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International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
540 www.globalbizresearch.org
Does Social Recognition Impact Job satisfaction of Academic Faculty
Members of State Universities in Sri Lanka
T. S. M. Amarasena,
Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Email: [email protected]
A.R. Ajward,
Faculty of Management Studies & Commerce,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Email: [email protected]
A.K.M. Ahasanul Haque,
Department of Business Administration,
International Islamic University Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the overall level of job satisfaction of academic
faculty members of state universities in Sri Lanka and to examine whether social recognition
of these academic members had an impact on their overall job satisfaction. Quantitative
method was employed to collect data using a structured questionnaire from academics in
fifteen state universities in Sri Lanka. A representative sample based on multi stage stratified
random sampling method was selected, where 500 questionnaires were distributed and 423
questionnaires deemed usable for further analysis were identified. In terms of findings, the
median and mean values of the overall job satisfaction of academic staff members of Sri
Lankan state universities were found to be 3.95 and 3.93 (in a 1-5 Likert scale), respectively,
and in addition, the mean value was also found to be significantly higher than the neural
value 3. This means that the academic members are generally satisfied with their jobs in the
Sri Lankan context. Further, the multiple regression analysis performed to test the research
hypothesis on the relationship between social recognition and overall job satisfaction
indicated that the factor “social recognition” was a highly significant positive factor
affecting the overall faculty job satisfaction in Sri Lanka. These findings are also expected to
have significant policy implications.
Kew words: Job satisfaction, Social Recognition, State Universities in Sri Lanka
JEL Classification: D 23
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
541 www.globalbizresearch.org
1. Background of the Study
Job satisfaction is a most important factor in the field of human resource management
(Majumder, 2012). Job satisfaction results from the employees’ sensitivity of how well their
job provides those things they viewed as significant. According to the Kaliski (2007), job
satisfaction “is the key ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the
achievement of other goals that lead to an emotion of fulfillment”. On the other hand, Heslop
et al. (2002) explained that job satisfaction “is the difference between what an individual’s
expectations, needs or values about the job are, and what the job actually delivers”.
Furthermore, Lim (2008) defined job satisfaction “is vital for personal interests and
organizational effectiveness”.
It should be noted that education is considered as the most important aspect of every
one’s life. Especially higher education plays a vital role in the deployment of the country. The
quality of a university is the superiority of its faculty members (Amarasena et al., 2015);
higher education being the base for nearly all professional careers. For the socio-economic
development of a country, higher education plays a significant role. Nowadays the fast pace
of changing environment and growing technology has raised concern for countries like Sri
Lanka to be more open to changing trends in order to face the challenges of the globalized
world. Quality higher education has currently become an essential part in development and
success of a country. A lot of countries paying better courtesy to their higher education, bring
technological and structural reforms, efficiently utilize their intellectual resources consistently
to the needs of higher education are now the leading giants in this globalized world (Nyangau
and Josiah, 2014).
A country, which has been ready and highly facilitated with quality institutions with
talented group of academic staff enriched with creativity, will undoubtedly, be the market
leader in innovations. In such institutions, job satisfaction among academic staff members
could be considered to be a key element, and thus, its different dimensions merits
examination; this is due to satisfaction leads to high productivity and performance of staff
members and benefits the organization as well as students (Saleem, 2010).
Stewartg (2004) indicates that once the level of job satisfaction increases, both personnel
and organizations will achieve their goals and will thus be more successful. There is a
growing interest in order to determine its impact on the performance of academics and the
level of job satisfaction in higher education, and accordingly various Job satisfaction related
studies have been done in developed countries (Duong, 2013). However, the researchers note
that only a few studies been done in developing countries like Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is
essential to work on such areas that can be developed to increase the efficiency of academic
faculty members, and thus of the organizations as well as the students in the country (Saleem,
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
542 www.globalbizresearch.org
2010). Furthermore, Oshagbemi (2003) explained that employee job satisfaction is an
important attribute that organizations desire of their staff. Eyupoglu and Saner (2009)
conclude that various reasons exist for studying academic faculty job satisfaction, as research
indicated that if low dissatisfaction and job satisfaction exist among the academic faculty
members, then the goals of higher education could not be accomplished. Satisfied employees
have lower rates of both turnover and absenteeism. Job satisfaction is also significantly linked
to employee absenteeism (Hackett and Guion, 1985).
Munhurrun et al. (2009) find that job satisfaction should not be ignored, but only a few
organizations seriously had considered it. Further, it is noted that most of the research studies
in the field of employee satisfaction are on profit-making manufacturing and service
organizations; and thus there has been an increasing interest on satisfaction of academics in
higher education. Küskü (2003) indicates that the reason for such growing attention is being
due to the fact that labor intensively of higher education establishments and their heavy
allocations in the budgets for academics; as well as dependence on of their staff for depicting
the organization’s effectiveness. Based on the above observations, job satisfaction of the
employees in higher education institutions could be considered a very important issue that
merits in-depth examination.
Having established the importance of job satisfaction, many research studies have
indicated that several factors contribute to the job satisfaction among academic staff members
that include, work content, work autonomy, development, financial rewards, promotion,
supervision, communication, co-workers, workload, etc. (Saane et al., 2003, Roelen et al.,
2008). Further, Board (2007) explained that reward, incentives and recognition are the basic
factors for motivation of the employees in the organization. Among these factors, one of the
main factor identified is the social recognition of academic staff members (Locke, 1976;
Josias, 2005; Marks, 2006). Locke (1976) indicates that recognition is one of the most
frequently used elements cited as a cause of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction in employees.
Apart from these extant studies which recognize social recognition as a key factor in
enhancing the job satisfaction of the academicians, theories including Herzberg two factor
theory (1959), Aldefer ERG theory (1972), Maslow’s need hierarchy theory (1943, 1954),
and recently Vroom’s Valence, Instrumentality and Expectancy Theory (1964) establish a
strong relationship between them. However, the authors do not observe sufficient studies
performed on the relationship between social recognition and academic job satisfaction
particularly in the context of developing countries as Sri Lanka, and observe it as a research
gap that needs to be addressed. Accordingly, present research study mainly focuses on social
recognition as a significant factor that contributes to the job satisfaction of academic staff
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
543 www.globalbizresearch.org
members in state universities in Sri Lanka. The research objectives based on this premise are
discussed below:
1.1 Research Questions and Objectives
There are two main research questions addressed in this study; first question is on
assessing what is the level of the overall level of job satisfaction, and the second question is
on what is the association between social recognition and job satisfaction, of academic faculty
members of state universities in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, there are two main objectives of this
research study, and the first is to assess degree of the overall level of job satisfaction of the
academic faculty members of state universities in the Sri Lankan context. Then, the second
research objective is to investigate the impact of social recognition on job satisfaction of
academic faculty members of state universities in Sri Lanka. Apart from these main
objectives, this study also attempts to examine the impact of selected demographic factors on
the level of job satisfaction of academic faculty members of state universities in Sri Lanka.
This research paper is structured as follows: Section 2 discusses the literature pertaining
to the association between social recognition and job satisfaction and develops the related
hypothesis proposed to be tested in this study. Section 3 discusses the methodology in testing
this proposed hypothesis and other methodological dimensions of the study. Section 4
presents the data analysis and findings, while the final section provides the related
conclusions derived under this study.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Sri Lankan Context
In the present Sri Lankan context, there are 15 public universities with approximately
80,000 internal students and 5200 faculty members (University Grants Commission, 2013).
These universities are under the purview of Ministry of Higher Education, which was
established in March 1978, and is governed by the Universities Act No 16 of 1978. Further,
the University Grants Commission (UGC) serves as a buffer between the universities and the
government. The main functions of the UGC includes planning and coordinating in keeping
with national policy, regulation of administration, maintenance of academic standards,
selecting of students for state universities, and allocating public funds to higher educational
institutions and control of expenditure (Samaranayake, 2010).
2.2 Social Recognition and Job Satisfaction
According to Josias (2005) being recognized in their respective work places, almost all
employees will place a high importance on such recognition. In an academic setup, social
recognition could be considered as the judgment, which is provided to an academic for being
a valued individual of his/her educational institution and society. Hellman (1997) explains
that recognition is the rewards of monetary and non-monetary nature given in the community
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
544 www.globalbizresearch.org
or communicated in the place of work based on the achievement or success of a person.
Marks (2006) agree with this view and claims that recognition is given as non-monetary and
monetary incentives for selected behaviors that are desirable. Thus, it is seen that providing
an important status to an employee within an organization involves the process of recognition.
In the presence of growth opportunities and rewards, Danish and Usman (2010) argue that
employees are highly motivated, while in the absence the employees are less motivated.
Furthermore, Ali and Ahmed (2009) indicate that there is a statistically significant positive
association between recognition and reward respectively, also job satisfaction and motivation.
This research asserted that if recognition or rewards provided to employees were to be
changed, then there will be a consequent change in the job satisfaction and work motivation.
On the other hand, Olsen, Maple, and Stage (1995) elaborate that female academicians view
institutional support and recognition as having a positive influence on the job satisfaction of
academicians.
In terms of the association between social recognition and job satisfaction, many studies
have identified a strong relationship between them by using various theories including
Herzberg two factor theory (1959), Aldefer ERG theory (1972), Maslow’s need hierarchy
theory (1943, 1954), and recently Vroom’s Valence, Instrumentality and Expectancy Theory
(1964). Among the most frequently used factors that results in satisfaction or dissatisfaction
among employees, Locke (1976) indicates that recognition is a key factor. Thus, it is apparent
that management in organizations can use recognition as a source of job satisfaction for their
employees. Hertzberg et al. (1959) claim that recognition could be considered as an intrinsic
element that positively an affects the level of job satisfaction. Further, as indicated above, Ali
and Ahmed (2009b) found that between reward and recognition, there is a relationship that is
statistically significant, and also between motivation and satisfaction.
Based on the above discussion, it is apparent that there is a significant positive association
between the social recognition and job satisfaction of employees, and the related extant
research studies find that it is especially applicable for academicians. Furthermore, it is
particularly interesting to note that studies pertaining to the developing countries have found
the aspect of social recognition to be important even being a non-monetary benefit. Thus, the
authors of this study are highly motivated to examine the role of social recognition in the
context of academicians of the public universities in Sri Lanka.
Considering the information discussed, the following hypothesis is developed and
proposed to be tested in this study:
H1: Social recognition will positively associate with job satisfaction of academic staff
members of Sri Lankan state universities.
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
545 www.globalbizresearch.org
3. Methodology
3.1 Population and Sample
This uses a quantitative research approach based on the approach used in the dominant
extant literature (Amarasena et al., 2015). The study population of is all academic faculty
members of state universities in Sri Lanka. As indicated in Section 2, in Sri Lanka, there are
fifteen state universities around the country consisting of 5200 (University Grants
Commission, 2013) academic faculty members who are considered as a population for this
study. A sample of 423 academic staff members responded (out of 500 questionnaires sent) as
the sample for the study based on the multi stage stratified random sampling method. The
sample consists of male and female lecturers, professors, senior lecturers and lecturers at all
state universities in Sri Lanka.
3.2 Data Collection
As a primary data collection tool the questionnaire-method was used for this study. The
questionnaire developed based on the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) (Weiss et
al., 1967). This study used a five point Likert scale in the questionnaire. Five -point Likert-type
scale anchored by 1 = “strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree”. Further, demographic
factors were included. In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, the
questionnaire was subjected to the review of experts in the area of human resources
management and was pilot tested. The questions were revised and updated after such
comments and results of the pilot test.
3.3 Data Analysis Methods
As indicated above, extant studies have used quantitative analytical techniques to describe,
analyze the differences and explore the association between the social recognition and job
satisfaction of academicians, which are deemed appropriate in the circumstances. In terms of
the analysis strategy, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, t-tests, One-way ANOVA and
a multiple regression analysis is proposed and used in describing the data as well as testing the
research hypothesis indicated in Section 2. The model, which is constructed based on the
related extant literature that is proposed to be tested using the multiple linear regression
analysis, is as follows:
𝑂𝑆 = 𝛼 + 𝛽1𝑆𝑅 + 𝛽2𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑠 + 𝛽3𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑠 + 𝜀 (Model 1)
OS: Overall job satisfaction of academic staff members of state universities
SR: Social Recognition of academic staff members of state universities
ControlVars: Remuneration and Workload of academic staff members of state universities
(base on Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) (Weiss et al., 1967)).
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
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DemoVarrs: Current Working Status, Teaching Experience, Gender, Age, Highest level of
education, Monthly Salary, and Marital Status of academic staff members of state universities.1
4. Findings and Discussion
4.1 Validity and Reliability
There are eight items in the social recognition (SR) construct that was included in the
questionnaire. The inter-item correlation of these sub-items values are shown in Table 1
below, and the highest correlation for all items are between 0.3 and 0.9, which indicates that a
factor analysis could be performed. Furthermore, the KMO value was 0.891, which is
considered to be good. Accordingly, the factor analysis performed and a single factor was
extracted that explained 56% of the variance in these 8 items. Thus, no any item needed to be
dropped at this stage and the construct validity is ensured. Therefore, the mean for these eight
items was computed and saved as the variable: social recognition to be used in further
analysis.
Table1: Inter-item correlation values for items in Social Recognition
SR1 SR2 SR3 SR4 SR5 SR6 SR7 SR8
SR1
SR2
SR3
SR4
SR5
SR6
SR7
SR8
-
.548 -
.452 .571 -
.603 .495 .473 -
.498 .548 .499 .633 -
.590 .447 .382 .698 .603 -
.383 .478 .541 .412 .469 .393 -
.399 .518 .501 .388 .401 .346 .576 -
(Source: Researchers’ Field Survey, 2015)
As noted in Table 1 above, the inter-item correlation values for social recognition trait
items were above .3, and thus all items were consistent with the construct (Hair et al., 1998).
Furthermore, the Cronbach’s Alpha value for the social recognition construct was .885
reflecting that the measured items have high internal reliability and consistency.
4.2 Descriptive Statistics
In this study, responses were obtained from fifteen state universities in Sri Lanka. As
indicated under methodology section of the paper, the population of academic staff members
is 5200 approximately in Sri Lanka all state universities (University Grants Commission,
2013), and 423 academic faculty staff members were selected as the sample. Out of these 423
academic members, 51% were males and rests of them (49%) were females. Most of the
respondents (55%) were senior lecturers, while in terms of teaching experience, majority
1 The categories of the demographic variables are depicted in Table 3 in page 547.
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
547 www.globalbizresearch.org
(70%) have at least 15 years teaching of experience. The majority (77%) of respondents have
either a Masters or a Doctorate degree. Further, a majority of respondents (47%) had a
monthly salary more than Rs. 95000. In terms of marital status, out of total respondents, 84%
were married.
Table 2: Descriptive statistics on the overall level of Job Satisfaction (OS) of faculty members
N Minimum Maximum Meana SD Percentiles Skewness Kurtosis
25 50 75
OS 423 3 5 3.93*** .568 3.57 3.95 4.33 -.239 -.635
(Source: Researchers’ Field Survey, 2015)
aNote: The one-sample t-test indicates whether the mean value (M=3.93) is statistically significantly
different from neural value of 3 in the Likert scale (1-5).
*p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .00
In the Table 2 above, the descriptive statistics of the overall job, satisfaction of the
academic staff members in Sri Lankan state university is depicted. Based on this table, the
mean overall job satisfaction is 3.93 and the median value is 3.95 in a 1-5 Likert scale.
Further, the one-sample t-test indicates that the mean value, 3.93 is statistically significantly
higher than the neutral value of 3. Accordingly, these results indicate that the academic
members in general are quite satisfied with their job.
4.3 t-test and One-way ANOVA Test Results for Social Recognition
Table 3 below depicts the difference between/among all the selected demographic
variables (i.e., Current Working Status, Teaching Experience, Gender, Age, Highest level of
education, Monthly Salary, and Marital Status) in terms of social recognition.
Table 3: t-test and One-way ANOVA for Social Recognition
Groups Mean
Values
t-test/One-
way
ANOVA
Difference
Current working
status:
1. Professor
2. Senior Lecturer
3. Lecturer
4.169
3.883
3.837
F-value:
8.069***
Groups: ‘Professor’ and ‘Senior Lecturer
categories are statistically significantly (p<.05)
different. Groups: ‘Professor’ and ‘Lecturer
categories are statistically significantly (p<.01)
different.
Teaching
Experience:
1. Less than 5 Years
2. 5 <= Years < 10
3. 10 <= Years < 15
4. 15 <= Years < 20
5. 20 <= Years < 25
6. Over 25 years
3.869
3.848
3.899
3.843
4.064
4.013
F-value:
1.634
No significant difference among the groups
(p>.05)
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
548 www.globalbizresearch.org
Gender:
1.Male
2.Female
3.917
3.876
t-value: -
.838
No significant difference among the groups
(p>.05)
Age:
1. Less than 30 years
2. 30 <= Years < 40
3. 40 <= Years < 50
4. 50 <= Years < 60
5. Over 60years
3.854
3.877
3.869
3.984
4.031
F-value:
1.121
No significant difference among the groups
(p>.05)
Highest level of
education:
1. Bachelor’s Degree
2. Master’s Degree
(MBA/MSC)
3. Doctoral Degree
4. Other
3.843
3.938
3.884
3.913
F-value:
.610
No significant difference among the groups
(p>.05)
Monthly Salary:
1. Less than Rs.
35000
2. 35000 <= RS <
50000
3. 50000 <= RS <
65000
4. 65000 <= RS <
80000
5. 80000 <= RS <
95000
6. More than Rs.
95000
3.558
3.813
3.779
3.917
3.829
3.975
F-value:
3.166**
Only groups: ‘Less than Rs. 35000’ and ‘More
than Rs. 95000’ are statistically significantly
(p<.05) different.
Marital status:
1. Married
2. Unmarried
3. Divorced/widowed
3.907
3.823
4.071
F-value:
1.176
No significant difference among the groups
(p>.05)
(Source: Researcher‘s Field Survey, 2015)
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
549 www.globalbizresearch.org
The results of the t-test and One-way ANOVA tests performed to observe the differences
between/among selected demographic groups in terms of the Social Recognition are depicted
in Table 3. In terms of current working status, only groups: ‘Professor’ (M=4.169) and
‘Senior Lecturer’ (M=3.883) - (p<.05) and ‘Professor’ (M=4.169) and ‘Lecturer’ (M=3.837)
are statistically significantly (p<.01) different. However, in term of the monthly salary only
groups: ‘Less than Rs. 35000’ (M=3.558) and ‘More than Rs. 95000’ (M=3.975) are
statistically significantly (p<.05) different. On the other hand, the rest of other demographic
variables (i.e., Teaching Experience, Gender, Age, Highest level of education, and Marital
Status) are not statistically significantly different (p>.05) in terms of social recognition.
4.4 Results from Multiple Regression Analysis
The purpose of multiple linear regression analysis is to help to understand the prediction
between more than two quantitative variables. Sekaran and Bougie (2010) highlighted the
multiple linear regression analysis presents a method of objectively examining the extent and
the nature of the association between the predictor variables and the outcome variable. As
proposed under Model 1 in the methodology section of this study, a multiple linear regression
analysis is used to evaluate how well the constructs measured predicted the overall job
satisfaction of the university academic faculty members.
In Table 4, the p-value (Sig.) for the social recognition predictor is less than 0.05, which
indicates that it is highly statistically significant positive relationship with overall job
satisfaction. Hence, it could be observed that the overall job satisfaction depends on social
recognition (SR) on a positive and significant basis. Further, the remuneration (RM), work
load (WL) and certain demographic variables are also observed to be statistically significant.
The R2 value is 0.516, which means that about 52% of the variation in overall job satisfaction
(OS) is explained by social recognition (SR) and the other selected control and demographic
variables taken together.
Table 4: The Results from Regression Analysis
Model 1
(Dependent Variable: Overall Job Satisfaction)
Coefficient Std. Error t-value Collinearity
Diagnostics
Tolerance VIF
Social Recognition 0.601*** .045 13.362 .772 1.296
Remuneration 0.064** .027 2.343 .807 1.238
Work Load 0.209*** .039 5.417 .680 1.470
Current working status – Senior Lecturer .008 .085 .090 .221 4.529
Current working status –Lecturer .070 .120 .586 .121 8.298
Teaching Exp.: 5 ≤ Years < 10 .006 .072 .081 .418 2.395
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
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Teaching Exp.: 10≤ Years < 15 .023 .089 .256 .308 3.243
Teaching Exp.: 15 ≤ Years < 20 .103 .107 .961 .328 3.047
Teaching Exp.: 20 ≤ Years < 25 -.119 .116 -1.021 .364 2.750
Teaching Exp.: Over 25 Years -.015 .131 -.117 .274 3.648
Gender- Female -.025 .042 -.582 .881 1.135
Age: 30 ≤ Years < 40 -.004 .094 -.038 .186 5.375
Age: 40 ≤ Years < 50 -.023 .116 -.199 .151 6.636
Age: 50 ≤ Years < 60 -.032 .133 -.241 .149 6.715
Age: Over 60Years .054 .180 .300 .333 3.005
Master’s Degree -.021 .087 -.245 .236 4.240
Doctoral Degree -.023 .100 -.233 .159 6.277
Education-Other -.159 .116 -1.364 .401 2.492
Salary-35,000<=Rs<50,000 .137 .147 .933 .370 2.703
Salary-50,000<=Rs<65,000 .107 .132 .810 .212 4.725
Salary-65,000<=Rs<80,000 .044 .130 .337 .160 6.256
Salary-80,000<=Rs<95,000 .054 .142 .383 .150 6.651
Salary->95,000 0.243* .139 1.744 .081 9.349
Marital Status – Unmarried -.020 .065 -.307 .743 1.347
Marital Status - Divorced/widowed .167 .161 1.035 .928 1.078
Intercept 0.588** .247 2.381
F-value 16.956***
R2 51.6%
N 423
*p < .05, ** p < .01, ***p < .00.
The highest VIF values are within the tolerable limit of 10, hence, there is no issue on
multicollinaerity (Sekaran and Bougie, 2010) (Tabachnick et al., 2007). Furthermore, in the
residual plot diagram (not depicted) all the points were within ±3 and were distributed
randomly, as well as the residuals were symmetrical around the value of 0.
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
A survey of related extant literature indicates that only a few research studies on job
satisfaction of academic faculty staff have been conducted in the context of developing
countries. Therefore, it was highlighted that there is a need for more research studies from
developing countries like Sri Lanka. Thus, this study attempted to identify the impact of
social recognition on overall job satisfaction of academic faculty members of state
universities in Sri Lanka.
In addressing the first objective of the study, i.e., assessing the degree of the job
satisfaction of the academic staff members of the state universities in Sri Lanka, the study
finds that the median value is 3.95 and the mean value of overall job satisfaction is 3.93 (in a
International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour and Decision Sciences (IJRAOB)
An Online International Research Journal (ISSN: 2311-3197)
2015 Vol: 1 Issue 4
551 www.globalbizresearch.org
1-5 Likert scale). This value is also found to be significantly higher than the neural value 3.
Thus, these results indicate that the academic faculty staff members in general are quite
satisfied on their jobs. Furthermore, in the t-test and One-way ANOVA results, under the
current working status, only groups: ‘Professor’ and ‘Senior Lecturer’ and ‘Professor’ and
‘Lecturer’ categories were found to be statistically significantly different. However, under
these tests, under the monthly salary, only groups: ‘Less than Rs. 35000’ and ‘More than Rs.
95000’ were identified to be statistically significantly different. Nevertheless, the rest of other
demographic variables (i.e., Teaching Experience, Gender, Age, Highest level of education,
and Marital Status) are not statistically significantly different (p>.05) in terms of social
recognition. In terms of the second objective of examining the association between the social
recognition and job satisfaction of academic staff members of state universities in Sri Lanka,
the results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that the most important predictor is the
Social Recognition. (Zeb et al. (2014); Ali and Ahmed (2009a)). This result amounts to
valuable policy recommendations, and the relevant authorities could use social recognition as
an important factor and should take steps to enhance the deeply held values and norms such
as respect to teachers, obedience, recognition and respect of the teaching profession, etc.
within the society to increase job satisfaction of academic staff members.
It should be noted that there are few limitations in the present study and the findings and
related conclusions should be interpreted cautiously. Firstly, the study was conducted only in
the Sri Lanka context; and therefore the findings and related conclusions may not be able to
generalized and compared with rest of the other countries in the Asia region and the world. As
future research directions, it is suggested to consider more affecting factors on job satisfaction
among university academic faculty members.
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