Proceedings of the Regional Conference on Statistical Sciences 2010 (RCSS’10)

June 2010, 241-255

Modelling Job Satisfaction And Work Commitment Among
Lecturers: A Case Of UiTM Kelantan
Zainudin Awang1
Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Kelantan, Malaysia
Email:Zainudin888@kelantan.uitm.edu.my

1

Junaidah Hanim Ahmad2
Nazmi Mohamed Zin2
2
Faculty of Accountancy
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Kelantan, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Universities worldwide are aiming to have committed lecturers in their system. Many studies have shown that committed workers are more likely to become high performing workers who benefit their organization in terms of productivity and profit (Narimawati, 2007; Tella et al. 2007). This study intended to ascertain the impact of job satisfaction of university lecturers on their commitment towards academic activities. Besides that, it also investigated specifically factors contributing to job satisfaction, namely promotional opportunities, remuneration, working environment, workload, relationship with colleagues, and management style. The study used self administered questionnaires which were distributed to 320 lecturers from UiTM Kelantan. Data was analysed using SPSS 16 for descriptive analysis while AMOS 17 was used for Structural Equation Modelling
(SEM). The study found that promotional opportunities, workload and relationship with colleagues significantly affect job satisfaction of lecturers. This is consistent with the findings of Chimanikar et al. (2007), and
Santhapparaj and Alam (2005). Most importantly, this study also confirmed that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and work commitment. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that satisfied lecturers will be committed to their job, and promotional opportunities, workload and relationship with colleagues should be given due consideration as they significantly affect job satisfaction level among lecturers.
Keywords: Job satisfaction, Work commitment, Lecturers

Introduction
Job satisfaction has been an important topic over the years (Akfopure et al., 2006). It is of importance as job satisfaction is believed to contribute to job performance as well as work commitment. An employee who is satisfied with his job would perform his duties well and be committed to his job, and subsequently to his organization. Thus, it is of utmost importance for employers to know the factors that can affect their employees’ job satisfaction level since it would affect the performance of the organization as well.
Many studies have been done to account for factors that affect job satisfaction. Among the factors are job autonomy, working environment and management styles. Karim (2008) broadly categorized the factors into work and worker related variables. Due to its importance, many research have been done pertaining to job satisfaction in various professions such as library (Karim, 2008), construction (Jaafar et al, 2006) and education (Huda et al, 2004; Chimanikire et al, 2007; Santhapparaj and Alam, 2005).
Education is an important aspect in everyone’s life. It is undeniable that education contributes toward ensuring development in a country. Hence, the education system should be strategically planned in order to produce the best results for all concerned. The main players in the education field are the educators, who may be termed as teachers, tutors, facilitators or lecturers. Regardless of the title, or the institutions where they work, the educators shoulder heavy responsibilities in educating the students.
ISBN 978-967-363-157-5
© 2010 Malaysia Institute of Statistics, Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia

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Proceedings of the Regional Conference on Statistical Sciences 2010 (RCSS’10)

Narrowing down to the lecturers, their roles are broad and challenging. Lecturers not only have to give lectures, they are also expected to provide professional