ISSN.
1115 – 960X
ILORIN JOURNAL
OF
BUSINESS AND SOCIAL
SCIENCES
VOL. 5 NO. 2
1998
Published by the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences,
University of llorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
Table of Contents
Articles
Page
From Business Creator To Businessman
A Strategic Distinction.
Dr (Mrs.) Sidikat L. Adeyemi
1
Decision Making Process In
Public Administration And Social
Equity: Some Theoretical Lessons
O. Lucky Ovwasa
21
The Public Complaints Commission In Kwara State
Nigeria A Performance Appraisal
Rotimi Ajayi
32
An Empirical Study of Job Satisfaction Levels Among
Bank Managers In Nigeria
Dr. J. O. Olujide And L. Badmus
46
The Role Of Self-Help Projects
In Rural Development
Sogo. Temi J. S
57
Effects Of Environmental Degradation
On Peoples Health In Nigeria Cities
E. O. Oriola
66
Death On Wheels: Kwara State Experience
G. T. Arosanyin
79
Unemployment Apprenticeship System and the
Urban Informal Sector in Nigeria
A Usman
90
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF JOB SATISFACTION
LEVELS AMONG BANK MANAGERS IN NIGERIA
DR. J. O. OLUJIDE
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN.
AND
A. L. BADMUS
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN.
Introduction
Job satisfaction is an affective or emotional response towards various
facets of one's job. This definition means job satisfaction is not a unitary concept
rather, a person can be relatively satisfied with one aspect of his job and
dissatisfied with one or more other aspects.
Job satisfaction is the same as job attitudes, that is, the way an
employee feels about a job outcome (pleasant or unpleasant plus future
expectations). It involves an individual's evaluation of different aspects of the job.
For instance, organisational policies and practices, co-workers and the work
itself.
Employee job satisfaction has long been one of the management's most
difficult and important tasks. Success in this endeavour is becoming a more
difficult challenge in light of managing a diverse work force. Anecdotal reports
suggest managers are not adequately meeting this challenge and the reason for
this is attributable to controversy issue surrounding satisfaction - performance
relationship. Several research findings have indicated that satisfaction and
performance are casually related while the performance causes satisfaction is a
more recent development, the contention that satisfaction causes performance
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
47
remains widely held. Research findings tend to give moderate support for the
former view and found that the job-satisfaction -performance relationship to be
less than clear-cut. The evidence indicates that the relationship is more complex
and that rewards constitute a more direct cause of satisfaction than does
performance. Nonetheless, one of the most commonly accepted convictions of
management is that productivity will increase if employee job satisfaction is
increased. Quite unfortunately, empirical findings nave not supported this
assertion but some significant predictive relationships have been identified
between job satisfaction and employee turnout and absentee levels (Lawler
1973; Green, 1972). As such, employee job satisfaction has remained a
pragmatic managerial issue. Despite the avalanche of empirical works
concerning job satisfaction, analyses within certain key occupations and
professions have not yet been given serious attention.
The objective of this research study therefore, was to fill this vacuum
partially for banking profession. Specifically, the purpose was to ascertain if there
was a significant difference in job satisfaction across managerial levels.
Research Methodology
For the purpose of this study, each respondent was classified into one of
three categories:
(a)
Top Management
(b)
(c)
Middle Management and;
Lower Management
In all, 120 managers were included from randomly selected banks in
Lagos. The sample included a broad spectrum of managerial personnel from all
hierarchical levels responsible for lending, operations, trusts, marketing, cashiers
etc. Managers with less than two years service with their banks were excluded
from consideration.
.(a)
The classification for individual manager was based upon four variables:
Job title;
48
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
(b)
(c)
Supervisor's job title;
Number of personnel directly supervised and;
(d)
The person's own assessment of his location in the bank hierarchy.
While this arrangement might not be ideal, this rather subjective
procedure was considered necessary because job titles alone were not found to
be accurate reflection of organisational positions. As a result of this process, 45
percent of the respondents were classified top management, 35 percent were
middle management and remaining 20 percent were defined as lower
management. The rather high percentage of top management (i.e. 45 percent)
was expected because the sample was heavily weighed with small banks not
requiring large managerial staff.
The second aspect of sample description focused on the manager's
duties, that is, were the respondents involved in the direct supervision of other
employees or were they of managerial rank but in charge of a technical area, for
instance, loan or trust accounts. About 75 percent of the managers included in
this study directly supervised at least one other bank employee and
approximately 25 percent of the sample did not have any direct employee
supervisory duties. This inquiry did not attempt to differentiate between the two
groups in so far as all the subjects polled held managerial rank.
Measurement Instrument
Maslow need theory (1954) is one of the most commonly accepted of the
theoretical satisfaction framework Maslow s need construct proposed that
motivation is a function of five basic needs. These five basic need categories are
arranged in a proponent hierarchy. The basic needs categorises include
psychological (food, shelter, clothing); safety (requirement of protection); love or
social (the opportunity to develop close associations with other people); esteem
(the prestige from both within and outside the organisation) and self-actualization
through personal growth and development. Maslow believed that human needs
generally
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
49
emerge in a predictable stair-step fashion. Accordingly, when one's psychological
needs are relatively satisfied, one's safety needs emerge and so on up the need
hierarchy, one step at a time. Once a need is satisfied, it activates the next higher
need in the hierarchy. This process continues until self-actualization need is
activated.
Research studies based on this framework have suggested that job
satisfaction tends to increase as one ascends the organisational hierarchy and
that Maslow's lower-order needs are more satisfied than the higher order needs
for any given organisational level (Ivancevich et al, 1969, Porter. 1971, Root and
Tosi, 1974).
Several studies using Porter's Need Fulfillment Questionnaire which
incorporates the Maslow Model, have been widely employed in job satisfaction
research among managerial personnel (Strawser et al, 1971; Porter and Mitchell.
1967; Root and Tosi, 1974).
The questionnaire used here was patterned after the Porter instrument
and is mainly concerned with Maslow's three upper needs vis-a-vis.
•
•
social need
esteem need
•
self-actualization need plus autonomy need which connotes the desire
for independent thought and action. Insofar as Maslow's lower-level
needs - psychological and safety - are generally satisfied among
managerial personnel, they were omitted from the analysis.
Porter's measurement scheme was employed as the basis of other
analysis and the scheme requires the respondents to rate how much of a
particular satisfaction related item as present in their jobs on a 1 to 7 scale
(where 1 is the minimum and 7 is the maximum) and to estimate the amount of
the item they felt should be in their jobs on a similar scale. Figure 1 shows the
related items and attendant need categories. The difference between these two
ratings provides a numerical measure of the satisfaction with that items - the
larger the difference, the greater the dissatisfaction.
50
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
According to Porter, this indirect method of measuring satisfaction has
two basic advantages: First, the subject is not directly questioned as to his
satisfaction and therefore, any tendency for a simple 'response set' to determine
his expression of satisfaction is somewhat reduced.
Secondly, this method of measuring need fulfillment is a more
conservative measure than would have been obtained by a single question
concerning simple satisfaction. It takes into cognizance the fact that higher-level
positions should be difference between obtained and expected satisfaction.
Succinctly put, this method asks the respondent, "how satisfied are you in terms
of where you expected from this particular management position?" It is thus
designed to be a meaningful measure in comparing different management
groups.
However, there are a lot of limitations to this measurement device. All the
self-descriptive techniques typically employed for measuring job satisfaction
assume that:
a.
the individuals have perfect insight and;
b.
there is a common interpretation of the measurement scales i.e. 7-6=1
and 2-1±1. In the real sense, neither of these assumptions maybe valid,
Not all individuals are capable of identifying their feelings about their jobs
objectively and on a similar vein, not every individual will interpret a given
item or scale in the same way.
This latter limitation was however, taken care of by analysing the data
with non parametric statistical procedures which are appropriate for the ordinal
data provided by job satisfaction instruments. Traditional parametric tests were
also performed and were presented to provide continuity with past research and
for their informational content. It must be noted however, that the parameteric
analyses did not alter the study's conclusions significantly.
Besides, the Porter Scale requires the respondents to exhibits greater
than average verbal ability. Under this circumstance, it could be pretty difficult to
employ if the subjects had a narrow
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
51
range of education accomplishment (Robinson et al 1969). This was not,
however, felt to be a problem with bank managers.
Figure 1:
Mean Need satisfaction scores for Top, Middle and Lower
Level Bank Managers
Need categories &
Items
1.
Social
A. The opportunity
in my Management
to help other people
B. The opportunity to
develop close
friendships in my
management
position
2. Esteem Needs
A. The feeling of selfesteem a person
gets from being in my
management position
B. The prestige of my
management
position inside the
bank (i.e. the
regard from others
in the bank)
C. The prestige of my
management
position outside
the bank (i.e. the
regard received
from the others not
in the bank)
3. Autonomy Needs
A. The opportunity
in my job for
participation in the
Top
Middle
Management Management
n = 54
n = 42
Lower
Management
n = 24
Null
Hypothesis
.25
.49
.47
Rejected*
.35
.53
.57
Accepted
.55
1.00
1.10
Rejected*
.57
.47
.96
.36
1.24
.48
Rejected*
Rejected*
.35
1.00
1.03
Rejected*
.46
1.04
.81
Rejected*
52
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
determination of
methods and
procedures.
B. The independent
for independent
thought and
action in my
position
C. The opportunity
in my job, for
participation in
the setting of
goals
4. Self Actualization
Needs
A. The feeling of
work while
accomplishment
in my position
B. The feeling of
self-fulfilment a
person gets
from being in my
position
C. The opportunities
For personal growth
And development in
my position
.48
1.27
1.22
Rejected*
.74
1.13
1.00
Rejected*
.68
.66
1.12
1.03
1.17
1.26
Rejected*
Rejected*
Note:
The larger the average score, the greater the perceived dissatisfaction.
+
Level of Significance <.1 by both parametric ANOVA and non-parametric
Kruskai-Wallis test.
This inquiry is also subject to a number of specific caveates. In the first
case, only bankers in Lagos were included in the study and secondly, significant
proportion of banks studied held less than
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
53
N150 million deposit. And as such, generalizations from these data should be
treated with cautions.
Figure 2:
Top, Middle and Lower Bank Managers' Mean Satisfaction Score
For each Need Category
Need
Category
Top
Null
Managers n = 54 Hypothesis
Middle
Null
Lower
Managers n = 42 Hypothesis Managers n = 24
Social
.30
Rejected*
.51
Accepted
.52
Esteem
Autonomy
Self
Actualization
.53
.43
.69
Rejected*
Rejected*
Rejected*
.77
1.08
1.09
Accepted
Accepted
Accepted
.94
1.02
1.14
Note:
The larger the average score, the greater the perceived satisfaction
+ Significant level = .10
Analysis and Discussions
Figure 1 shows the mean satisfaction scores for upper, middle and
lower-level managers. Social need items were the most satisfied as indicated by
the executives while the self-actualization need items were found to be the most
wanting. In addition, the executives need for autonomy tended to be more
gratified than their esteem need. On the other hand, middle and lower managers
generally perceived their jobs as less satisfying than their counterparts at the
upper-echelon.
In order to determine if there was a significant difference in the
satisfaction per job facet across managerial strata, a parametric analysis of
variance procedure and a non parametric Kruskai-Wallis test were performed. A
conservative posture was adopted for interpreting the test result; that is, the
samples were deemed to have been drawn from the same or identical
populations unless both tests indicated rejection of the null hypothesis.
Our analysis indicated that there were no significant statistical
differences in satisfaction with the opportunity to develop close friendships (item
1B), the prestige they perceived from person
54
J- O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BAOMUS
outside their banks (2C) and the feeling of worthwhile accomplishment in their
jobs (4A) across the managerial levels.
Of these items, the latter two were particularly interesting. First, since the
middle and lower level supervisors were as satisfied as the top executives with
the esteem on which they are held by their communities, it appears that there is
validity to the popular opinion that bank employment offers high prestige at all
managerial echelons feel they are making positive contribution by their activities.
Thus, all managerial level. Further, the findings suggest that the different
managerial activities in banks are viewed as purposeful by the job incumbents.
A further inspection of the items where there were statistically significant
differences in satisfaction across the managerial echelons suggested that the top
executives perceived their jobs as more rewarding than their middle and lower
management counterparts. Their item scores were less in each case indicating
greater satisfaction. Further, it was concluded that there is little difference
between the job satisfaction levels reported by the middle and lower level
supervisors. Third, these conclusions were confirmed by both t-test and MannWhitney tests at a significant level of 10 percent or less.
The index per need category for the three were shown in figure 2 and
were obtained by averaging each other category. Again, both parametric and
non-parametric statistical tests were performed following the format previously
noted.
The satisfaction scores for each category supported the findings in Fig. 1
that the top executives, on the whole, would be more satisfied with their jobs than
middle managers. These difference were statistically significant at 10 percent
level. On the other hand, middle and lower-management supervisors did not
perceive significantly different levels of satisfaction in their work environment.
It needs be emphasized here that the rank orders for middle and lowerlevel managers were similar to those found in previous studies, that is, the selfaccomplishment need was the most wanting closely followed in order by the
autonomy, esteem and
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
55
social needs. Bank executives differed in this regard as they perceived greater
need accomplishment category. However, the differences in magnitude for these
need indexes were not statistically significant on several instances. For example
it was not possible to reject the null hypothesis for the autonomy and selfactualization indexes in the case of middle management. As such, the data
provide rather tentative support for the assertion that higher-order needs are less
satisfied than lower-order needs.
CONCLUSIONS
Several studies exploring job satisfaction of managerial personnel from
different professions have tended to support the assertion that the needs of
upper-level management are more satisfied than those of their lower-level
counterparts and for any given level in the management hierarchy, the social and
esteem needs will be more satiated than the autonomy and self-actualization
needs.
In respect of the first assertion, executives perceived significantly more
job satisfaction than reported by middle and lower-level managers. However,
there was no difference in the managers' perception of external prestige,
worthwhile accomplishment and social contact derived from their respective
positions. It is possible that the study setting gave rise to the first of these latter
phenomena. The choice of the banks surveyed were relatively small and located
in urban areas. Hence, one would expect all bank management positions to be
well respected within such communities.
With regard to the first assertion, data from the study only gave tentative
support to the second assertion- that the lower - order needs were generally
more satiated then the higher- level needs.
56
J. O. OLUJIDE & A. L. BADMUS
REFERENCES
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Ivancevich, John M. and Rodbert H. Straser, "A Comparative Analysis of the Job
Satisfaction of Industrial Managers and Certified Public Accountants".
Academy of Mgt Journal, Vol. 12,1969.
Lawler, Edward E. III. "Motivation in Work Organisation Monterey, California,
Brooks-Cole 1973.
Lyman, W. Porter and Vance, L. Mitchell, "Comparative study of Need
satisfaction in Military and Business Hierarchies" Journal of Applied
Psychology, Vol. 51 No. 1967.
Lyman, W. Porter, "Job Attitudes in Management: IV perceived Deficiencies in
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Marvin D. Dunnette; The Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology,
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Porter, Lyman W.; "A Study of Perceived Need satisfaction in Bottom and Middle
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Root, Dennis and Henry Tosi, "Need Satisfaction of Domestic and Overseas
Managers" Academy of Management Proceedings, 1974.