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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 190 (2015) 471 – 476

2nd GLOBAL CONFERENCE on PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHES, 28-29, November 2014

The job satisfaction as a regulator of the working behaviour

Alexandra Hajdukova a*, Jarmila Klementova a, Jarmila Klementova jr. a
a
Technical University in Zvolen , T. G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovak Republic

Abstract

The level of job satisfaction of employees is reflected in the working behaviour of the man. The low level of job satisfaction may
be reflected by reduced stability, discipline, responsibility, as well as lower power, fluctuation, lack of staff and so on. The aim of
this paper is to determine the level of satisfaction with selected factors through the research of employees’ job satisfaction. The
factors of job satisfaction were divided into three dimensions–requirements and benefits of labour, status and relationships in the
workplace and organizational settings. The theory of job satisfaction indicates a very strong relationship between employee age
and its relationship to work (satisfaction with aspects of the work). In theory for the young respondents are the main factors of
job satisfaction the career prospects and the nature of the work. For the older workers the nature of the relationship between
employees and management is becoming less important. For this reason, the intention of the research was to verify the validity of
conclusions theories on employees operating in Slovakia. Within the research was used the method of questioning (interview).To
evaluation of the data were used statistical tools and methods (analysis of variance, Duncan test).
© 2015
© 2015Published
The Authors. Published
by Elsevier by Elsevier
Ltd. This Ltd.
is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.
Keywords: the job satisfaction, the satisfaction factors, analysis of variance;

1. Introduction

The importance of working in human life is undeniable. Job satisfaction of the working-age person plays one of
the most important tasks in terms of its motivation, performance, work efficiency, not least in terms of mental health
(Potkany, 2008; Potkany, & Giertl, 2013). The assessment of the man’s work conditions is reflected in the attitudes,
which are the unit of measurement of job satisfaction. During the investigation of job satisfaction, it is necessary to
distinguish whether a person is completely satisfied at work, or is satisfied only by several factors, the extent to
which various aspects of the work are important to him (intensity), the still and current ones, and equally to
recognize when it is only current state of satisfaction / dissatisfaction of man. Many authors of job satisfaction
researches see the essence of the approach to different aspects of the employment situation, many of which have
social and psychological nature (Nakonecny, 2005; Kollarik, 2010; Malloy, & Penprase, 2010). There are also
studies that seek to affect the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational culture (Lovas, 2007;
Fleskova, & Podolcova, 2010), socially responsible business and job satisfaction (Vagnerova, 2007;Fleskova, 2011)

*Alexandra Hajdukova. Tel.: +421 45 520 64 32

E-mail address: alexandra.hajdukova@gmail.com

1877-0428 © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Academic World Research and Education Center.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.05.028
472 Alexandra Hajdukova et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 190 (2015) 471 – 476

but also between the job satisfaction and the leadership style of the working group (Havig, Skogstad, Veenstra, &
Romoren, 2011).

2. Definition of job satisfaction and its interpretation

The first studies of man’s work satisfaction appeared in the 30th years of 20th century (following the findings of
E. Maya). The studies considered the problems of human work, human inclusion in the labour process and his
relationship to his work. Research of job satisfaction in Slovakia was paid particular attention from the sixties to the
eighties, which dealt mainly Jurovsky (1976), Kollarik (1979;1986), Dubayova (1976) and others.
Currently, we meet with a few differences in the perception of the term "Job Satisfaction". Luthans in Vyrost and
Slamenik (1998) define job satisfaction as favorable or emotional condition that results from the evaluation of work
or work experience. Kollarik (1986) means a summary value that reflects a number of factors related to work and
non-work and work conditions under job satisfaction.
In the literature, we also meet with an equivalent term "job satisfaction". Arnold (2007) sees job satisfaction as
an indicator of psychological well-being of man, or mental health. Pauknerova et al. (2006) assumes that, right job
satisfaction encourages and motivates a person to perform better, and is a precondition for the efficient use of
labour.
The means of identifying and expressing satisfaction in work are the attitudes. The attitudes are evaluating
relationships to people, subject, phenomena and events and in the human personality play an important role.
Kolesarova (2010) states that to the shaping of job satisfaction sub-stances are involved. Jurovsky (1971) reflected
the relationship between attitudes and job satisfaction. He states that certain relationships to work with the
individual stopped, and so they wins in content, directedness and durability that can be observed from the outside as
well as relatively stable and its hallmark mental laws that determine more - less sustained focus on work. Therefore
Jurovsky (1971) understood the job satisfaction as "a generalized attitude" of people to their work and to everything
related to it and can be estimated and measured. Positive attitudes are associated with job satisfaction and the
dissatisfaction with the negative ones.
But there are some specifics between job satisfaction and attitude. Vyrost and Slamenik (1998) indicate that
satisfaction is usually less stable than attitudes that are firmly anchored and connected to each other. The satisfaction
varies in relation to the change of age. That argument is also evidenced by studies that deny that job satisfaction was
constant throughout the all life of the individual. It is important to note that the opinions of experts are partially
divided on the age range question of employees in which job satisfaction is declining. The study results of Clark,
Oswald and Warr (1996) on a sample of 5000 respondents indicate that the degree of satisfaction with the work
during the life changing. According to research, by teenagers job satisfaction has risen, by the twenties decreased,
and by the forty again soared. For the young respondents the main factors of job satisfaction are possibilities of a
term process and the nature of the work. For older workers is becoming less important nature of the relationship
between employees and management, which results from their greater independence and their greater prestige in the
working collective. According to Sutekova (2012) job satisfaction tends to increase with age, but conducted
researches have shown a decline in satisfaction in the age group from 40 to 50 years of age. According to Sheppard
and Herrick (1972), Vagnerova (2007) is again the largest share of disgruntled employees just among young people
aged 20-29 years. A s a proof they state that after the initial enthusiasm, which young people inserted to work at the
beginning of their working life comes a significant drop in satisfaction, with the largest drop in the 3rd decade of
life. From about 30 years satisfaction increased again (Crites, 1963). One explanation is that satisfaction is related to
the expectations with which young people starting their work. At the beginning of their careers are highly unrealistic
about their expectations, and very soon they face barriers of reality, which results in dissatisfaction with working
conditions. With age, it is believed that people's expectations are more realistic and also more people adapt to the
working environment, thereby is diminishing their dissatisfaction.
Since a person is satisfied with their work / dissatisfied determines subjective view of the individual nature of the
work and other aspects of employment, which we call the factors of job satisfaction.

2.1 Factors of job satisfaction

Mozny (1971) defines satisfaction factors as elements to which overall feeling of job satisfaction layout.
Jurovsky (1971) states that job satisfaction is determined by those experiential components that a person has in
 Alexandra Hajdukova et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 190 (2015) 471 – 476 473

relation to the content of their work. Kolesarova (2010) divided the factors of job satisfaction in 3 dimensions as
they "where a person walks," "what gives him work," and "what man is." The basis for identifying factors and their
inclusion were studies of Mozny (1971;1974), Vecernik (2003), Mares (2001), Mares Banovcova (2002).
Kolesarova named dimensions of job satisfaction as follows:
x 1. dimension of "organizational settings"
 Work is where a person walks. Whether it goes into with pleasure and that feels good in it determine the
elements of the work environment (e.g. room equipment, lighting, noise, safety, etc...), that are often the
norm for humans.
 To the elements affecting job satisfaction include the organization of work, that means employee attitudes,
whether his work is well organized, planned, or employee meets the employment relationship, work
schedule, randomly assigned tasks and etc.
x 2. dimension 'requirements and benefits of working "
 In the first place the work brings certain benefits to the man. On the other hand, it put some rights on a man
and needs to spend some effort, when we talk about the workload.
 At work uses a person acquired knowledge, experience and skills to which brings to work and the result of
its activities are products and services. In this case we are talking about the possibility of applying the
professional skills of the employee.
 One would not spend too much effort and effort at work, if he was not interested in and did not enjoy the
work. If it does not do what he wants to do what it fills therefore interesting of work ranks among the
factors of job satisfaction.
 A person is not just giving to an organization, but also expects some reward for their efforts (as would
appear from the expectations theory). Important form of remuneration is wage, earnings, that man as
involves overall job satisfaction and if it does not, it is looking for another job.
 To work a person brings their skills and knowledge which he had acquired in school or other employment
and he expects that he will be able to continue developing. Therefore work may be a means of self-
realization.
 With self-realization is closely linked career advancement, which man wants to achieve by making some
effort and knowledge. Progress brings many benefits such as prestige, responsibility, self-determination and
the like to a man.
x 3. dimension "status and relationships in the workplace"
 Work has supra-individual character; it is a place where there is a proliferation of differing social relations
and cooperation. Therefore the work is the place where the formal and informal relationships between
colleagues are. Individual in his assessment takes into account the functioning, respectively dysfunctional
relationships in the workplace and creates a position for them.
 To the concept of work also includes the organizational structure and hierarchy of power, which is set in
the organization. Therefore employee is not only a colleague but also subordinates and his relationships in
the organization affect the attitude of the supervisor.

3. The research results of job satisfaction of employees working in Slovakia

Job satisfaction research was conducted in Slovakia in the period from January 2013 to January 2014 by the
questionnaire form. In the research were followed dimensions of job satisfaction as further described in the chapter
1.2. From a wider conceived research we choice only some aspects of the assumptions and the related results, which
is given to the magnitude of the contribution. The research goal of the paper was to determine the level of
satisfaction of employees working in companies located in Slovakia. The differences between expert opinion on the
age range of employees in which decreases their job satisfaction the research has also looked at the relationship
between age and employee satisfaction. The research group was formed by 1919 employees who were randomly
selected from among employees working in Slovakia. It has been in the research file represented by 29% of
respondents fewer than 30 years, 30% of respondents from 31 to 40 years, 27% of respondents from 41 to 50 years
and 14% of respondents over 50 years old. The respondents expressed satisfaction with the agents with a 5 point
grade scale from 1 to 5 (with 1 being dissatisfied with the factor, 5 = very satisfied with the factor). The results of
474 Alexandra Hajdukova et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 190 (2015) 471 – 476

the questionnaire survey were processed in the form of arithmetic means and evaluated by analysis of variance and
followed by Duncan's test, used to determine the significance of differences between the age groups of employees.
The satisfaction of the respondents with work factors are captured in Table 1. Based on the average values of
employee satisfaction with work-related factors it can be concluded that there is no single factor to which the
employees were specifically dissatisfied but not a single factor with which they were very satisfied. For most work
factors there were recorded neutral value of employee satisfaction. The research results in Table 1 confirm the
results of research of Sutekova (2012). It can be concluded that employee satisfaction with the work tends to
increase with age. However it has to be counted with a decline in satisfaction in the age group from 40 to 50 years of
age. It was also confirmed by Sutekova (2012) argument that the possibility of workflow and content and type of
work are among the main factors of job satisfaction among young workers (under 30 years). In addition to these
factors are among the main factors also the satisfaction factors the atmosphere in the workplace, a good working
team and factors of the third dimension. Research has shown that the main factor of job satisfaction of older workers
is not the nature of the relationship between employees and management, on the contrary. The main factor in job
satisfaction of older workers is a good working team.

Table 1. The average employee satisfaction of various ages with work factors

Age level of the respondents *

Factors of satisfaction A B C D
1. dimension 'requirements and benefits of working "
Additional salary 2,7 2,8 2,7 2,7
Social benefits 2,9 3,0 2,9 3,0
Praise 3,0 3,0 2,9 3,0
Self-realization 3,0 3,1 3,0 3,1
Promotions 3,2 3,1 3,1 3,2
Content and type of the work 3,3 3,4 3,3 3,4
Possibility of applying their own abilities 3,1 3,2 3,2 3,3
Independent decision-making 3,0 3,2 3,2 3,2
Possibility of learning and personal growth 3,0 3,1 3,1 3,2
Psychological stress 3,0 3,0 3,0 2,9
Physical demands of work 3,2 3,2 3,1 3,2
2. dimension "status and relationships in the workplace"
Atmosphere in the workplace 3,5 3,4 3,4 3,5
Good working team 3,6 3,5 3,5 3,6
Superior access 3,1 3,2 3,2 3,3
3. dimension "organizational settings"
Working hours 3,3 3,4 3,3 3,5
Working environment 3,3 3,4 3,4 3,5
Average satisfaction 3,14 3,19 3,14 3,23
Note: * age level of the respondents A = under 30years, B = 31-40 years, C = 41-50 years, D = over 50 years.

The results of the variance analysis for the factor "age of the employees” shows Table 2. Statistically significant
differences were confirmed among the most common category of 31-40 years and 41-50 years employees. In the
area of discretionary first category of youngest workers (under 30 years) differed significantly from other ages. The
effect of age was not confirmed as statistically significant even when one of the factors of satisfaction in the second
dimension. The third dimension of satisfaction factors were confirmed statistically significant differences in factor
"working hours" and that the first category of employees (under 30 years) and a group of employees between 31-40
years. The category of staff over 50 years and under 30 years category also differed significantly in perceptions of
satisfaction with this factor. Between the last two categories of employees (41-50 years old vs. above 50 years old)
was just confirmed a statistically significant difference in perceptions of satisfaction with these factors.
Table 2. Results of variance analysis
Factors of satisfaction p-level
A vs. B A vs. C A vs. D B vs. C B vs. D C vs.D
1. dimension 'requirements and benefits of working "
Additional salary 0,449 0,491 0,683 0,000 0,317 0,344
Social benefits 0,244 0,915 0,582 0,298 0,694 0,645
Praise 0,975 0,327 0,778 0,301 0,752 0,606
Self-realization 0,098 0,411 0,181 0,409 0,409 0,485
 Alexandra Hajdukova et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 190 (2015) 471 – 476 475

Promotions 0,057 0,267 0,915 0,000 0,109 0,330

Content and type of the work 0,071 0,789 0,157 0,259 0,993 0,249
Possibility of applying their own 0,234 0,367 0,100 0,000 0,501 0,363
abilities
Independent decision-making 0,017 0,044 0,004 0,843 0,277 0,215
Possibility of learning and 0,167 0,430 0,315 0,992 0,910 0,958
personal growth
Psychological stress 0,746 0,636 0,389 0,278 0,103 0,490
Physical demands of work 0,860 0,731 0,118 0,000 0,924 0,279
2. dimension "status and relationships in the workplace"
Atmosphere in the workplace 0,404 0,545 0,705 0,837 0,294 0,390
Good working team 0,235 0,192 0,939 0,860 0,309 0,270
Superior access 0,348 0,333 0,117 0,952 0,402 0,444
3. dimension "organizational
settings"
Working hours 0,036 0,719 0,016 0,091 0,480 0,038
Working environment 0,372 0,499 0,187 0,850 0,529 0,448
Note: * age level of the respondents A = under 30years, B = 31-40 years, C = 41-50 years, D = over 50 years; highlighted factors are significant
at the significance level 0.05

4. Conclusion

The present paper deals with the issue of job satisfaction of employees in Slovakia. Results of the survey show
that the main dimensions of job satisfaction are the factors of the 2nd dimension "status and relationships in the
workplace." The factors "the atmosphere at work" and "a good working team" all ages of employees means as the
main factors of their job satisfaction.
The research results confirm the theoretical assumption about the variability of the level of employee satisfaction
with work during their working lives. Based on the research results it can be concluded that employee satisfaction
with the work tends to increase with age. The exception is the category of 40-50 years old employees when the job
satisfaction decreases. The analysis results of variance for the factor "age of the employees” point to the fact that
significant differences exist between the most common category of 31-40 years and 41-50 years employees.

Acknowledgements

This paper is the partial result of the Ministry of Education of Slovak Republic grant project VEGA No.
1/0268/13, „Perspectives of facility management application for the increasing of competitiveness within the wood
processing and forestry companies in the context of outsourcing principles”.

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