Description
How to retain good employees.
Research and Analysis
Global Sourcing
How to Retain Good Employees In C Global Sourcing (“CGS”)?
Group 3 - Amy - Ceci - Sarah
- Rao Raghavendran
July 2, 2013 Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………… …… 3 II. Introduction A. Purpose of Study……………………………….. ………………………………………….… 4 B. Background…………………………………………………………… ………………………… 4 C. Problem Statement……….. ………………………………………………………….….... 5 D. Objectives and Rationale ……………………………………………………………...... 5
III. Framework of the Study A. Schematic Diagram ……. …………………………………………………………….…….. 6 B. Dependent Variable : Intent to Stay……………………………………………….…. 7 C. Independent Variable: Pay Satisfaction…………………………………………..… 7 D. Independent Variable: Reward and Recognition Satisfaction……..…….. 9 E. Independent Variable: Benefit Satisfaction………………………………….….. 10 F. Independent Variable: Loyalty to Supervisor……………………………….…... 11 G. Independent Variable: Coworker Relationship………………………….…..…. 12 i. Moderating Variable: Job Status …………………………………………...… 12
Page 2
IV. Methodology A. Survey – Questionnaire ……………………………………………………..….………… 13 B. Sampling……………….……………………………………………. …………….…………….. 13 V. Data Analysis…………………….. ……………………………………………..……………………. 14 A. Tools Used and Rationale for Tools ………………………………..……….….……. 14 B. Results …………………………………………………………………………………….. ……… 15 VI. Conclusions ……………………….. ………………………………………………………………….. 16 A. Discussion of Findings and Conclusions …………………………….….…………. 16 B. Recommendations ………………………………………………………….……..……….. 16 C. Limitations ………………………………………………………………………….….……. …. 16 VII. References………………. ………………………………………………………………….….………. 18 VIII. Tables and Exhibits……………………………………………………………………. ……………. 20 IX. Appendix…………………………………………………………………… ………….…….………….. 25
Page 3
I. Executive Summary Having considered the tremendous monetary as well as intangible loss caused by a recent resignation of a staff in one of the group member’s organization, C Global Sourcing (“CGS”), we have decided to conduct a business survey project to find out what factors influence employees’ intention to stay at this organization, and to develop recommendations on measures which could be used to increase employees’ intention to stay based on our survey and data analysis to the management of the organization. We examined five independent variables, which were suggested by our preliminary literature reviews as the key factors influencing employees’ intention to stay at an organization: Pay Satisfaction, Coworker Relationship, Loyalty to Supervisor, Benefit Satisfaction, and Reward and Recognition Satisfaction. After analyzing the data obtained from a survey by means of administered questionnaires to 50 employees of CGS, it was noted that Pay Satisfaction and Coworker Satisfaction had significant relationships with the “Intent to Stay” at the organization. On the other hand, surprisingly, Loyalty to Supervisor, Benefit Satisfaction, and Reward and Recognition Satisfaction had no significant relationship with the Intent to Stay. Based on our findings, we would recommend to the management of CGS to implement measures that could enhance employee’s satisfaction on pay and the relationship between coworkers in order to retain its employees.
Page 4
II. A.
Introduction Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to analyze the key factors influencing employees’ intention to stay at CGS, and to develop recommendation on measures which could be used to increase employees’ intention to stay to the management based on the business survey research findings. B. Background
CGS is a buying office of consumer goods for 2 major retailers in Europe for over 30 years. Examples of consumer goods the company sources include electronic appliances, outdoor furniture, kitchen accessories, clothing, and etc. The Company provides assistance to its customers on product development, sourcing potential suppliers, procurement, product quality control, and logistic support from Far East. CSG aims to provide quality and professional services on global supplychain management, and to help enhancing competiveness of its consumers by quality and trendy products in the industry. CGS’s headquarter is located in Hong Kong with over 100 employees. Other offices are located in Mainland China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, which account for approximately a total of another 100 employees. Recently, a department manager of one of CGS’s product category, who had worked for the company for over 5 years, resigned. The resignation caused a number of problems to the company, which included both monetary and intangible loss such as a relatively high cost of recruiting a new department manager, and the weakening of customer relationship with the delay in customer responses during the transition period when the new department manager was picking up and catching up on the works. In fact, studies have shown that the costs of resignation and recruitment are “measured in both financial and operational terms” (McNally and Branham, 2004, p. 17). Other than the recruitment costs, there is a
Page 5
tremendous amount of productivity loss when a staff resigns. According to a research done by Ware, one company estimated that there would be a 65 to 75 percent of annual productivity losses of the resigned post. Another company claimed that it would lose $150,000 every time when a staff resigns. Another company estimated that there would be a potential loss of $1 million in sales after a salesperson resigned (2008). C. Problem Statement
What factors influence employees’ intention to stay at C Global Sourcing? D. Objectives and Rationale
Since the core business of CGS is to provide quality and professional services to its customers, talented and passionate employees are one of the major aspects for the continuing success of the company. As a matter of fact, staff retention has been one of the major issues that managements have to deal with nowadays (Chew and Chan, 2008). This business research study, therefore, aimed to find out measures to increase the intention to stay of the employees at CGS.
Page 6
III. A.
Framework of Study Schematic Diagram
Page 7
B. Literature Reviews i.Dependent Variable: Intent to Stay Intention to stay is defined as employees’ intention to stay in the organization on long term basis. Turnover intention refer to as when individual thinks, plan and wish to leave the job (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino, 1979). Intention is conceptualized as statements about the particular behavior and exhibit stronger effect on turnover than other employees’ attitudes such as commitment with the organization and job satisfaction. Employee’s Intent to stay is closely related to many important employee’s attitude or outcomes such as pay satisfaction, loyalty to supervisors, coworker relationship and etc. To measure the construct, 3-item scale is used to test employee’s intention: “I rarely think about leaving this company to go work somewhere else”, “It would take a lot to get me to leave this company” and “I often think of quitting my job”
ii.
Independent Variable: Pay Satisfaction
Pay satisfaction is defined as the amount of overall positive affect (or feelings) Individuals have toward pay (Miceli & Lane, 1991). Pay Satisfaction: Description From the inception of organizational science, pay has been considered an important reward to motivate the behavior of employees. (Taylor, 1911) Pay satisfaction could be influenced by at least four major considerations: 1. The economic benefits received on the job 2. The extent to which earnings are regarded as fair or deserved 3. Comparisons with other people's pay 4. Non-economic job satisfactions. (Berkowitz, Leonard ; Frazer, Collin ; Treasure, F.Peter; Cochran, Susan, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 72(4), Nov 1987)
Page 8
Pay satisfaction has received considerable research attention since the construct’s introduction into the literature, although conceptualization of the construct has changed over time. Some researchers argue that pay satisfaction is Uni Dimensional. Others operationalize it as having between four and seven dimensions. Yet others suggest that the number of dimensions depends on moderators such as cognitive complexity. Despite numerous studies focused on determining the “true” dimensionality of pay satisfaction, the problem has not been definitively resolved. Dimensions of Pay Satisfaction The amount of money, or equivalents, distributed in return for service. Outputs from the organization include pay, time-off, benefits and recognition. (Adams, 1963) Subjective amount of money received determined by comparing actual pay to that of a referent other (Lawler, 1971) The average and increase in wages or salary and How pay is determined (Heneman & Schwab, 1985) Pay system (range) – How pay is determined within job category. (Miceli & Lane, 1991) What is the organization’s pay policy? How are pay differences between levels determined? Are pay differences based on merit or tenure? (Gerhart & Milkovich, 1992)
Page 9
iii. Independent Satisfaction Literature Reviews
Variable:
Reward
and
Recognition
There are basically two types of reward and recognition: monetary and non-monetary. Examples of monetary reward and recognition include cash bonuses, stock options, and various types of allowances such as housing automobile allowance. Examples of non-monetary reward and recognition include formal acknowledgement such as announced employee of the month, and informal acknowledgement such as praise by the supervisor (Ryan, n.d.). According to Chew and Chan, employees’ reward and recognition was one of the five major human resources factors that were related to employee retention (2008). In fact, Davies (2001) and Mercer Report (2003) stated that (as cited in Chew and Chan, 2008) employees would have more commitment and would like to stay at the company “when their capabilities, efforts and performance contributions are recognized and appreciated” fairly and adequately. Similarly, Harrison, Virick and William’s study (1996) (as cited in Salie and Schlechter, 2012) suggested that rewards would enhance job satisfaction, and thus increase employees’ intention to stay at the company. McNally and Branham also listed the lack of recognition or reward as one of the factors that would influence employees to resign because “little things mean a lot” to the employees (2004, p.18). Another literature by Beer (1993) (as cited in Salie and Schlechter, 2012) claimed that if organizations in certain industries, such as trade, did not reward their employees’ performance, their top employees would leave. Hypothesis
Page 10
H4: Reward and Recognition positively affect employees’ intention to stay.
Page 11
iv.
Independent Variable: Benefit Satisfaction
Literature Reviews In the beginning period of employee satisfaction research, investigators treat benefit satisfaction as part of pay satisfaction. (G.Heneman & P.Schwab, 1985) Nowadays, Benefit satisfaction independent from past system and developed a measurement method called BSQ. (Benefic satisfaction questionnaire, Michel, Bruno, David, 2000) During the survey, employees could define benefit clearly which include their protection programs, pay for time not worked and other employee services. Benefit satisfaction measured through benefit system, benefit cost, benefit values and benefit variety. (Danehower & A.Lust, 1995) This means that employers should not only focus on provide good benefit, but also needs guarantee benefits are suit staff requirement and spend time to communicate with them. (Markova, 2011) The will understanding of benefit system would improve employee benefit satisfaction. According to survey, 41% of interviewed employees consider workplace benefits to be the foundation of their personal safety net. Research shows that benefit satisfaction has positively related to intent to stay (Gergana Markova & Foard Jones, 2002) while there was not a certain result prove benefit satisfaction had a high correlation with turnover intention. (L. Williams, B. Malos, K.Palmer, 2002) Benefit satisfaction would influence intention to stay through impact on job satisfaction. In the questionnaire and data analysis, we need to survey employees’ attitude about company benefit and test the impact of benefit satisfaction to their intent to stay. Hypothesis Perceived benefits fit will be positively related to benefits satisfaction Benefits satisfaction will be positively related to intention to stay The better the benefit satisfaction employees have, the greater the
Page 12
intention to stay at the company.
Page 13
v.
Independent Variable: Loyalty to Supervisor
Commitment to supervisor is important predictor for employee outcomes. One of the employee outcomes/attitudes is intent to stay. Supervisor acts as an agent of the organization, more proximal focus of commitment and commitment to supervisor is likely to have a strong impact on employee behavior (Becker et al., 1996; Gregersen, 1993) According to the definition of loyalty to supervisor, if an employee is loyal to supervisor, he/she will share similar values with the supervisor, and will psychologically be attached to the supervisor and be willing to stay with the supervisor (Chen el al., 1998). As a result, the loyal employee may have a tendency to remain with the organization. Psychological attachment to a person is best described as personal loyalty rather than impersonal form of commitment to organization (Chen el al., 1998). According to Chen et al. research work, a sample of 333 employees were tested in China and found loyalty to supervisor is positively related to employee’s outcomes variables, i.e. job satisfaction and intent to stay. 3 dimensions out of 5 dimensions of the construct of loyalty to supervisor were found to be significantly associated with the employee’s intent to stay. The three dimensions are dedication (dedicating oneself to supervisor), effort (exerting effort on behalf of supervisor) and following supervisor (desire to be attached to and follow the supervisor). Hence, the 11-item scale in 3 dimensions of loyalty to supervisor was used in our questionnaire to measure loyalty to supervisor.
vi. Independent Variable: Coworker Relationship & Moderator: Job Status As organizations move away from solitary, individual assignments toward complex, collective projects (Gatewood, Field, & Barrick, 2008) and work shifts from clearly-defined tasks to broadly-outlined ventures (Forret & Love, 2007), enhanced interdependency and interactivity among coworkers occurs (Basford & Offermann, 2012). With over 80% of mid-to
Page 14
large-sized companies using teams (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008), good coworker relationships are fundamental to organizational effectiveness. According to Basford et al. recent research work (Basford & Offermann, 2012), drawing from a large sample of service-sector employees, relationships between coworkers was found to be important and positively correlated to intent to stay. Also, employee job status moderates the coworker relationships and found the impact of coworker relations on intent to stay was stronger for employee in higher-status positions. 2-item scale of coworker relationship was asked in questionnaire: My coworkers respect my thoughts and feelings. My coworkers work well together to achieve our goals. Hypothesis H4: Loyalty to supervisor will positively impact employee’s intent to stay after controlling for other factors. H5: Coworker relationships will positively impact employee intent to stay after controlling for other factors. H6: Job status will moderate the relationship between coworker relationships and employee intent to stay such that employees in higherstatus positions will show a stronger relationship between coworker relationships and intent to stay after controlling for other factors.
Page 15
IV. A.
Method Study Design
In this cross-sectional correlational study, data on the six scales from the company’s employee attitude were collected through personally administered questionnaires (see Appendix A). Six employee attitudes and outcomes were studied: Intent to stay, perception of co-worker relationships, loyalty to supervisor, benefits satisfaction, rewards & recognition satisfaction, pay satisfaction. All scales were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strong disagree to strongly agree. Multi-item scales were used. B. Population and sample
The target population in this study is all the employee in Hong Kong office, total number employee is 100 and sample frame is based on Hong Kong Staff Contact List issued by Human Resources Department & updated on June 3, 2013. The sample in the current study consisted of 40 employees/managers within the company. 50 subjects were randomly picked from Hong Kong Staff Contact List and questionnaires were distributed to subject. The answered questionnaire was dropped to locked box in office by the subject. Total 50 questionnaires were collected successfully; the response rate of 100% was obtained C. Variables and measures
All demographic variables such as gender, age range, job status & number of years in the organization were tapped by direct single questions. Intent to stay This dependent variable indicates the employee’s intention to stay in the company. It was measured with three-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.79). Perception of coworker relationship
Page 16
This independent variable was measured with two-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.85). Loyalty to Supervisor This independent variable was measured with eleven-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.85). Benefit Satisfaction This independent variable was measured with six-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.71). Reward & recognition This independent variable was measured with four-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. However, inadequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.46). After removing the question 10 of “It is important that my effort is being recognized and appreciated”, adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.70), so finally this construct was measured by three-item scale. Pay satisfaction This independent variable was measured with four-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.75). Job status This is treated as moderator of coworker relationship on intent to stay. It’s a dichotomous variable with non-managerial employee assigned to the lower-status occupational group and managerial workers assigned to higher-status occupational group. V. Data Analysis and Results
After determining the reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha) for the measures for this sample, frequency distributions for the demographic variables were obtained. These may be seen in Exhibit 1. Then a Person correlation
Page 17
matrix was obtained for the five independent variables. This may be seen in Exhibit 2. It is to be noted that there is one correlation exceed 0.5 except high correlation between pay satisfaction and reward & recognition, the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.760 (p
How to retain good employees.
Research and Analysis
Global Sourcing
How to Retain Good Employees In C Global Sourcing (“CGS”)?
Group 3 - Amy - Ceci - Sarah
- Rao Raghavendran
July 2, 2013 Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………… …… 3 II. Introduction A. Purpose of Study……………………………….. ………………………………………….… 4 B. Background…………………………………………………………… ………………………… 4 C. Problem Statement……….. ………………………………………………………….….... 5 D. Objectives and Rationale ……………………………………………………………...... 5
III. Framework of the Study A. Schematic Diagram ……. …………………………………………………………….…….. 6 B. Dependent Variable : Intent to Stay……………………………………………….…. 7 C. Independent Variable: Pay Satisfaction…………………………………………..… 7 D. Independent Variable: Reward and Recognition Satisfaction……..…….. 9 E. Independent Variable: Benefit Satisfaction………………………………….….. 10 F. Independent Variable: Loyalty to Supervisor……………………………….…... 11 G. Independent Variable: Coworker Relationship………………………….…..…. 12 i. Moderating Variable: Job Status …………………………………………...… 12
Page 2
IV. Methodology A. Survey – Questionnaire ……………………………………………………..….………… 13 B. Sampling……………….……………………………………………. …………….…………….. 13 V. Data Analysis…………………….. ……………………………………………..……………………. 14 A. Tools Used and Rationale for Tools ………………………………..……….….……. 14 B. Results …………………………………………………………………………………….. ……… 15 VI. Conclusions ……………………….. ………………………………………………………………….. 16 A. Discussion of Findings and Conclusions …………………………….….…………. 16 B. Recommendations ………………………………………………………….……..……….. 16 C. Limitations ………………………………………………………………………….….……. …. 16 VII. References………………. ………………………………………………………………….….………. 18 VIII. Tables and Exhibits……………………………………………………………………. ……………. 20 IX. Appendix…………………………………………………………………… ………….…….………….. 25
Page 3
I. Executive Summary Having considered the tremendous monetary as well as intangible loss caused by a recent resignation of a staff in one of the group member’s organization, C Global Sourcing (“CGS”), we have decided to conduct a business survey project to find out what factors influence employees’ intention to stay at this organization, and to develop recommendations on measures which could be used to increase employees’ intention to stay based on our survey and data analysis to the management of the organization. We examined five independent variables, which were suggested by our preliminary literature reviews as the key factors influencing employees’ intention to stay at an organization: Pay Satisfaction, Coworker Relationship, Loyalty to Supervisor, Benefit Satisfaction, and Reward and Recognition Satisfaction. After analyzing the data obtained from a survey by means of administered questionnaires to 50 employees of CGS, it was noted that Pay Satisfaction and Coworker Satisfaction had significant relationships with the “Intent to Stay” at the organization. On the other hand, surprisingly, Loyalty to Supervisor, Benefit Satisfaction, and Reward and Recognition Satisfaction had no significant relationship with the Intent to Stay. Based on our findings, we would recommend to the management of CGS to implement measures that could enhance employee’s satisfaction on pay and the relationship between coworkers in order to retain its employees.
Page 4
II. A.
Introduction Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to analyze the key factors influencing employees’ intention to stay at CGS, and to develop recommendation on measures which could be used to increase employees’ intention to stay to the management based on the business survey research findings. B. Background
CGS is a buying office of consumer goods for 2 major retailers in Europe for over 30 years. Examples of consumer goods the company sources include electronic appliances, outdoor furniture, kitchen accessories, clothing, and etc. The Company provides assistance to its customers on product development, sourcing potential suppliers, procurement, product quality control, and logistic support from Far East. CSG aims to provide quality and professional services on global supplychain management, and to help enhancing competiveness of its consumers by quality and trendy products in the industry. CGS’s headquarter is located in Hong Kong with over 100 employees. Other offices are located in Mainland China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, which account for approximately a total of another 100 employees. Recently, a department manager of one of CGS’s product category, who had worked for the company for over 5 years, resigned. The resignation caused a number of problems to the company, which included both monetary and intangible loss such as a relatively high cost of recruiting a new department manager, and the weakening of customer relationship with the delay in customer responses during the transition period when the new department manager was picking up and catching up on the works. In fact, studies have shown that the costs of resignation and recruitment are “measured in both financial and operational terms” (McNally and Branham, 2004, p. 17). Other than the recruitment costs, there is a
Page 5
tremendous amount of productivity loss when a staff resigns. According to a research done by Ware, one company estimated that there would be a 65 to 75 percent of annual productivity losses of the resigned post. Another company claimed that it would lose $150,000 every time when a staff resigns. Another company estimated that there would be a potential loss of $1 million in sales after a salesperson resigned (2008). C. Problem Statement
What factors influence employees’ intention to stay at C Global Sourcing? D. Objectives and Rationale
Since the core business of CGS is to provide quality and professional services to its customers, talented and passionate employees are one of the major aspects for the continuing success of the company. As a matter of fact, staff retention has been one of the major issues that managements have to deal with nowadays (Chew and Chan, 2008). This business research study, therefore, aimed to find out measures to increase the intention to stay of the employees at CGS.
Page 6
III. A.
Framework of Study Schematic Diagram
Page 7
B. Literature Reviews i.Dependent Variable: Intent to Stay Intention to stay is defined as employees’ intention to stay in the organization on long term basis. Turnover intention refer to as when individual thinks, plan and wish to leave the job (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino, 1979). Intention is conceptualized as statements about the particular behavior and exhibit stronger effect on turnover than other employees’ attitudes such as commitment with the organization and job satisfaction. Employee’s Intent to stay is closely related to many important employee’s attitude or outcomes such as pay satisfaction, loyalty to supervisors, coworker relationship and etc. To measure the construct, 3-item scale is used to test employee’s intention: “I rarely think about leaving this company to go work somewhere else”, “It would take a lot to get me to leave this company” and “I often think of quitting my job”
ii.
Independent Variable: Pay Satisfaction
Pay satisfaction is defined as the amount of overall positive affect (or feelings) Individuals have toward pay (Miceli & Lane, 1991). Pay Satisfaction: Description From the inception of organizational science, pay has been considered an important reward to motivate the behavior of employees. (Taylor, 1911) Pay satisfaction could be influenced by at least four major considerations: 1. The economic benefits received on the job 2. The extent to which earnings are regarded as fair or deserved 3. Comparisons with other people's pay 4. Non-economic job satisfactions. (Berkowitz, Leonard ; Frazer, Collin ; Treasure, F.Peter; Cochran, Susan, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 72(4), Nov 1987)
Page 8
Pay satisfaction has received considerable research attention since the construct’s introduction into the literature, although conceptualization of the construct has changed over time. Some researchers argue that pay satisfaction is Uni Dimensional. Others operationalize it as having between four and seven dimensions. Yet others suggest that the number of dimensions depends on moderators such as cognitive complexity. Despite numerous studies focused on determining the “true” dimensionality of pay satisfaction, the problem has not been definitively resolved. Dimensions of Pay Satisfaction The amount of money, or equivalents, distributed in return for service. Outputs from the organization include pay, time-off, benefits and recognition. (Adams, 1963) Subjective amount of money received determined by comparing actual pay to that of a referent other (Lawler, 1971) The average and increase in wages or salary and How pay is determined (Heneman & Schwab, 1985) Pay system (range) – How pay is determined within job category. (Miceli & Lane, 1991) What is the organization’s pay policy? How are pay differences between levels determined? Are pay differences based on merit or tenure? (Gerhart & Milkovich, 1992)
Page 9
iii. Independent Satisfaction Literature Reviews
Variable:
Reward
and
Recognition
There are basically two types of reward and recognition: monetary and non-monetary. Examples of monetary reward and recognition include cash bonuses, stock options, and various types of allowances such as housing automobile allowance. Examples of non-monetary reward and recognition include formal acknowledgement such as announced employee of the month, and informal acknowledgement such as praise by the supervisor (Ryan, n.d.). According to Chew and Chan, employees’ reward and recognition was one of the five major human resources factors that were related to employee retention (2008). In fact, Davies (2001) and Mercer Report (2003) stated that (as cited in Chew and Chan, 2008) employees would have more commitment and would like to stay at the company “when their capabilities, efforts and performance contributions are recognized and appreciated” fairly and adequately. Similarly, Harrison, Virick and William’s study (1996) (as cited in Salie and Schlechter, 2012) suggested that rewards would enhance job satisfaction, and thus increase employees’ intention to stay at the company. McNally and Branham also listed the lack of recognition or reward as one of the factors that would influence employees to resign because “little things mean a lot” to the employees (2004, p.18). Another literature by Beer (1993) (as cited in Salie and Schlechter, 2012) claimed that if organizations in certain industries, such as trade, did not reward their employees’ performance, their top employees would leave. Hypothesis
Page 10
H4: Reward and Recognition positively affect employees’ intention to stay.
Page 11
iv.
Independent Variable: Benefit Satisfaction
Literature Reviews In the beginning period of employee satisfaction research, investigators treat benefit satisfaction as part of pay satisfaction. (G.Heneman & P.Schwab, 1985) Nowadays, Benefit satisfaction independent from past system and developed a measurement method called BSQ. (Benefic satisfaction questionnaire, Michel, Bruno, David, 2000) During the survey, employees could define benefit clearly which include their protection programs, pay for time not worked and other employee services. Benefit satisfaction measured through benefit system, benefit cost, benefit values and benefit variety. (Danehower & A.Lust, 1995) This means that employers should not only focus on provide good benefit, but also needs guarantee benefits are suit staff requirement and spend time to communicate with them. (Markova, 2011) The will understanding of benefit system would improve employee benefit satisfaction. According to survey, 41% of interviewed employees consider workplace benefits to be the foundation of their personal safety net. Research shows that benefit satisfaction has positively related to intent to stay (Gergana Markova & Foard Jones, 2002) while there was not a certain result prove benefit satisfaction had a high correlation with turnover intention. (L. Williams, B. Malos, K.Palmer, 2002) Benefit satisfaction would influence intention to stay through impact on job satisfaction. In the questionnaire and data analysis, we need to survey employees’ attitude about company benefit and test the impact of benefit satisfaction to their intent to stay. Hypothesis Perceived benefits fit will be positively related to benefits satisfaction Benefits satisfaction will be positively related to intention to stay The better the benefit satisfaction employees have, the greater the
Page 12
intention to stay at the company.
Page 13
v.
Independent Variable: Loyalty to Supervisor
Commitment to supervisor is important predictor for employee outcomes. One of the employee outcomes/attitudes is intent to stay. Supervisor acts as an agent of the organization, more proximal focus of commitment and commitment to supervisor is likely to have a strong impact on employee behavior (Becker et al., 1996; Gregersen, 1993) According to the definition of loyalty to supervisor, if an employee is loyal to supervisor, he/she will share similar values with the supervisor, and will psychologically be attached to the supervisor and be willing to stay with the supervisor (Chen el al., 1998). As a result, the loyal employee may have a tendency to remain with the organization. Psychological attachment to a person is best described as personal loyalty rather than impersonal form of commitment to organization (Chen el al., 1998). According to Chen et al. research work, a sample of 333 employees were tested in China and found loyalty to supervisor is positively related to employee’s outcomes variables, i.e. job satisfaction and intent to stay. 3 dimensions out of 5 dimensions of the construct of loyalty to supervisor were found to be significantly associated with the employee’s intent to stay. The three dimensions are dedication (dedicating oneself to supervisor), effort (exerting effort on behalf of supervisor) and following supervisor (desire to be attached to and follow the supervisor). Hence, the 11-item scale in 3 dimensions of loyalty to supervisor was used in our questionnaire to measure loyalty to supervisor.
vi. Independent Variable: Coworker Relationship & Moderator: Job Status As organizations move away from solitary, individual assignments toward complex, collective projects (Gatewood, Field, & Barrick, 2008) and work shifts from clearly-defined tasks to broadly-outlined ventures (Forret & Love, 2007), enhanced interdependency and interactivity among coworkers occurs (Basford & Offermann, 2012). With over 80% of mid-to
Page 14
large-sized companies using teams (Chiaburu & Harrison, 2008), good coworker relationships are fundamental to organizational effectiveness. According to Basford et al. recent research work (Basford & Offermann, 2012), drawing from a large sample of service-sector employees, relationships between coworkers was found to be important and positively correlated to intent to stay. Also, employee job status moderates the coworker relationships and found the impact of coworker relations on intent to stay was stronger for employee in higher-status positions. 2-item scale of coworker relationship was asked in questionnaire: My coworkers respect my thoughts and feelings. My coworkers work well together to achieve our goals. Hypothesis H4: Loyalty to supervisor will positively impact employee’s intent to stay after controlling for other factors. H5: Coworker relationships will positively impact employee intent to stay after controlling for other factors. H6: Job status will moderate the relationship between coworker relationships and employee intent to stay such that employees in higherstatus positions will show a stronger relationship between coworker relationships and intent to stay after controlling for other factors.
Page 15
IV. A.
Method Study Design
In this cross-sectional correlational study, data on the six scales from the company’s employee attitude were collected through personally administered questionnaires (see Appendix A). Six employee attitudes and outcomes were studied: Intent to stay, perception of co-worker relationships, loyalty to supervisor, benefits satisfaction, rewards & recognition satisfaction, pay satisfaction. All scales were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strong disagree to strongly agree. Multi-item scales were used. B. Population and sample
The target population in this study is all the employee in Hong Kong office, total number employee is 100 and sample frame is based on Hong Kong Staff Contact List issued by Human Resources Department & updated on June 3, 2013. The sample in the current study consisted of 40 employees/managers within the company. 50 subjects were randomly picked from Hong Kong Staff Contact List and questionnaires were distributed to subject. The answered questionnaire was dropped to locked box in office by the subject. Total 50 questionnaires were collected successfully; the response rate of 100% was obtained C. Variables and measures
All demographic variables such as gender, age range, job status & number of years in the organization were tapped by direct single questions. Intent to stay This dependent variable indicates the employee’s intention to stay in the company. It was measured with three-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.79). Perception of coworker relationship
Page 16
This independent variable was measured with two-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.85). Loyalty to Supervisor This independent variable was measured with eleven-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.85). Benefit Satisfaction This independent variable was measured with six-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.71). Reward & recognition This independent variable was measured with four-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. However, inadequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.46). After removing the question 10 of “It is important that my effort is being recognized and appreciated”, adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.70), so finally this construct was measured by three-item scale. Pay satisfaction This independent variable was measured with four-item scale. Participants read and responded to the statements on five-point Likert scale. Adequate scale reliability was found (? = 0.75). Job status This is treated as moderator of coworker relationship on intent to stay. It’s a dichotomous variable with non-managerial employee assigned to the lower-status occupational group and managerial workers assigned to higher-status occupational group. V. Data Analysis and Results
After determining the reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha) for the measures for this sample, frequency distributions for the demographic variables were obtained. These may be seen in Exhibit 1. Then a Person correlation
Page 17
matrix was obtained for the five independent variables. This may be seen in Exhibit 2. It is to be noted that there is one correlation exceed 0.5 except high correlation between pay satisfaction and reward & recognition, the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.760 (p