Investigating the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction in the steel manufacturing industry

Abstract

Employees can be seen as the most valuable asset of a company, as no company can operate without them. Therefore, it is important to keep them satisfied . The primary objective of this study is to investigate job characteristics and employee's job satisfaction with a specific focus on employees working in the steel manufacturing industry. The specific objectives were to determine the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction, to establish whether job resources and job demands, as independent variables, are significant predictors of intrinsic job satisfaction. A further objective was to determine whether job resources and job demands as independent variables are significant predictors of extrinsic job satisfaction. The research study, therefore, aims to gain valuable insight as to what the employees regard as important job characteristics to foster job satisfaction . This insight may be valuable for both management and organisation as a whole, in order to foster job satisfaction. In this study, a qualitative research approach was followed by using a crosssectional field survey, to include the wide range of age groups of the employees within the steel manufacturing industry. In this study, the participants consist of employees working in the steel manufacturing industry of South Africa. Questionnaires were distributed in Gauteng - 600 hard copies, as well as an electronic version, were distributed to various steel manufacturing companies and CEOs of these companies. A total of n=278 responses were received. The finding of this study has shown that organisational support, growth opportunities and relationship with co-workers Uob resources) are all positively related to extrinsic motivation, while being negatively related to overload Uob demand) and job insecurity (small effect)