Exploring the Relationship between Demographic Characteristics and Job Satisfaction Indicators: A study on Private Bank Employees in Bangladesh

Md. Mostafijur Rahman^1*, Md. RazwanHasan Khan Chowdhury², Md. Abdul Kader², Md. Amirul Islam³ and Mst. Ummay Tohfa^3
*Correspondence: Md. Mostafijur Rahman, Department of Business Administration, First Capital University of Bangladesh, Shahnaz Mansion, Alamdanga Road (Pouro College Para), Chuadanga-7200, Bangladesh, Tel: +8801303757005, Email:

Keywords

Job Satisfaction • Chi-Square Test • Demographic Characteristics • Private Bank Employees • Bangladesh

Introduction

Job satisfaction plays an important role not only at the employee level as a determinant of individual well-being but also at the aggregate level, it has equal effect on worker productivity and retirement decisions, and ultimately, a nation’s economic prosperity [1]. It is difficult for any organization to compete in the current era of competition without the loyal and competent human asset [2]. Employees are always the key resource of competitive advantage for the business organization [3]. Therefore, organization should give much more emphasis on employees’ interest and should ensure their satisfaction toward the job. Empirical studies highlighted that job satisfaction is a predictive factor for job performance, productivity, working behavior and turnover intentions [4,5]. High employee satisfaction will strengthen and support the workforce, make employees more creative and innovative and produce superior performance in optimal time, rates of absenteeism and turnover usually decrease, reduce accident and employee stress, staff morale and productivity increase and work performance as a whole improve [6-8]. On the contrary, the result of job dissatisfaction is that it increases the cost of recruitment, selection and training, discourages the current employees and reduces the growth of organization [9]. Extensive research proved that job satisfaction did not happen in isolation, as it depends on organizational variables such as structure, size, pay, and leadership, working conditions, clear staffing policy and channels of communication, participation in decision making, security and good governance [10-13]. Job satisfaction is an emotional pleasant and positive status which is resulting from the job assessment or job experience of an individual [14]. Locke defined job satisfaction “as a pleasurable or positive emotional state which is the result of the appraisal of one’s job experiences” [15].

A satisfied, happy and hardworking employee is the biggest asset of any organization including banks [16]. Since banking institutions are the backbone of a nation’s economy [17] and play a vital role for the overall economic development [18], so the effective management of human resources and maintenance of higher job satisfaction levels are important to run the banks properly [19]. Bangladesh is a developing country and banking sector has significant contribution in the development process [20]. Banking sector bought dramatic changes in agriculture, business and other sectors which have brought higher employment opportunities, increases in income level, and changes in consumption pattern. In addition, with the expansion of private banking business, along with customized services, has created a severe implied competition in this sector [21]. This competition has made the service gap wider as private banks offer better services to their internal and external customers [22]. As better services of banks depend on employees, Job satisfaction is one of the most widely researched areas in organization behavior and human resource management [23].

Literature Review

A number of studies have been conducted regarding job satisfaction in Bangladesh and worldwide and most of these have revealed either factor related to job satisfaction or level of job satisfaction like as, conducted a study on the graduates of the University of Florida’s agricultural communications program to assess how satisfied respondents were with their jobs, as well as explore the relationships between facets of job satisfaction and graduates’ perceptions as to the effectiveness of their educational preparation. Results of the study indicated that the majority of respondents were generally satisfied with their positions. Khan et al. revealed that pay, promotion, job safety and security, working conditions, job autonomy, relationship with co- workers, and relationship with supervisor and nature of work; affect the job satisfaction and performance [24]. Bae and Yang, showed that, in South Korea, receiving maternity and child care leave is positively associated with job satisfaction whereas child care subsidy did not show a significant effect on job satisfaction [25]. A study on community correctional staff in China by Jiang found that role clarity, formalization, and perceived promotional opportunities were significant predictors of the satisfaction and distributive justice, and procedural justice has often been found to be predictors of job satisfaction in the United States [26].

Rahman revealed significance means variation of the low level of job satisfaction among age, designation, salary, marital status, service period and working environment. Hossain revealed that working conditions, pay, fairness, and promotion significantly influenced employee job satisfaction in Bank but individual factors such as age and gender did not have found that because of smart remuneration, attracts the compensation package, dignity, smooth career growth, job security, pension funds, provident fund, gratuity, incentives, and lots of other benefits fresh graduates have a fascination for banking sector jobs in Bangladesh [27]. Ahmed revealed that recruitment & selection, training & development, salary & benefits, and reward have a positive effect on employees’ job satisfaction whereas supervisory role and job security have an adverse effect. Uddin conducted a study on the employees of the general insurance companies in Bangladesh and found that pay and promotional potential, well-organized chain of command and general working condition have positive relationship with job satisfaction where poor team spirit and poor job security have negative relation [28].

Objective of this Study

To be the best of our knowledge, there is no significant study available in Bangladesh which has seen whether is there any significant relationships between demographic characteristics and job satisfaction indicators among private bank employees in Bangladesh? So, the purpose of this study was to explore the significant relationships between demographic characteristics (Gender, age, family income, salary, education and geographic location) and job satisfaction indicators (Participation in decision making, Availability of tools and resources, Training facilities, Gender discrimination and Opportunity of increasing knowledge & capacity) among private bank employees in Bangladesh [29].

Methodology

There are 7 private banks are operating in Chuadanga and all the 7 banks have been selected for this study. We included Mercantile Bank Ltd., Dutch- Bangla Bank Ltd., Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd., ShajalalIslami Bank Ltd, First Security Islami Bank Ltd., BRAC Bank Ltd. and United Commercial Bank Ltd banks in our study.

The cross-sectional study sample consisted of 56 (male 50 and female 6) bank employees respondents. They were interviewed in February 2016 using semi-structured questionnaire containing pre-coded and open-ended questions.

A semi-structured questionnaire was developed using job satisfaction forces to which the respondents were asked to react using a three Bipolar scale ranging which was (i) Yes (ii) No and (iii) No comment. All the questions were derived from the past studies and from the general perception of job satisfaction. The bipolar scale has been selected because of its widespread appropriateness of measuring attitude.

Sample size

This study used Yamane formula to calculate sample size (49).Yamane (1967) provided a simplified formula to calculate sample size.

Equation is

Where

n = is the sample size

N= is the population

1 = is a constant

e² =is the estimated standard error which is 5% for 95% confidence level

Dependent variables

We used several dependent variables, which were categorical, such as Gender, age, family income, salary, education and geographic location in this study (see Table 1).

Independent variables

To measures the associations between demographic characteristics and job satisfaction indicators five independent variables were used which were categorized decoratively. The independent variables were ‘Participation in decision making’, ‘Availability of tools and resources’, ‘Training facilities’, ‘Gender discrimination’ and ‘Opportunity of increasing knowledge & capacity’.

Statistical analysis

SPSS 22.0 and Excel have been used to process and analyze the data. Dependent and independent variables were analyzed by using Chi-square test. As all the variables used in this study (both dependent and independent) were categorical and to show the associations between categorical variables Chi-Square test fit best. That is why this study used Chi-Square test. It has been used to test the statistical significance of the parameters at 5% level.

The written consent has been taken from the respondents. This study is approved by the research authority of the First Capital University of Bangladesh.

Results

Table 1 showed the socio-demographic characteristics of the employee. Among the employees, 89.3% were male, 46.4% belonged to 30-35 age group, 91.1% was master degree holder and Muslim, 42.9% working as training assistant officer /assistant officer /junior officer /assistant officer cash, 30.4% withdraw monthly salary between 26,000 and 35,000, and more than 45,000, 76.8% were married, 64.3% employees live in semi urban area, 42.9% service period <36 month

According to Table 2 around 92.5% male employees reported that the current organization helped to increase their knowledge and working capacity (p<0.028). On the contrary around 66.7% female recorded that they have very little opportunity which can increase their knowledge and working capacity.

Table 3 showed that more than half employees (55.3%,) of 30-35 age group could not take part in decision making where around 44.4% employees of more than 35 age group can participate (p<0.013).

In Table 4, we did not find any significant relationship between education and job satisfaction indicators.

From Table 5, we found that employees who withdrew highest salary (66.7%) could participate in decision making (p<0.000) and around 46.9% got proper training facility. But employees were those whose salary were in between 25,001-35,000 (39.5%) could not take part in decision making and around 45.8% did not get proper training.

In Table 6, it has been found that there was no significant association between job satisfaction indicators and geographic location. But training facilities (p=0.108) was close to significance level.

Table 7 illustrated that employees whose family income were higher than others around 66.7% of them had the opportunity to part in decision making, in contrast, employees, whose family income were between 45000-6500 around 42.2% of them could not participate in decision making and 45.8% did not have proper training facilities.

Discussion

This study revealed significant relations between demographic variables (Sex, Age, Salary and Family Income) with job satisfaction indicators (increase knowledge &capacity, participation in decision and training facilities). But education and geographic location did not show any significant relation with job satisfaction indicators. Our study is consistent with other studies, such as, Hadrian in Iran, found significance relation between demographic characteristics, for example, age, marital status, gender, higher status and years of service, and motivational factors, such as, advancement, recognition, responsibility, education and development, interpersonal relations, equity, pay, job security, recognition, attractiveness of job supervision, organizational policies, working conditions [30]. Tabatabaei revealed that there was a correlation between a few demographic variables, for example, like sex, age, education and with few organizational factors, such as, jobs situation, work shifts and hours [31]. Zhang revealed that there were significant differences between demographic variables of employees and the six Job Descriptive Index (JDI) categories [32]. Popoola conducted a study to investigate the effects of demographic factors, job satisfaction and locus of control on organizational commitment of records management personnel in Nigerian private universities. And he found that job satisfaction, the locus of control and all the demographic factors (i.e. gender, age, marital status, education and job tenure) were positively related to organizational commitment [33]. Mehrad showed opposite result where his study revealed that demographic characteristics gender has no significant relation to job satisfaction indicators namely pay, work, promotion, and co-worker [34].

This study showed that sex has significance relation with the opportunity of increasing capacity and knowledge [35]. Different studies showed different outcomes such as, Rahman revealed that male is more satisfied than their female counterpart considering the indicators, such as salary, bank’s sympathetic view, bonus, reward, working with colleagues, leave rules, job security, appraisal and evaluation and working schedule and satisfied workers are tending to improve knowledge and capacity [36]. Rast illustrated there was a significant relationship between supervision as one of the dimensions of job satisfaction and sex [37]. Robbins and Judge claimed that sex affect some variables such as job satisfaction, turnover, and performance [38]. Saatchi shown that gender and education moderated the relationship between job satisfaction and task performance [39]. Schneider found female employees had little opportunity to participate in goal setting and decision making [40]. Shore showed that females were more satisfied than males when income, age, and education were controlled through covariance. Income and age positively affected job satisfaction when sex, marital status, and job categories were controlled through covariance [41]. Spector inferred that male and female workers have a significantly different level of job satisfaction [42]. Tabatabei reported opposite scenario that Women, either in full-time or part-time employment, report significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than men [43]. Where Uddin found that there is no significant difference between male and female employees’ job satisfaction [44,45].

This study also presented age is significantly associated with participation in decision making. Vrinda revealed that younger workers were found to be significantly lower in satisfaction with work itself, esteem, self-actualization, and total work satisfaction [46]. The perceptions and satisfaction level of young blue-collar workers were quite different from their older counterparts. Young found that job satisfaction indicators like as attractiveness of job, working condition, supervision and organization policies were significantly associated with age [47]. Zhang revealed that age had an effect on performance, job satisfaction and turnover [48]. Curtis illustrated that nurses under the age of 35 were less satisfied than those over the age of 36. Age and tenure did not moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and task performance. Employees of 30-35 age groups had low levels of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction increases with age [49]. Why age has a positive relation to job satisfaction? Gibson and Klein showed the reasons; first, older people seem to have a different relationship to authority than younger people. Second, they have higher needs to be directed and to accept orders, and third, cognitive structures are different from those of younger people. Zou (2008) revealed different result that laborers older than 60 years had a low job satisfaction [50].

In our study, we have found salary and family income have a significant association with participation in decision making and training facilities. Heidarian et al. (2015) showed salary and education have significant association (12). Michael (2003) found that good family support reduces individuals' negative experiences at work (26).Veranda and Jacob (2015) said that compensation is the major element that affects the employee performance (46). Judge et al. (2010) illustrated pay level is only marginally related to satisfaction (19).Mahnaz (2013) showed that the employees who receive more salaries have more job satisfaction (24). But Young et al. (2014) showed a surprising result which was salary has a negative relationship to both job and life satisfaction (47).

Limitations of the Study

The main limitation of this study is small sample size. Some employees denied giving information which may limit our study. We consider only private bank’s employee which is another limitation. However, it represented a clear picture of associations between demographic characteristics and job satisfaction among employee in Bangladesh.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The purpose of this study was to explore the significant relationships between demographic characteristics and job satisfaction indicators among private bank employees in Bangladesh and the result hit the objective. This study revealed significant associations between demographic characteristics, such as, sex, age, salary and family income and job satisfaction indicators which were participation in decision, training facilities and increase knowledge and capacity. This finding will help the policy maker to formulate new strategies and also to revise the existing one to ensure employees satisfaction toward their job. To prompt employee’s satisfaction more strategies could be developed such as employees should be given the opportunity to participate in decision making, fixing working hour, transparency, equitable and competitive compensation and promotion system, ensuring effective training and development program, removing gender discrimination. More research on job satisfaction is essential to formulate the strategy to keep the employees satisfied with their job.

References

1. Ahmed RU. “A comparative research on job satisfaction and human resource management practices: Empirical investigation of few commercial bank employees in Bangladesh.” Int J Human Res Studies5 (2015): 290-300.
2. Ali TI. “Job Satisfaction of Faculty Members in Private Universities -In Context of Bangladesh.” Int Bus Res 2 (2009): 167-175.
3. Altimus CA,Tersine RJ. “Chronological age and job satisfaction: The young blue collar worker.” Acad Manag 16 (1973): 53-66.
4. Anjom W, Akther S and Karim AM. “Factors affecting the fascination for banking sector jobs in Bangladesh: An empirical study conducted among the fresh graduates in Chittagong.” Australasian J Bus Soc Sci Info Technol 2 (2016): 216-224.
5. Bae KB and Yang G. “The Effects of Family-Friendly Policies on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: A Panel Study Conducted on South Korea’s Public Institutions.” Pub Person Manag 46 (2017): 1-17.
6. Bae KJ. “The analysis of change in job satisfaction.” Labor Rev 40 (2008): 84-95.
7. Bjork IT, Samdal GB, Hansen BS, Torstad S and Hamilton GA. “Job satisfaction in a Norwegian population of nurses: A questionnaire survey. Int J Nursing Studies 44 (2007): 747 -757.
8. Curtis EA. “The effects of biographical variables on job satisfaction among nurses.” British J nursing 17 (2008): 174-80.
9. Dess GD and Shaw JD. “Voluntary turnover, social capital, and organizational performance.” Acad Manag Rev 26 (2001): 446-56.
10. El -Jardali F, Dimassi H, Dmit N, Jamal D, Muo G (2009) A national cross -sectional study on nurses’ intent to leave and job satisfaction in Lebanon: Implications for policy and practice. BMC Nursing 8 (2009):1-13.
11. Gibson JL, Klein SM (1970) Employee attitudes as a function of age and length of service: A re-conceptualization. Acad Manag J 13 (1970): 411-425.
12. Heidarian AR, Kelarijani SEJ, Jamshidi R, Khorshidi M. “The relationship between demographic characteristics and motivational factors in the employees of social security hospitals in Mazandaran.” Caspian J Intern Med 6 (2015): 170-174.
13. Hellriegel D, Slocum JW. “Organizational climate: Measures, research and contingencies. Acad Manag J 17 (1974): 255-280.
14. Hossain MS. “Job satisfaction of bank employees in Bangladesh.” Res J Finan Account 5 (2014): 1-8.
15. Irani T. “Job satisfaction as an outcome measure of the effectiveness of an agricultural communications academic program.” J Agri Edu 43 (2002): 12-23.
16. Islam MS, Islam MM. “A comparative study of job satisfaction in banking. A case study of public and private bank sectors. Europ J Bus Manag 6 (2014): 105-111.
17. Jiang S, Lamberteg EG, Jin DZX, Xiang SM. “Effects of work environment variables on job satisfaction among community correctional staff in china.” Criminal Justice Behav 43 (2016): 1450 –1471.
18. Jindal M, Gupta N. "A case study of HDFC Bank: Measuring employee empowerment using demographics.” Int J Latest Technol Eng Manag App Sci  5 (2016): 17-24.
19. Judge TA, Piccolo RF, Podsakoff NP, Rich BL. “The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature.” J Vocational Behav 77 (2010): 157-167. 
20. Kerego K, Mthupha DM (1997) Job satisfaction as perceived by agricultural extension workers in Swaziland.” South African J Agri Ext 23 (1997): 19-24.
21. Khan AH, Nawaz MM, Aleem M,Hamed W. “Impact of job satisfaction on employee performance: An empirical study of autonomous Medical Institutions of Pakistan.” African J Bus Manag 6 (2012): 2697-2705.
22. Khan SS (2015) Measuring Job Satisfaction Level of Employees using Demographics: A Study of HDFC Bank. Global J Manag Bus Res Admin Manag 15 (2015): 38-48.
23. Locke EA. “The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction. In: Dunnette MD (ed.), Hand book of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.” Rand McNally, Chicago, IL (1976): 1297-1343.
24. Mahnaz MA, Mehdi M, Jafar KM, Abbolghasem P. “The effect of demographic characteristics on organizational citizenship behaviorin the selected teaching hospitals in Tehran.” African J Bus Manag 7 (2013): 3324-3331.
25. Mehrad A, Hamsan HHB, Redzuan MB, Abdullah H. “The effect of gender on job satisfaction of academic staff in Malaysian public universities.” J Edu Heal Com Psychol 4 (2015): 2088-3129.
26. Michael FR (2003) Work-Family Balance. In: Quick JC, Tetrick LE. “Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology”. Washington DC: American Psychological Association (2003).
27. Nadinloyi KB, Sadeghi H, Hajloo N. “Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Employees Mental Health.” Procedia Soc Behav Sci 84 (2013): 293 -297.
28. Nankervis A, Compton R. “Strategic Human Resource Management.” Thomson: Victoria, Australia (2002).
29. Nasir R, Fatimah O, Mohammadi MS, Wan Shahrazad WS, Khairudin R, Halim FW. Demographic variables as moderators in the relationship between job satisfaction and task performance.” Pertanika J Soc Sci Hum 19 (2011): 33-40.
30. Opkara JO. “The impact of salary differential on managerial job satisfaction: A study of the gender gap and its implications for management education and practice in a developing economy.” J Bus Dev Nat 8 (2002): 65-92.
31. Padilla-Velez D. “Job satisfaction of vocational teachers in Puerto Rico.” The Ohio State University (1993).
32. Park JS, Kim TH. “Do types of organizational culture matter in nurse’s job satisfaction and turnover intention.” Leadership Heal Serv 22 (2009): 20 -38.
33. Peterson W. “The effects of organizational design on group cohesiveness power utilization and organizational climate.” Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of South Africa, Pretoria (1995).
34. Rahim A. “Demographic variables in general job satisfaction in a hospital: A multivariate study.” Perceptual Motor Skills 55 (1982): 711-719.
35. Rahman M, Ashraf A, Hasan N, Hoshen S, Chowdhury RHK. “Job Satisfaction Levels among Employees of Private Commercial Banks at Chuadanga District in Bangladesh.” J Bus Finan Aff 6 (2017): 1-8.
36. Rana MS (2015) “Job satisfaction effecting factors of employees in Bangladesh banking sector.” Int J Econ Finan Manag Sci 3 (2015): 352-357.
37. Rast S, Tourani A. “Evaluation of employees’ job satisfaction and role of gender difference: An empirical study at airline industry in Iran.” Int J Bus Soc Sci 3 (2012): 91-10.
38. Robbins SP, Judge TA. “Organizational behavior.” 13th ed. Upper Saddle River N.J.: Prentice Hall (1995).
39. Saatchi M. “Industrial and Organizational Psychology.” Tehran, Virayesh Publications (2008).
40. Schneider B, Snyder RA. “Some relationship between job satisfaction and organizational climate.” J App  Psychol 60 (1975): 318-328.
41. Shore LM, Martin HJ. “Job satisfaction and organizational commitment in relation to work performance and turnover intentions.” Human Rel 42 (1989): 625-638.
42. Spector P. “Job Satisfaction: Application, Assessment, Causes and Consequences.” Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications (1997).
43. TabatabaeiS, Ghaneh S, Mohaddes H, Khansari MM. “Relationship of job satisfaction and demographic variables in parsceram factory employees in Iran.” 3rd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance.” Procedia Soc Behav Sci 84 (2013):1795-1800.
44. Uddin MJ, Chowdhury MM, Yasmin MA. “Job satisfaction of the employees of the general insurance companies in Bangladesh.” Global Disclosure Econ Bus 5 (2016): 7-18.
45. Uddin MK, Kabir MJ. “Satisfaction towards banking profession: A comparative study on male and female executives.” IIUC Studies 12 (2015): 127-138.
46. Vrinda NN, Jacob NA. “The impact of job satisfaction on job performance.” Int J Com IT Soc Sci 2 (2015): 27-37.
47. Young L, Milner M, Edmunds D, Pentsil G, Broman M. “The tenuous relationship between salary and satisfaction.” J Behav Stu Bus 7 (2014): 1-9
48.  Zhang H, Lam T, Baum T. “A study of the inter‐relationships between employees’ job satisfaction and their demographic characteristics.” Asia Pac J Tour Res 4 (2007): 49-58
49. Yamane T. “Statistics an Introductory Analysis.” 2nd Edition, New York, Harper and Row (1967).
50. Zou M. “Gender, work orientations and job satisfaction.” Work, employment soc 29 (2015): 3-22.