European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences ISSN 1450-2275 Issue 53 September, 2012 EuroJournals, Inc.

. 2012 http://www.eurojournals.com/EJEFAS.htm

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Job Satisfaction Survey Based on a Sample of Private Banks Employees in Damascus
Abdulhamid Al-Khalil Higher Institute of Business Administration (HIBA), Damascus, Syria Ali Bassam Mahmoud Higher Institute of Business Administration (HIBA), Damascus, Syria Tel: +963-933-439287 E-mail: elguitarrista@live.com; http://hiba.edu.sy/ Abstract The importance of job satisfaction shown in previous research implies that we need to measure what we are supposed to measure when it comes to assess this construct. The goal of this research is test for the confirmatory factorial validity of Job Satisfaction Survey within the Syrian context. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a sample of employees working in private banks in Damascus, and (364) valid questionnaires were returned. The hypothesized model of JSS was built on the results of a previous study in which an exploratory factorial analysis had been performed for JSS. Using the structural equation modeling approach (SEM), our results came to confirm the hypothesized model, and revealed that JSS is a three-factor construct, i.e. Recognition, Work Nature, and Communication. Keywords: Job Satisfaction Survey, Structural Equation Modeling, Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

1. Introduction
Job satisfaction is considered one of the most prominent attitudinal variables that have been handled by researchers within the field of organizational behavior (e.g. Mahmoud, 2012; AL-Hussami, 2008; Astrauskait, Vaitkeviius, & Perminas, 2011; Borooah, 2009; Byrne, 2010; Paul, 2011; Hasnain, Khan, Awan, Tufail, & Ullah, 2011; Spector, 1985) especially when it comes to Empirical investigation conducted in the sector of services (e.g. healthcare, banking, and education) where service quality is indicated by customer satisfaction (Al-Khalil & Mahmoud, 2012). Some researchers have tried to explain why such importance would be regarded to investigating job satisfaction. From one perspective, people have the right to be treated fairly, since fairness and good treatment is reflected by having people satisfied towards their jobs, whereas other perspective springs from the significant influences that job satisfaction exerts over other organizational outcomes such as organizational citizenship behavior, turnover intentions and behavior, and absenteeism (Spector, 1997). This high attention that has been given by literature to job satisfaction has yielded several definitions and measurement methods for this construct. Job satisfaction has been defined in several ways, it was depicted as favorable attitudes that an employee holds towards his or her job (Arnold & Feldman, 1986), or in other words the extent to which people like or dislike their jobs (Spector, 1997, p. 2). Locke (1976, p. 1300) refers to job

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satisfaction as: A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences (Locke, 1976 in Daneshfard & Ekvaniyan, 2012). As a part of his emperical invetigation regarding nurses attitudes towards their job in Damascus, Mahmoud (2012) has tested Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) for the explortory factorial validity. He has defined three facets of job satisfaction (i.e. Recognition, Work Nature, and Communication), so our objective here is to test for the confirmatory validity of JSS with application on private banks employees in Damascus to see if job satisfaction would still have the same diminsionality was resulted by Mahmoud (2012).

2. Literature Review
2.1. Job Satisfaction Survey Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) is a widely-used measuring scale for employees attitudes towards their job facets. JSS was originally developed by Spector (1985), and it consists of thirty six items measuring job satisfaction towards nine facets, which are: Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Fringe Benefits, Contingent Rewards (performance based rewards), Operating Procedures (required rules and procedures), Coworkers, Nature of Work, and Communication. JSS is summated on the basis of sixpoint Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. According to Spector (1985; 1997) JSS is applicable to all organizations, though it was originally developed for use of human service organizations. Though the nine-facet dimensionality JSS was originally formulated in the U.S., however, it has been found that JSS could be of less than nine dimensions (e.g. Mahmoud, 2012; Astrauskait, Vaitkeviius, & Perminas, 2011). 2.2. Factor Analysis of JSS within the Syrian Context Factor validity is usually assessed using either the exploratory or the confirmatory modes. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is adopted when the researcher is uncertain about the dimensionality of a measure, so he or she seeks for identifying the minimal number of factors that observed variables are linked to. Alternatively, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is followed under the circumstances where the researcher has some knowledge of the measure structure, so he or she will postulate the linkages between observed measures and the underlying latent variables a priori then test this hypothesized model statistically (Byrne, 2010). Mahmoud (2012) has explored the dimensionality of JSS through EFA during an investigation focused on assessing job satisfaction among nurses within public hospitals in Damascus, Syria. Consequently, it was found that JSS consisted of three factors as mentioned above. There is no CFA investigation to be known in Syria that has followed the study of Mahmoud (2012).

3. Research Hypothesis
Mahmoud (2012) found through an EFA as a part of the validation process of JSS that job satisfaction is a three-factor construct, so we can sate the research hypothesis as follows: Job Satisfaction Survey is a three-dimension measure

4. Research Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional survey using the tool of questionnaire aiming to collect data for the present study. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. Section one contained the demographic questions, whereas section two held a 13-item multi-dimensional job satisfaction scale adapted from the Arabic translation for the JSS, which produced by Mahmoud (2012) as presented by table 1. A five-point Likert scale was used to rate responses regarding JSS statements. We drew up a stratified

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systematic sample of (400) employees working in private banks in Damascus. The data collection process yielded (364) valid responses.
Table 1: JSS dimensions and items
Observed variable Q01 Q02 Q03 Q04 Q05 Q06 Q07 Q08 Q09 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Statement I feel I am being paid a fair amount for the work I do. Raises are not too few and far between I am satisfied with my chances for salary increases People get ahead as fast here as they do in other places When I do a good job I receive the recognition that I should receive I dont have too much to do at work I have too little paperwork I like doing the things I do at work I feel a sense of pride in doing my job My job is enjoyable I like people I work with I enjoy my coworkers Communication seem good within this hospital

Latent factors

Recognition

Work Nature

Communication

5. Data Description
We can see from table 2 that our sample consisted of more men (70.60%) than women (29.40%). According to the educational level, the majority of the respondents was at the level of post-graduate (69.78%), with intermediate work experience ranged between 3 years to less than 10 years (42.31%), earns a monthly income of 30000 SYP and above (37.09%), and is single (57.14%).
Table 2: Data Description
Values Male Female Total High School or Less Diploma or Some Years of College BA Post-grads Total Less than 3 Years 3 to less than 10 years 10 years and above Total Less than 20000 SYP 20000 to less than 30000 SYP 30000 SYP and above Total Single Married Total Frequency 257 107 364 6 34 70 254 364 90 154 120 364 114 115 135 364 208 156 364 Frequency % 70.60 29.40 100.00 1.65 9.34 19.23 69.78 100.00 24.73 42.31 32.97 100.00 31.32 31.59 37.09 100.00 57.14 42.86 100.00

Variable Gender

Education

Experience

Monthly Income

Marital Status

6. Hypothesis Testing
Before we go through conducting CFA of JSS, we need to check the multivariate normality of our data (Byrne, 2010). It was found that the z-statistic is less than 5 (4.751 < 5). So we conclude that z-statistic

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in our case is indicative of normality according to Bentler (2005). That is, we are able to test hypothesized model. Looking at figure 1, and tables: 3, 4, 5, and 6, we notice that value is insignificant ( = 41.548, P-value > 5%), the comparative fit index is higher than 90% (CFI = 0.999), root mean square residual is less than 0.05 (RMR = 0.049), and root mean square error of approximation is less than 0.08 (RMSEA = 0.013) (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1989; Hu & Bentler, 1995; Bentler, 1992; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996), and Cronbachs Alpha values above 0.6 for the three dimensions (AlKhalil & Mahmoud, 2012). Based on the above mentioned indicators, we conclude that our model has a good fitting for our data, so we come to the decision that our hypothesis is fully supported.
Table 3: Regression Weights
Regression Weights: (Group number 1 - Default model) Estimate S.E. 0.907 0.081 Recognition 0.677 0.052 Recognition 0.849 0.058 Recognition 0.763 0.065 Recognition 1 Recognition 1 Work Nature 0.854 0.065 Work Nature 0.652 0.055 Work Nature 0.664 0.066 Work Nature 0.649 0.066 Work Nature 1 Communication 1.079 0.153 Communication 1.097 0.157 Communication

Q05 Q04 Q03 Q02 Q01 Q14 Q13 Q12 Q11 Q10 Q17 Q16 Q15

<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<--<---

C.R. 11.24 12.98 14.521 11.651 13.128 11.815 9.989 9.768 7.067 7.003

P *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Table 4:

Hypothesis Testing Results

CMIN CMIN 41.548 .000 1867.803 RMR, GFI RMR GFI .049 .983 .000 1.000 .503 .430 Baseline Comparisons NFI RFI Delta1 rho1 .978 .956 1.000 .000 .000 RMSEA RMSEA LO 90 .013 .000 .251 .242 NPAR 52 91 13

Model Default model Saturated model Independence model Model Default model Saturated model Independence model Model Default model Saturated model Independence model Model Default model Independence model

DF 39 0 78 AGFI .961 .336 IFI Delta2 .999 1.000 .000 HI 90 .040 .261

P .360 .000 PGFI .421 .369 TLI rho2 .997 .000 PCLOSE .995 .000

CMIN/DF 1.065 23.946

CFI .999 1.000 .000

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Figure 1: Testing for the factorial validity of JSS

Table 5:

Decision on model goodness of fit

Not significant (p= 0.36 > 5%) Not significant Good-fitting CFI Higher than 0.9 0.999 Good-fitting RMR 0.05 or less 0.049 Good-fitting RMSEA Less than 0.08 0.013 Good-fitting

Good-fitting Values Resulted Values Decision

Table 6:

Reliability Test
Number of items 5 5 3 Cronbachs Alpha 0.850 0.823 0.675

Dimension Recognition Work Nature Communication

7. Discussion
The present study aimed to test the dimensionality of job satisfaction survey resulted by Mahmoud (2012). It was found as a result of exploratory factor analysis pursed as a part of validating JSS within the Syrian context, that job satisfaction had three dimensions instead of nine. Consequently, we postulated a three-factor model and tested it using a structural equation modeling approach besides to assessing the internal consistency for the three factors considering a stratified sample of private banks

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employees in Damascus. The results confirmed the dimensionality of the hypothesized model, so our hypothesis was supported. The conflicting results regarding the dimensionality of JSS are not something new when it comes to cross-cultural effect. For an instance, Astrauskait, Vaitkeviius, & Perminas (2011) found that JSS is perceived as a three-factor measure within the Lithuanian context. So it is very likely for psychometric measures to change across different cultures, sub-cultures or even over time with regard to these measures dimensionalities. We presume that the factors yielded by the CFA process in the present study are very significant when it comes to measure job satisfaction for employees at private banks in Syria, or even at other human service organizations in Syria (e.g. hospitals, and universities). A limitation to be addressed here is the small size of our sample. This could accompanied with too little of a variability which could reduce correlations between variables making explanadon of these correlations by the model more difficult (Astrauskait, Vaitkeviius, & Perminas, 2011). Another limitation to the generalizibility of our results lies in the posibility to have inconsistant results when such investigations are conducted in different covernorates or cities in Syria, so further investigations in different locations and settings with larger samples are required to extend the generalizibilty of our findings.

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