

IN HO CHI MINH CITY

MASTER‟S THESIS

In Business Administration Ology code: 60.34.05

Supervised by

Dr Trần Hà Minh Quân

Ho Chi Minh City – 2010

ii

Acknowledgement

Completing a dissertation is one of great efforts in my education It is an opportunity for me to practice, apply the knowledge and understand how market is working However, I would not able to finish it without kind helps and supports from whom I would like to express my eternal gratitude

I highly appreciated the lecturers in the University of Economic Ho Chi Minh City who provided me precious knowledge during last three years Specially, the MBA course in English was so pleased that I had a chance to know how a student can have new approach and new studying method in second language within limited time and budget

A sincere thankfulness is for my supervisor, Dr Tran Ha Minh Quan, for all his guidance, ideas and inspiration throughout the research as well as during the course

I would express my heartfelt thanks to my MBA Batch 16 classmates, especially Mr Nguyen Thanh Trung, Mr Lam Hong Phong and Ms Dang Hai Yen They all have been along with me for years and given me so many supports and encouragement to complete this thesis

Many thanks to all my close friends, my colleagues and interviewees who I may not mention herein, but they did help me on data and gave me many kind advice

to improve the study

Finally, I am deeply indebted to my parents, who gave me the life and shape of how I am now, for their loves, encouragement, understanding and patient to keep asking me how I was doing

Let me take a chance to give them my best regards and dedicate this work as a gift to them all

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Abstract

Attending higher education, especially Master level, is a movement in Vietnam

in recent years Meanwhile, job satisfaction is a well know research topic for years However, a link better these two dimensions have not been either reviewed much or performed in Vietnam A model was developed from extensive literature and a study

of 220 postgraduates from many Master programs in Ho Chi Minh City was conducted to examine the relationship between reason for pursuing Master‟s degree courses and participants‟ overall job satisfaction Besides, some extensions were done

to find out the different concepts among groups of postgraduates Fine hypotheses were developed to represent three research questions and analysis techniques including multiple linear regression, sample t-test and ANOVA were then applied to test all the hypotheses According to the result, the original measurements could be applicable in Vietnam market, but the content was changed as local respondents‟ evaluation It showed insignificant impacts from attending Master‟s degree courses to overall job satisfaction In addition, there were small variances among groups of postgraduates when they were different from each other in job level, study languages and study duration

Key words: higher education, Master’s degree course, postgraduates, Job satisfaction

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of Contents iv

List of Tables vi

List of Figures vii

List of Abbreviation viii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Rationale of the research 1

1.3 Research objectives and Questions 4

1.4 Scope of the study 5

1.5 Methodology of research 5

1.6 Implication of the research 6

1.7 Structure of the study 7

Chapter 2: Literature Review 8

2.1 Higher education and relevant theories 8

2.2 Reasons for continuing education and PRS 11

2.3 Job Satisfaction 14

2.3.1 Definitions and outcomes of job satisfaction 14

2.3.2 Measuring Job Satisfaction 17

2.4 Relationship between continuing higher education and Job satisfaction 24

2.5 Summary 25

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 27

3.1 Research design 27

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3.1.1 Research process 28

3.1.2 Measurement and Scales 28

3.1.3 Focus group discussion 30

3.1.4 Pilot testing 31

3.1.5 Main survey 33

3.2 Conclusion 39

Chapter 4: Data analyses and results 40

4.1 Descriptive statistics of sample 40

4.2 Scales assessment 43

4.3 Hypotheses testing 48

4.3.1 Correlation between reasons for pursuing Master‟s level and Job satisfaction 48

4.3.2 Difference in reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses among groups of postgraduates 50

4.3.3 Difference in overall job satisfaction among groups of postgraduates 55

4.4 Conclusion 58

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication 60

5.1 Introduction 60

5.2 Conclusions from the research 60

5.3 Implication of the research 63

5.3.1 Theoretical implications 63

5.3.2 Practical implications 64

5.4 Limitation and recommendation for further researches 66

List of References 68

Appendixes 71

1 Focus group outline 71

2 Survey Questionnaire 72

3 Total Variance Explained 76

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List of Tables

Table 3.1: Scales to measure reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses 32

Table 3.2: Scales to measure Job satisfaction 33

Table 3.3: Estimating margin of Error on Sample survey results 36

Table 4.1: Communication methods and respondents 40

Table 4.2: Respondents‟ demographic profiles 41

Table 4.3: Reliability of measurement instruments 45

Table 4.4: Rotated Component Matrix 47

Table 4.5: Linear Regression 49

Table 4.6: Group Statistics of Job Level 50

Table 4.7: Independent Sample T tests for Job Level groups 52

Table 4.8: Group Statistics of Language 53

Table 4.9: Independent Sample T tests for Language groups 54

Table 4.10: Independent Sample T tests 56

Table 4.11: Test of Homogeneity of Variances 57

Table 4.12: ANOVA Testing 57

Table 4.13: Multiple Comparisons 58

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1: Aspects of participation 12

Figure 2.2: Definitions of job satisfaction 15

Figure 2.3: Consequences of high and low job satisfaction 19

Figure 2.4: Average Job Satisfaction levels by facet 22

Figure 2.5: Proposed Research model 26

Figure 3.1: Research process 29

Figure 4.1: Language characteristics 42

Figure 4.2: Duration characteristics 42

Figure 4.3: Job level characteristics 43

Figure 4.4: Hypothesis testing results 58

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List of Abbreviation

CPE Continuing Professional Education

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

MSQ Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire NOSQ Neutral Objects Satisfaction Questionnaire

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Higher education (HE) has been prioritized and considered as one of the essences in national strategy for the development of education and training in Vietnam towards the years The aims are to build a modern system that is capable of training professionals with the high level of education demanded by the causes of industrialization and modernization, and to secure development of the country as well The growth of HE in Vietnam during recent years, especially in the training field, has resulted in the increase of high level human resources; thus it meets requirements of economy and social, as well as creates good opportunities for citizens in various backgrounds who have the desire and the ability to keep up with their studies of HE, improves the common cultural standard in the whole country (Ministry of Education and Training [MOET], 1998) Over the past ten years, HE in Vietnam has continuously experienced many changes including diversification in types of institutions and the establishment of quality improvement standards for its developing accreditation model According to statistic data from MOET, there were 140 universities (divided into public and non-public groups) in 2007-2008 Particularly,

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mentioned by Dung (2009), Vietnam had 160 universities by August 2008 They were invested in many types such as public, private (the fastest growing sector), and foreign related Primary authority for governing the HE system in Vietnam lies with the highly centralized MOET, which is responsible for drafting and implementing policy guidance, as well as supervising the connection between all education programs and management of HE institutions The government allocated 20% of the national budget for education (VND 67 trillion or US$ 4.3 billion in 2007) of which HE received VND 297 billion or US$ 18 million (MOET, 2006) Dung (2009) also lists out characteristics of the higher education system of Vietnam as following:

 Training focus: be small size, create a restricted market; little research on the

potential of higher education; formal institutional uniformity (although there are numerous types of institutions) with hierarchy ostensibly recognised

 Centralised management: relatively centralised control of the curriculum,

funding, and resources; low institutional initiative, since the conditions of centralisation inhibit the taking of initiatives, challenging bureaucratic rule in the universities, or the developing an entrepreneurial spirit

 Restricted competition: not due to markets, students, or business but to

state-controlled resources; high consumer demand but low recognition of this by the universities With limited resources (teaching staff, facilities and funding), universities are able to select only more capable students (about 15-25%)

In the respect that labor markets have been seeking for skilled, well-trained people, higher education graduates and postgraduates, there are more and more people attending higher education including Master‟s degree courses They are not only spending money but also sacrificing time and taking into account the trade-off between time for academic learning and time for working and families, and they choose the course for some specific reasons Recently, globalization trends have made thousands of Vietnamese apply to study abroad The most favorite countries are United States, Europe countries, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, etc (Vietnam MOET, 2008 – cited by Thuy, 2009) The students have different purposes to study abroad, but mainly are to gain knowledge from the developed countries and high

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technology application that they can perceive “real-world” for their future, to learn necessary occupational skills for career development (Thuy, 2009) For others who have no opportunities to study abroad, Master‟s degree courses that are conducted either by local universities or by co-operated units between local universities and foreign universities seem to be the preferable choices As a response to the requirements of both labor markets and the postgraduates, universities in Vietnam have developed themselves with new strategies, reputation, and varieties of curriculums for the Master‟s degree programs and make these courses seem ideal destination for who would like to continuing higher education Tho, Trang and Dung (2006) agree that there has been an increasing trend of Master‟s degree training since 1990s while many universities have been opening courses There are many programs such as local Master‟s degree courses taught in Vietnamese and designed with traditional style or co-operated with foreign universities taught in English in which the postgraduates may study in Vietnam full time or may spend a part of their training time in other countries Furthermore, from 2007, the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City has organized pilot Master‟s degree courses in English (e.g Master of Business Administration and Master of Banking), and established International Business School (IBS) in 2010 In that circumstance, it can be explained that Vietnam

HE system has also adapted a raise on needs of their customers, especially the postgraduates However, has the system satisfied the customers as their expectation? Dung (2009) helps to identify that Vietnam HE system is facing with many challenges Among them, we can see some points related to relationship between higher education and jobs, careers or economic:

 The quality of higher education is low and relevance is limited by a weak link between universities and industry

 There is a lack of articulation between training and economic development

 Many employees require retraining after graduation

These things remind us about importance of connection between higher education and participants‟ jobs It seems there is a necessary to consider whether the participants have satisfied with benefits from their academic learning or not,

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especially if the learning can help improving their job satisfaction Nevertheless, there are not many researches help to determine if continuing education can help participants feel more or less satisfied with their jobs Particularly, there is no research

on the relationship between why Vietnamese postgraduates continue Master‟s degree course and participants‟ satisfaction Therefore, this study is a need to examine that kind of interesting relationship

The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their overall job satisfaction In other words, it is to know whether the courses have any impacts on postgraduates‟ job satisfaction by interpreting the root causes made postgraduates choose the courses at Master‟s degree in Ho Chi Minh City In addition, researcher analyzes deeply to measure different expectation between managers and non-managers while pursuing higher education as well as different job satisfaction among groups of postgraduates who have studied in different languages and duration

From that, three research questions are included:

Q1: Is there statistically significant relationship between the reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their job satisfaction? Q2: Is there statistically significant difference in reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses among groups of postgraduates?

Q3: Is there statistically significant difference in overall job satisfactions among groups of postgraduates?

From these research questions, the hypotheses are developed as following:

Hypothesis 1:

H1: There is statistically significant correlation between reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their overall job satisfaction

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Hypothesis 2:

H2a: There is statistically significant difference between the reasons why managers and the reasons why non-managers pursuing Master‟s degree courses

H2b: There is statistically significant difference between the reasons why postgraduates pursuing Master‟s degree course in Vietnamese and the reasons why they pursuing the course in English/Bilingual

Hypothesis 3:

H3a: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction between people attending Master‟s degree courses in Vietnamese and people attending Master‟s degree courses in English/Bilingual

H3b: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction among people who are studying; who are in thesis preparation; and who have graduated

Higher education and job satisfaction are very extensive concepts There are innumerable reviews on these terms conducted by many researchers in all over the world This study only focuses on investigating whether or not there is any relationship between reasons for attending Master‟s degree and job satisfaction with postgraduates in Vietnam with difference of reasons, job satisfaction among groups of postgraduates Then, the scope is extended to see the difference between the groups of participants when they are different from each other on job level, study languages and study duration As mentioned, there are many universities and Master‟s degree courses throughout Vietnam, but the survey is done especially in Ho Chi Minh City where the dynamic higher education system has developed rapidly for years

This study is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City with postgraduates who have been attending Master‟s degree courses or have finished the Master‟s level while they

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have been working in specific areas Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) is used to measure the reason for pursuing Master‟s degree, and modified Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) is applied to clarify overall job satisfaction Focus group discussion and Pilot testing are used to finalize the questionnaire Subsequently, both web-based and word-template-based questionnaire are sent to interviewees A quantitative approach

is then applied and SPSS 16 is used to analyze data Web-based answers are exported from website in excel format and used for SPSS entry while word-template-based ones are manually input to SPSS Reliability of each factors then tested by Cronbach Alpha coefficient and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Finally, Multiple Linear Regression analysis, Independent sample T-test and One way ANOVA are applied to test the hypotheses

The study contributes new approaches to management both in higher education and in business, as well as to postgraduates for their decision-making For educators‟ side, the application of PRS provides new perspectives to penetrate what graduates expect from the Master‟s degree courses It shows the different point of view of Vietnam interviewees from those in other countries Educators may know more about their target students to focus on the appropriated segments Besides, the difference among groups of postgraduates with different study languages, duration need to be considered while the educators are setting up a Master‟s degree course or program to improve the training quality to adapt increasing requirements from the customers and labor market For managers, it should be a chance to consider which one is appropriate motivator for their staff and which level is valuable to be invested with long-term training in Master level to increase employees‟ job satisfaction level; consequently, to improve job performance For postgraduates, the research can be considered as a review of the real reasons why they want to join the Master‟s courses or what they expect from the training to prevent the movement that hundreds of people joined the courses with unclear expectation, which can make them disappointed and influence their life and job satisfaction

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This study includes five chapters in which research questions and overall information of the study are mentioned in Chapter 1 Recent research and published papers related to job satisfaction and higher education, including relevant theories, as

well as their relationships are reviewed in Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3

describes methodology, research design used in the study, and finalizes questionnaire for the main survey Following Chapter 3, collected data is processed and analyzed in Chapter 4 In addition, all research findings are interpreted, explained and all research questions are answered with clarified hypotheses in the forth chapter Lastly, Chapter

5 mentions conclusions resulting from the findings with their implication, discloses limitation of the study and provides recommendation for further researches

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Higher education and relevant theories

According to Mott (2000), education has been becoming an increasingly important factor in society, people‟s lives and workplace especially It is a wide term that includes many theories and definitions Starting with Lifelong Learning (LLL) – a general concept which was defined by the European Commission (2006) that is all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civic, social and/or employment related perspective In fact, people have opportunities to gain knowledge throughout their whole life The LLL framework conducts the learning process from early childhood until retirement It encompasses formal learning (educational and training institutions); non-formal learning (structured on-the-job training); and informal learning (skills that can be learned from family members, people in the community or people all around us) Through LLL, people can have access to learning opportunities since they need them, as opposed to because they have reached to a certain age LLL

is vital in preparing the workers to compete in the global economy (Lifelong Learning

in a Global Knowledge Economy, World Bank Report, 2003) It involves individuals and organizations in the overall process of learning Moreover, it helps to renew or develop their knowledge as well as complete and compliment the knowledge that people attain during their careers This new paradigm of learning promotes and motivates the continued search for knowledge, and for individuals who occasionally need it - when it is required to broaden their range of opportunities The learning conducted nowadays is rapidly changing, and how learners want to learn, (or can learn) as set in motion the need for this change LLL can be further defined as the activity a person performs throughout the life to improve his or her knowledge, skill

or competence LLL has little bias, as working individuals, unemployed persons,

current students and university alumni, are all good target groups for the LLL process

as well as to provide particular education for specialists, researchers and educators Then, an African scholar (Froneman, 2003) mentions that higher education institutions satisfy four categories Those are the intellectual pursuit of knowledge (seeking knowledge for its own sake); knowledge of education for society (knowledge for ethical purposes); public goals such as the development of national capacity (e.g when governments are interested in supplying the skilled labor that markets desire); and private goals (providing in the market demand for educated labor) Thence, we can see the significant role of higher education and it have been contributing variety of training courses including Master‟s degree which are formal learning in Lifelong Learning framework

On the other hand, the extensive definition of LLL can cover continuing professional education (CPE) in the way that individuals can base their self-worth on

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their work and find that their identity and satisfaction come from their profession Grotelueschen (1985) describes professional employee educational participation as the involvement in formal education activities that are typically either short-term or part-time Educational institutions, professional associations and societies, professional service agencies, the government, and other organizations provide continuing professional activities Besides, Grotelueschen makes the distinction between continuing education in general and CPE basing on characteristics of the referent population, the nature of the participation, and the benefits received from the educational experience The author also gives specific examples of CPE that are continuing education in many professional fields such as accounting, law, medicine, nursing, pharmaceuticals, education, project management, social work, and human resources (Grotelueschen, 1990) Cervero (1990) notes four trends of CPE as following:

Trend 1: The amount of continuing education offered at the workplace dwarfs that offered by any other type of provider, and surpasses that of all other providers combined

Trend 2: Universities and professional associations are active and important providers, with an increasing number of programs being offered in distance education formats

Trend 3: There are an increasing number of collaborative arrangements among providers, especially between universities and workplaces

Trend 4: Continuing education is being used more frequently to regulate professionals‟ practice

Besides, some scholars identify CPE and continuing education are same terms Continuing education is described as learning experiences that prepare employees for future positions (Spears & Parker, 2002) Mott (2000) expands the definition of CPE

as “improving professional competence and practice”; and CPE has been growing in size, coherence, and stature (Cervero, 2000) Nevertheless, CPE is also a part of Lifelong Learning framework as its nature

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Furthermore, Wood (2008) points out the necessity of higher education in continuing professional development The major debates within her field of study are the tensions between formal and informal learning and higher education as provider training services for professional groups In the standards framework of Higher Education Academy, it refers to a range of professional values, one of which is

“commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice” (HE Academy, 2005 – cited by Wood, 2008)

From the discussion, higher education including Master‟s degree somehow connects to continuing professional education In some aspects, higher education is a part of CPE while they are both under umbrella of Lifelong Learning

Regarding to this study, the term “higher education” means education at a college or university where subjects are studied at an advanced level (Cambridge Advanced Leaner Dictionary, 3rd edition), but it is narrow down to the involvement in Master‟s degree courses Participants are postgraduates who also have been working These postgraduates may include ones either who continue studying in their relevant background to improve specific professional development, or others, with some reasons, attending the master‟s degree courses differentiated from their undergraduate programs or work experience

2.2 Reasons for continuing education and PRS

There are more and more people would like to continue education Houle (1961) is one of the first to postulate a framework for continuing professional education To explain why adults are motivated to continuing learning, his theory proposes three orientations as following:

 Goal-oriented individuals are adults, who use education as a means to accomplish definite objectives

 Activity-oriented individuals are adults who take part in education because they find in the circumstances of the learning a meaning which has no necessary connection to the content or the announced purpose of the activity

on reasons for attending continuing education (Table 2.1)

Figure 2.1: Aspects of participation

Source: Margeret A Eggleston (2007)

For this study, researcher prefers Grotelueschen (1985)‟s theory to others because it fixes to scope of the research which is to examine the reasons why Vietnamese postgraduates pursuing in Master‟s degree courses Besides, the Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) developed by this author is popular one, but it is a new measurement applied in local market

Goal/ Objective achieved

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PRS is a psychometric test instrument that has been used in many studies to measures reasons or motivation for individuals in professional occupations for participation in continuing professional education The tool is created by Grotelueschen (1985) who would like to explain why participants focused less on adult learning in general and more on the subgroup of working adult professional learning The author expands Houle‟s (1964) theoretical learner orientations by creating five operational constructs to further detail the reasons adults seek CPE Grotelueschen identified the following five factors to explain why adults participate in CPE:

 Professional Improvement and Development relates to nine reasons that are

clearly associated with the day-to-day practices The PRS items in this factor include such key words as "knowledge or skill", and/or references to a concern for competent, "quality performance" The concepts in this factor relate to the need to keep up with rapid changes in technology

 Professional Service relates to five reasons those are associated with the

service aspects Key words in this factor are "effective", proficient, and "better service"

 Collegial Learning and Interaction includes four participation reasons related

to learning through an interchange with professional colleagues Key words in this factor include "exchange thoughts", "relate ideas", and learn from

"interaction The concepts in this factor however, are learning oriented rather than socially oriented

 Personal Benefits and Job Security consist of six participation reasons related

to job security, financial illustrative of gain, or professional advancement Words that are these reasons include "increase benefits, "change the emphasis of", "professional advancement", and "individual security" This concept is descriptive of the establishment of a professional role that provides longevity and rewards accomplishment

 Professional Commitment and Reflection includes six participation reasons

related to a membership within a larger professional body, and to reasons that

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are external to the technical aspects Key words are such as “maintain identity”,

“enhance the image”, “reflect on the value”, and “review my commitment to

my profession”, illustrate concepts in this factor

The PRS has been used in numerous studies to assess the reasons for participation in CPE of many populations Some remarkable ones are veterinarians (Harnisch, 1980); physicians (Cervero, 1981); judges (Catin, 1982); public school employees (Barry-Cybulski, 1990); engineers and scientists (Tait, 1990); registered nurses (DeSilets, 1990); librarians (Smith & Burgin, 1991); physical therapists (Langsner, 1993); army engineers (Grzyb, 1995); nursing staff development specialists (Aucoin, 1997); public and private school teachers (Alfone, 1997), special agents in the U S Treasury department (Houlihan, 1998); army engineers (Grzyb, Graham & Donaldson, 1998); first-line supervisors in the nuclear power industry (McCamey, 2003); and information technology professionals in higher education (Bennett, 2006)

In Vietnam, to the best of researcher‟s knowledge, there is no particular study

on the reasons for pursuing Master‟s level Therefore, the present study contributes to the literature through its examination on the reasons postgraduates from many areas continuing higher education in Master‟s level, especially in Ho Chi Minh City where higher education system has significantly developed for years

2.3 Job Satisfaction

2.3.1 Definitions and outcomes of job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a concept that has been widely researched, both academically and professionally It is closely connected to motivation theories as Herzberg‟s (1965) and Maslow‟s (1954) hierarchy of needs According to Brief (1998), there were more than 3,300 research articles and dissertations published on job satisfaction in the year

of 1976 Two decades later, the desire to comprehend the antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction continued Brief added that by 1994, more than 12,400 research articles and dissertations had been published on job satisfaction The elusive nature of the job satisfaction construct advanced the measurement and

Vroom (1964) Job satisfaction is the basis of an employee‟s evaluation of

whether one gets what he/she wants from a job

Herzberg (1968) Job satisfaction is the basis of human-relations theory, which

posits that employees develop positive job attitudes if their jobs allow them to fulfill their needs

Locke (1976) Job satisfaction refers to employees‟ affective relations to their

work role and is a function of the perceived relationship between what one wants from one‟s job and what one perceives it is offering

DeLeon and Taher Job satisfaction is a function of its intrinsic and extrinsic

To business, building job satisfaction or creating satisfied employees is significant and important strategy because it has specific outcomes as following:

 Job Performance: researchers used to believe that the relationship between job

satisfaction and job performance was management myth However, a review of

300 studies suggested that the correlation is fair strong (Judge et al 2001) When satisfaction and productivity data are gathered for the organization as a whole, it is found that organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than ones with fewer satisfied employees

 Organizational Citizenship Behavior: satisfied employees seem more likely to

talk positively about the organization, help others, and be willing to go beyond the normal expectations or formal job requirements, as they are more prone to

go beyond the call of duty because they want to reciprocate their positive experience

 Customer Satisfaction: Judge and Robbins (2007) note that employees in

service jobs often interact with customers and satisfied employees increase

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customer satisfaction and loyalty The reason is that in service organizations, customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how frontline employees deal with customers Satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and responsive which customers appreciate Besides, because satisfied employees are less prone to turnover, customers are happy to see familiar faces and receive experienced service

 Absenteeism: Judge and Robbins (2007) also confirm a consistent negative

relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism, but the correlation is moderate to weak While it certainly makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, other factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation coefficient

 Turnover: as well as absenteeism, satisfaction is negative related to turnover,

but the correlation is stronger However, other factors such as labor-market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to leave one‟s current job (Hultin et al 1985) Evidence shows that an important moderator of the satisfaction – turnover relationship is the employee‟s level of performance (Spencer & Steers, 1981) Specially, level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for superior performers than it is for poor performers

 Workplace deviance: job satisfaction predicts many specific, behaviors,

including unionization attempts, substance abuse, stealing at work, undue socializing, and tardiness Nevertheless, if employees do not like their work environment, they will respond somehow, but it is not easy to forecast exactly how they will respond

2.3.2 Measuring Job Satisfaction

From the analyzed outcomes, it is found that job satisfaction is an extremely important factor influencing business productivity and performance Therefore, studies researching and measuring job satisfaction are numerous This part focuses on

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some popular scales and models used to measure facets of job satisfaction in general, and especially, methods applied in Vietnam market

2.3.2.1 Neutral Objects Satisfaction Questionnaire (NOSQ)

Job satisfaction is not just about job condition, but also about personality For example, some people are predisposed to like almost everything, and others are unhappy even in the seemingly greatest jobs Researchers have shown that people who have a negative personality are usually less satisfied with their jobs For this, the NOSQ is applied to measure the link between personality and job satisfaction Also, the relationship between the NOSQ and job satisfaction has been found to be moderate in strength and is likely to predict job satisfaction after controlling for common affective-oriented dispositions, such as positive affectivity and negative (Eschleman, 2008)

Weitz (1952) develops 44-item scale consisting of a checklist of facial neutral objects The scale is termed such a “gripe index” because individuals expressing a large number of dissatisfactions in their lives, as measured by the checklist, may be predisposed to view most things negatively The survey measures disposition by reflecting affective bias toward items common to everyday life Individuals highly satisfied with the objects as a whole may have a tendency to see everything, including the job, in a favorable light Weitz has modified the checklist in several ways to eliminate some “messy” measures of disposition to have 25-item scale recently Judge and Hulin (1993) present NOSQ in 14-item scale which implies that if someone dislikes his first name, his telephone service, and even 8 ½ x11 paper, he may dislike most things in his life including his job A recent study conducted by Kevin (2009) provides evidence that the correlation between the NOSQ and job satisfaction is significant and this correlation is weaker than the correlation between the NOSQ and job cognitions, but the difference is not statistically significant

2.3.2.2 Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)

Weiss, Dawis, England and Lofquist (1967) apply this instrument to measure the job satisfaction of the academicians Then, Serife and Tulen (2009) use the tool for

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academicians in Northern Cyprus The MSQ short form consists of 20 items or facets which measures three types of job satisfaction, namely overall job satisfaction, intrinsic satisfaction, and extrinsic satisfaction Of these 20 facets, 12 measure intrinsic factors or occupational conditions (ability utilization, achievement, activity, authority, creativity, independence, moral values, responsibility, security, social status, social service, and variety) and six of them measure extrinsic factors/environmental conditions (advancement, company policies and practices, compensation, recognition, supervision-human relations, and supervision-technical) The aggregate of the intrinsic and extrinsic facets plus the two facets co-workers and working conditions (20 facets) measure overall job satisfaction Respondents were asked to express the extent of their satisfaction with each of the 20 items on a five point likert scale ranging from 1=very dissatisfied to 5=very satisfied This instrument

is widely used (Scarpello & Campbell, 1983) and its validity and reliability have been proven for years

2.3.2.3 The Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

Job Descriptive Index is versatile instrument used to measure job satisfaction

It is developed by P.C Smith et al (1969) who are interested in the connection of job satisfaction to the employee‟s past productivity with the assumption that a happy worker was a productive worker However, the simplicity of this construct is not adequate to explain the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity Additionally, no reliable or substantial evidence supported this relationship Smith et

al therefore creates a series of instruments to measure the factors associated with the workplace Since then, the instrument is developed as the JDI and often be mentioned along with the Job in General scale The JDI measures five characteristics: the work itself, supervision, coworkers, promotion and pay

According to Locke (1970), these five terms considered as consequences of job satisfaction that were explained as listed in Figure 2.3

Figure 2.3: Consequences of high and low job satisfaction

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Stay late Stay on job

Be absent or late, quit

Supervision Approach accept advice

Stay on job

Avoid complain & argue Reject advice

Quit Co-workers Approach conform to stay at

job

Avoid argue with

Be absent Promotion Increase effort

Raise a aspirations Stay on job

Decrease effort Lower aspirations Quit

Stay on job

Complain Solicit, competing offer Decrease effort

Quit These five facets of job satisfaction, then, were defined by Balzer et al (2000)

in the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) user manual as following:

 Satisfaction with Work concerns the employee's satisfaction with the work

itself The satisfaction literature has identified various attributes of work related

to satisfaction including opportunities for creativity and task variety; allowing

an individual to increase his or her knowledge; and changes in responsibility, amount of work, autonomy, job enrichment, and job complexity Based on these attributes, satisfying work appears to be work that can be accomplished and is intrinsically rewarding

 Satisfaction with Supervision reflects an employee's satisfaction with his or her

supervisor(s) Employees have the greater the levels of satisfaction with supervisors if the supervisor is more considerate and employee-centered (e.g., praising good performance, taking personal interest in employees, providing feedback, and listening to subordinates' opinions) Furthermore, the greater the supervisor's perceived competence on the job, the greater the levels of satisfaction with supervision

 Satisfaction with People on the Present Job (Co workers): the facet concerning

people on the present job assesses the level of employee satisfaction with his or her fellow employees The degree of satisfaction with coworkers is thought to

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be determined by the work-related interaction among coworkers and the mutual liking or admiration of fellow employees

 Satisfaction with Promotion measures the employee's satisfaction with the

company's promotion policy and the administration of that policy Employee‟s satisfaction with promotion is thought to be a function of the frequency of promotions, the importance of promotions, and the desirability of promotions

 Satisfaction with Pay addresses attitude toward pay and is the basis for the

perceived difference between actual and expected pay Expected pay is based both on the value of perceived inputs and outputs of the job and the pay of other employees holding similar jobs and possessing similar qualifications Employee‟s satisfaction with pay is influenced by the personal financial situation of the employee, the economy, and the amount of pay an employee has received previously

Again, according to Judge and Robbins (2007), job satisfaction levels vary a lot depending on which facet talked about such as work itself, pay, promotion, supervisor, coworkers or overall Independent studies conducted among U.S workers over the past

30 years, generally indicate that the majority of workers are satisfied with their jobs Although the percentage range is wide, more people report that they are satisfied than not In addition, these results overall apply to other developed countries, for instance, such as Canada, Mexico, and Europe indicate more positive than negative results Figure 2.4 shows that people are on average satisfied with their jobs overall, with the work itself, and with their supervisors and coworkers However, they tend to be less satisfied with their pay and with promotion opportunities and enjoy the work itself which almost is the facet most strongly correlated with high levels of overall job satisfaction

Work itself Pay Promotion Supervision Coworkers Overall

Source: Organizational Behavior (Judge and Robbins; 2007)

In recently research, the JDI has been used in conjunction with the Job in General Scale (JIG) They are effective measures to evaluate the relationship between organizational communication (Goris, Pettit, & Vaught, 2002), absenteeism and job turnover (Compton, 2002), and trust (Morris, Marshall & Rainer, 2002) Compton (2002) also measures the level of job satisfaction for members of the Association of Information Technology Professionals The author examines job satisfaction as it related to absenteeism and job turnover Additionally, Compton shows that the degree

of satisfaction which an employee derives from the work environment corresponds directly to the employee‟s needs and work-related problems Compton‟s study finds that Association of Information Technology Professional members possessed a high degree of job satisfaction within the subscales of work, pay, promotion, supervision, and coworkers and also had a high degree of satisfaction in general as measured by the JIG Goris et al (2002) assesses the influence of organizational communication on the association between an individual‟s job congruence and job satisfaction The authors see a weak relationship between communication overload (receiving too much information) and communication underload (processing too little information) to job satisfaction and job performance Morris et al (2002) examines the relationship of trust and job satisfaction within virtual teams Virtual teams are employees who work together cooperatively from different locations supported by IT systems to overcome the limitations of time and location When researchers use the JDI to measure job

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satisfaction, they identify a significant positive impact between user satisfaction and trust on job satisfaction

2.3.2.4 Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS)

This tool was defined by Paul Spector‟s in the mid of 1980s particularly for workers in nonprofit and human service organizations (Richard 1999) The author, Paul Spector, refers to job satisfaction as “a cluster of evaluative feelings about the job” and identifies nine facets of job satisfaction as follow:

1 Pay - amount and fairness or equity of salary

2 Promotion - opportunities and fairness of promotions

3 Supervision - fairness and competence at managerial tasks by one‟s

supervisor

4 Benefits - insurance, vacation, and other fringe benefits

5 Contingent rewards - sense of respect, recognition, and appreciation

6 Operating procedures - policies, procedures, rules, perceived red tape

7 Coworkers - perceived competence and pleasantness of one‟s colleagues

8 Nature of work - enjoyment of the actual tasks themselves

9 Communication - sharing of information within the organization (verbally or

in writing)

Many researchers such as Julie Parmer and Dennis East‟s (1989), Voelck (1994), Rechard (1999) used the tools to measure job satisfaction of staff in libraries over the world The method has similar five dimensions as previous one – Job Descriptive Index; they are pay, promotion, supervision, coworkers and nature of work The author adds more four terms to cover fully factors impact on job satisfaction: benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures and communication

In some aspects, it is extended JDI model In Vietnam, there are also many studies on job satisfaction within a specific corporation or on examination of JDI model implementation which localizes the tool to fit well in Vietnam context Dung (2005 –

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cited by Nhat, 2009) applies JDI with five factors (work itself, oppertunities for traning and promotion, leader or suppervisor, co-workers, income) and adds factors (benefits, working conditions) After verification, there are remained four factors which are suitable to Vietnam context such as satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with co-workers, satisfaction with supervisors/leaders and satisfaction with promotion oppertunities Toan (2009), applies five factors from JDI with similar names (income, training and promotion, superiors, colleagues, job characteristics), and two modified factors (working condition, benefits) as tested by Dung (2005) to measure job satisfaction of employees who were working in offices in Ho Chi Minh City Other researcher, Ngan (2009) uses adjusted JDI to measure impacts of seven work factors and four personal factors on overall job satisfaction They are suppervisors or leaders, pay, benefits, training and promotion, co-workers, work itself, communication, supervision, loyalty, efforts on working, and company pride

For this study, researcher would like to measure overall job satisfaction rather than each of factors impact on job satisfaction Therefore, researcher does only take into account the one “Nature of work” which may reflect the work itself and add one general statement “I am satisfied with my job” to evaluate job satisfaction level

2.4 Relationship between continuing higher education and Job

is surprising result is that college course correlate negatively to job satisfaction and it

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is worth further examination to discover the underlying causes Gamero (2009) notes that since Freeman‟s work (1978), the economic literature has consistently identified job satisfaction as a good predictor of effective labor mobility – that is quits Moreover, other evidence confirms the negative correlation between job satisfaction and intention to quit (Shields & Ward, 2001) Gamero, then, presents a theoretical model of on-the-job based on the maximization of the inter-temporal utility of work His research allows linking the likelihood of on-the-job search with the level of job satisfaction Recently, Tampieri (2010) examined how educational decisions influence job and marital satisfaction; or specifically, the author tested for a relationship between job satisfaction and the probability to attend university

Finally, we can see research regarding to analyses of facets influencing job satisfaction, or relationship between job satisfactions and other factors rather than reasons for pursuing CPE, higher education, or Master‟s level For the first kind of research, normally, it is named as “measuring job satisfaction” of specific group of population which have been often done in Vietnam However, we have not seen studies on the second area as well as researches on relationship between pursuing Master‟s level and job satisfaction conducted in Vietnam

2.5 Summary

The above discussion has reviewed the literature related to higher education, which is continuing professional education in curtain context, and related to job satisfaction with its facets and outcomes, as well as relationship between CPE, higher education and job satisfaction if any However, to the best of researcher‟s knowledge, while there are recommendations from many researchers that further studies regarding to continuing education and job satisfaction should be conducted as well as the needs of understanding how Master‟s degree in Vietnam, included in higher education system, are impacting on postgraduates‟ job satisfaction, this research may come on time The PRS is suitable for this study because it provides the appropriate constructs for and instrumentation which can be applied to to assess reasons for participation in Master‟s degree Meanwhile, only one small part of the Job Satisfaction Survey is chosen to measure overall job satisfaction level because researcher would like to simplify the

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process and focus on one job satisfaction factor Three research questions are developed and supported by five hypotheses The first question “Is there statistically significant relationship between the reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their job satisfaction?” is key question to understand if there is relationship between attending higher education and participants‟ job satisfaction For this question, only one hypothesis H1 is defined herein Then, groups of postgraduates are used to identify the difference of reasons why participants decided to attend the long-term, academic trainings and the difference of their job satisfaction The groups include postgraduates who are studying, who are in thesis preparation and who have graduated for years, or who have different study languages and job levels Researcher expects to see different points of view when participants are in various years of study

as well as various years of working Finally, research model is described in Figure 2.5

Figure 2.5: Proposed Research model

Reasons for pursuing Master’s degree courses

Job satisfaction

Question 1: Is there statistically significant relationship between the reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their job satisfaction?

Hypothesis 1:

H1: There is statistically significant correlation between reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their overall job satisfaction

H2b: There is statistically significant difference between the reasons why postgraduates pursuing Master‟s degree course in Vietnamese and the reasons why they pursuing the course in English/Bilingual

Question 3: Is there statistically significant difference in overall job satisfactions among groups of postgraduates?

Hypothesis 3:

H3a: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction between people attending Master‟s degree courses in Vietnamese and people attending Master‟s degree courses in English/Bilingual

H3b: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction among people who are studying; who are in thesis preparation; and who have graduated

3.1.1 Research process

Research tasks are treated as a sequential process involving several clearly defined steps (Cooper & Schindler, 2003) For this study, researcher outlines the research process as in Table 3.1 It lists down milestones done during the study and their outputs generally

3.1.2 Measurement and Scales

Cooper and Schindler (2003) defined that measurement in research consists of assigning numbers to empirical events in compliance with a set of rules The goal of measurement is to provide the highest quality, lowest error data for testing hypotheses Measurement is a three-part process:

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Figure 3.1: Research process

Discover dilemma Develop Research

questions

Literature review

Initial questionnaire

Focus group modificationItems

Draft questionnaire

Data collecting &

Processing

Analysis & Hypothesis

testing

Results interpretation

Pilot test questionnaireFine-tune

Final questionnaire

Main survey

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1 Selecting observable empirical events

2 Developing a set of mapping rules: a scheme for assigning numbers of symbols

to represent aspects of the event being measured

3 Applying the mapping rule(s) to each observation of the event

Researcher, herein, selected observable empirical events through analyses in previous chapters Rules or scales were also developed basing on ex studies and other researchers‟ experience In other words, researcher proposed the most appropriated instruments applied in this study as mentioned in Chapter 2 Those are PRS used to measure reasons why postgraduates pursuing Master‟s degree level and simplified JSS used to measure participants‟ job satisfaction The instruments are deployed with a 7-point Likert scale To complete the questionnaire, participants indicate the importance

of each of 30 items (for PRS) and agreement of each of 5 items (for JSS) in increasing scales from 1 (Not important/ Do not agree) to 7 (Extremely important/ Totally agree) The questionnaire is translated from English into Vietnamese and clarified by Focus group discussion with Pilot test to ensure wording meets respondents‟ perception, and neither confusion nor awkwardness occurs to the participants; as well as to consider if there is a need of supplement or modification Lastly, the application or third step is conducted and results are discussed in chapter 4

3.1.3 Focus group discussion

Originating in sociology, focus groups became widely used in marketing researches during the 1980s and have been used for increasing diverse research application today The output of the focus groups discussion is a list of ideas and behavioral observations, with recommendations by the moderator As one of exploratory techniques of qualitative research, this approach provides ability to grasp quickly and inexpensively the core issues of a topic It gives researchers a chance to observe reactions to their research questions in an open-ended group setting and it best enable the exploration of surprise information and new ideas Typically, the focus group panel is made up 6 to 10 respondents (Cooper & Schindler, 2003) For this study, researcher conducted a Focus group with six postgraduates from CFVG

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program and Master of Administration program in English, the University of Ho Chi Minh City The discussion was held friendly, openly in around 2.5 hours and the members were asked for their opinions and comments about defined research ideas and initial survey questionnaire They were all willing to contribute and gave feedbacks to help researcher further explore the items and assess participants‟ response on the survey After the discussion, both questionnaires of PRS and Job satisfaction are kept with no supplement is required However, 12 out of 30 statements

in Vietnamese need to be reworded to adapt common perspectives in Vietnam context Finally, the draft of questionnaire was gone through with eight demographic questions, five factors (30 questions) to measure Participant reasons, and one factor (5 questions) to evaluate overall Job satisfaction

3.1.4 Pilot testing

A pilot test is conducted to detect weakness in design, instrumentation, and to provide proxy data for selection of a probability sample It should, therefore, draw subjects from the target population and simulate the procedures and protocols that have been designed for data collection The size of the pilot group may range from 25

to 100 subjects, depending on the method to be tested but the respondents do not have

to be statistically selected (Cooper & Schinler, 2003) To apply the pilot testing, researcher used pretesting, one form of pilot test to refine measurement instrument and to understand participants‟ actual feeling and response The draft questionnaire was sent to researcher‟s closed friend and colleagues who are studying or have just graduated from Master‟s degree course in 2010 After four days, only 16 respondents‟ data was collected and input in SPSS 16 for trial run with Cronbach Alpha and Exploratory factor analysis Because the respondents‟ quantity was not enough as required number, the result analysis was used for reference only However, many comments from respondents about the questionnaire made researcher consider doing some adjustments

 One out of 30 PRS questionnaires should be removed because it is not clear

enough for respondents: “To relate my ideas to those of my professional peers”

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in factor “Collegial Learning and Interaction” Explanation showed that other

three statements in same group could fulfill the general idea of the factor

 Factor Job satisfaction can be applied with three questions instead of five In

the other hand, three statement “I like doing the things I do at work”, “My job is enjoyable” and “I am satisfied with my job” would be maintained for final

questionnaire

The questionnaire, after these adjustments, includes five factors (29 questions)

to measure Participant Reason, and one factors (3 questions) to measure Job Satisfaction Detail items are listed in table 3.2 and 3.3

Table 3.1: Scales to measure reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses

Professional Improvement and Development

To further match my knowledge or skills with the demands of my

work situation

RES1.1

To help me be more productive in my professional role RES1.2

To develop new professional knowledge and skills RES1.4

To sharpen my perspective on my professional role or practice RES1.5

To help me keep abreast of new developments in my field RES1.6

To develop proficiencies necessary to maintain quality performance RES1.8

To maintain the quality of my supervisory service RES1.9

Professional Service

To accommodate more effectively the needs of my clients RES2.2

To help me increase the likelihood that clients are better served RES2.4

To improve my individual service to the public as a supervisor RES2.5

Collegial Learning and Interaction