Assessing job characteristics, job satisfaction and engagement among employees at a local municipality

Abstract

Today’s manager is concerned with the role of job demands and resources in employee attitudes such as job satisfaction and work engagement as they enable them to identify potential problems at the workplace as well as enable them to enhance other work outcomes. The objective of the study was to assess job characteristics, job satisfaction and engagement among employees at a local municipality. A quantitative research approach was used in this survey. A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. The questionnaire was used to gather data with a simple random sample (N=178). The questionnaire was intended to collect data on biographical information of employees and opinions on their levels of job satisfaction, job characteristics and engagement in the workplace. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. Six factors from the job characteristics scale namely; organisational support, advancement, workload, relationship with colleagues, job insecurity and contact possibilities were extracted using exploratory factor analysis. The results seem to indicate that job demands and job resources relate to work outcomes such as job satisfaction and work engagement. Job resources such as organisational support, advancement, relationship with colleagues and contact possibilities were found to be positively related to intrinsic job satisfaction factors, dedication and vigour. Job demands such as workload were found to be positively related to dedication and absorption. Furthermore, job resources such as organisation support and relationship with colleagues served as the only significant predictor of intrinsic job satisfaction. Insecurity and relationship with colleagues were the only significant predictor of extrinsic job satisfaction. Advancement, workload and contact possibilities did not predict either intrinsic or extrinsic job satisfaction. Additionally, workload and relationships with colleagues were the only job characteristics factors that predict absorption. Advancement, contact possibilities and insecurity did not predict either vigour, dedication or work engagement in this government institution. Further discussion of the results and recommendations to the organisation and for future research are presented in the study.