Job Satisfaction Amongst Employees in Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) in the Manufacturing Sector: A Malaysian Case

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the era of global business, quality of human resources, skilled and knowledgeable employees are highly essential. It is frequently noted that quality human resources act as a prerequisite for competitive advantage and competitive edge of any business. This is especially so in the case of small and medium industries (SMIs), considered as “the seeds” from which large organizations and big corporations are grown. Similarly, previous studies indicate that high turnover of employees undeniably affects production, productivity, profitability and hence hinders further growth of any business, small, medium and large alike. While there are a number of empirical studies on employees, their working environment, and job satisfaction, only a few have based their data on SMIs. In view of this, a survey was carried out on 243 employees of SMIs in Kuala Terengganu in late 2004 to address some of the issues above in the context of SMIs. Interestingly, the study found that the surveyed employees were relatively young, unmarried, new in the length of service and low educational attainment as well as low level of income. Surprisingly however, they were generally satisfied with their working environment and job, including their salary, task, co-worker, supervision and promotion. Furthermore, it was found that occupational categories correlate significantly with level of job satisfaction. That is, the higher the occupational categories are, the higher the level of job satisfaction. The study concludes that while SMIs should upgrade skills among their employees, government policies should also be more favorable so that a more conducive working environment and job satisfaction in SMIs could be created.