Factors influencing employee job satisfaction and commitment: a case study at chemsystems.

Abstract

Job satisfaction and organisational commitment have been widely researched by several researchers due to the effects on the employees and ultimately on the organisational performance as a whole. The historically and present literature on job satisfaction and organisational commitment has demonstrated that these concept are related to each other and they depend on several factors. The factors related to job satisfaction include environmental and personal factors whereas those affecting organisational commitment relate to various types of commitment as those described in Meyer and Allen theory of organisational commitment. The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing job satisfaction and commitment at ChemSystems. This was conducted by using a quantitative research survey approach which included the distribution of a questionnaire to 140 ChemSystems employees throughout South Africa. A random sampling method was used to select the participants and out of the 140 employees selected for the study, only 46 employees responded to the questionnaire and that gave a response rate of approximately 33%. To collect data, a structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions were distributed to the participants. A correlation analysis method was used to examine the relationship between the overall job satisfaction, demographics and facets of job satisfaction factors. Similarly, the relationships between the overall organisational commitments, elements of organisational commitment, demographics as well as the facets of job satisfaction. The findings of the study revealed that, in general, ChemSystems employees had moderate levels of both job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Additionally, gender and length of employment (tenure) had an insignificant correlation with the overall job satisfaction whereas the remaining demographics (ethnicity, marital status, and geographic location) had significant relationships. Furthermore, the correlation results indicated a significant relationship between the facets of job satisfaction and the overall job satisfaction with contingent rewards yielding the highest correlation while the “nature of work” had the least correlation. Finally, organisational commitment was also tested against demographic factors and the results revealed that marital status was the only demographic factor that had a significant correlation with the overall organisational commitment. The study concludes by recommending that the human resource department should implement and/or develop strategies aimed at improving commitment of employees and in particular those that relate to remuneration.