The_Importance_of_Job_Satisfaction_to_improve_Empl
The_Importance_of_Job_Satisfaction_to_improve_Empl
18, 2021
A new decade
for social changes
ISSN 2668-7798
www.techniumscience.com
9 772668 779000
Technium Social Sciences Journal
Vol. 18, 367-377, April, 2021
ISSN: 2668-7798
www.techniumscience.com
1
Diana Prihadini, S.Sos, M.Si, 2Siti Nurbaity, S.AB, MA, 3Heksawan Rachmadi,
SE, Akt, MM, 4Krishantoro, SH, MA
1234
STIAMI – Institute of Social Sciences and Management, Jakarta-INDONESIA
1. Introduction
Every organisation is always trying to achieve its goals, so, they must concentrate on
several aspects. One of them is the organisation's human resources (HR) which is seen as an
important source. Organisations are expected to always maintain a well-trained and effective
workforce [1]. Humans function as the driving force of the company because the company's
existence depends on the people involved behind it. To be able to achieve the goals of the
company, it requires human resources with satisfactory performance as well. One important
factor that must be considered by a company in achieving its goals is the human resource (HR)
factor. Efforts to achieve job satisfaction are very important for both individuals and
organisations. Job satisfaction not only encourages positive behaviour such as productive,
disciplined, obedient, innovative, helpful, [2] controlling negative counter-productive
behaviour such as corruption, theft, vandalism, and leaving work [3], [4] but also related to
happiness [5], psychological health [6] and the quality of life of workers [7]. People's happiness
at work is not only related to salary, but how employees are satisfied which involves material
and non-material aspects [5].
Satisfaction with the work process and results obtained by employees will strengthen
commitment and work ethic in achieving organisational goals [8]. At work, that is when
individuals begin to have hopes that their needs will be met in the workplace. Every organisation
and company will always strive to improve employee performance, with the hope that what the
company's goals will be achieved. One of the ways that companies take in improving the
performance of their employees, for example, is through education, training, providing adequate
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2. Review of Literature
2.1 Job Satisfaction
According to [11] job satisfaction is "an effectiveness or emotional response to various
aspects of work". [12] describe "job satisfaction is a set of employees' feelings about whether
their job is pleasant or not". According to [13] job satisfaction is "a general attitude towards a
person's job that shows the difference between the amount of rewards employees receive and
the amount they believe they should receive". [14] emphasised that job satisfaction is related
to a person's feelings or attitudes about the job itself, salary, promotion or educational
opportunities, supervision, co-workers, workload and others. In this case, what is meant by this
attitude is all matters related to work such as supervision, salary, working conditions, experience
with skills, fair and harmless work appraisal, good social relations in work, prompt resolution
of complaints, and good treatment from leaders to employees.
According to [15] job satisfaction is a positive emotional state which is the result of
evaluating one's work experience. [16] suggest that job satisfaction is a feeling of pleasure or a
positive emotional statement from the results of the fulfilment of a job or work experiences.
Meanwhile, according to [17] states that with job satisfaction an employee can feel his job
whether it is fun or not fun to do. Job Satisfaction has 3 components, namely:
1) Value. Where someone intentionally or unintentionally wants to get value or benefit
from the work itself.
2) Importance of Value. Humans are distinguished not only by the values they believe
in, but also from the burden or effort that is put into fulfilling these values. This
difference affects the level of one's satisfaction.
3) Perception. Satisfaction reflects our perception of the current situation and the values
we believe in.
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Figure 1
Components of Job Satisfaction
Importance of Value
Perception
Factors influence
Job Satisfaction
The indicators of job satisfaction according to [18] include: (1) Loyalty. This loyalty is
reflected by the willingness of employees to maintain and defend the organisation inside and
outside the work of other irresponsible people; (2) Ability. The work results both in quality and
quantity that the employee can produce from his job description; (3) Honesty. Honesty in
carrying out his duties and fulfilling agreements for himself and others; (4) Creativity. The
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Vol. 18, 367-377, April, 2021
ISSN: 2668-7798
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ability of employees to develop their creativity to complete their work, so that they will be able
to work better; (5) Leadership. The ability to lead, to have a strong personality, to be respected,
and to motivate others or subordinates to work effectively; (6) Salary level. The amount of
salary given by the company and received by employees must be in accordance with what
employees give to the company so that they are satisfied; (7) Indirect job satisfaction. Providing
adequate and appropriate remuneration to employees for their contribution to help the company
achieve its goals. Providing remuneration or reward for one's energy, time, thoughts and
achievements given to the company; (8) Work environment. A good work environment can
make employees feel comfortable at work.
Meanwhile, according to [19] there are several indicators of job satisfaction, namely: (1)
Salary. Salary as a multidimensional factor in job satisfaction is the amount of wages or money
received and the degree to which this can be seen as something that is considered appropriate
compared to others in the organisation; (2) Promotion. Promotion is an opportunity to advance
in the organisation, it seems to have a different effect on job satisfaction; (3) Supervision.
Supervision is a leader's ability to provide technical assistance and behavioural support; (4)
Colleagues. In general, cooperative colleagues are the simplest source of job satisfaction for
individual employees. Work groups, especially "strong" teams, act as a source of support,
comfort, advice, and assistance to individual members; (5) The work itself. Job satisfaction
itself is the main source of satisfaction, where the job provides good assignments, opportunities
to learn, opportunities to accept responsibility and progress for employees; (6) Altruism.
Altruism is a voluntary action taken by a person or group of people to help others without
expecting anything in return, except perhaps the feeling of having done a good deed; (7) Status.
Status is one of the factors that can affect job satisfaction. Status that can be classified into
several ways such as skills & expertise, length of training, amount of social responsibility or
work attitude can affect individual job satisfaction; (8) Social environment. Consists of a
physical and psychological work environment. Employees will find it easy to do and complete
their work if the surrounding conditions are clean, bright, not too cramped and noisy.
Table 1
Job Satisfaction Indicators
No Coloquitt et al (2013) Hasibuan (2014)
1. Salary Loyality
2. Promotion Ability
3. Supervision Honesty
4. Colleagues Creativity
5. The job itself Leadership
6. Altruism Level of Salary
7. Status Indirect Job Satisfaction
8. Social Environment Work environment
Source : Colquitt et al. (2013) and Hasibuan (2014)
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Meanwhile, according to [23] performance is the result of a person as a whole during a certain
period in carrying out tasks, such as work standards, targets or target criteria that have been
determined in advance and have been mutually agreed.
From some of the above definitions, it can be concluded that employee performance is
the ability to achieve job requirements, where a work target can be completed at the right time
or does not exceed the time limit provided so that the goal will be in accordance with company
morals and ethics. Thus, employee performance can contribute to the company. Gibson in [24]
states that individual performance is the basis of organisational performance which is strongly
influenced by individual characteristics, individual motivation, expectations, and assessments
made by management on the achievement of individual work results. According to Colquitt in
[24] performance is determined by 3 factors, namely: (a). Task performance. (b). Citizenship
behaviour as positive behaviour. (c). Counter-productive behaviour as negative behaviour.
According to Ivancevich in [24], performance is the result achieved from what the organisation
or company wants. Based on the description above, there are several performance functions,
namely: (a). Capacity to perform is related to the degree of process relations in individuals
between tasks and skills, abilities, knowledge and experience. (b). Opportunities to do related
to the availability of technology. (c). Willingness to do related to desire and willingness to use
effort to achieve performance.
Performance according to [25] comes from the word job performance which means the
work performance achieved by someone in carrying out the tasks and jobs assigned to him.
Rivai and Basri 2005 in [26], states that performance is the work that can be achieved by a
person or group of people in a company in accordance with their respective authorities and
responsibilities in an effort to achieve company goals illegally, does not violate law and does
not conflict with morals and ethics. [27] states that performance comes from the notion of
performance, there is also a definition of performance as the result of work or work
performance. Performance is a manifestation of ability in the form of real work. Performance
is the result of work achieved by employees in developing tasks and jobs that come from the
organisation. Performance is also a work result produced by an individual through a process
from an organisation or company that can be measured concretely and compared to the
standards set by the company or organisation. The factors that influence performance are
individual factors, psychological variables and organisational variables. Individual variables
include abilities and skills both physical and mental, background such as family, social level
and experience; demographics regarding age, origin and gender. Meanwhile, psychological
variables include perceptions, attitudes, personality, learning, and motivation.
According to [28] there are several characteristics of employee performance, namely: (a).
Have a high personal responsibility; (b). Can take and bear the risks faced; (c). Have a goal that
is reality; (d). Have a thorough work plan and strive to realise its goals; (e). Utilising concrete
feedback in all work activities that he does. According to [29] performance indicators can be
measured through: (a). Quality. Performance is measured from employees' perceptions of the
quality of work produced where the work process approaches the point of perfection; (b).
Quantity (amount). The amount of the expected target exceeds the predetermined target, the
resulting production can be in the form of a completed activity cycle; (c). Punctuality. Certain
jobs have been given time to complete and the level of activity is completed at the beginning of
time and maximize the time available for other activities; (d). Effectiveness. The level of use of
organisational resources such as manpower, money, technology; (e). Efficiency. Measure the
degree of conformity of output income using the lowest possible cost.
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Figure 3
Job Performance Indicators
Quality
Efficiency Quantity
Job
Performance
Indicators
Effectivity Punctuality
3. Method
The research method used by researchers is a descriptive comparative method with a
qualitative approach. Comparative research is research that compares the existence of one or
more variables in two or more different samples [30]. According to Dra. Aswani Sudjud,
comparative research will be able to find similarities and differences about objects, people,
work procedures, ideas, criticism of people, and groups. It can also compare the similarity of
views and changes in views of people, groups or countries, on cases, people, events or ideas
([31].
In this study, researchers collected data by using semi-structured interviews to all
informants. This type of interview is included in the in-depth interview category where the
implementation is freer when compared to structured interviews. The purpose of this type of
interview is to find problems more openly, where the interviewee is asked for their opinions
and ideas. In conducting interviews, researchers need to listen carefully and record what the
informants say [30]. In this study, researchers used a qualitative method with a comparative
approach, namely describing the problem of events through respondents or other data sources
related to AB University and YZ University. In this study, researchers will also dig deeper two
main problems by: (1). describing how the employees' performance at AB University and YZ
University; (2) describing the efforts made by the universities in increasing employee job
satisfaction.
In this study, the researchers interviewed 10 employees working in private universities in
Jakarta, who were grouped into 5 employees from a university that was included in the top 20
in Jakarta (Based on LLDikti's assessment, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher
Education), namely AB University and 5 employees from YZ University, a university which is
not included in the top 20. The interviewed employees were those who had worked at the
universities for more than 5 years. In addition, to find out how the policies implemented by the
institution in increasing employee job satisfaction, the researchers also interviewed HRD
leaders from the 2 institutions. By reason of ethical issues, the names of the institutions and
informants were not written completely in this paper.
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4. Results
The results of interviews with employees and HRD directors at AB University and YZ
University are summarised in the following tables:
Table 2
Excerpt of the interview with employees
Questions Employees in AB university Employees in YZ University
(1 of top 20 universities in Jakarta) (excluding top 20 in Jakarta)
Are you satisfied Of the 4 answer choices, namely: Of the 4 answer choices, namely:
working at this a. Very satisfied a. Very satisfied
university? b. Satisfied b. Satisfied
c. Ordinary c. Ordinary
d. Not satisfied d. Not satisfied
3 employees answered Very Satisfied. 3 employees answered Average
2 employees answered Satisfied. 2 employees answered Not Satisfied
What made you What makes working at this institution What makes it less satisfying / normal to work
happy / unhappy satisfied: at this institution:
working at this a. Rewards (in the form of salaries and Lack of attention from the institution to
university? other benefits that can provide employees. This can be seen and perceived
motivation to work better. from several aspects:
b. The opportunity is always provided by a. The low salary given. This causes many
the institution for employees to develop, employees to be forced to find side jobs
through training, workshops, seminars, outside of working hours.
or conferences both at home and b. Lack of opportunities for growth. Never
abroad. been included in training, workshops,
c. The opportunity to continue your seminars or conferences. Employees only
studies to a higher level on scholarships have to work on campus.
from institutions. c. There has never been an offer to continue
d. Job Promotion based on the results of study to a higher level.
the performance appraisal (performance d. Promotion is very rare.
evaluation) so that employees are e. Unfair treatment from management,
encouraged to show high quality work. especially towards employees of different
e. Fair treatment by the institution to ethnicities and religions.
employees even though employees f. The work atmosphere is not conducive.
come from different cultures / Too much unfair competition among co-
ethnicities and religions. workers.
f. Co-workers who make for a fun team, g. Leaders are awkward and less
motivate each other and provide communicative. Only give priority to
assistance when needed. work, work and work, without wanting to
g. A leader who can make the work communicate with employees.
atmosphere fun and not awkward. A
leader who can motivate employees and
not only impose sanctions.
What do you a. Show the quality of work that is not With no job satisfaction, employees are:
contribute to the just good but more than that. a. Lack of enthusiasm for work.
institution if you b. Assist colleagues who have difficulty b. The purpose of work is not to develop a
are satisfied with in their work. career or increase knowledge, but only to
your work? c. Take part in activities organised by earn a living.
the institution. c. There is no passion for participating in
d. Participate in academic activities activities outside the institution such as
outside the campus (Seminar / seminars, workshops, training etc, since
workshop / training / FGD) on behalf there is no follow up action such as
of the institution “promotion”.
e. Create an innovation. d. Do not have a sense of belonging to the
institution.
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Table 3
Interviews with HRD leaders in 2 private universities
5. Discussion
From the results of data analysis carried out in this research, it is found that higher
education institutions in the top 20 category in Jakarta have their own strategy in maintaining
and improving the performance of their employees. If the institution wants employees to be
loyal, work well, be disciplined, show high quality work, the institution must do the same for
employees. Employer cannot only sue employees but not provide what is due to their rights
properly. In addition, the role of a leader determines how employees can improve their
performance, as said by the HRD director at AB University:
“We regularly hold general staff meetings every month which are attended by all
employees. On this occasion, all employees from the lowest to the highest levels can
present their problems or ideas in front of the highest leadership. In this activity, the
management also announced who the best employee for the month is and give him an
award. This really motivates other employees to do better. In addition, every week,
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especially on Fridays, each division must hold a meeting, which must be attended by
staff and leaders. This is where we demand department heads to be able to
communicate heart to heart with their subordinates, and at the same time make this
meeting to motivate them." (WE - HRD Director of AB University).
From interviews with HRD leaders, it is known that the role of the leader determines the
work achievement of his staff. Leaders must be able to communicate well with their staff and
create a conducive work environment. This is in accordance with the opinion of [17]. In
addition, appreciation is a very important factor if we want employees to show quality
performance. Rewards in this case are not only in the form of salary but also actions that can
develop employee careers such as promotion and opportunities to develop themselves with
expertise or skills [18]. However, when we find employees who seem less enthusiastic about
working, we should not be too quick to impose sanction, as said by the HRD Director of AB
University:
“We have to call the employee first, and ask him to explain what makes him seem less enthusiastic
about working. We can explain what causes us to call these employees, for example because the
quality of their work has shown a decline in the last few weeks, work is less effective and efficient,
completion of tasks is not on time and has given rise to less innovative ideas. By digging up
information related to this, we can find out what problems faced by the employee and as a leader,
it is our duty to motivate and assist him to find out the solution.” (WE – HRD Director of AB
University).
“If we have seen that there are employees whose performance begins to decline, attendance
at work and work completion is not on time, are less productive in creating innovative
works, appear less comfortable in the room where they work, don't hastily to take action to
impose sanctions.” (YU – YZ University).
This is in line with what was said by [9] that employee dissatisfaction at work can lead to
leaving the organisation and ignoring orders and prohibitions, also by [9] regarding employee
performance indicators. This research also found that educational institutions that are not in the
best 20 category do not understand how to treat their employees well, ranging from a lack of
appreciation to employees both in terms of salary or other forms of appreciation, to
communication strategies and motivating employees which are rarely done by leaders at YZ
University.
6. Conclusion
The results of this study proved that the job satisfaction obtained by employees determines
their job performance. Employees who get job satisfaction will show quality job performance.
The results of this study also indicate that the dominant factors determining job satisfaction are
reward issues, namely salary and promotion, work environment problems and co-workers, and
creativity that give birth to innovation. For further research, researchers suggest that a study of
employee performance should be carried out with a different approach.
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