The effects of job satisfaction on organizational commitment of Thai employees in five Rajabhat universities in the northern group.

• Author: Baotham, Sumintorn

1. INTRODUCTION

   The study of job satisfaction has a long history in industrial and organizational psychology (Wright, 2006), where it is examined as a potential cause, correlate, and consequence of both job-related, such as job attitudes (Bowling and Hammond, 2008), role stresses (Addae and Parboteeah, 2008) and non-job variables, such as organizational citizenship and deviant workplace behavior (Lara, 2008). Thus, job satisfaction is one of the most studies variables in seeking to understand employees' behaviors and attitudes toward their organization (Igbaria et al., 1994). Most studies point out the job satisfaction is a powerful predictor of organizational commitment (Yousef, 2002; Yavas and Badur, 1999). Previous research to identify the causes of employees' organizational commitment has examined the relationship of several antecedent variables. Studies have confirmed that organizational commitment is a consequence of job satisfaction. (Chiu and Francesco, 2003)

   However, relatively little attention has been directed at examining Thai employees' job satisfaction in the university. Rajabhat University is the new university that developed administration structure from the Rajabhat Institute under the University Act signed by His Royal Highness King Rama IX on June 15, 2004. With the respect to the new administration structure, university employees may face more problems in their job as the managements are facing competitive pressure from other universities. All of the changes to compete with other universities may cause the university employees to face plenty of burnout and therefore affect their job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In this study, job satisfaction refers to a pleasurable positive state resulting from one's job and job experience (Locke, 1976). Organizational commitment refers to the extent to which employees are involved with and have emotional attachment to their organizations because they identify with the goals and values of their organization (Porter et al., 1974). The aims of this study are to investigate the associations of job satisfaction on organizational commitment both of five Rajabhat universities employees and overall in the northern group. The key research questions are how job satisfaction influence organizational commitment of five Rajabhat universities employees and overall in the northern group.

   The structure of the paper is outlined as follows. Section 2 reviews existing relevant literature. Section 3 presents the data set used in this research and research methodology, followed by a discussion of the empirical results. Section 4 proposes theoretical contributions, managerial implications for future research, and conclusion.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

   Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been examined extensively, but there are few associate studies that have examined the relationship between the concept of job satisfaction on organizational commitment with regard to Thai employee' aspect in Rajabhat Universities in the northern group. This study attempts to capture the effects of job satisfaction on organizational commitment. As mentioned earlier, job satisfaction and organizational commitment have frequently been associated with all occupations (Roes et al., 2009). Then, this study proposes that job satisfaction has a positive relationship with organizational commitment as shown in Figure 1.

   2.1 Job Satisfaction

   Job satisfaction is one of the most studied variables in seeking to understand employees' behaviors and attitudes toward their organizations. Job satisfaction reflects the degree to which the work environment (i.e. career, co-workers, and supervision) meets the needs of the individual. In this study we regard job satisfaction as an overall measure, rather than the aggregate of individual facets of job satisfaction. It refers to a pleasurable positive state resulting from one's job and job experience (Locke, 1976).

   Martin and Bennet (1996) mentioned the four alternative models of the job satisfaction-organizational commitment relationship. First, Job satisfaction is antecedent to organizational commitment (Porter et al., 1974; Poznanski and Bline, 1997; Yang and Chang, 2007). Second, organizational commitment is antecedent to job satisfaction (Curry et al., 1986; Lu et al., 2007). Third, organizational commitment and job satisfaction are reciprocally related (Martin and Bennet, 1996). Fourth, organizational commitment and job satisfaction are independent (Martin and Bennet, 1996). Meta-analytic findings based on 59 empirical studies indicated that "organizational commitment is primarily a consequence, rather than an antecedent, of job satisfaction" (Brown and Peterson, 1993). Then, this study predicts that job satisfaction is antecedent to organizational commitment (Jone et al., 2007).

   The topic of job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important issues because of both reflecting a positive evaluation of the job (Udo et al., 1997). It is possible to assume that employees would be satisfied with their organization if they were satisfied with their job. Most literature reported a positive relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fu et al., 2009; Van Dam, 2005; Johnston et al., 1990). The hypothesis is proposed as follows:

   Hypothesis 1: The higher the job satisfaction, the more likely that those employees will have higher organizational commitment.

3. RESEARCH METHODS

   3.1 Sample

   In order to effectively examine the effects of job satisfaction on organizational commitment, we chose Thai employees of Rajabhat Universities in the northern group such as Pibulsongkram, Chiangrai, Lampang, Uttaradit and Chiangmai as the sample. The 1,000 employees were selected by simple sampling. A mail survey was used for data collection. A covering letter explaining the purpose of this research was attached, assuring respondents of the confidentiality of their responses, and instructing them to complete the questions, seal and return the completed questionnaires using an attached return envelope. In addition, all respondents were guaranteed confidentiality and promised a summary of results if requested. The questionnaire based on the extent literature was checked by expertise and any misunderstandings that could arise from ambiguities were eliminated, the survey asked individuals to consult with others regarding the survey results. With regard to the questionnaire mailing, from which 271 responses were received. Four incomplete questionnaires were excluded from the study resulting in 267 usable responses for final data analysis. This resulted in 267 usable responses or a response rate of 26.7%. The...