TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
117
JoB satisfaCtion of manaGers in
CooperatiVes of poKhara
dhaneshwar Rakhal*
aBstraCt
this study tires to measure the job satisfaction level of managers
working in saving and credit cooperative societies in pokhara. it
specially, ranks the managers' feelings about the general factors
related to job satisfaction. It also considers gender, work experience
and remuneration in relation to job satisfaction. it is based on the
primary source of information and data collected through structured
questionnaire. The data cover managers (office head) of 77 saving and
credit cooperatives in pokhara. percentage, mean score, median, rank
and chi-square test were used as analytical tools. the result of the
study indicates that the five of the nine job satisfaction factors were
under the satisfaction level. the result also points out that the female
were more dissatisfied than male, and there was negative association
between job experience and overall job satisfaction level and positive
association between remuneration and overall job satisfaction.
Key words: Cooperatives, job satisfaction, factors of job satisfaction,
manager.
introduCtion and oBJeCtiVe
Employees' role is an essential part for the organizational success
and competitiveness. The employees have different viewpoints about their
career, jobs, and their organizations, and job satisfaction is the most central
(Saari & Judge, 2004). The feeling regarding their job may be positive or
negative. According to Robbins, Judge, and Vohra (2013), job satisfaction
is "a positive about a job" (p. 83). Similarly, for Moorhead and Griffin
(2000), it is "an individual's attitude toward her or his job" (p. 112). So,
employees may have their distinctive feelings and about their jobs. So,
job satisfaction is directly related to the positive and favorable attitude
towards their Job and dissatisfaction comes out of their negative attitude.
Job satisfaction is also a positive emotional state of employees' experiences
(Shrestha, 2015). It has many dimensions. According to Luthan (as cited in
Tella, Ayeni & Popoola, 2007), there are three dimensions relating to job
*
Mr. Rakhal is a Teaching Assistant, Prithivi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, TU.
118 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
satisfaction i.e., emotional response, expectancy and attitudes. The "pay,
opportunities for promotion, the nature of the job itself, the organization's
policies and procedures, and working conditions usually determines the job
satisfaction or dissatisfaction" (Moorhead, Griffin, 2000, p. 113). The social
context of job, place and overall job satisfaction are also inter-related. Job
characteristics that contribute to training, feedback, variety, independence,
social recognition, control, and interaction with co-worker provide
motivation for satisfaction (Atreya, 2014; Robbins, Judge, & Vohra, 2013).
So, job satisfaction may be influence by different factors.
Job satisfaction or dissatisfaction directly affects employees'
turnover and absenteeism. Dissatisfied employees more often become
absent from their job reporting their sickness even when they are healthy.
They tend to move to a new organization for attractive job. Conversely,
when employees are satisfied, they come to work more regularly and are
less likely to seek other employments (Moorhead & Griffin, 2000). It
also applies in case of cooperative managers. Therefore, highly satisfied
cooperative managers feel positive towards their job, while manager with
low level of job satisfaction hold negative feelings. Consequently managers'
job satisfaction affects on organizational productivity and performance.
The purpose of this study is to find out the job satisfaction of
Managers in cooperative of Pokhara however research questions raised
in the paper include: (a) What is the perception of managers on their
job satisfaction level in relation to the factors related to job satisfaction?
(b) What is the status of overall job satisfaction level? (c) What is the relation
of gender, work experience and remuneration with the job satisfaction?
reView of literature
Tella, Ayeni and Popoola (2007) have written a research paper
relating to employees' work motivation, job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. The findings of the paper show a positive correlation of job
satisfaction with motivation and commitment, but negative correlation
between motivation and commitment. There was no difference between
perceived motivation of professional and non-professional library
employees. The findings of the paper also show some salient issues in the
field of librarianship. The paper suggests that the management should meet
the demands of their employees to promote their motivation, satisfaction,
and commitment and minimize their turnover. The study of Yousef
(2000) has also analyzed the relationship of leadership behavior with
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
119
organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job performance of the
employees. It suggests that the management should accept any important
activities to improve the satisfaction level of the employees. They highlight
about management activities and national cultural influences on job
satisfaction. The study hints that for the improvement of the job satisfaction
and performance, the organization requires a suitable leadership of the
manager. Chadi and Hetschko (2014) have investigated a crucial event for
job satisfaction: changing the workplace. The result indicates the linkage
between the new job and satisfaction level of employees. When an employee
starts a new job, on average, he/she gets very high job satisfaction, but the
satisfaction gradually declines over the passage of time. Similarly, the huge
new job options results the majority of the voluntary job changes of the
employees. Saari and Judge (2004) have highlighted on employees' attitude,
basically in terms of three areas of job satisfaction. Which include attitude of
the employees, the outcome of positive or negative job satisfaction, and the
ways to assess and influence attitude of the employees. The paper identifies
the major practitioners' knowledge gaps in these areas, and suggests for
the practitioners to fill the gaps. The relation of job satisfaction and job
performance, job satisfaction and life satisfaction, and job satisfaction and
withdrawal behaviors have been indicated in this paper.
Sukriket (2018) found a significant correlation between many
of the job facts and turnover intention using four variables: supervision,
remuneration, work environment and job condition concerned with the
software programmers' job turnover plan. This implies that human resource
management (HR) in the information technology (IT) industry in Thailand
need to pay special attention to these factors in order to retain their skilled IT
employees. The result indicates that 44.8 percent of employees were willing
to continue their current job for three years but 41 percent were undecided
to see their current job over the same period. The younger respondents, who
had worked for only 1-2 years, were strongly interested to shift into another
company. Sukriket suggests that favorable strategies for IT professionals
should be introduced in business sector for the reduction of turnover. The
researcher also suggests that the high turnover could be reduced by findings
root causes, addressing the problem and implementing the strategies in IT
sectors. Similarly, Grund and Rubin (2016) have done a study on "social
comparison of wage increase and job satisfaction". The researchers used a
panel data set of managers in the German chemical industry. They compare
the status quo and social comparison considerations. They investigate
120 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
the relationship between wages increase of individual employees and
comparable employees; and its impact on related manager's job satisfaction.
The result shows, an increase of relative wages—even absolute wage
level is same—decreases the individual managers' job satisfaction. Based
on the findings from the about literature review, it is clear that different
researchers have studied on job satisfaction of employees in different ways.
These studies are mainly based on the relationships of job satisfaction with
work motivation, organizational commitment, leadership behavior, job
performance, new job, withdrawal behaviors, work environment and job
condition of the employees in library and different business organization and
have been forwarded in different nations and communities under different
circumstances. But, this study is different as it tries to study the relationships
of job satisfaction with different "job satisfaction factors" in relation to the
managers of the saving and credit cooperatives in Pokhara. It also compares
the job satisfaction in terms of gender, experience and remuneration of the
managers of cooperatives in Nepalese context. Therefore, the study is of its
own kind and measures the job satisfaction level of managers working in
saving and credit cooperatives societies in Pokhara.
methodoloGy
For the study purpose, the required information was collected on
existing phenomenon. In mid July 2015, there were 212 saving and credit
cooperative societies in Pokhara Sub-metropolitan (Cooperative Training
and Division Office, 2015), Kaski, Nepal. Out of these 212 cooperatives,
77 cooperatives were selected as the sample of the study. Seventy seven
managers (Office Head)—from the each one representing the sample
cooperatives—were the sample respondents. Convenience sampling
method was used for the study. Copies of structured questionnaire were
prepared as the instruments for the data collection. The questionnaire
was translated into Nepali to make it easier for the respondents. The
questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part dealt with the profile
and the managerial characteristics of the respondents, and the second part
was about the factors of job satisfaction, what the managers feel in their
real life. The questions about the job satisfaction factors were based on
Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire (Welss, Dawis, England & Lofquist,
1967) using five-point Likert scale (Likert, 1932). The respondents were
contacted for questionnaire survey in their offices of cooperatives. The
time for the respondents was set considering their convenience and the
questionnaire were filled up and collected. All the data collected through
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
121
questionnaire were processed using SPSS software. The responses
frequencies were categorized, and frequencies, percentages, mean value
and rank were computed and interpreted. Mean score was also used for the
comparison of variables as used in previous studies i.e. Pradhan (2003) and
Pravin and Kabir (2011). Besides, regression analysis is also used wherever
applicable.
disCussion and result
socio-demography of respondents
Questionnaire was developed to obtain general information related
to sample cooperatives and their managers. It consists of sex, age, marital
status, caste/ethnicity, and monthly salary of the managers. Age distribution
of the respondent managers is given in Table 1. About 36.4 percent of the
managers are of below 30 in age, 29.9 percent are of 30 to 40 years, 20.8
percent are of 40 to 50 years and the rest are of 50 years and above. The
average age of the managers is 35.65 years. As evident form Table 1, 76.6
percent of cooperative managers are married and the rest, 33.4 percent,
are unmarried. It indicates the dominancy of married managers in saving
and credit cooperatives in Pokhara. About the religion of the cooperative
managers, 90.9 percent managers are Hindu and 9.1 percent are Buddhist.
Likewise, the Table shows that 77.9 percent of the respondent managers are
from Brahmin/Chhetry, 15.6 percent from Janajati, 3.9 percent from Dalit
community and 2.6 percent from other, i.e., Dasnami and Ghale. Janajati
includes Gurung, Magar, Newar, Tamang in this study.
Most of the financial practitioners hold bachelor or higher degree.
The Table shows, 48.1 percent of the managers are holding bachelor's
degree, 28.6 percent and 18.2 percent are holding master's degree and
higher secondary degree respectively. Similarly 3.9 percent and 1.3 percent
are holding secondary and under secondary level respectively. As was
expected, Table 1 also indicates that most (67.5 percent) of the managers
hold degree from management stream, 18.2 percent from social sciences and
3.9 percent from education stream. Rest of the other (7.8 percent) includes
degree in English literature, science, and without specialization (secondary
and under secondary level). As it is indicated by Table 1, the majority of
the respondents—i.e. 64.9 percent— hold the position of manager but
there is also a good number holding the position of chief executive. It
includes chief executive officer, executive chief, executive director, general
manager and managing director. covering 23.4 percent, whereas 5.2 percent
122 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
as accountant, 3.9 percent as office assistant, and 2.6 percent hold other
designation (Table 1).
table 1: Socio-demographic Profile of Respondents (n=77)
Description/Criteria
Description/Criteria
Number Percent
Number Percent
Gender
area of specialization
Male
60 77.9 Management
52
67.5
Female
17 22.1 Law
2
2.6
age
Social Science
14
18.2
Below 30 Years
28 36.4 Education
3
3.9
30-40
23 29.8 Other
6
7.8
40-50
16 20.8 Job Experiences
50 and Above
10 13.0 Below 1 year
6
7.8
marital status
1-5
33
42.8
Married
59 76.6 5-10
29
37.7
Unmarried
18 23.4 10-15
4
5.2
Caste/ethnicity
15 and Above
5
6.5
Brahmin/Chhetri
60 77.9 designation
Janajati
12 15.6 Chief Executive
18
23.4
utpidit (dalit)
3
3.9 Manager
50
64.9
Other
2
2.6 Assistant Manager
2
2.6
religion
Accountant
4
5.2
Hindu
70 90.9 Office Assistant
3
3.9
monthly
Buddhist
7
9.1
remuneration
education level
Below Rs. 10000
14
18.2
Below Secondary
1
1.3 10000-20000
14
18.2
Secondary Level
3
3.9 20000-30000
30
38.9
Higher Secondary
14 18.2 30000-40000
12
15.6
Bachelor Level
37 48.0 40000-50000
4
5.2
Master and Above
22 28.6 50000 and Above
3
3.9
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Job satisfaction : factors ranking
Cooperative managers were requested to rank the factors of job
satisfaction according to their satisfaction level. For this purpose, 9 factors
were provided to measure their job satisfaction were provided. For 7 of
the 9 factors, more than 50 percent of the responses could be put under the
category of "satisfied". They noted "communication with the board" (83.1
123
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
percent), "nature of the work" (80.5 percent), "business relation with the
board" (80.5 percent) and "reward and punishment system" (70.1 percent)
as most satisfying factors of their job (Table 2).
Factors Related to
Job Satisfaction
˚Response Ranking
n
1
2
3
4
5
Mean
Score
Overall
Rank
table 2: Ranking of Managers Responses
a. Job security
77
19
40
8
9
1
(100) (24.7) (51.9) (10.4) (11.7) (1.3)
2.13
2.5
b. Reward and
punishment
system
77
10
44
12
6
(100) (13.0) (57.1) (15.6) (7.8)
5
(6.5)
2.38
5
6
36
20
8
7
(7.8) (46.7) (26.0) (10.4) (9.1)
2.66
8
c. Compensation and 77
benefit system
(100)
d. Communication
with the board
77
21
43
7
(100) (27.3) (55.8) (9.1)
3
(3.9)
3
(3.9)
2.01
1
e. Nature of the
work
77
16
46
7
(100) (20.8) (59.7) (9.1)
5
(6.5)
3
(3.9)
2.13
2.5
f. Current
remuneration
system
77
8
40
13
14
2
(100) (10.4) (51.9) (16.9) (18.2) (2.6)
2.51
7
g. Career
development
opportunities
77
(100)
7
29
20
17
4
(9.1) (37.6) (26.0) (22.1) (5.2)
2.77
9
h. Nature of
supervision
77
13
40
10
8
6
(100) (16.9) (51.9) (13.0) (10.4) (7.8)
2.40
6
2.16
4
i. Business relation 77
18
44
6
with the board
(100) (23.4) (57.1) (7.8)
3
(3.9)
6
(7.8)
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Note (a): The response rankings are defined as follows: 1 = highly
satisfied, 2 = satisfied, 3 = not satisfied, 4 = dissatisfied and 5 = completely
dissatisfied.
Note (b): Figures in parentheses indicate percentage over total responses.
Note (c): Welss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist (1967) provided the twenty
sample items in the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. Out of them,
only nine items were appropriate in the context of Nepalese cooperative
societies.
124 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
As regards to the overall ranking of the factors of job satisfaction,
the majority of the respondents gave first priority to "communication with
the board", the equal (second and third) to "job security" and "nature of the
work", the fourth priority to "business relation with the board", the fifth
priority to "reward and punishment system", the sixth priority to "nature
of supervision", the seventh priority to "current remuneration system", the
eighth priority to "compensation and benefit system" and the last priority to
"career development opportunities" (Table 2).
overall Job satisfaction
All the job satisfaction variables—job security, reward and
punishment system, compensation and benefit system, communication
with the board, nature of the work, current remuneration system, career
development opportunities, nature of supervision and business relation
with the board–have been included to measure the overall job satisfaction
level of managers. Then, median is computed to find the percent of job
satisfaction. Job satisfaction is qualitative dimension. So, median value has
been used to find out the overall job satisfaction level. The final outcome
shows, 44.2 percent of the managers are satisfied and 55.8 percent are
dissatisfied (Table 3).
table 3: Managers Overall Job Satisfaction
response
Satisfied
Dissatisfied
Total
no
34
43
77
percent
44.2
55.8
100.0
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Gender and Job satisfaction
The majority of the respondents (77.9 percent) were male and only
22.1 percent were female.(Table 1). In terms of the gender of respondents,
there was a shift from the male to female, on the overall job satisfactions,
i.e. 51.5% (1- 0.485) of the females were dissatisfied. It means females
were more dissatisfied than male. The p value (0.005, which was less than
five percent) has indicated that the overall job satisfaction and gender were
significantly related (Table 4).
125
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
table 4: Regression Equation of Overall Job Satisfaction on the basis of
Respondents Gender
model
unstandardized standardized
Coefficients
Coefficients
B std. error
Beta
1 (Constant)
21.735
Gender of
-.485
Respondents
t
sig.
1.745
-.041 12.454
.000
1.354
-.359
.005
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Note: Dependent Variable: Overall Job Satisfaction
Experience and Job Satisfaction
As regards to the total years of service in the current cooperatives,
50.6 percent of the managers covered by this study are with less than 5
years of job experience, 37.7 percent are with 5 to 10 years of experience,
6.5 percent have experience of 15 years and above, and the rest are with
10 to 15 years of job experience. The average service year of the managers
is 5.43 years (Table 1). Regression equation of overall job satisfaction on
job experience shows the negative association between job experience and
overall job satisfaction. If there is one unit increase in experience overall
satisfaction will be decreased by 0.028 units. But the p value 0.001 (which
is less than five percent) shows that there is significant association between
overall job satisfaction and job experience (Table 5).
table 5: Regression Equation of Overall Job Satisfaction on the basis of
Job Experiences of Manager
model
(Constant)
1 Job
Experiences
unstandardized standardized
t
Coefficients
Coefficients
B
std. error
Beta
21.296
.909
23.419
-.025
-.028
.132
-.214
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Note: Dependent Variable: Overall Job Satisfaction
sig.
.000
.001
126 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
remuneration and Job satisfaction
As far as the remuneration of the respondents is concerned, according
to Table 9, 39 percent of the managers receive monthly remuneration from
Rs 20000 to Rs 30000 at present. Similarly, 18.2 percent managers receive
monthly remuneration in both ranges as below Rs 10000 and Rs 10000 to
Rs 20000. The average salary of the managers is Rs 23708.44 (Table 1).
Regression equation of the overall job satisfaction on remuneration of the
manager shows positive association between remuneration and overall job
satisfaction. If there is one unit increase in remuneration of the managers,
overall job satisfaction will be increased by 0.000106. But the p value 0.002
(which is less than five percent) indicates that there is significant association
between managers' remuneration and overall job satisfaction (Table 6).
table 6: Regression Equation of Remuneration and Job Satisfaction
unstandardized
standardized
t
sig.
Coefficients
Coefficients
model
B
std. error
Beta
(Constant)
23.661
.947
24.997 .000
1 Remuneration 0.000106
.347
.000
-3.203 .002
of Managers
Source: Field survey, 2016.
Note: Dependent Variable: Overall Job Satisfactions
ConClusion
As regards to the general background, the result had indicated
that most of the managers were male. Regarding the age of the managers,
nearly two-third were of below 40 years. It implies that majority of the
managers of the cooperatives were the young and energetic. About marital
status, most of the managers were married. Similarly, most of the managers
were from Brahmin/Chhetry and Hindu religion. Regarding the education
level of the managers, nearly three-fourth of them were bachelor degree and
master and above; the majority were from management background. Most
of the managers had job experiences of less than 10 years. It was found that
cooperative managers were well educated, matured and competent in their
field. The managers from female and ethnic group were less than the male
and Brahmin/Chhetry respectively.
To come to the conclusion about the overall job satisfaction of
the managers, using median value, it was found that most of the managers
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOL.: 32, NO.: 1, JUNE. 2018
127
were dissatisfied. And, regarding the overall rank for related factors of job
satisfaction, it was found that the first priority goes to the "communication
with the board" as highly satisfying factor and the last priority to career
development opportunities as completely dissatisfying factor of their job
satisfaction. In case of sex wise analysis, females were more dissatisfied
than males. The result also had indicated that when the job experience was
increased, the satisfaction level was decreased. The regression equation of
overall job satisfaction on remuneration of the manager was seemed to be
the positive relation between remuneration and the overall job satisfaction.
aCKnowledGements
This article is an outcome of mini research report submitted to
the Center for Research, Rector's Office, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur. I
highly acknowledge Center for Research and all those patient managers/
office heads of sample cooperatives of Pokhara, for providing me necessary
data and information.
referenCes
Atreya, B. (2014). Engaging and inspiring employees. In S. Paudel (Ed.),
Nepal Rastra Bank Samachar: Nepal Rastra Bank 59th Anniversary
Special Issue ( 4-8). Kathmandu: Nepal Rastra Bank.
Chadi, A., & Hetschko, C. (2014). The magic of the new: How job
changes affect job satisfaction. IAAEU Discussion Paper Series in
Economics No. 05/2014.
Cooperative Training and Division Office. (2015). Cooperatives in Kaski:
An outlook. Pokhara: Author.
Frederick, D. A. (1997). An Introduction to cooperatives. United States:
Department of Agriculture.
Grund, C., & Rubin, M. (2016). Social comparisons of wage increase and
job satisfaction. Retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp10038.pdf
Likert, R. (1932). A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives
of psychology. Retrieved from https://legacy.voteview.com/pdf/
Likert_1932.pdf
Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. W. (2000). Organizational behavior (3rd ed.).
Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House.
Pradhan, R. S. (2003). Research in Nepalese finance. Kathmandu: Buddha
Academic Publishers and Distributors.
128 JOB SATISfACTION Of mANAGERS IN COOPERATIVES Of POKHARA
Pravin, M. M., & Kabir, M. M. N. (2011). Factors affecting employee job
satisfaction of pharmaceutical sector. Austrian Journal of Business
and Management Research, 1(9), 113-123.
Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., & Vohra, N. (2013). Organizational behavior
(5th ed.). Delhi: Pearson.
Saari, L. M., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Employee attitudes and job satisfaction.
Human resource management. Retrieved form 43(4), 395-407.
doi:10.1002/hrm.20032
Shrestha, P. (2015). Organizational behavior. Kathmandu: Samjhana
Publication.
Sukriket, P. (2018). The relationship between job satisfaction and turnover
intention of Thai software programmers in Bangkok, Thailand. AU
Journal of Management, 12(2), 42-52.
Tella, A., Ayeni, C. O., & Popoola, S. O. (2007). Work motivation, job
satisfaction, and organisational commitment of library personnel
in academic and research libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria. Library
Philosophy and Practice, 9(2), 1–13.
Thakuri, C. B. (2010). An anatomy of cooperative movement in Nepal.
Kathmandu: Upkar Prakashan.
United Nations. (2009). Report of the secretary general: Cooperatives
in social development. Retrieved from http://www.copac.coop/
publications/ un/a64132e.pdf
Welss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., England, G. W., & Lofquist, L. H. (1967).
Manual for the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. University of
Minnesota. Retrieved from http://vpr.psych.umn.edu/sites/g/files/
pua2236/f/monograph_xxii_-_manual_for_the_mn_satisfaction_
questionnaire.pdf
Yousef, D. A. (2000). Organizational commitment: A mediator of the
relationships of leadership behavior with job satisfaction and
performance in non-western country. Journal of Managerial
Psychology, 15(1), 6-24.