THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION, JOB SATISFACTION AND CORPORATE CULTURE

by

WANDA ROOS

submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

in the subject

PSYCHOLOGY

at the

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: MS R VAN EEDEN

JUNE 2005

Student number:

3381-990-4

I declare that The relationship between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references.

_________________ Mrs W Roos

_________ June 2005

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank:

-

my supervisor, Mrs R Van Eeden, for her competent guidance;

-

the host organisation for the participation of their staff in the study;

-

SHL for the processing of the data and assisting with its interpretation;

-

RAU Statcon for the statistical analysis of the data;

-

my Mother for editing the research report in her professional capacity;

-

my parents, brother and sister for their wonderful encouragement and support;

but most of all, my gratitude is to God, for carrying me through one of the most difficult undertakings of my life.

SUMMARY The aim of the study was two-fold: Firstly, the relationships of job satisfaction with the dimensions of employee motivation (energy and dynamism, synergy, intrinsic and extrinsic motives) and the domains of corporate culture (performance, human resources, decision-making and relationships) was investigated. Secondly, the

relationships of employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture with a number of demographic variables (age, gender, tenure, education level and seniority) were explored. The findings indicated a statistically significant three-way relationship between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture, within which several aspects of these constructs contributed more powerfully towards the relationship than others. The age, gender, tenure, education level and seniority of employees were also shown to influence employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture.

CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

SUMMARY

1. 1.1 1.2

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Problem statement Brief definitions of the employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture constructs

1 2

4 5 6 7 8 9 9

1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8

Organisational challenges in the marketing research industry Objectives Research paradigm Research methodology Layout of the dissertation Chapter summary

2.

CHAPTER 2: THEORIES ON MOTIVATION, JOB SATISFACTION AND CORPORATE CULTURE 10 12 12 16 21 23 30 34 35 37 38 40 46

2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.3.1 2.1.3.2 2.1.3.3 2.1.4 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3

Motivation Historical development of the employee motivation concept Definitions of employee motivation Theories of motivation Needs-based theories Cognitive theories Reinforcement theories Motivation theories: Composite summary Job satisfaction Definitions of job satisfaction The determinants of job satisfaction Theories on job satisfaction

iv

2.2.4 2.3 2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.4

Job satisfaction: Composite summary Corporate culture Historical development of the corporate culture perspective Definitions of corporate culture Corporate culture : Composite summary Relationships between the constructs of employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture

48 49 50 54 58

58 63

2.5

Chapter summary

3.

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION, JOB SATISFACTION AND CORPORATE CULTURE 64

3.1

Relationships between demographic variables and employee motivation and job satisfaction 64

3.1.1

Relationships between demographic variables and employee motivation 65 69

3.1.2 3.1.3

Relationships between demographic variables and job satisfaction Correspondence in the relationships between demographic variables and employee motivation and job satisfaction

74

3.2

Relationships between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture 76 77 85

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3

Relationships between employee motivation and job satisfaction Relationships between job satisfaction and corporate culture The three-way relationship between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture

93 94

3.3

Chapter summary

4. 4.1 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3 4.2

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research design Research aims Sample Measurement instruments Sampling and sample structure

95 95 96 96 96 97

v

4.2.1 4.2.2 4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2

Sampling Sample structure Measurement instruments The Motivation Questionnaire (MQ) The Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire (WLQ)

97 98 100 100

106 110 120 121 122

4.3.3 4.4 4.5 4.6

The Corporate Culture Lite Questionnaire (CCQ Lite) Data collection and processing Data analysis and interpretation Chapter summary

5 5.1 5.1.1 5.1.2

CHAPTER 5: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS Reliability of the measurement instruments Reliability of the Motivation Questionnaire (MQ) Reliability of the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire (WLQ)

123 123 124

126 126 128 128 128 131 132 134

5.1.3 5.1.4 5.2 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.3

Reliability of the Corporate Culture Lite Questionnaire (CCQ Lite) Summary Descriptive statistics of the measurement instruments Descriptive statistics for the MQ Descriptive statistics for the WLQ Descriptive statistics for the CCQ Lite Summary The influence of demographic variables on employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture

134 135 136 139 140 141 144

5.3.1 5.3.2 5.3.3 5.3.4 5.3.5 5.3.6 5.4

Age Gender Job tenure / Years of service Education level Seniority Summary Correlations within and between dimensions, domains and scales of the questionnaires

145

vi

5.4.1 5.4.2 5.4.3 5.4.4 5.4.5 5.4.5.1 5.4.5.2 5.4.5.3 5.4.6 5.5

Correlations within the MQ Correlations within the WLQ Correlations within the CCQ Lite Correlations between the MQ, WLQ and CCQ Lite Canonical correlations between the MQ, WLQ and CCQ Lite Correlation between the MQ dimensions and WLQ scales Correlation between the WLQ scales and CCQ Lite domains Correlation between the MQ dimensions and CCQ Lite domains Summary Chapter summary

146 149 150 152 154 154 156 158 159 161

6 6.1 6.2 6.3

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION OF RESULTS Reliability of the measurement instruments Descriptive statistics of the measurement instruments The influence of demographic variables on employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture

162 162 162

165 165 166 167 168 169 170

6.3.1 6.3.2 6.3.3 6.3.4 6.3.5 6.3.6 6.4

Age Gender Tenure Education level Seniority Summary Correlations within and between the dimensions, scales and domains of the questionnaires

172

6.5

Relationships between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture 173 174 175 177 178 179

6.5.1 6.5.2 6.5.3 6.5.4 6.6

Relationships between employee motivation and job satisfaction Relationships between job satisfaction and corporate culture Relationships between employee motivation and corporate culture Summary Chapter summary

vii

7 7.1 7.2 7.3

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Problem statement Brief overview of research methodology Conclusions and recommendations regarding the influence of demographic variables on, and the three-way relationship between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture

180 180 181

182

7.3.1

The relationship between demographic variables and employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture 182

7.3.2

The relationship between employee motivation, job satisfaction and corporate culture 186 187

7.3.3 7.4

Summary Contribution of the study towards psychological and organisational knowledge

188 188 189 189

7.5 7.6 7.7

Limitations of the study Further research Chapter summary

REFERENCES

190

ANNEXURE A ANNEXURE B ANNEXURE C ANNEXURE D

viii

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Companies are made up of individuals organised in functional groups to attend to the business at hand. Some companies are successful and some are not. In their study of numerous American companies, Peters and Waterman (1982) found that a tight, culturally driven set of properties, which included rigidly shared values, invariably marked the 43 successful companies they focused on. They pointed out that the commitment of these companies employees to their organisations values and beliefs constituted a crucial factor in the success of these companies. Becker (1975 in Peters & Waterman, 1982) provided some theoretical underpinning to this phenomenon, by stating that people are motivated by an essential dualism, which simultaneously drive them to need to be conforming members of a winning team, and to want to be stars in their own right. From Peters and Watermans (1982) work it appeared that winning organisations display cultures that satisfy these dichotomous needs of the individuals who together make up those companies.

The idea of the centrality of culture to organisations has been given considerable credence by the highly successful application of the Mc Kinsey 7-S model of corporate exc