Determining the Predictors of Employees Work Attitude Among Non Professional Married Working Women

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1 Determining the Predictors of Employees Work Attitude Among Non Professional Married Working Women Dr. Sarminah Samad, Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia ABSTRACT This paper reports the findings of a study, which examined how perception of work-family conflict and work related factors served as predictor of employees work attitude. The sample consisted of 500 non-professional married working women from the selected manufacturing and electronic industries in Malaysia. The results hypothesized that work-family conflict and work related factors perceptions were negatively related to employee work attitude. The study also found that aspect of work commitment of work related factors was correlated positively with employees work attitude. Among all the variables, role ambiguity appeared as the most significant predictor of employees work attitude. Both work-family-conflict and work related factors made significant contribution to employees work attitude. Several suggestions were put forward based on the implication of the research finding. Keywords: Work-family conflict, work related factors and work attitude INTRODUCTION Through the past several decades of empirical research in organizational behavior and other related fields, a great deal of literature has documented the antecedents of employees work attitude in work organization. Expanding on these studies numerous empirical studies in literature reviews have shown many different variables that affect employees work attitude. This study narrowed these variables down to work-family conflict and work related factors. The rational of this study was due to most of research on work attitude, work-family conflict and work related factors either in Eastern and Western, has been carried out among professional male and female employees. Little is known about employees work antecedents and influences of non-professional married working women, among manufacturing and electronic industries in Malaysia. Therefore, understanding the effects and relationship of work-family conflict and other work related factors such as behavioral and attitudinal outcomes across cultural and society becomes increasingly important (Samad, 2006). The growing number of women participating in the workforce has contributed to socio economic progress in Malaysia. The non-professional job in sectors such as manufacturing, electronic, electrical and garment are growing at a significant level and have indicated a substantial growth in employment. A large number of Malaysian married women working in these sectors are also increasing. The increase of women participation in non-professional fields is due to job demand and the need of women to increase their income. This is consistent with trends in comparable industrial nations such as the United States and Britain (Davidson and Cooper, 1983). Given the increasing numbers of married working women in the manufacturing and electrical industries as well as in non-professional fields, it becomes important for researchers and practitioners to determine the factors that relate to employees work attitude of married working women particularly at the lower level position. Once these employees understand the relevant factors, some remedies could be crafted. In areas experiencing shortages of employees, determining the predictors or determinant of work attitude particularly among non-professional married working women in manufacturing and electronic industries becomes more than just academic exercise (Samad, 2006). This paper highlights an investigation of the relationship between work-family conflict and work related factors with work attitude and examines the predictor of work attitude among non-professional married working women in Malaysia.

2 Work-family Conflict and Employees Work Attitude Work-family conflict refers to inter-role conflict in which role pressures from the work and family domains are incompatible in some respect (Greenthaus and Beutell, 1985). Prior to the refined conceptualization, work-family conflict was conceptualized as unidimensional (Carlson et al., 2000 and Frone et al., 1996). Currently not much research on work-family conflict has taken consideration on the complexity of issues. Therefore, efforts on improving the measurement, refining the construct development of the measure and better sampling techniques have been continuously done (Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). Stephens and Somer (1996) and Greenhaus and Beuetell (1985) have focused work-family conflict in multiple forms that can originate due to various conditions. Although several forms of work-family conflict documented in the literature, in general, most researchers focus the forms of work family conflict based on two main domain mainly time and psychological strain. Further, Kim and Ling (2001) suggested that work domain and family domain are two main components of work family conflict. Accordingly, as married women play more than one role in the family, concept of work-family conflict was separated into three sub categories that are job spouse conflict, job parental conflict and job homemaker conflict (Kim and Ling, 2001). Meanwhile, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985), define work-family conflict based on time, strain and behavior dimensions. These constructs are measured based on three scales namely job marital conflict, job parental conflict and job homemaker conflict. A number of empirical studies have been reported on the consequences of the work-family conflict. Studies have revealed findings on the consequences of work-family conflict on attitudes and behaviors of individuals (Pleck et al., 1980; Burke, 1988 and Coverman, 1989). The two main attitudes are job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Thomas and Ganster (1995) found a negative relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction. The similar result was obtained among women professional in Singapore (Aryee, 1992). Pleck et al. (1980) also found that when work-family conflict existed, the married working women would experience less satisfied in their job. This finding is supported by research carried out by Adam et al. (1996) and Kopelman and Greenhaus (1983). However, Holahan and Gilbert s (1979) research findings indicated positive relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction. This finding according to Kim and Ling (2001) probably due to greater involvement in one s job that result in better job performance, thus increase job satisfaction. Based on the above findings, the present study seeks to test the following hypotheses: H1a: H1b: H1c: H1d: Perception of job marital conflict is negatively related to employees work attitude Perception of job parental conflict is negatively related to employees work attitude Perception of job homemaker conflict is negatively related to employees work attitude Work family-conflict factors serve as predictor to employees work attitude Work Related Factors and Employees Work Attitude Previous research has reported that work related factors emerged as factors that affect attitudes and behaviors of individual or employees in organization. The work related factors that are identified as related to job satisfaction are role conflict (Borgatta and Borgatta, 1992), role ambiguity (Kim and Ling, 2001), role overload (Newton and Keenan, 1987 and Ahuja, et al., 2002) and work commitment (Mathieu and Hamel, 1989). However this study reported that work related factors was negatively related to job satisfaction. Only aspect of work commitment was positively related to job satisfaction. The term of role conflict is applied to explain and investigate experiences of individuals in facing with competition and demands of their work role. Role conflict has been defined in terms of the incompatibility of demands in a form of conflict between organizational demands and one s own values, problems of personal resource allocation and conflict among obligations to several different people (Kahn et al., 1964 and Rizzao et al., 1970). This implies that role conflict could influence employees attitude of job satisfaction. Previous study found that there was a negative relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction (Lewis and Cooper, 1988). Role ambiguity is defined as task ambiguity and socio-emotional role ambiguity (Kahn et al., 1964 and Kim and Ling (2001). The task ambiguity consists of scope of responsibilities; approach how responsibilities to be met and

3 whose expectations for role behaviors must be met. Socio-emotional role ambiguity refers to person s concern about his standing in the views of others and the consequences of his actions for the attainment of his personal goals. Previous studies revealed that this factor could produce strain symptoms such as tension, irritability, anxiety and fatigue (Brief et al., 1981). Prior studies on role ambiguity reported negative correlation with job satisfaction (Kim and Ling, 2001). Previous research has shown that roles in changing organizations can be ambiguous because role expectations change frequently (Kahn et al., 1964). During periods of change, members of organization may experience a lack of understanding of their new roles (role ambiguity) as well as role conflict while roles and responsibilities are renegotiated. Difficulties in attempting to satisfy conflicting or incompatible job demands (role conflict) and unclear expectations (role ambiguity) are two causes of occupational stress (Rizzo et al., 1970) and have been shown to be associated with decreased of employees attitude in term of job satisfaction (Fisher & Gitelson, 1983; Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Lamble, 1980; Igbaria & Guimaraes, 1993). Role overload refers to a number of roles a person occupies cannot be handled adequately and comfortably because of a finite amount of time and energy (Sieber, 1974). Role overload could exist due to the incompatibility between work demands and the time available to fulfill the demands (Beerh et al., 1976). Newton and Keenan (1987) defined role overload as a situation in which the worker feels that he or she has more work than what he or she can complete within the allotted time. Based on these definitions, role overload can be conceptualized as a condition by which individuals experience a lack of ability to complete their job within the time frame. It is reasonable to expect that role overload or work overload will have a direct negative effect on job satisfaction. Women role as a care provider, the long hours and sharing of family space and time, can result to work overload and a perception of not being successful in balancing work and family. These women may experience stress and lower job satisfaction (Kim and Ling, 2001). Ahuja et al. (2002), found that there was a negative relationship between role overload and job satisfaction. Work commitment refers to the concept of sub-identities as introduced by Hall (1972). This concept explains the person s conception of himself as related to his environment and an individual s identity as constitute several sub identities. Each sub identity represents an aspect of individual who engaged in a certain social roles. In the context of working married women, each social role leads to individual s perception of herself as she believes in relation to what is expected by her. For married working women the sub identities could be as wives, mothers, caregivers, housewives and employees. As an employee, a woman has her own expectation towards herself as well as on her work role expectations. Generally, one who is satisfied with the job will be more committed to organization than one who is dissatisfied (Ahuja et al., 2002). Consequently, previous studies have also indicated the effect of high work commitment to job satisfaction (Ahuja et al., 2002). Based on the literature review and research findings the following hypotheses were developed: H2a: H2b: H2c: H2d: H2e: Perception of role conflict is negatively related to employees work attitude Perception of role ambiguity is negatively related to employees work attitude Perception of role overload is negatively related to employees work attitude Perception of work commitment is positively related to employees work attitude Work related factors serve as predictor to employees work attitude Purpose of study The main purpose of this study was to empirically examine the relationship between work-family conflict and work related factors on employees work attitude and the extent these variables can be the determinant or predictor of employees work attitude among non-professional married working women. METHODOLOGY The data for this study were collected based on a stratified random sampling from 500 non-professional married working women employees of the selected manufacturing and electronic industries in Sungai Way Free Trade Zone, Petaling Jaya. The background profiles of the subjects are presented in Table 1.

4 Table 1: Background Characteristics of The Subjects Mean SD n % Age Length of service Race: Malay Indian Chinese 5 1 Income (RM): < > Minimum: RM 650 Maximum: RM 2000 Average: RM 1200 Number of children (in the family): Childcare support: Parents Neighbour Childcare centre 20 4 Relatives Qualification: Standard six/primary level SRP/PMR (Secondary level) SPM/MCE (GCE O level) Research instruments Data were collected by means of a closed questionnaire. The independent variables of this study were work-family conflict and work related factors. Work family conflict consists of 15 items and was measured from the adapted instrument by Small and Riley (1990). This construct consists of three aspects namely job parental conflict, job marital conflict and job homemaker conflict. The reliability of these variables is.90. Meanwhile, work related factors cover variables of role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload and work commitment consist of 19 items and was measured based on the adapted instrument developed by Rizzo et al. (1970), Schuler at al. (1977), and Amatea et al. (1986). The reliability of these variables is.86. All of the dependent variables were measured based on five Likert scale ranged from 1 for strongly disagree to 5 for strongly agree.

5 The dependent variable of the study is employees work attitude in term of job satisfaction. The job satisfaction questionnaire was adapted from the instrument developed by Rice et al. (1992) which contains eight items ranked from strongly disagree to strongly agree on the five point Likert type scale. The reliability coefficient of job satisfaction in this study was.90. RESULTS Respondents Profile The average age of respondent in this study is 37.2 years while the mean length of service in the organization is 11 years. Malays are the majority respondents of the study (73%), followed by Indian (26%) and Chinese (1%). The average mean of the respondents income is RM 1200 with the maximum income is RM 2000 and the lowest is RM 650. The average number of children in the family is 3, with the lowest is 1 and the highest is 5. Almost half of the respondents (48%) have their neighbor as their childcare support while the rest 34%, 14% and 4% of the respondents sent their children to their relatives, parents and childcare center. More than half (55%) of the respondents are holding SRP/PMR qualification, 31% SPM/MCE and 14% Standard Six/Primary Level (see Table 1). The Relationship Between Work-family Conflict and Employees Work Attitude (H1a, H1b and H1c) The statistics used to test the hypotheses consisted of inter-correlations and regression. Table 2 reports the intercorrelations analysis between dependent and independent variables. Table 3 depicts the regression results predicting the job satisfaction from the independent variables of work-family conflict and work-related factors. Regressions were obtained in two stages. In the first stage all variables representing work-family conflict was entered in the independent variables. Finally, all variables of work related factors were included as the independent variables or predictor of dependent measures of job satisfaction. The dependent variable was scores for job satisfaction. The results revealed in Table 2 supports the hypothesis of this study that perceptions of work-family conflict and work-related factors are meaningful predictors of the job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was negatively correlated with all aspects of work-family conflict mainly job parental conflict, job marital conflict and job homemaker conflict. This implies that the higher the job parental conflict, job marital conflict and job homemaker conflict, the lower the job satisfaction experienced by non-professional married working women. This finding supports the hypothesis of the study that there is a negative relationship between job satisfaction and all aspects of work-family conflict (job parental conflict, job marital conflict and job homemaker). This finding is in line with a study conducted by Kim and Ling (2001), who found a negative relationship between work-family conflict and job satisfaction. Table 2: Inttercorrelations Between Dependent and Dependent Variables * * -.77* * -.54* -.72* * -.52* -.36* -.41* * -.37* -.45* -.17* -.20* * -.63* -.58* -.54* -.51* -.39* * -.40* -.44* -.26* -.19* -.45*.33* 1.00 * Significant at the.05 level 1. Employees work attitude (job satisfaction) 2. job marital conflict 3. job parental conflict 4. job homemaker conflict 5. role conflict 6. role ambiguity 7. role overload 8. work commitment

6 Effects of Work Family Conflict on Employees Work Attitude (H1d) The regression analysis in Table 3 indicates that work-family conflict aspects accounted for 29% of variance in job satisfaction. Job parental appeared as the most significant contributor to dependent variable (p <.001), followed by job marital conflict (p <.003). Meanwhile, job homemaker conflict was not the predictor of job satisfaction. Thus, the results implied that job parental conflict and job marital conflict are two important factors that predicting employees work attitude in terms of job satisfaction in this research. On a whole work family conflict contributed 29% variance in employees work attitude. This finding confirmed partially the hypothesis H1d because one aspect of work familyconflict that is homemaker conflict did not predict significantly towards employees work attitude. The Relationship Between Work Related Factors and Employees Work Attitude (H2a, H2b, H2c and H2d) Employees work attitude was correlated with all variables of work related factors. However three variables; role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload were negatively correlated with job satisfaction. This means that the higher the role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload the lower the job satisfaction. These findings are parallel with what was reported by Borgatta and Borgatta(1992), Kim and Ling (2001), Newton and Keenan (1987) and Ahuja et al. (2002). Interestingly, work related factor of work commitment was the only aspect that was related positively with job satisfaction. This finding showed that the higher the level of work commitment the higher the level of job satisfaction experienced by employees. This finding is supported by a research done by Lewis and Cooper (1988), who found positive relationship between work commitment and job satisfaction. Effects of Work Related Factors on Employees Work Attitude (H2e) The regression analysis as depicted in Table 3 revealed that work related factors accounted for 41% variance in employees work attitude. The variance accounted for work related factors in is higher than the variance of work-family conflict (29%) in employees work attitude. This means that work related factors is more powerful in predicting employees work attitude than the work-family conflict. All variables of work related factors (role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload and work commitment) contributed significantly to job satisfaction. The most significant predictor was role ambiguity. This result supported the hypothesis H2e of the study. The finding implied the importance of role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload and work commitment in predicting employees work attitude among non-professional married working women. Table 3: Regression Results: Predicting Employees Work Attitude By Work-family Conflict and Work Related Factors Independent Variables Beta t R 2 f p Work-family Conflict * Job marital conflict * Job parental conflict * Job homemaker Work related factors * Role conflict * Role ambiguity * Role overload * Work commitment * * Significant at the.05 level

7 CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION AND SUGGESTION The study proposed to understand the relationship of work-family conflict and work related factors with employees work attitude. It was also designed to determine the role of work-family conflict and work related factors on dependent measures of employees work attitude. At the same time the study also aimed to determine the predictor or determinant of employees work attitude. The results were in the hypothesized direction as both perceived work-family conflict and job related factors were related to employees work attitude and contributed to decreased employees work attitude. The results are in line with the findings reported by Holahan and Gilbert (1979) and Kim and Ling (2001) as well as study by Borgatta and Borgatta (1992) Newton and Keenan (1987) and Lewis and Cooper (1988). Thus the present study validates the result obtained by these researchers and generalizes it to the other groups of employees. Perception of job parental conflict as a measure of work-family conflict emerged as the most significant predictor of employees work attitude. However, perception of job homemaker conflict was not a significant predictor of employees work attitude. Likewise, perception of role ambiguity as a measure of work related factors appeared as the most significant predictor of employees work attitude. The implication of this finding is that organizations need to address of issues pertaining to these job parental conflict and role ambiguity as they would affect level of employees work attitude among employees. Overall, role ambiguity was the most significant predictor of employees work attitude. Finally the results of the present study indicate that overall aspects of work-family conflict and work related factors were significantly correlated with the dependent variable of employees work attitude. Although overall variables of work-family conflict (except job homemaker) emerged as significant predictors of the dependent variables in regression analysis, the correlations do indicate the significant relationships between independent variables and dependent variable and these variables need to be recognized as a potential source of employees work attitude in the organization. Findings of this study would help policy makers and organizational theorists as well as practitioners to formulate strategies and program to maintain employees work attitude among non-professional married working women working in electronic and manufacturing industries to ensure effectiveness and high productivity in organization. Finally, this study serves as a departure for future studies of job satisfaction particularly among non professional married working women. It furthers our understanding by determining and testing the factors that affect employees work attitude. Finally, it is an initiative towards a greater understanding of organizational attitudes and behaviors particularly, job satisfaction in the global business. The results obtained in the present study may raise limitation in term generalizability which deserves further attention or research. However, question of generalizability is ultimately an empirical one which further investigation will answer. REFERENCES Adam,G.a., King, L.A. and King, D.W. (1996). Relationships of job and family involvement, family social support and work-family conflict with job and life satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81,4, Ahuja, M., Chudoba, K.M., George, J.F., Kacmar, C. and McKnight, H. (2002). Overworked and isolated? Predicting the effect of work-family conflict, autonomy, and workload on organizational commitment and turnover of virtual workers. Proceedings of the 35 th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, /02. Amatea, E., Cross, G., Clark, J. and Bobby, C. (1986). Assessing the work and family role expectations of career-oriented men and women: The life role salience. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, Aryee,S. (1992). Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict among married professional women: evidence from Singapore, Human Relations, 45,2, Beerh, T.A., Walsh, J. and Taber, T. (1976). Relationship of stress to individually and organizationally valued states: Higher order needs as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, Borgatta,E.F. and Borgatta, M.L. (1992). Encyclopedia of Sociology Volume 4,USA: MacMillan. Brief, A. P., Schuler, R.S. and Vansel, M. (1981). Managing job stress. Boston: little, Brown.

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