Work autonomy and job involvement

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HOCHIMINH CITY WORK AUTONOMY AND JOB INVOLVEMENT The Mediation of Participation in Decision Making and Job Satisfaction: The case of Information Technology industry MASTER THESIS HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HOCHIMINH CITY WORK AUTONOMY AND JOB INVOLVEMENT The Mediation of Participation in Decision Making and Job Satisfaction: The Case of Information Technology Industry Major: Business Management ID: 60.34.05 MASTER THESIS INSTRUCTOR: DR PHẠM QUỐC HÙNG HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012 i Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to Dr Pham Quoc Hung – Faculty of Public Finance, Hochiminh City University of Economics, for his valuable advices and kind supervising on my thesis work I am also thankful for professors and lecturers from Hochiminh City University of Economics, class eMBA K18, who have given me precious background knowledge and great support during the course I am really appreciated the sharing, enthusiastic support and encouragement from my classmates at eMBA K18 I am grateful to my colleagues and my friends who helped me a lot to collect data for the dissertation Last but not least, I would like to give this study to my family and especially my sisters and boyfriend who have always been encouraging me, supporting me no matter what I to advance in life ii Abstract Research in organizational behavior has shown that autonomy and empowerment are often key factors in employee satisfaction Job autonomy creates a sense of responsibility among the employees of the organization This dissertation will examine the relationship between Work Autonomy, Job satisfaction, Participation in Decision Making, and Job Involvement in Information Technology professionals or more specially software engineers in Hochiminh City It also evaluates effecting effect of Participation in Decision Making and Job Satisfaction on relationship between Work Autonomy and Job Involvement Three hundred and three effective surveys were received from software engineering personnel After data screening, only two hundred and seventy two surveys were kept Besides, the dissertation identifies level of mediation of Job Satisfaction and Participation in Decision Making in relationship between Work Autonomy and Job Involvement The data were analyzed by reliability analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, using the structural equation model to measure the relationship among the constructs The empirical results found that Work Autonomy has positive association with Job Satisfaction, Participation in Decision Making, and Job Involvement Job Satisfaction and Participation in Decision Making partially mediate relationship between Work Autonomy and Job Involvement Key words: work autonomy, job satisfaction, job involvement, participation in decision making, information technology, software engineer iii Table of Contents CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND 1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 OUTLINE STRUCTURE CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 CONCEPTS 2.1.1 WORK AUTO 2.1.2 JOB INVOLEM 2.1.3 JOB SATISFA 2.1.4 PARTICIPATIO 2.2 RELEVANT RESEARCHES 2.2.1 JOB CHARAC 2.2.2 WORK AUTO 2.2.3 CORRELATES 2.3 RESEARCH MODEL 2.4 CHAPTER CONCLUSION CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLODY 3.1RESEARCH DESIGN 3.1.1 Research Appr 3.1.2 Research Strate 3.1.3 Exploratory Stu 3.1.4 Descriptive Stu 3.1.5 Explanatory St iv 3.2 QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT 3.2.1 Structure of the 3.2.2 Translation of t 3.3 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE 3.3.1 Target populati 3.3.2 Sample size 3.3.3 Sample selectio 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD 3.4.1 Data screening 3.4.2 Reliability chec 3.4.3 Confirmatory f 3.4.4 Multiple regres 3.5 ETHICAL CONCERNS 3.6 CHAPTER CONCLUSION CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 4.1 DATA SCREENING 4.2 ANALYSIS OF BACKGROUND INFORMAT 4.2.1 Gender 4.2.2 Age 4.2.3 Number of yea 4.2.4 Role in the pro 4.3 DEPENDENT AND MODERATOR VARIABL 4.3.1 Level of Job Sa 4.3.2 Level of Job In 4.3.3 Level of Partic 4.4 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES v 4.5 SCALE RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT 4.5.1 Work autonom 4.5.2 Job Satisfaction 4.5.3 Job Involveme 4.5.4 Participation in 4.6 CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS 4.7 CORRELATION ANALYSIS 4.8 MULTI REGRESSION 4.8.1 Impact of Work 4.8.2 Impact of Work 4.8.3 Impact of Work 4.8.4 Impact of Parti 4.8.5 Impact of Job S 4.8.6 Work Autonom Decision Making and Job Satisfaction CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 5.3 LIMITATIONS REFERENCES ABBREVIATIONS APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMESE APPENDIX C: STATISTICS vi TABLES Table Statistics for all variables 34 Table Distribution of sample – Gender 34 Table Distribution of sample – Age 35 Table Distribution of sample - Number of years of experience 36 Table Distribution of sample - role in the project 36 Table Descriptive Statistics for Job Satisfaction 37 Table Descriptive Statistics for Job Involvement 37 Table Descriptive Statistics for Participation in Decision Making 38 Table Descriptive Statistics for Criteria Autonomy 39 Table 10 Cronbach's Alpha for Work Autonomy 40 Table 11Cronbach‟s Alpha for Job Satisfaction 40 Table 12 Cronbach‟s Alpha for Job Satisfaction after eliminating JS_4 40 Table 13 Cronbach‟s Alpha for Job Involvement 41 Table 14 Cronbach's Alpha of Job Involvement after eliminating JI_5, JI_6 .41 Table 15 Cronbach's Alpha for Participation in Decision Making 41 Table 16 Cronbach's Alpha for Participation in Decision Making after eliminating PDM_1 42 Table 17 Removed errors from CFA diagram 43 Table 18 Correlations analysis 46 Table 19 Model Summary for WA and JI 46 Table 20 Coefficient between WA and JI 46 Table 21 Model Summary for WA and JS 47 Table 22 Coefficients between WA and JS 47 Table 23 Model Summary for WA and PDM 48 Table 24 Coefficients between WA and PDM 48 Table 25 Model summary for PDM and JI 49 Table 34 Coefficients between PDM and JI 49 Table 27 Model Summary for JS and JI 49 Table 28 Coefficient between JS and JI 50 vii Table 29 Model Summary with PDM, JS as mediators 50 Table 30 Coefficients between WA and JI, mediated by PDM and JS 51 Table 31 Item Statistics for Work Autonomy 67 Table 32 Item Total Statistics for Job Satisfaction 67 Table 33 Item Total Statistics for Job Involvement 68 Table 34 Item-Total Statistics for Participation in Decision Making 68 Table 35 ANOVA for WA and JI 68 Table 36 ANOVA for WA and JS 69 Table 37 ANOVA for WA and PDM 69 Table 38 ANOVA for PDM and JI 69 Table 39 ANOVA for JS and JI 69 Table 40 ANOVA with PDM, JS as mediators 70 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND To be successful in today‟s global business environment, companies need the knowledge, ideas, energy and creativity of every employee, from front line workers to the top level managers in the executive suite Research in organizational behavior has shown that autonomy and empowerment are often key factors in employee satisfaction Job autonomy creates a sense of responsibility among the employees of the organization O‟Toole and Lawler (as cited in Gretchen, 2007) mention that the best organizations accomplish this by empowering their employees to take initiative without prodding, to serve the collective interests of the company without being micro-managed, and to act like owners of the business Autonomy is one of several core job design characteristics (the others are skill variety, task identity, task significance and feedback from the job) that theorists and researchers have used in order to predict and test the relationships between job design and desired work outcomes (Hackman & Oldham, 1976, p 256, 1980, p 83) As has been stated by Cummings and Blumberg (as cited in Parker and Wall, 2001) , work autonomy (WA) works best in a work environment where technical uncertainty and environmental uncertainty exist, or together referred to as Gretchen Spreitzer (2007) Taking Stock: A review of more than twenty years of research on empowerment at work The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Behavior: Volume One: Micro Approaches, p.54 J Richard Hackman And Grec R Oldham (1976) Motivation through the Design of Work: Test of a Theory Organizational Behavior And Human Performance 16, 250-279 Parker, S K., & Wall, T D (2001) Work design: Learning from the past and mapping a new terrain In N Anderson, D S Ones, H K Sinangil, & C Viswesvaran (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial, Work, and Organizational Psychology (pp 90-109) London, United Kingdom: Sage Publications 19 Most things in life are more important than work Participation in decision making 20 Employees need not be informed about decisions made by management (except as necessary to conduct the work) 62 21 Employees have the right to be informed after decisions are made 22 Employee must be informed in advance and give an opportunity to voice their opinions 23 Employees are consulted informally before a decision is made 24 Employees must be consulted before a decision is made 25 Employees participate informally with management in decision making, management (through „residual rights‟) and employees (through collective agreement) retain the right of veto over some issues 26 Employee has the final say in decision making PART B Personal information Gender: Male Age: 21–24 Number of years of experience: 0-2 year Do you supervise others? 63 APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE IN VIETNAMESE Xin chào Anh/Chị, Bảng câu hỏi thực khuôn khổ luận văn tốt nghiệp Cao Học, chuyên ngành Quản Trị Kinh Doanh trường Đại học Kinh tế Tp Hồ Chí Minh Mục đích đề tài khảo sát ảnh hưởng tự quản công việc tới mức độ thỏa mãn công việc tận tâm nhân viên công việc Tôi xin cam kết thông tin từ bảng nghiên cứu sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu phạm vi luận văn nêu Chân thành cám ơn nhiệt tình hỗ trợ Anh/Chị Trân trọng Nguyễn Bá Anh Thư PHẦN A Trong trình làm việc cơng ty, xin Anh/Chị vui lịng cho biết mức độ đồng ý Anh/Chị với phát biểu Vui lòng chọn số thích hợp cho phát biểu cách khoanh trịn, gạch chân, đánh dấu chéo 1: Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 7: Hoàn toàn đồng ý Về tự quản công việc Tôi tự tiếp cận cơng việc theo cách riêng để hồn thành Tơi tự lựa chọn cách thức thực phần việc Tơi thực cơng việc theo chun mơn Tơi định thực phần việc cụ thể nhóm Tơi quyền kiểm sốt lịch trình cơng việc nhóm Tơi quyền kiểm sốt trình tự thực cơng việc nhóm 64 Tơi tự định mục tiêu cơng việc Tơi có quyền kiểm sốt cơng việc mà giao nhóm Tơi tác động đến việc đánh giá dựa tiêu chí gì, tơi nhấn mạnh vào lãnh vực mạnh Về thỏa mãn cơng việc 10 Nhìn chung, tơi hài lịng cơng việc 11 Đánh giá cơng việc Anh/Chị theo cảm nhận cá nhân 12 Nếu quyền lựa chọn lại, chọn nghề nghiệp hay cơng việc 13 Nếu tơi có hội làm việc công ty khác với loại công việc mức lương, chọn công việc Về gắn bó cơng việc 14 Tơi làm ngồi để hồn thành cơng việc tơi khơng trả lương ngồi 15 Đối với tôi, buổi sáng công ty trôi qua nhanh 16 Tôi thường đến công ty sớm để đảm bảo công việc chuẩn bị sẵn sàng 17 Bạn đánh giá người dựa mức độ hồn thành tốt cơng việc người 18 Đối với tơi, cơng việc phần nhỏ người 19 Cuộc sống có nhiều điều quan trọng công việc Về tham gia định 20 Nhân viên không cần thông báo định ban quan lý (ngồi trừ trường hợp cần thiết cho 65 cơng việc) 21 Nhân viên có quyền thơng báo sau định đưa 22 Nhân viên cần thông báo trước quyền nêu lên ý kiến 23 Nhân viên ĐƯỢC hỏi ý kiến cách khơng thức trước định ban hành 24 Nhân viên PHẢI tham khảo ý kiến trước định ban hành 25 Nhân viên tham gia cách khơng thức với ban quản lý q trình định Thơng qua ý kiến tập thể, nhân viên có quyền phủ vài định 26 Nhân viên có tiếng nói cuối việc đưa định PHẦN B Xin vui lịng cho biết đơi nét cơng việc thân Anh/Chị: Giới tính: Độ tuổi: Số năm kinh nghiệm cơng ty: 0-2 năm Bạn có giám sát / quản lý người khác không? 66 APPENDIX C: STATISTICS WA PDM JS JI Custom Table WA PDM JS JI Custom Table WA PDM JS JI 67 WA PDM JS JI SCALE RELIABILITY ASSESMENT – ITEM STATICSTICS WA_1 WA_2 WA_3 WA_4 WA_5 WA_6 WA_7 WA_8 WA_9 Table 31 Item Statistics for Work Autonomy JS_1 JS_2 JS_3 JS_4 Table 32 Item Total Statistics for Job Satisfaction 68 Item-Total Statistics JI_1 JI_2 JI_3 JI_4 JI_5 JI_6 Table 33 Item Total Statistics for Job Involvement PDM_1 PDM_2 PDM_3 PDM_4 PDM_5 PDM_6 PDM_7 Table 34 Item-Total Statistics for Participation in Decision Making MULTIPLE REGRESSION STATISTICS Model Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), WA b Dependent Variable: JI Table 35 ANOVA for WA and JI 69 ANOVA b Model Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), WA b Dependent Variable: JS Table 36 ANOVA for WA and JS Model Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), WA b Dependent Variable: PDM Table 37 ANOVA for WA and PDM Model Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), PDM b Dependent Variable: JI Table 38 ANOVA for PDM and JI Model Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), JS b Dependent Variable: JI Table 39 ANOVA for JS and JI 70 ANOVA c Model Regression Residual Total Regression Residual Total a Predictors: (Constant), WA b Predictors: (Constant), WA, PDM, JS c Dependent Variable: JI Table 40 ANOVA with PDM, JS as mediators ... Temporary and Permanent Workers’ Job Involvement: A Test in Belgium and Finland Journal of Personnel Psychology 2010; 9(1): 40-49 12 between autonomy and workload on the one hand, and job involvement. .. relationships between work autonomy and its outcomes, namely: job satisfaction, participation in decision making, and job involvement - To evaluate relationship between job satisfaction and job involvement. .. involve in their jobs resulting in higher motivation and performance Hypothesis Work autonomy is positively related job involvement 2.2.2.2 Work Autonomy and job satisfaction The job characteristics