Factors influencing job satisfaction of employees a case study of joint stock commercial bank for foreign trade of viet nam in ho chi minh city

RESEARCH PROJECT BMBR5103 FACTORS INFLUENCING JOB SATISFACTION OF EMPLOYEES: A CASE STUDY OF JOINT STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF VIETNAM IN HO CHI MINH CITY... ABSTRACT

RESEARCH PROJECT

(BMBR5103)

FACTORS INFLUENCING JOB SATISFACTION

OF EMPLOYEES: A CASE STUDY OF JOINT

STOCK COMMERCIAL BANK FOR

FOREIGN TRADE OF VIETNAM

IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Advisor’s assessment

Advisor’s signature

Moreover, I want to thank the board of managers and all employees working the branches and transaction offices of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of

Vietnam (VCB) in Ho Chi Minh City for their precious comments and helping me to

collect data for this research study

And finally, I wish to give my sincerest and deepest gratitude to my family and all of my sweet friends who always stay next to me, encourage, help, create favorable conditions for me to study and overcome obstacles in life

ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of job stress, distributive & procedural justice, working conditions and perception of organization politics on job satisfaction of employees working in Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB) in Ho Chi Minh City Data was collected through the use of standardized questionnaires Questionnaires were given personally to 200 managerial and non- managerial employees in all over 8 branches and transaction offices of VCB; there were 290 completely responses were used for the statistical analysis The collected data were computed and analyzed through Cronbach’s alpha analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis The results of the study supported the hypotheses that job stress, distributive & procedural justice, working conditions and perception of organization politics (including general political behavior and get ahead) has significant relationship with employee’s job satisfaction Conclusion: The findings in this study would help managers of VCB to formulate strategies that involved work factors to improve the management of human resource development These strategies would help in influencing positive behaviors among employees, and hence achieve effectiveness and high productivity in the organization The results also suggest reducing work stress, improvement of its working conditions such as clear key performance indicators, more empowerment for decision making, ownership of stock and to obtain high commitment of staff to work for the company Therefore, it was worth the effort for the organization to train and educate their managers on the impact of perceptions of organizational justice on the motivation and commitment of their employees This study has valuable implications for the Human Resources Department of VCB to improve its policies in order to retain talents

Keywords: Job satisfaction, job stress, distributive & procedural justice, working

conditions, and perception of organizational politics

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No Abbreviation Definition

1 VCB Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of

Vietnam

4 DPJ Distributive & Procedural Justice

6 POPS Perception of Organizational Politics Scale

9 SPSS Software Package for Social Sciences

LIST OF TABLES

1 Table 1: Measurements and sources 30

2 Table 2: Cronbach‘s Alpha analysis results 35

3 Table 3: KMO and Bartlett‘s Test result of independent

4 Table 4: Factor analysis results 38

5 Table 5: KMO and Bartlett‘s Test result of dependent variable 39

6 Table 6: Results of Correlation Analysis 41

7 Table 7: Results of Regression Analysis 42

8 Table 8: Results of Hypothesis Testing 48

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Figure 1: Job Satisfaction model in study of Smith, Kendall,

& Hulin (1969) 23

2 Figure 2: Model of items measuring job satisfaction of

Weiss et al (1967) 24

3 Figure 3: Research model of Job Satisfaction 25

4 Figure 5: Adjusted research model 40

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Problem Statement 1

1.2 Background of VCB 2

1.3 Research Objectives 4

1.3.1 General objectives 4

1.3.2 Specific objectives 5

1.4 Research questions 5

1.5 Scope and methodology of the study 5

1.6 Importance of the study 5

1.7 Significance of the study 6

1.7.1 Individual Perspective 6

1.7.2 Organizational perspective 6

1.8 Research structure 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATEUR REVIEW 9

2.1 Job Satisfaction 9

2.2 Job Stress Scale and its relationship with Job Satisfaction 10

2.3 Distributive & Procedural Justice and its relationship with Job Satisfaction 12 2.4 Working Conditions and its relationship with Job Satisfaction 15

2.5 Perception of Organizational Politics and its relationship with Job Satisfaction

17

2.6 Review of Relevant Theoretical Models 21

2.7 Research model 24

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODLOGY 26

3.1 Research design 26

3.2 Data collection methods 26

3.3 Sample design 27

3.3.1 Target population 27

3.3.2 Sample frame and sample location 28

3.3.3 Sampling technique 28

3.3.4 Sample size 28

3.4 Hypotheses, variable description, regression model 29

3.5 Data analysis 32

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS 34

4.1 Reliability analysis 34

4.2 Factor analysis 35

4.2.1 Factor analysis for independent variables 35

4.2.2 Factor analysis for dependent variable 39

4.2.3 Adjusted research model 39

4.3 Correlation Analysis 41

4.4 Regression analysis 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 46

5.1 Conclusion and Recommendations 46

5.2 Limitation of the study 52

REFERENCES 54

APPENDIX A: Pilot Test – Reliability 62

Job Stress Scale 62

Distributive and Procedural Justice 64

Working Conditions 65

Perception of Organizational Politics Scale 67

Job Satisfaction 69

APPENDIX B: Factor Analysis 71

Dependent variable 71

Independent variables 72

APPENDIX C: Regression Analysis 78

QUESTIONNAIRE 80

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement

In the last decade, employee welfare and satisfaction have become a major concern for management in organizations This concern has been noticed from the realization that trained, experienced, satisfied, and committed employees can be pivotal for long-term organizational success Retention of dedicated employees can prove to be

a key to success because frequent employee turnover can lead to a number of problems, such as insufficient workforce, the costs of recruiting and training new employees, and organizational inefficiency and lack of productivity All these increase the burden on management Hence, keeping employees satisfied, motivated, committed, and long serving in their jobs has been identified as an important task for managers

Today, the researchers acknowledge that personnel attitudes, qualifications, and skills of employees are the most important resources for all organizations Retaining talent becomes a pressing issue for all businesses In Vietnam, the problem ―how to attract and retain employees‖ is also an important problem for managers of enterprises Especially after Vietnam joined the WTO, domestic enterprises have the need of expanding production and business, apart from the needed manpower with high quality; they must also know how to retain qualified employees Stabilizing human resources helps organizations save recruitment costs, training costs, contributing to building the organizational culture and creating trust for employees An important finding for organizations to note is that job satisfaction has a rather tenuous correlation

to productivity on the job This is a vital piece of information to researchers and businesses Staffs who are satisfied with their work will have greater contribution to the organization, which is the key to improve work efficiency and productivity, increase loyalty to the organization Satisfied employees can be an asset for the organization Once employees feel dissatisfied with the job, they switch over to the next job It is the responsibility of the employers to know how to attract, satisfy and

retain their best employees All managers, business owners are recognizing that they must always pay very high prices for the leaving of key partners One of the problems often seen as the departure of key partners would bring about the leaving of the customers Moreover, if there is constant departure of key employees, there will trigger

waves of the leaving the entire remaining staffs

Studies showed that the job satisfaction of employees will enhance work efficiency and improve work productivity (Saari and Judge, 2004), or loyalty to the organization (Luddy, 2005; Tietjen and Myer, 1998) Therefore, researching on factors affecting job satisfaction of the employees offers enormous practical significance, helps them to adjust their human management policies in an appropriate way and carry out the strategic objectives of the organization By using quantitative research methods, this study aims to find out the factors influencing job satisfaction of employees and offer some ideas to help the organization build the human resource policies which are more attractive to employees

1.2 Background of VCB

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, formerly known as Bank for Foreign trade of Vietnam, was established on 01/04/1963 from the Foreign Exchange Bureau (of the State Bank of Vietnam) Being the first state commercial bank chosen for pilot privatization by the Government, VCB officially came in to operation on 02/06/2008, after successfully implementing the equitization plan through IPO VCB (stock code: VCB) officially listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) on 30/06/2009

During more than 50 years of development, VCB has contributed significantly

to the stability and growth of national economy, upholding the role of a major foreign trade bank in facilitating efficient domestic economic growth as well as influencing considerably on regional and global financial community

Originated as a specialized bank for foreign trade, VCB nowadays has become a bank providing customers with a wide range of leading financial services in international trade; traditional services such as capital trading, capital mobilization, credit, project financing…etc., and modern banking segment such as trading and derivatives, card services, e-banking and so on

VCB has many advantages of applying advanced technology into the automatic banking system, products development, and e-banking services, based on its high technology foundation Products such as Internet Banking, VCB Money, SMS Banking, Phone Banking have always attracted a great deal of customers by its convenience, promptness, safety, efficiency, creating the habit of non-cash payments amongst the mass

After more than a half-century operating in the market, VCB currently has almost 14,000 employees, more than 400 branches/ transaction offices/ representative office/ affiliates both in Vietnam and abroad, including Head Office in Hanoi, 1 Operation Center, 1 Training Center, 89 branches, over 350 transaction offices all over the country, 2 subsidiaries in Vietnam, 2 subsidiaries and 1 representative office in other countries, 6 joint ventures In addition, VCB has also developed an auto bank system with over 2100 ATMs and more than 49,500 Points of Sale nationwide Bank‘s operations are supported by a network of more than 1,800 correspondent banks in 155 countries and territories

VCB ‘s team of professional employees with excellent ability in banking and finance have a good sense for modern and integrated business environment…Thanks to their contribution, VCB remains the primary choice for large corporations, domestic and foreign enterprises as well as millions individual customers

For more than a decade, VCB has continuously rated as "Best Bank in Vietnam"

by prestigious institutions around the world on many important operation fields

With wisdom and enthusiasm, every generation of VCB ‘s employees has been and will always be endeavoring to establish a sustained development with ambition to became a bank has a wide range, great admin ability, working scope that could influenced the region and overseas in the near future

At present, there are 23 branches and transaction offices of VCB in Ho Chi Minh City To get the development as it is today, VCB has always attached special importance to the human resources The bank has made great efforts in the management of their human resources, but the effect is not as expected; the number of officials and employees resigning, transferring to other job is increasing; which has significant influence on operations of the organization In addition, international economic integration becomes a trend of the times and going strong in many areas and accordingly, in parallel with the world market reaching out, Vietnam must open the domestic market, including the finance banking sector The competition of organizations in the field of finance and banking is increasingly becoming tough, especially human resources factor as quality of staffs is one of the intrinsic factors affecting the competitive competence of the bank Facing to this situation, to keep a long term employees the bank should have policies encouraging their staffs to be assured, close-knit with the organization Understanding factors underpinning job satisfaction offers a significant meaning to the bank, helping them to adjust their human management policies sensibly Therefore, the study of job satisfaction of employees at VCB in Ho Chi Minh City is necessary In this background the present study entitled ―Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction of Employees: A Case Study of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City‖ was conducted The main focus of this study was to assess the job satisfaction of bank employees in the context of organizational factors

1.3 Research Objectives

1.3.1 General objectives

Identify the factors influencing job satisfaction of employees in Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City

1.3.2 Specific objectives

The current study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

1) To identify the factors affecting job satisfaction of the employees

2) To measure the influence degree of the factors on job satisfaction of the employees

3) To provide the solutions to increase job satisfaction of the employees

1.4 Research questions

In this study, there are some questions created:

1) What are the factors influencing job satisfaction of the employees?

2) What are the influence degrees of the factors on job satisfaction of the employees?

3) How can the organization increase job satisfaction of the employees?

1.5 Scope and methodology of the study

The thesis researches the issue via 168 employees working in 6 departments (such as corporate banking, trade finance, personal banking, information technology, audit and legal & compliance) of 8 branches and transaction offices of VCB in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015 In this study, qualitative research method is utilized to obtain information with reference for the research The researcher uses the comparative method, analysis in order to provide a solid theoretical basis Besides, the thesis also applies the research results of the scientific work related to enriching and deepening the theoretical basis and practical topics Quantitative research method is also used in the study Quantitative research generates statistics through the use of survey research, using methods such as questionnaires or structured interviews and SPSS software (the Software Package for Social Sciences) for data analysis

1.6 Importance of the study

The importance of this study stems from being one of the few studies that addressed the sector of the study of some important variables with dimensions such as job stress, distributive and procedural justice, working conditions and perception of organization politics In addition, the current study has dealt with effect of variables collectively and individually on the job satisfaction of the employees to the organization they work in

1.7 Significance of the study

This study is beneficial to two parties, which were employees and the organization particularly Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam From the study, the researcher has investigated the factors which will affect job satisfaction of employees to their current organization

1.7.1 Individual Perspective

The poor level of the employee turnover management and human resource management bring a serious impact to the organization It will affect the employee satisfaction and influence work efficiency and productivity or the loyalty of the employees to the organization Through the study, the ideas and needs of the employees can transmit to the top management of the organization As the results, they need the improvement of management skills and policies, controlling the management process and performance to let employees feel more satisfied, secure, ease and motivated to their job tasks

1.7.2 Organizational perspective

The study will help the organization to identify the impact of employee satisfaction If the organization is unable to attract and retain the employees, it will increase the turnover rate of them and the cost of retraining or replacement program to new employees The cooperation and teamwork is needed among the employees to improve the performance of the organization and profit maximization Through the study, the organization can understand the factors influencing job satisfaction of the

employees The top management of the organization can implement the relevant strategies in term and build the human resource policies which are more attractive to employees to increase job satisfaction of the employees So, the organization can be able to retain the employees and improves its operation performance

 Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter shows the definition of Job Satisfaction, Job Stress, Distributive & Procedural Justice, Working Conditions, Perception of Organization Politics and their relationship with Job Satisfaction The chapter also mentions to the theories of satisfaction from some previous researchers, and give out the research model for this topic

 Chapter 3: Research Methodology

This chapter focus on discussion of research of research method where it describe the procedure of how the research carry out in terms of the research design and setting, data collection method, sampling design, research instrument, constructs measurement scales, data processing and the data analysis This chapter defines the hypotheses of factors that impact to the job satisfaction of employees and the regression model

 Chapter 4: Research Results

This chapter includes the overall result and analysis of questionnaire will be present in chart and table with using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) The interpretation of result will explained in depth

 Chapter 5: Conclusion

This chapter will show the conclusion of the factors that impact to the satisfaction of employees Then, give out some solution for improving better Lastly the limitation of study and recommendation for future research will be presented

CHAPTER 2: LITERATEUR REVIEW 2.1 Job Satisfaction

It is difficult to define exactly job satisfaction of the employees in an organization General speaking, job satisfaction is recognized as an overall sense of the work or the extent to which the people like or dislike their jobs (Spector, 1997) It reflects the feeling of employees whereby they express contentment and a positive attitude towards the work and organization The other popular definition of job satisfaction is given by Locke (1983), who defined job satisfaction as a pleasure of positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job experience This definition includes both cognitive (an appraisal of one's job) and affective (emotional state) elements, denoting the degree to which individuals feel positive or negative about their jobs Rice et al (1989) suggested that satisfaction comes from a process of psychological comparison involving assessment of current work itself with the available expected standards Togia et al (2004) believed that employee satisfaction is the degree to which the employee‘s needs are satisfied at work

It can be seen that the problem of employee satisfaction was first studied by scholars such as Maslow (1943), Adam (1963) and Mc Clelland (1958) With a view

to "the needs are met", the authors argued that satisfaction is generally that the received value is equal to or greater than the expected value On the basis of that theory, some researchers later inherited and developed needs of satisfaction, they defined that general satisfaction is considered as the actual value which the employees get compared with the expected value on aspects of work such as wage and benefits, work characteristic, work relationships, work conditions… Another view is that the satisfaction level of employees is the level of enjoying the work, or trying to maintain the employee's work reflected the perception (positive or negative or a combination of them) on different aspects of work affecting themselves (Herzberg (1968) and Alderfer (1969)) It is commonly accepted that job satisfaction is a contributing factor to the

physical and mental well-being of the employees; therefore, it has significant influence

on job-related behaviors such as productivity, absenteeism, turnover rates and employee relations (Becker, 2004) It also plays an important role in improving the financial standing of organizations (Aronson, Laurenceau, Sieveking, & Bellet, 2005) Thus, understanding job satisfaction of employees is an important organizational goal (Aronson et al., 2005)

So there are many different definitions of job satisfaction Obviously, the state

of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the employees on the job through different evaluation criteria is different It can be considered that job satisfaction is the state when the employees feel excited and comfortable and express positive response to aspects of their work Satisfied employees can be an asset for the organization Satisfaction is affected by personal, organizational, and non-organizational factors Within organizations, factors such as strategies of human resource management, work place benefits, workplace climate, well-being of the employees, interpersonal relations, and nature of supervision contribute to satisfaction

2.2 Job Stress Scale and its relationship with Job Satisfaction

Brief, Schuler, and Sell (1981) defined that stress is a state of tension experienced by individuals facing extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities Generally speaking, job stress has a connection with someone‘s response to anxious tension consequences from job environment Stress results from the complicated interactions among a large system of interrelated variables (Hart, 1999) Colligan, Thomas, and Higgins (2006) found that factors contributing to workplace stress include excessive workload, isolation, extensive hours worked, toxic work environment, lack

of autonomy, difficult relationships among coworkers and superiors, harassment, and lack of opportunities or motivation to advancement in one‘s skill level The employee‘s satisfaction is not performing as well as they do because of the stress in their mind According to Naghieh, Montgomery, Bonell, Thompson, & Aber, 2015), job stress can

also be caused by a mismatch between perceived reward, a sense of low control in demanding job, low social support at work and job insecurity In addition, Colligan and Higgins (2010) also believed that stress is a stimulus for the human resource to work harder and motivates the employee in their productivity due to improved employee performance in organization However, on the contrary, there is also a harmful result for the organization if the employees do not perform according to the expectation and requirement of the organization

There are many researchers having defined job stress and the relationship with employee satisfaction in different words For example, Jamal & Baba (1992) believed that job stress was negatively correlated with organizational commitment and job satisfaction and positively correlated with role ambiguity and overload The frequency

of stressful events was positively correlated with psychological distress, quantitative workload, qualitative workload, self-monitoring, and somatic complaints The frequency of job stress correlated negatively with job satisfaction, job performance, and job control (Fox & Dwyer, 1995; Fox et al., 1993)

This study adopts the Job Stress Scale developed by Parker and Decotiis (1983) The scale uses 10 items to measure job stress along two dimensions One dimension is time stress (feelings of being under constant pressure) and the second dimension is anxiety (job-related feelings of anxiety)

Job stress is increasingly becoming an epidemic in the work environment Stress not only affects the health of employees, but also affects their work performance Stressful employees are very unlikely to engage in positive behavior that is not required by their formal functions and duties When there is high level stress and their mental condition are not according to their level of activity, results lower level of productivity for the organization Thus, the hypothesis which is used to analyze the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is:

Hypothesis 1: Job Stress is negatively related to Job Satisfaction

2.3 Distributive & Procedural Justice and its relationship with Job Satisfaction

Organizational justice refers to the perceived fairness of social and economic exchanges among employees and their work organizations (Beugre, 1998) One aspect

of organizational justice is that employees determine their perception of fairness in the workplace by comparing the equity of the ratio of their inputs to their outcomes in comparison to those of their co-workers This results in a judgment about distributive justice According to Dailey & Kirk (1992), it is a summary judgment about the fairness of managerial decisions concerning the distribution of outcomes such as pay and promotions Another view of organizational fairness is procedural justice that concentrates on how such decisions are made The process for making organizational decisions may be just as important to the employees as their perception of outcome fairness Procedural justice is concerned with the perception of fairness in the use of processes, procedures and methods in making outcome decisions (Thibaut & Walker, 1975) These two types of justice have different effects on the perception of organizational fairness For example, Folger and Konovsky (1989) found that distributive justice has a much greater impact on pay satisfaction than procedural justice, whereas procedural justice tends to affect an employee‘s organizational commitment and trust in his or her supervisor or boss (Dailey & Kirk, 1992) Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn (2002, p.13) defines Distributive Justice as ―the degree to which all people are treated the same under a policy, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or any other demographic characteristic‖ and Procedural Justice

as ―the degree to which the rules and procedures specified by policies are properly followed in all cases under which they are applied‖

There are many studies about distributive and procedural justice and the relationship with job satisfaction For example, distributive and procedural justice are both correlated positively with employee pay level, intention to stay in a job, job satisfaction, supervisor‘s evaluation of the employee, and organizational commitment

(Sweeney & McFarlin, 1997) Reviews of organizational justice and satisfaction studies in general (Colquitt et al., 2001) and a review of justice studies in the sales force only (Chang and Dubinsky, 2005) concluded that all justice types are positively related to job satisfaction Other study (Parker et al., 1997) has also observed that both procedural and distributive justice correlated positively with career development opportunities, satisfaction with work, and loyalty to the organization

 Distributive Justice

Before 1975, the study of justice was primarily concerned with distributive justice Much of this research was derived from initial work conducted by Adams (1965), who used a social exchange theory framework to evaluate fairness According

to Adams, what people were concerned about was not the absolute level of outcomes per se but whether those outcomes were fair Adams suggested that one way to determine whether an outcome was fair was to calculate the ratio of one‘s contributions

or ―inputs‖ (e.g., education, intelligence, and experience) to one‘s outcome and then compare that ratio with that of a comparison other Although the comparison of the two input-outcome ratios gives Adams‘s equity theory an ―objective‖ component, he was clear that this process was completely subjective

Whereas Adams‘s theory advocated the use of equity rule to determine fairness, several other allocation rules have also been identified, such as equality and need (e.g., Leventhal, 1976) Studies have shown that different contexts (e.g., work vs family), different organizational goals (e.g., group harmony vs productivity), and different personal motives (e.g., self-interest motives vs altruistic motives) can activate the use

or primacy of certain allocation rules (Deutsch, 1975) Nevertheless, all of the allocation standards have as their goal the achievement of distributive justice; they merely attempt to create it through the use of different rules

 Procedural Justice

With the publication of their book summarizing disputant reactions to legal procedures, Thibaut and Walker (1975) introduced the study of process to the literature

on justice Thibaut and Walker (1975) viewed third-party dispute resolution procedures such as mediation and arbitration as having both a process stage and a decision stage They referred to the amount of influence disputants had in each stage as evidence of process control and decision control, respectively Their research suggested that disputants were willing to give up control in the decision stage as long

as they retained control in the process stage Stated differently, disputants viewed the procedure as fair if they perceived that they had process control (i.e., control over the presentation of their arguments and sufficient time to present their case) This process control effect is often referred to as the ―fair process effect‖ or ―voice‖ effect (e.g., Folger, 1977; Lind & Tyler, 1988), and it is one of the most replicated findings in the justice literature Indeed, Thibaut and Walker (1975) virtually equated process control with procedural justice (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998)

Although Thibaut and Walker (1975) introduced the concept of procedural justice, their work focused primarily on disputant reactions to legal procedures Although a focus on justice and law continues to be of interest to scholars (e.g., Tyler, 1990), Leventhal and colleagues can be credited for extending the notion of procedural justice into nonlegal contexts such as organizational settings (Leventhal, 1980; Leventhal et al., 1980) In doing so, Leventhal and colleagues also broadened the list of determinants of procedural justice far beyond the concept of process control Leventhal‘s theory of procedural justice judgments focused on six criteria that a procedure should meet if it is to be perceived as fair Procedures should (a) be applied consistently across people and across time, (b) be free from bias (e.g., ensuring that a third party has no vested interest in a particular settlement), (c) ensure that accurate information is collected and used in making decisions, (d) have some mechanism to correct flawed or inaccurate decisions, (e) conform to personal or prevailing standards

of ethics or morality, and (f) ensure that the opinions of various groups affected by the decision have been taken into account

This study adopts the Distributive and Procedural Justice measure developed by Joy and Witt (1992) They are parsimonious in that they each use only three items to assess distributive and procedural justice The Procedural Justice measure focuses on the extent to which employees believe they have a voice in negotiating their job assignment, job duties, and performance appraisal results The distributive justice measure concentrates on the fairness in the decisions made by the organization concerning job assignments, job duties, and performance appraisals

Employees expect that their contribution is fully recognized by the organization, specifically by their superiors and colleagues If employees feel that proper recognition

is not given to them, they will not be happy and over time, they will lose motivation at work For instance, an employee who works 100 hours of overtime during the holiday season to complete a project on time and then receives no bonus and an unfavorable performance evaluation for that period is likely to perceive the organization as unfair This may influence the efforts to work and contribute to the organization and retention

of the employee Thus,

Hypothesis 2: Distribution & Procedural Justice is positively related to Job Satisfaction

2.4 Working Conditions and its relationship with Job Satisfaction

Working conditions are at the core of paid work and labor relationships Generally, working conditions include a variety of topics and issues, from working time (hours of work, rest periods, and work schedules) to the remuneration of work, as well as the physical conditions and spiritual needs that exist in the workplace The desired job in which the employees feel comfortable because of their working conditions and their environment results expected return for the organization According to Baron and Greenberg (2003) the lack of conditions to work in

organizations doesn‘t only directly impact the working ability of employees but also cause the low productivity for the organization Working conditions and job satisfaction appear to have a positive correlation (Gawel, 1997) Bakotic & Babic (2013) found that working condition is an important factor for job satisfaction, so workers under difficult working conditions are dissatisfied through this factor To improve satisfaction of employees working under difficult working conditions, it is necessary for the management to improve the working conditions This will make them equally satisfied with those who work under normal working condition and in return overall performance will increase A gradual improvement in the working conditions leads to an equivalent increase to the levels of job satisfaction as exhibited in the resultant motivation, individual and organizational performance (Atambo et al., 2012) For example, if there is a significant teamwork and career promotion opportunities, the job satisfaction of employees is improved Robbins (2001) suggests that working conditions will control job satisfaction, which will provide a more positive level of employee satisfaction

Additionally, Coetzer and Rothmann (2006) stated that the actual performance

of the employee is defined by the working environment, social interactions and the relationship An organization which wants to be successful should provide culture that enhances and motivates the employee‘s satisfaction (Bhatti & Qureshi, 2007) Skills contain one‘s education, knowledge and the specialties towards his job; great effort includes level of interest toward acquiring his goal, and work surroundings in the organization and the degree to which the operational environment facilitates the employee in performing their job up to the standard (Kazmi, Amjad, and Khan, 2008) According to expectancy theory, efforts exertion depends on people‘s expectancy, their belief and the value they assign to those outcomes (Bartol and Locke, 2000) People expect that their efforts will lead to the desired level of performance and they believe

that their performance will lead to valued outcomes As a result of this perceived work conditions are understood to have a relationship to performance

This research study will test the relationship between working conditions and the job satisfaction by using 6 items developed by Dunham and Smith (1979) The hypothesis below is developed to analyze the relationship between the variables

Hypothesis 3: Working Conditions is positively related to Job Satisfaction

2.5 Perception of Organizational Politics and its relationship with Job

Satisfaction

Organizational Politics is a part of organizational life One thing that becomes immediately evident when reviewing the organizational politics literature is that no one definition of the term has received wide spread support (Cropanzano, Kacmar & Bozeman, 1995; Drory & Romm, 1988, 1990; Ferris, Russ & Fandt, 1989; Porter et al., 1981) There are many different views on organizational politics One theme is the fact that political activities are a means of exercising social influence A second notion is that political behaviors are designed to promote or protect one‘s own self-interests Finally, the notion that at least two parties must be included and that these two parties have the potential to possess divergent interests is either explicit or implicit in many definitions Combining these perspectives into one general definition allows one to view organizational politics as social influence attempts directed at those who can provide rewards that will help promote or protect the self-interests of the actor (Cropanzano et al., 1995) According to Ferris, Russ, & Fandt (1989), organizational politics is defined as behavior strategically designed to maximize self-interests and therefore contradicts the collective organizational goals or the interests of other individuals This perspective reflects a generally negative image of organizational politics in the eyes of most organization members For example, Block (1988) mentioned politics (in organizations) as basically a negative process and argued that ―If

I told you were a very political person, you would take it either as an insult or at best as

a mixed blessing‖

Ferris et al (1989) suggested the concept of perception of organizational politics (Perception of Organizational Politics Scale—POPS) as a good measure of organizational politics Perception of Organizational Politics refers to employees‘ view

on politics in their own organizations This research study adopts the Perception of Organizational Politics Scale, developed by Kacmar and Ferris (1991) This scale assesses employee perceptions of extent to which a job setting is political in nature including politics in the organization, behavior of supervisions, and actions of co-workers Twelve items are used in the measure to describe general political behavior, political behavior to ―get ahead‖, and ambiguity in pay and promotion policies and rules

 General Political Behavior

It has been suggested that political behavior in organizations will increase when rules and regulations are not available to govern actions (Drory & Romm, 1990; Fandt

& Ferris, 1990; Ferris, Fedor, Chachere & Pondy, 1989; Ferris & King, 1991; Ferris, Russ & Fandt, 1989; Kacmar & Ferris, 1993; Madison et al., 1980; Tushman, 1977) In the absence of specific rules and policies for guidance, individuals have few clues as to acceptable behavior, and therefore, develop their own When left to their own, individuals often develop rules that are self-serving and better the position of the rule maker Individuals who are more adept at dealing with uncertain situations and persons who impose their own rules on others are more likely to have their rules adopted Another process impacted by uncertainty is decision making Decision making under uncertainty has been found to be susceptible to political influence (Drory & Ronm, 1990) When the information needed to make an informed decision is lacking or ambiguous, decision makers rely upon their own interpretations of the data Multiple translations of the same information can result in ineffective decisions that may appear

political to those not directly involved in the decision making process (Cropanzano et al., 1995)

Scarcity of valued resources (e.g., transfers, raises, office space, and budgets) generates competition Several researchers have suggested that jockeying for a position that will allow one to receive a valued resource is quintessential political behavior (Drory & Romm, 1990; Farrell & Peterson, 1982; Kumar & Ghadially, 1989) This implies that organizations with limited resources will have political environments Since most organizations will have limited resources in at least one area, political activities may occur in virtually any organization Examining exactly why resources are scant can help to predict who the target of the political activities will be, as well as how heated the contest may become Any individual who has control over critical resources that cannot be secured elsewhere will be a probable target of political influence tactics (Frost, 1987) Further, the attractiveness and immediate benefit of the resource also will factor into the decision to engage in political activities (Drory & Romm, 1990) In some cases, a scarce resource, such as the organization‘s tickets to a sporting event, may only be valued by a few individuals, and hence, the actions engaged in to secure this resource may not be as competitive as those used to secure a scare resource valued by all, such as a raise or a promotion

 Get Ahead

Conflict is consistently related to organizational politics in the literature (Drory

& Romm, 1988; Frost, 1987; Gandz & Murray, 1980; Mintzberg, 1985; Porter et al., 1981; Tushman, 1977) The essence of this connection is that political behavior is self-serving, and thus, has the potential to threaten the self-inter-ests of others When a threat is followed by retaliation, conflict arises (Porter et al., 1981) According to Drory and Romm (1990), the existence of conflict is a necessary underlying element of organizational politics Further, the actual influence attempts themselves are an indication of the potential state of conflict that exists between the two parties Some

individuals may desire to avoid conflict, and therefore, not resist others‘ influence attempts While this may appear to be a nonpolitical act, it can actually be considered a form of political behavior It has been suggested that the distinction between political and nonpolitical behavior in organizations can be made on the basis of intent (Drory & Romm, 1990) That is, if a behavior is enacted specifically for the purposes of advancing one‘s own self-interests, then the individual is acting politically (Frost, 1987) Individuals who ―don‘t rock the boat‖ are not viewed as a threatening opponent

by those who are acting politically Hence, the nonthreatening individual may be welcomed into the ―in-group‖ and received valued outcomes simply for not interfering with a politically acting individual‘s or group‘s agenda Lack of action, or going along

to get ahead, can be a reasonable and profitable approach to take in order to advance one‘s own self-interests when working in a political environment

 Pay and Promotion Policies

The final category of organizational politics is how organizations can reward and perpetuate political behavior through policy implementation (Ferris, Fedor, Chachere & Pondy, 1989; Ferris & King, 1991; Kacmar & Ferris, 1993) Even though organizational decision makers may not do so consciously, the human resource systems that are developed and implemented may reward individuals who engage in influence behaviors and penalize those who do not Such practices will result in a culture in which political activity will be commonplace in virtually every aspect of human resource decisions Organizations can design reward systems that perpetuate political behavior in a variety of ways For example, individually oriented rewards induce individually oriented behavior Individually oriented behavior, as opposed to organizationally oriented behavior, is often self-interested and political in nature When this type of behavior is rewarded or reinforced, the tactics used to secure the reward will likely be repeated Hence, organizations may develop environments that foster and reward political behavior Rewarding political behavior also can influence those who

have not acted politically in the past to do so in the future That is, individuals who perceive themselves as inequitably rewarded relative to others who engage in organizational politics may be more likely to engage in political behaviors in the future (Ferris, Russ & Fandt, 1989; Kacmar & Ferris, 1993)

Ferris et al (1998) found that perception of organizational politics was negatively related to job satisfaction Bozeman et al (1996) supported this finding and

in addition found that perception of politics was negatively related to organizational commitment In keeping with these studies, the researcher expected to find that a perceived political atmosphere in public agencies would first result in negative job attitudes Hence, public employees with high perceptions of organizational politics will tend to show lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment than other employees Hypothesis 1 was formulated to test this elementary relationship

Hypothesis 4: Perception of Organizational Politics is negatively related to Job Satisfaction

2.6 Review of Relevant Theoretical Models

Edwin A Locke's Range of Affect Theory (1976) is arguably the most famous job satisfaction model The main premise of this theory is that satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what one wants in a job and what one has in a job Further, the theory states that how much one values a given facet of work (e.g., the degree of autonomy in a position) moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied one becomes when expectations are/aren't met When a person values a particular facet of a job, his satisfaction is more greatly impacted both positively (when expectations are met) and negatively (when expectations are not met), compared to one who doesn't value that facet To illustrate, if Employee A values autonomy in the workplace and Employee B

is indifferent about autonomy, then Employee A would be more satisfied in a position that offers a high degree of autonomy and less satisfied in a position with little or no autonomy compared to Employee B This theory also states that too much of a

particular facet will produce stronger feelings of dissatisfaction the more a worker values that facet

Another well-known job satisfaction theory is the Dispositional Theory It is a very general theory that suggests that people have innate dispositions that cause them

to have tendencies toward a certain level of satisfaction, regardless of one's job This approach became a notable explanation of job satisfaction in light of evidence that job satisfaction tends to be stable over time and across careers and jobs Research also indicates that identical twins have similar levels of job satisfaction A significant model that narrowed the scope of the Dispositional Theory was the Core Self-evaluations Model, proposed by Timothy A Judge in 1998 Judge argued that there are four Core Self evaluations that determine one's disposition towards job satisfaction: self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control and neuroticism This model states that higher levels of self-esteem (the value one places on his/her self) and general self-efficacy (the belief in one's own competence) lead to higher work satisfaction Finally, lower levels

of neuroticism lead to higher job satisfaction

In many studies, it must include the study of Smith et al (1969) in measuring job satisfaction of employees The Job Descriptive Index (JDI), created by Smith, Kendall,

& Hulin (1969), is a specific questionnaire of job satisfaction that has been widely used It measures one's satisfaction in five facets: pay, promotions and promotion opportunities, coworkers, supervision and the work itself The ratings of satisfaction with the facets can be combined into a composite measure of job satisfaction The scale

is simple, participants answer either yes, no, or cannot decide (indicated by '?') in response to whether given statements accurately describe one's job

Figure 1: Job Satisfaction model in study of Smith, Kendall, & Hulin (1969)

Before the research study of Smith, Kendal and Hulin, in 1967, Weiss et al developed the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) for measuring satisfaction MSQ ―long form‖ consists of 100 questions that make up 20 subscales measuring satisfaction with ability utilization, achievement, activity, advancement, authority, company policies and practices, compensation, co-workers, creativity, independence, moral vals, recognition, responsibility, security, social service, social status, supervision-human relations, supervision-technical, variety, and working conditions (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967) Twenty of these items make up a frequently used measure of general job satisfaction These 20 items are referred to as the short form of the MSQ The items can be separated into a 12-item subscale for intrinsic satisfaction (such as satisfaction with the chance to use abilities and feelings

of accomplishment from the job) and an 8-item subscale measuring extrinsic satisfaction (such as satisfaction with pay, chances for advancement, and supervision)

JOB SATISFACTION

- Good opportunity for

Besides, Weiss et al (1967) made common criteria for measuring job satisfaction of employees, which are shown in the figure 2

Figure 2: Model of items measuring job satisfaction of Weiss et al (1967)

2.7 Research model

The theoretical model of this paper is proposed as figure 3 Modeling principle

is inheritance, development, combining, filtering some basis theories and the factor scale of the scientists ahead In proposed research model, Job Satisfaction is affected

by four factors: (1) Job Stress, (2) Distributive & Procedural Justice, (3) Working

Intrinsic Satisfaction

- The chance to work alone on the

job

- The chance to do different things

from time to time

- Being able to do things that don‘t

- The chance to do something that

makes use of abilities

- The freedom to use own

- The praise for doing a good job

- The way boss handles his men

- The chance for advancement on this job

…

General items

- The working conditions

- The method off teamwork

JOB SATISFACTION

Conditions, and (4) Perception of Organization Politics The way for measuring variables is mentioned in section 3.4

Figure 3: Research model of Job Satisfaction

Perception of Organization Politics

Working Conditions

Job Satisfaction

Job Stress

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODLOGY 3.1 Research design

There are three type of research design, which is exploratory research, casual research and descriptive research In this research, the descriptive research is conducted By using descriptive data will enable the researcher to obtain information with reference for the research The researchers can know a substantial amount about the research problem and clearly defines what should be measured on this research

Researchers used quantitative methods in this study Quantitative research generates statistics through the use of survey research, using methods such as questionnaires or structured interviews It concerned with numbers and data which are easily quantified The reason of choosing descriptive research method is because by distributing questionnaires, researchers can collect information from a large sample of individuals and usually take less time to complete by the respondents and relatively

inexpensive

3.2 Data collection methods

There are two types of data which are primary data and secondary data In our research, we use the questionnaire survey to obtain the primary data while we also use secondary data which is obtained from online database were helpful for researchers to obtain information regarding this research in different areas

Primary data is the data that has been collected at first hand to address a specific marketing research problem The researcher uses questionnaires as our methods for collecting primary data which have been conducted by researcher are helpful to answer the research questions set in Chapter 1, and to develop hypotheses through the feedback of relevant respondents This method providing anonymity, so the answer of respondent are kept strictly confidential However, the collection time is long and the collection cost higher compare to secondary data

At the time of data collection there were 8 branches and transaction offices of VCB in Ho hi Minh City in the study settings The researcher contacted the management of each branch or transaction office to receive permission A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed to the branches and transaction offices Employees of many departments of the bank such as corporate banking, trade finance, personal banking, information technology, audit and legal & compliance were selected Each employee received a copy of the questionnaire The researcher assured the confidentiality and anonymity of the responses that each participant provided Participants were requested to fill out the questionnaire in a self-administered way At the end of the data collection, a total of 168 useful questionnaires were retrieved The collected questionnaires had no missing information; hence, the response rate of the study was 84%

In our research, secondary data were obtained as supporting information to further enhance the literatures and results tabulated in this research project Perhaps, most of the information used is mostly obtained from journals and articles which are sourced from search engines such as Yahoo and Google, and information was also obtained from several universities and public libraries

3.3 Sample design

Sampling means selecting a sample from population Sampling design includes five steps which are defining the population, determine the sampling frame, select sampling techniques, determine the sample size and execute the sampling process This will help us to identify the qualified target respondents to participate in the survey

3.3.1 Target population

The target population of this research study is employees working at VCB in Ho Chi Minh City This study aided to reveal which factors has the significant influence job satisfaction of employees The population that researcher target is in Ho Chi Minh City Besides, it is also convenient for the researcher to collect data as there are

respondents needed by the researcher to distribute the questionnaire in areas for the questionnaire to be distributed

3.3.2 Sample frame and sample location

The sampling frame for this study has accomplished 168 respondents Researcher not just specially focused on a single group of people, for example bottom level employees because different groups of people possibly have different reasons to

be satisfied or dissatisfied to the company The sampling location was located in Ho Chi Minh City The research is conducted in city areas due to it provides the researchers the highest percentages to reach target population

3.3.3 Sampling technique

In this research project, non-probability sampling was used for this survey probability sampling consists of convenience sampling, judgmental sampling, quota sampling, and snowball sampling In this survey, convenience sampling is used because it is the most suitable and capable to obtain sample of elements A convenience sample is simply one where the units that are selected for inclusion in the sample are the easiest to access This is in stark contrast to probability sampling techniques, where the selection of units is made randomly The convenience sampling

Non-is the best ways of getting the information quickly, low cost, convenient and time saving Convenience sampling is very easy to carry out with few rules governing how the sample should be collected The relative cost and time required to carry out a convenience sample are small in comparison to probability sampling techniques This enables the researcher to achieve the sample size you want in a relatively fast and inexpensive way As the result, researchers can collect large completed questionnaire and information with low cost and less time consuming It is also considered available and straightforward sampling from various types of non-probability sampling technique

3.3.4 Sample size

A sample is the actual number of that is important to establish the representative

of the sample for generalizes 96 of population characteristics (Sekaran, 2010) In principle, the larger the sample size is, the more accurate the results will be However,

in practice, the selection of sample size depends on one very important factor which is the financial capacity and time the researchers can get A sample of 168 sample size was used in this survey for quantitative research The questionnaires were randomly distributed among the employees at 8 branches and transaction offices of VCB in Ho Chi Minh City The employees asked to answer the questionnaires include 2 types of sex (male and female) and have income caps ranging from under 5 million VND to over 15 million VND in order for the sample has representation

3.4 Hypotheses, variable description, regression model

With the research model described in chapter 2, this paper aims to verify the four following hypotheses:

H1: Job Stress Scale is negatively related to Job Satisfaction

H2: Distribution & Procedural Justice is positively related to Job Satisfaction H3: Working Conditions is positively related to Job Satisfaction

H4: Perception of Organizational Politics is negatively related to Job Satisfaction

This study uses the self-administered survey method A questionnaire was developed based on the scales adopted from previous authors as Table 1 Specifically, the Job Satisfaction is taken from the research of Agho et al (1993); Aryee, Fields, & Luk, (1999) and includes 6 items The Job Stress Scale is adopted from Parker and Decotiis (1983) and includes 10 items The Distributive & Procedural Justice measure (including 6 items) is taken from the research by Joy and Witt (1992) The Working Conditions measure, consisting of 6 items, is taken from Dunham and Smith (1979) Finally, Perception of Organizational Politics Scale with 8 items is adopted from Kacmar and Ferris (1991) All questions in the questionnaire use Likert scale ranging

from 1 to 5 with 1 = strong disagree and 5 = strongly agree Table 1 illustrates the specific items on each scale and their corresponding abbreviations

Table 1: Measurements and sources

Items Abbreviation Sources

1 Job Satisfaction (6 items) JS

You are often bored with your job JS1

Agho et al., 1993;

Aryee, Fields, & Luk, 1999

You feel fairly well satisfied with your present job JS2

You are satisfied with your job for the time being JS3

Most days you are enthusiastic about your work JS4

You like your job better than the average worker does JS5

You find real enjoyment in your work JS6

2 Job Stress Scale (13 items) JSS

Working here makes it hard to spend enough time with

Parker and Decotiis (1983)

You spend so much time at work, you can‘t see the

forest for the trees JSS2

Working here leaves little time for other activities JSS3

You frequently get the feeling you are married to the

You have too much work and too little time to do it in JSS5

You sometimes dread the telephone ringing at home

because the call might be job-related JSS6

You feel like you never have a day off JSS7

Too many people at your level in the company get

burned out by job demand JSS8

You have felt fidgety or nervous as a result of your job JSS9