The Level of Job Satisfaction of Employees in

Saudi Banks

Research Background

Job satisfaction explains the level of contentedness of an individual with his or her job. The

happy employees are said to be more satisfied with their jobs. Job satisfaction is not similar to

the level of motivation at work place or the aptitude level but still it is clearly linked with the

both. It is said that the happy employees are productive employees. The most-used research

definition of job satisfaction is by Locke (1976), who defined it as “. . . a pleasurable or positive

emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (p. 1304).Locke’s

definition gives importance to both affect or feeling and cognition or thinking. This can be said

in other words as, when we thing, we have feelings about what we think.

There are various statements going around in the organizations saying that the happy employees

are productive employees while the proponents state that the happy employees are not productive

employees. These conflicting statements are drawn by the HR professionals and the managers

within organizations. There is confusion and debate among practitioners on the topic of

employee attitudes and job satisfaction— even at a time when employees are increasingly

important for organizational success and competitiveness. There is no strong acceptance among

researchers, that increased job satisfaction produces improved job performance, in fact, improved

job satisfaction can sometimes decrease job performance. Study conducted by Staw& Ross

(1985) demonstrated that a person’s job satisfaction scores have stability over time, even when

he or she changes jobs or companies.

Research conducted by Judge et al (1998), Judge and Bono (2001) indicated that core self-

evaluation plays a significant role as a key personality trait that correlates with the employee job

satisfaction. They further concluded that the relationship between self-evaluation and job

satisfaction has one primary perception of the job itself. The job satisfaction is linked to the job

itself, to what may be the most important personality trait to predict job satisfaction, core self-

evaluation.

Many managerial studies conducted in the past have linked the performance evaluation

procedures of an employee to the level of job satisfaction (Brownell. 1982; Harrison. 1992;Lau

and Sholihin. 2005). This is justified on the basis of an assumption that the performance

evaluation of employees has reflection on the extent of employees’ success or failure in

performing their tasks. Feelings of success and failure are important determinants of job

satisfaction (Locke and Latham. 1990). Based on the above discussion, it is reasonable to

conclude that fairness of performance procedures may affect job satisfaction. Therefore, the

purpose of this study is to provide greater understanding of the research on this topic and give

recommendations related to the major practitioners.

Aim of the Study

Employee job satisfaction plays an important role in the organizations. Cascio (1986), Mirvis

and Lawler (1977) indicated that the job satisfaction is the predictor of withdrawal behaviors like

turnover and absenteeism from the organizations. This enables the researchers to statistically

measure the impact of employee attitudes on organizations. Using these methods can be a

powerful way for practitioners to reveal the costs of low job satisfaction and the value of

improved employee attitudes on such outcomes as absenteeism and retention.

The aim of the study is to discuss the level of job satisfaction among employees working in the

Saudi Banks. The study will attempt to investigate the factors of satisfaction of employees

working in Saudi Arabian Banks. This will help the researcher to draw a snapshot of the current

job satisfaction approaches implemented by the banks. So the study is entitled as “the level of

job satisfaction of employees in Saudi Banks”. For the purpose of achieving the above

mentioned aims, following objectives are formulated:

1. The research will identify the process and procedure of job satisfaction within the

Saudi Arabian Banks.

2. To discover how Saudi Arabian Banks are implementing and providing Job

satisfaction procedure to their employees.

3. To investigate the factors that lead to the employee job satisfaction.

The study will be de-limited to:

The Private sector banks of Saudi Arabia.

The public sector banks of Saudi Arabia.

The 50 private and public sector banks in Saudi Arabia.

25 Public sector banks.

25 Private sector banks.

The officers, managers of the banks only.

One specific city of KSA only.

Methodology of the Study

Design of the study

The research design will follow descriptive research methodology. The descriptive research

design is a scientific method that uses observations and the description of the behaviors of the

subject without influencing it in any way (Gill & Johnson, 1997; Anderson, 2004, Creswell,

1998).

Population

The population of the study will be comprised of Private and Public limited banks of Saudi

Arabia.

Sample and Sampling Technique

The sample of the study will consist of 50 private and public limited banks of Saudi Arabia; 25

public limited banks and 25 private limited banks. The sample will be drawn from one single city

of Saudi Arabia. In order to carry out the sample out of population, Purposive sampling

technique will be used. The purposive sampling is used when we want to conduct a research with

a specific population in mind and the sample is selected to include the people of interest and to

exclude those who do not match the purpose. In Purposive sampling, the selection of units

depends on the need of research. This type of sampling technique is used when it is not possible

to adopt any random procedure for selection of sampling units (Agarwal, 2009; Easterby-Smith,

Thorpe & Lowe, 2008).

Tool of research

The research will be conducted by using questionnaires method. Job satisfaction questionnaire

will be developed. The questionnaires are greatly used by the survey strategies, both in

experiment and case study research strategies can make use of these techniques (Saunders,

Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009). This questionnaire will help the researcher to identify those aspects

of employers’ current job that are rewarding as well as those that contribute to dissatisfaction of

employees. The results will help the researcher to clarify the aspects of a job that most directly

contribute to your career satisfaction (Coughlan & Drumgoole, 2004)

Development of tool

For the purpose of development of research tool, international survey methodology called The

Cranfield Network project (Cranet) will be used (Sparrow, 2009; Chris et al, 2004). The research

tool will be developed by Using Rand's theory (Rand, 1990). The main factors to be used in the

development of tool will be emotions as a starting point, the concepts of satisfaction,

dissatisfaction, value, emotion, and appraisal, thinking, needs, goals (Locke, 1969, 2002)and

their interrelationships will be discussed. Moreover, closed ended questions will be used in the

questionnaires and point five Likert scale (Likert, 1932) will be used in the questionnaires.

Tool Administration

After extensive review of literature and consultation with the supervisor, questionnaire will be

developed. It will be based on the indicators of job satisfaction of employees in the

organizations. The first draft of tool of research will be pilot tested on few selected respondents.

Questionnaires for the employee satisfaction level will be developed on the following aspects:

I. Employee profile

II. Concept of Values, Emotions, Religion and Goals

III. Need and level of fulfillment, commitment, engagement

IV. Appraisal Techniques in the Organization

V. Factors leading to Satisfaction level

VI. Factors leading to Dissatisfaction

The questionnaires will be sent to the respondents through electronic mail system along with

covering letters which contain instructions to fill the questionnaire for convenience of

respondents. The questionnaires will be developed in English and Arabic as well.

Data Analysis

Statistical techniques will be used for data analysis and on the basis on these inferences will be

drawn. Following techniques will be used to analyze the data:

Percentage method

Mean of the data

Correlation

Chi-square

The percentage method, mean, correlation and Chi-square will be used for the data analysis

process. These methods are used in the descriptive analysis of the research and data. The

descriptive statistics provide the basic understanding of the data in a particular study. They help

to find out the basic features and summaries about the sample and its uses. They are used to

explain what is what in the data without intervening in the process (Brewerton & Millward,

2001). The correlation will find the level of dependence of employee satisfaction on the factors

that drive their satisfaction. Chi-square distribution will be used to find out the level of

association between those factors with that of the satisfaction level of employees working in

Saudi banks. The data will be analyzed on SPSS and inferences will be drawn on the basis of the

analysis.

Findings and Recommendations

The Summary of findings, the conclusions drawn from the findings and recommendations will be

made on the basis of analysis of data.

Planning and Critical Analysis

Planning

The time line required to conduct and complete this study is given below:

Literature Review

For the study and recording of related literature review, approximately one month will be

required to conduct and use the related literature review.

Tool Development

On the basis of literature review, 1 month approximately will be required for the tool

development.

Data Collection

1-2 months maximum will be required for the data collection.

Data Analysis, Interpretation and Conclusion

1-2 months will be required for the data analysis, interpretations and conclusions.

Limitations

The researcher may incur the following limitations during its research:

issues in data collection

Little or no cooperation from the respondents (sampling issues).

Biased responses of the respondents.

Management’s failure to cooperate.

The Organization’s failure to acknowledge the researcher’s demands of cooperation

The policies of the banks may collide with the researcher’s work requirements

The employees may hesitate to provide their reviews.

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