Dissertation: Employee Satisfaction, Performance, and Commitment

This dissertation investigates the impact of job satisfaction and psychological ownership on employee performance within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), specifically in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The study explores the factors contributing to employee satisfaction, including workplace environment, job performance, and organizational commitment, referencing key theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Herzberg's two-factor theory. The research employs a comprehensive literature review, detailing the co-relationship between satisfaction and performance, followed by a detailed research methodology including data collection, sampling, and analysis. The findings delve into the impact of psychological ownership, examining its dimensions and influence on employee outcomes. The dissertation further discusses the significance of factors like corporate culture, management style, and the role of conflicts in the workplace, providing a comprehensive analysis of employee satisfaction, job performance, and their combined effects on organizational commitment and success. It also includes a detailed discussion of the research methodology, data analysis, and ethical considerations, culminating in conclusions and recommendations for future research.

Dissertation
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Table of Contents
1.1Imperial Studies on Employee’s Satisfaction.............................................................................5
1.2Imperial Studies on Employee’s Psychological Ownership.......................................................7
1.3.1Factors contributing to employee satisfaction at workplace.............................................10
..................................................................................................................................................10
1.4 Background.........................................................................................................................12
1.5 Rational...............................................................................................................................13
1.6 Aim and Objectives.............................................................................................................14
1.7 Research question................................................................................................................14
1.8 Focus and purpose...............................................................................................................15
1.9 Dissertation structure..........................................................................................................16
1.10 Framework and analysis....................................................................................................17
1.11 Significance of the research..............................................................................................18
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................19
2.0: Literature Review...................................................................................................................19
2.1: Definition of Key Concept......................................................................................................19
2.2 Theoretical gap....................................................................................................................24
2.3.1 Maslow's need hierarchy theory.......................................................................................25
2.3.2 Herzberg two factor theory..............................................................................................26
2.4 The Concept of Work Performance....................................................................................27
2.5 Conceptual Framework.......................................................................................................29
2.6 Co-relationship between satisfaction level and employee performance.............................31
2.8 Dimensions of psychological ownership of employees......................................................37
2.9 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................41
3.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................41
3.2 Research philosophy...........................................................................................................41
3.3 Research design...................................................................................................................43
..................................................................................................................................................43
3.4 Research methodology........................................................................................................43
3.5 Data collection....................................................................................................................44
3.6 Sampling.............................................................................................................................45
3.7 Data analysis.......................................................................................................................46
3.8 Validity and reliability........................................................................................................46
3.9 Ethical considerations.........................................................................................................47
3.10 Research limitations..........................................................................................................48
3.11 Accessibility issues...........................................................................................................48
CHAPTER 4– DATA ANALYSIS...............................................................................................50
4.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................50
4.2 Discussion...........................................................................................................................50
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................69
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................69
5.2 Recommendation.................................................................................................................71
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................73
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................79
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Questionnaire............................................................................................................................79
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1.0: Introduction
Ultimate aim of any organization is to gain maximum profit. With the initiation of globalization,
one of the major challenges for managers is to develop valuable strategies for human resource to
perk up business performance. Job satisfaction that describes how happy a person is with his /
her job. According to, a number of studies job satisfactions are a pleasurable or positive
emotional state resulting from the valuation of their work and experience (Jussila, Tarkiainen,
Sarstedt and Hair, 2015). Undefined optimistic attitude towards work and an enhanced
organizational commitment leads to greater job satisfaction which in return perks up the
performance of the individual.
The main purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of job satisfaction and job
performance to ward organizational commitment. And To highlight the effects of psychological
ownership on employee performance in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) in Kuala
Lumpur Malaysia.
Employees can be determined as one of the main and important resource within the firm. They
are the one who have direct interaction with customers. They present the products and services
that are being delivered by the firm. In this context, it is important to make sure that all the issues
that are being faced by employees are identified and solved so that they will be able to put on
their full efforts to make the organization achieve the goals and objectives. Workers involvement
and their interest towards the work is important that has to be considered so that they understand
that requirement and make improvement in their skills and capabilities so that perform better and
support the firm (Wong and Laschinger, 2013).
There are different departments and for each of them, there are employees who work together to
make sure that management will be able to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. One
of the issuers that affect the satisfaction level is conflicts. There are different type of reasons due
to which conflicts arises. This is one of the issues due to which performance of workers gets
negatively affected. However, it is important to make sure that there is proper interaction with
employees. This will enable to understand problems or issues that are being faced by them
(Ramos, Man and Ng, 2014). Further, interaction also enables to develop trust and confidence
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within the mind of people. This way it becomes helpful enough to reach out the areas in which
improvement is required to be achieved.
Imperial Studies on Employee’s Satisfaction
A number of studies had been done in relation to job satisfaction among the employees.
Optimized the performance of the employee are important so the route to achieved the end result
of generating greater income and optimized profit for the company will be more attainable, in
this section we going to highlight a number of the pioneer in this area.
Masooma Javed, et al (2014) focus to examine the satisfaction level of the employees and helps
organizations to know about the elements that influence job satisfaction. The authors utilized two
sections of variables in the research. Section 1 in the research mentioned on different personal
and demographic variables to attain the respondents’ information about gender, age, tenure,
income and education while Section 2 consists of the latent variables that include employee
empowerment, workplace environment, job performance, and turnover intention and job loyalty
towards job satisfaction (Mulki, Caemmerer and Heggde, 2015). The result shows that there are
significant positive associations of employee empowerment, workplace environment, job loyalty
and job performance with job satisfaction.
Hafiz Imran , et al (2014) intends to investigate the impact of job satisfaction and job
performance to ward organizational commitment. The authors adopted survey method to conduct
the research. There are five controlled variables i.e. Gender, Department, Education, Income and
Age in the research. In order to conduct the survey, dichotomous and interval scales were use to
measure the variables. The result of the search study is that the job performance of is strongly
associated with job satisfaction and these of two variables are coherent or in harmony.
Chung Jo Ey and Dr Rashad Yazdanifard (2014), the study discuss the factors that affect
employees' satisfaction and the impact of their satisfaction to the company's well-being and
sustainability of the company in the long run. The authors utilized the following variables i.e.
Corporate Culture, Pay Satisfaction, Management Style, Meaningfulness Of Work, Customer
Satisfaction Corporate Financial Performance, And Company’s Sustainability In The Long Run
in their studies in regards of job satisfaction among the employees' It has been verified in this
study that job satisfaction will directly affect employees' motivation and engagement in work and
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tend to link with customers' satisfaction, corporation's financial performance and sustainability,
in other word, profit.
determine the role of job satisfaction and commitment on job performance. There four affective
factors that includes organization, environment, the nature of the work and individual factor use
by authors in their research paper. The result of their research is that Kano model was used to
test the hierarchical correlation analysis of the hypotheses (Mafini and Dlodlo, 2014). Based on
the results, Pearson correlation coefficient was significant between job satisfaction and job
commitment at 99% that shows direct and strong correlation between two measures and means
that job commitment will increase by an increment in job satisfaction. The hypothetical impact
of job satisfaction and career Commitment on job performance was approved and Kano model
parameters are determined the factors that increase employee satisfaction.
Alamdar Hussain Khan, et al (2012) conducted research factors that influence level of job
satisfaction among the workforce and its effects on performance. The author using sampling
technique (questionaire) to collect data from Respondent. The questionnaire divided into two
parts, which the first section included the questions about pay, promotion, job safety and
security, working conditions, autonomy, relationship with co-workers, relationship with
supervisor and nature of work. The second part however focus on enumerate the demographic
factors like age, designation, education, experience, gender, job relevancy and nature of job
(Wong and Laschinger, 2013). The result of the research is that facet of job satisfaction such as
pay, promotion, job safety and security, working conditions, job autonomy, relationship with co-
workers, and relationship with supervisor, and nature of the work significantly affect the level of
job satisfaction.
Imperial Studies on Employee’s Psychological Ownership.
A number of studies had been done in relation to psychological ownership among the employees.
Optimized the performance of the employee are important so the route to achieved the end result
of generating greater income and optimized profit for the company will be more attainable, , in
this section we going shed some light on a number of the pioneer in this field .
Samsinar Md-Sidin , et al (2014) research paper focus on investigation of the impact of
psychological ownership, job performance, job commitment, and job satisfaction. The authors
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identify three factors that create psychological ownership among Respondent: (a) having control
over the target or object, (b) intimate contact or knowledge about the target or object, and (c)
investing the self to the target or object The result empirically shown that psychological
ownership has positive relations with job commitment, job satisfaction, and the three dimensions
of performance.
Divya K P.T.Srinivasan (2015) conducted to study is an attempt to build on the emerging theory
of psychological ownership, which has been developed over the last two decades and suggest the
scope for research on the influence work environment, psychological ownership and individual
work outcomes, The authors identify the following i.e efficacy and reflectance, self–identity and
having a place to dwell that create psychological ownership among Respondent (Knapp, Smith
and Sprinkle, 2014). The study has found that psychological ownership is an effective
managerial construct with significant practical implications for management.
Xie Qian (2016), the article reviews the latest research on psychological ownership from the
following three aspects: 1) theoretical background of psychological ownership; 2) connotation
and measurement of psychological ownership; 3) formation mechanism and influence
mechanism of psychological Ownership and also reveals the formation mechanism, the impact
mechanism and interpretation of psychological ownership from local organization members’
perspective under Chinese culture. The authors utilized the following variables i.e. Corporate
Culture, Pay Satisfaction, Management Style, Meaningfulness Of Work, Customer Satisfaction
Corporate Financial Performance, And Company’s Sustainability In The Long Run in their
studies in regards of job satisfaction among the employees' It has been verified in this study that
the impact boundary conditions of psychological ownership, especially what factors affect the
mediating role in the relationship between formal ownership and psychological ownership, need
further study.
Kimbal Fraser and Simon Kemp (2012),This study examines how psychological ownership by
employees of an organisation and their perceptions of justice might be affected by the actual
control they have over the organisation and the extent to which their remuneration depends on
the organisation’s performance. In the research there are 4 scenario use in conducting the
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research. There is as follows, Employment scenario, Share Trust scenario, Representative
Control scenario, Direct Control scenario (Hanus and Fox, 2015). The result of their research is
that both governance and operational control enhance psychological ownership and have
reasonably sized effects on commitment, perceived justice and satisfaction.
Mona Mohamed Sayed Ibrahim (2016) conducted research factors that influence level of job
satisfaction among the workforce and its effects on performance. The psychological ownership
emphasized that self-efficacy, self-identity, belonging, and accountability. The results of the
research is that increasing individual’s perceptions of organizational justice and enhance ethical
leadership and other types of leadership, organizations can increase individual’s psychological
ownership through developing its four dimensions.
1.1 Employee satisfaction (Common Variables).
A measurement of an employee’s “happiness” with current job and conditions; it does not
measure how much effort the employee is willing to expend. Job satisfaction is the
favourableness or un-favourableness with which employees view their work. As with motivation,
it is affected by the environment. Job satisfaction is impacted by job design. Jobs that are rich in
positive behavioural elements- such as autonomy, task identity, task significance and feedback
contribute to employee’s satisfaction. Fallowing these points come under this category:
 Job design
 Task identity
 Recognition
 Responsibility
 Empowerment
 Quantity of task.
 Difficult level of task
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Fig 1: Factors Contributing to Job Satisfaction
Factors contributing to employee satisfaction at workplace.
It can be stated that there are wide range of factors which are responsible for creating a sense of
satisfaction among employees at workplace. In order to carry out smooth flow of operations and
sustain in highly competitive market place, it is required by companies to provide hygienic
working conditions to employees (Lapierre and et.al., 2008). It can be also expressed that safe
and hygienic conditions at wok results in boosting up the morale and motivation level of
workers to a great extent. Along with this, it also plays very crucial role in overall growth and
success of a company by keeping employees highly satisfied. Another key factor which can be
held responsible for creating higher degree of satisfaction among workers is related to the
competitive salaries and wages which have been paid by small and medium sized businesses to
their respective employees. Companies are required to focus and take care of the fact the
salaries, incentives and wages provided needs to be appropriate and satisfactory as per the
industry standards.
Furthermore, it will be also required by companies to ensure that rate of employee turnover does
not increase because of low salaries and other monetary incentives (Nishii, Lepak and
Schneider, 2008). Job security and relationship with co-workers are some other key factors
which can results in increasing the overall motivation level among employees working in small
and medium sized businesses. Companies needs to make sure no form of discrimination is
carried out among workers and fair opportunities of growth and development is provided to
them (Jones and et.al., 2009). Along with this, the small and medium sized businesses can come
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up with strict rules and regulations regarding elimination of any form of discrimination at
workplace. This will also play a very important role in enhancing the degree of employee
satisfaction. Apart from this, the leadership style adopted by businesses will also play a very
crucial role in determining the level of satisfaction among staff members. As per the view of
Aziri, (2011) autocratic style of leadership in long run can directly results in increasing the
degree of dissatisfaction as the view and opinions of workers are not taken into consideration as
per this style. On the other side of this, the use of democratic style of leadership results in long
can improve the level of satisfaction among worker in small and medium sized businesses.
According to Luthans and et.al., (2008), employee satisfaction is one of the ways of assessing
whether the employees are happy and engaged at their work. It is the extent to which the
employees are content and satisfied with their jobs. Employee satisfaction is essential for the
success of every organization. A high rate of employee contentedness results in lower turnover
rate. In addition to this, it can be said that there are number of factors that might impact the
employee satisfaction in negative manner. It has been noticed that dissatisfaction is experienced
by many employees at one point of the time or another. Some workers want better opportunities
and leave their company. Huey Yiing and Zaman Bin Ahmad (2009) has stated that inflation is
one of critical factor that might affect the overall outcome in diverse manner. If inflation rate is
high and employees are not attaining appropriate income then it will impact the overall
motivation in negative manner. In order to improve the satisfaction among employees during the
high inflation the businesses need to advance its financial strength so that goals and objectives
can be accomplished in desired manner. It has been noticed that low salary aspects impacts the
morale in negative manner. By having improvement in income level the satisfaction can also be
advanced effectively for sustainable development.
Van den Broeck and et.al. (2008) has contended that satisfaction can also be influenced in
negative manner if Herzberg motivational aspects are not well maintained. It has been noticed
that it is significant for management of business firm to make sure that needs are being
considered effectively so that objectives of satisfaction promotion can be accomplished in
desired manner (Grandey, Chi and Diamond, 2013). Safety, status and interpersonal benefits
need to be provide so that goals and objectives can be accomplished effectively. With an
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assistance of this, overall working can be advanced effectively because it has direct relationship
with morale.
1.4 Background.
At Kuala Lumpur that is at Malaysia, there are many small and medium business that aim at
gaining maximum profit. However, there are different set of issues that are being faced by this
place. In this context, one of the main issues is related with high employees turnover rate. In this
context, some of the reasons includes demotivation, lack of proper training, conflicts, ineffective
working environment, etc. Current study will focus on identifying the strategies through which
all the issues that are faced al small and medium scale business at Kuala Lumpur Malaysia can
be resolved. In this context, motivational, theories, training plans, strategies to resolve conflicts
will be identified (Pan, 2015). There are different type of skills and capabilities individuals
possess. In this context, managers should understand that the capabilities and skills that workers
possess. Accordingly, work should be divided with the help of which employees will be able to
perform with their full efficiency and effectiveness. On the other hand, there are cases in which
workers get demotivated. Further, when employees are not skilled, then it becomes difficult for
management make sure that they present the products and services effectively to customers. Rate
of satisfaction if is not high, then there are cases in which workers fail to perform the part of
roles and responsibilities that are provided to them. It is important to consider the areas in which
improvement needs to be made so that the work that is presented can be conveyed to customers
in an effective manner (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 2013). In case, organization is not able to
perform their part of roles and responsibilities effectively, then there are conditions in which
other firms will get to raise their capabilities and increase their market share. However, it is
important that there are different set of strategies that are implemented with the help of which
firm aim at attaining competitive advantage. In this context, one of the effective way is to make
sure that they have skilful and capable workers who will be able to support the firm in achieving
the goals and objectives of the firm.
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1.5 Rational.
Human resources are considered as the most important aspect of the business as they help in
integrating all resources and delivering better quality of services to the end users. However, the
issue related to inappropriate working condition, low growth and poor pay scale affect the
personnel to a great extent and results in higher employee turnover. This has direct impact on the
performance of the businesses which are operating at small scale and seeking for their upward
trend. Owing to this, current study is being conducted to assess the factors which increases the
satisfaction level of employees and help to retain them for longer time span (Anitha, 2014).
However, it is known that in case employees are not provided proper working condition and
appropriate environment then they just like to switch from one to another organization due to
absence of psychological ownership among them. For this purpose, study under consideration
would be effective to understand the impact of customer satisfaction and its direct link with their
performance in context of small and medium sized businesses. Therefore, completion of study
would be effective to research the factors which increases the satisfaction level of personnel and
support them to have feeling of psychological ownership. It enables researchers to propose the
valid suggestions for the improving the performance of workforce in the line of implementation
of appropriate satisfaction procedure of employees (Anitha, 2014). Hence, current study is
important to research about the factors which increases the feeling of psychological ownership
among personnel and ascertain the success of small and medium sized business in an effectual
manner.
1.6 Aim and Objectives.
Aim:
“To identifying the Effects of Employee Satisfaction and Employees Psychological Ownership
on Employees Performance in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) in Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia.”
Objectives:
 To identify the co-relationship between satisfaction level and employee performance
 To investigate the factors that contribute to employee satisfaction at workplace
 To identify the dimensions of psychological ownership of employees.
 To analyses the relationship between psychological ownership and work performance
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