Social Support And Job Satisfaction Among Academicians: A Comparison Between Public And Private University In Malaysia

Abstract

The role of social support at workplace become one of the most important variables that can give impact on employee’s attitude. Closely related to employee’s performance, many studies have confirmed the role of social support in enhancing employee’s job satisfaction. The aims of this research is two-folds. First, to investigate the differences and second to compare the effect of social support on job satisfaction among academicians in Malaysia. Overall, a total of 420 samples were obtained, wherein 210 participants withdrawn from each setting. Data was collected using self-administrated questionnaire, and analyzed using SPSS version 22. The finding suggested that social support levels (i.e. supervisor support and co-worker support) are higher among academicians in private university. Level of job satisfaction, otherwise is higher among public university. Overall, the mean values indicated high level of social support and job satisfaction among academicians in both university. Analysis of t-Test revealed that there is no significant differences in terms of social support, however the significant being observed in terms of job satisfaction between academicians in Malaysia public and private university. This study also ascertained the positive impact of social support on job satisfaction to both samples. Implication of this study includes empirical contribution and deliberation on social support and job satisfaction. Suggestion from this study includes improving social support to enhance overall academicians’ job satisfaction.