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

MINISTRYOFEDUCATIONANDTRAININGUNIVE RSITYOFECONOMICS,HOCHI MINHCITY Lê ThịMỹNhung HIGHEREDUCATIONANDJOBSATISFACTION:A STUDYWITHPOSTGRADUATES IN HO CHIMINHCITY MASTER‟STHESIS In BusinessAdministration Ologycode:60.34.05 Supervisedby Dr.TrầnHàMinhQuân HoChiMinhCity–2010 Acknowledgement Completinga d i s s e r t a t i o n iso n e o f g r e a t e f f o r t s i n mye d u c a t i o n I t i s a n o p p o r t u n i t y formetop r a c t i c e , a p p l y t he k n o w l e d g e a n d u n d e r s t a n d h o w m a r k e t is w o r k i n g However,Iwouldnotabletofinishitwithoutkindhelpsands upportsfromw h o m Iwouldliketoexpressmyeternalgratitude IhighlyappreciatedthelecturersintheUniversityofEconomicHoChiMinhCity w h o p r o v i d e d mep r e c i o u s k n o w l e d g e d u r i n g lastt h r e e years.Specially,t heM B A coursein English wassopleasedthatIhadachancetoknowhow astudent canh a v e newapproachandnewstudyingmethodinsecondlanguagewithinlimitedtime a n d budget Asincerethankfulnessisformysupervisor,Dr.TranHaMinhQuan,forallhisguidance ,ideasandinspirationthroughouttheresearchaswellasduringthecourse IwouldexpressmyheartfeltthankstomyMBABatch16classmates,e s p e c i a l l y MrN g u y e n T h a n h T r u n g , M r L a m H o n g P h o n g a n d MsD a n g H a i Y e n The ya l l h a v e b e e n a l o n g w i t h mef o r yearsa n d g i v e n mesom a n y s u p p o r t s a n d e n c o u r a g e m e n t tocompletethisthesis Manytha nks t o a l l m y c l o s e f r i e n d s , myc o l l e a g u e s a n d i n t e r v i e w e e s w h o I maynotmentionherein,buttheydidhelpmeondataandgavememanykindadvicet o improvethestudy Finally,Iamdeeplyindebtedtomyparents,who gavemethelife andshapeofh o w I a m n o w , f o r t h e i r l o v e s , e n c o u r a g e m e n t , u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d p a t i e n t t o k e e p a s k i n g mehowIwasdoing Letmetakeachancetogivethemmybestregardsanddedicatethisworkasagifttoth emall ii Abstract Attendinghighereducation,especiallyMasterlevel, isamovementinVietnaminrecentyears.Meanwhile, jobsatisfaction isawellknowr e se a rc h topic foryears.However,alinkbetterthesetwodimensionshavenotbeenei therreviewedmuchorperformedinVietnam.Amodelwasdevelopedfromextensivel iteratureandastudyo f 220postgraduatesfrom manyMasterprogramsinHoChiMi nhCitywasc ondu ct ed toexaminethe relationshipbetweenreasonforpursuingMast er‟sdegreec o u r s e s andparticipants‟overalljobsatisfaction.Besides,some extensionswere donet o f i n d o u t t h e d i f f e r e n t c o n c e p t s a m o n g g r o u p s o f p o s t g r a d u a t e s F i n e h y p o t h es es wered e v e l o p e d t o r e p re s e n t t h re e r e s e a r c h q u e s t i o n s a n d a n a l y s i s t e c h n i q u e s includingmultiplelinearregression,samplettestandANOVAwerethenappliedtot e s t a ll th e h yp ot he s e s A c c o r d i n g to the r e s ul t, the o ri gi na l m e a s u r e m e n t s could be applicablei n V i e t n a m market,b u t t h e c o n t entw a s c h a n g e d a s l o c a l r e s p o n d e n t s ‟ evaluation.Itshowedinsignific antimpactsfrom attendingMaster‟sdegreecoursestoo v e r a l l j o b s a t i s f a c t i o n I n a d d i t i o n , t h e r e w e r e smallv a r i a n c e s a m o n g g r o u p s o f p o s t g r a d u a t e s whentheyw eredifferentfromeachotherinjoblevel,studylanguagesa n d studyduration Keyw o r d s : h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n , M a s t e r ’ s d e g r e e c o u r s e , p o s t g r a d u a t e s , J o b satisfaction iii TableofContents Acknowledgement ii Abstract .iii TableofContents iv ListofTables vi ListofFigures vii ListofAbbreviation viii Chapter1:Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Rationaleoftheresearch 1.3 ResearchobjectivesandQuestions 1.4 Scopeofthestudy .5 1.5 Methodologyofresearch 1.6 Implicationoftheresearch 1.7 Structureofthestudy Chapter2:LiteratureReview 2.1 Highereducationandrelevanttheories .8 2.2 Reasonsforcontinuing educationandPRS .11 2.3 JobSatisfaction 14 2.3.1 Definitionsandoutcomesofjobsatisfaction 14 2.3.2 MeasuringJob Satisfaction 17 2.4 RelationshipbetweencontinuinghighereducationandJobsatisfaction 24 2.5 Summary 25 Chapter3:ResearchMethodology 27 3.1 Researchdesign .27 3.1.1 Researchprocess 28 3.1.2 MeasurementandScales .28 3.1.3 Focusgroupdiscussion 30 3.1.4 Pilottesting 31 3.1.5 Mainsurvey 33 3.2 Conclusion 39 Chapter4:Dataanalysesandresults 40 4.1 Descriptive statisticsofsample .40 4.2 Scalesassessment 43 4.3 Hypothesestesting 48 4.3.1 Correlationbe t w e e n re a s on s forpurs uing M a s t e r ‟ s le ve l a n d J ob s a t i s f a c t i on 48 4.3.2 Difference in reasonsforpursuingMaster‟sdegreecoursesamongg r o u p s ofpostgraduates .50 4.3.3 Difference in overall ofpostgraduates job satisfaction among groups 55 4.4 Conclusion 58 Chapter5:ConclusionandImplication 60 5.1 Introduction 60 5.2 Conclusionsfromtheresearch 60 5.3 Implicationoftheresearch .63 5.3.1 Theoreticalimplications .63 5.3.2 Practicalimplications 64 5.4 Limitationandrecommendationforfurtherresearches 66 ListofReferences .68 Appendixes .71 Focusgroupoutline 71 SurveyQuestionnaire 72 TotalVariance Explained .76 List ofTables Table3.1:ScalestomeasurereasonsforpursuingMaster‟sdegreecourses 32 Table3.2:ScalestomeasureJobsatisfaction 33 Table3.3:EstimatingmarginofErroronSamplesurveyresults 36 Table4.1:Communicationmethodsandrespondents 40 Table4.2:Respondents‟demographicprofiles .41 Table4.3:Reliabilityofmeasurementinstruments 45 Table4.4:RotatedComponentMatrix 47 Table4.5:LinearRegression 49 Table4.6:GroupStatisticsofJobLevel 50 Table4.7:IndependentSampleTtestsforJobLevelgroups 52 Table4.8:GroupStatisticsofLanguage 53 Table4.9:IndependentSampleTtestsforLanguagegroups .54 Table4.10:IndependentSampleTtests 56 Table4.11:TestofHomogeneityofVariances 57 Table4.12:ANOVATesting 57 Table4.13:MultipleComparisons 58 List ofFigures Figure2.1:Aspectsofparticipation 12 Figure2.2: Definitionsofjobsatisfaction .15 Figure2.3: Consequencesofhighandlowjob satisfaction .19 Figure2.4: AverageJobSatisfactionlevelsbyfacet .22 Figure2.5:ProposedResearchmodel 26 Figure3.1:Researchprocess .29 Figure4.1:Languagecharacteristics 42 Figure4.2:Durationcharacteristics 42 Figure4.3:Joblevelcharacteristics 43 Figure4.4:Hypothesis testingresults 58 vii List ofAbbreviation CPE ContinuingProfessionalEducation JDI JobDescriptiveIndex JIG JobinGeneralScale JSS JobSatisfactionSurvey HE HigherEducation LLL LifelongLearning MOET MinistryofEducationandTraining MSQ MinnesotaSatisfactionQuestionnaire NOSQ NeutralObjectsSatisfactionQuestionnaire PRS ParticipationReasonsScale SPSS StatisticalPackagefortheSocialSciences viii Chapter1:Introduction 1.1 Introduction Inthefirstchapter,researcherprovidesgeneralintroductionofthestudythroughfi vesections.Rationaleandobjectivesoftheresearchhelpexplainthecircumstancea n d c o n c e r n s i n w h i c h t h e studymayb e c o m e n e c e s s a r y F r o m t h a t , researchquest ionsaswellastheirhypothesisaredevelopedinthecontext.However,t h e m e n t i o n e d c i r c u m s t a n c e w o u l d b e s o w i d e a n d o v e r a l l t h a t r e s e a r c h e r n e e d s ton a r ro w downthescopeofthe study insection1.4.Then,section1.5 presentsresearchm e t h od o l o g y u s e d forthisstudy,section1.6mentionsmainimplicati onsofther e s e a r c h whilethehypothesesaretestedinotherchapterlateron.Finally,se ction1.7p r o v i d e s wholestructureoftheessay 1.2 Rationaleof theresearch Higher education(HE)has beenprioritizedandconsidered asone ofthee s s e n c e s innationalstrategyforthedevelopmentofeducationandtraininginVietnamto wardstheyears.Theaimsaretobuildamodernsystemthatiscapableoftrainingp r o f e s s i o n a l s w i t h t h e h i g h l e v e l o f e d u c a t i o n d e m a n d e d byt h e c a u s e s o f industrializationand modernization,and tosecuredevelopmentofthecountryaswell.T h e growthofHEinVietnamduringrecentyear s,especiallyinthetrainingfield,hasr e s u l t e d intheincreaseofhighlevelhumanresou rces;thusitmeetsrequirementsofe co n o my a n d s o c i a l , a s w e l l a s c r e a t e s g o o d o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r c i t i z e n s inv a r i o u s b a c k g r o u n d s whohavethedesi reandtheabilitytokeepupwiththeirstudiesofHE,improvesthecommonculturalstand ardinthewholecountry(MinistryofEducationa n d T r a i n i n g [ M O E T ] , 9 ) O v e r t h e p a s t tenyears,H E i n V i e t n a m h a s continuously e x p e r i e n c e d m a n y c h a n g e s i n c l u d i n g d i v e r s i f i c a t i o n i n typeso f institutionsandtheestabli shmentofqualityimprovementstandardsforitsdevelopingaccreditationm o d e l A c c o r d ing tostatistic data fromMOET,therewere140universities(dividedint o p u b l i c a n d n o n - p u b l i c g r o u p s ) i n 0 - 0 Particularly, mentionedbyDung(2009),Vietnamhad160 universitiesbyAugust2008.Theywereinvestedinmanytypessuchaspublic,private (thefastestgrowingsector),andforeignr e l a t e d P r i m a r y a u t h o r i t y f o r g o v e r n i n g t h e H E s y s t e m i n V i e t n a m liesw i t h t h e h i g h l y centralizedMOET,whi chisresponsiblefordraftingandimplementingpolicyg u i d a n c e , aswellassupervis ingtheconnectionbetweenalleducationprogramsandm a n a g e m e n t of HEinstitutions Thegovernmentallocated20%ofthenationalbudgetfore d u c a t i o n ( V N D 67trillionor U S $ 4.3billioni n 0 ) o f w h i c h H E r e c e i v e d V N D 297billionorUS$18mill ion(MOET,2006).Dung(2009)alsolistsoutc h a r a c t e r i s t i c s ofthehighereducationsyst emofVietnamasfollowing:  Trainingfocus:besmallsize,createarestrictedmarket;littleresearchonthe potential of h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n ; forma l ins ti tu ti on a l un if or mi ty (altho ughthe re a r e numeroustypesofinstitutions)withhierarchyostensiblyrecognised  Centralisedmanagement:relativelycentralisedcontrolofthecurriculum,f unding,a n d r e s o u r c e s ; l o w i n s t i t u t i o n a l i n i t i a t i v e , s i n c e t h e c o n d i t i o n s o f c e n t r a l i s a t i o n inhibitthetakingofinitiatives,chal lengingbureaucraticruleintheuniversities,orthedevelopinganentrepreneurials pirit  Restrictedcompetition:not duetomarkets,students,orbusinessbuttostatecontrolledresources; highconsumerdemandbutlowrecognitionofthisbytheu n i v e r s i t i e s Withl i m i t e d r e s o u r c e s ( t e a c h i n g s t a f f , f a c i l i t i e s a n d f u n d i n g ) , unive r s i t i e s areabletoselectonlymorecapablestudents(about15-25%) Int h e r e s p e c t t h a t l a b o r marketsh a v e b e e n s e e k i n g f o r s k i l l e d , w e l l t r a i n e d p e o p l e , highereducationgraduatesandpostgraduates,therearemoreandmorepe opleattendingh i g h e r e d u c a t i o n i n c l u d i n g M a s ter‟sd e g r e e c o u r s e s T heya r e n o t onlyspendingmoneybutalsosacrificingtimeandtakingintoaccountthetradeoffb e t w e e n timef o r academicl e a r n i n g a n d timef o r w o r k i n g a n d f a m i l i e s , a n d theyc h o o s e thecourseforsomespecificreasons.Recently,globalization trendshavemadethousandsofVietnamesea p p l y tos t u d y a b r o a d Themostfavoritec ountriesareU n i t e d S t a t e s , E u r o p e c o u n t r i e s , U n i t e d K i n g d o m , A u s t r a ... wassopleasedthatIhadachancetoknowhow astudent canh a v e newapproachandnewstudyingmethodinsecondlanguagewithinlimitedtime a n d budget Asincerethankfulnessisformysupervisor,Dr.TranHaMinhQuan,forallhisguidance ,ideasandinspirationthroughouttheresearchaswellasduringthecourse... 2.3 JobSatisfaction 14 2.3.1 Definitionsandoutcomesofjobsatisfaction 14 2.3.2 MeasuringJob Satisfaction 17 2.4 RelationshipbetweencontinuinghighereducationandJobsatisfaction... ContinuingProfessionalEducation JDI JobDescriptiveIndex JIG JobinGeneralScale JSS JobSatisfactionSurvey HE HigherEducation LLL LifelongLearning MOET MinistryofEducationandTraining MSQ MinnesotaSatisfactionQuestionnaire NOSQ