This study intends (1) to determine the amount of variance in pharmaceutical sales representatives’ overall job satisfaction explained by motivator and hygiene factors and (2) to explore whether demographic subgroups are statistically different regarding overall job satisfaction. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and stepwise multiple regression are used for the purpose of statistical analyses. “Work itself” is reported to be the most motivating dimension of the job whilst “operating procedures” is reported to be the least motivating dimension of the job for frontline salesforce in pharmaceutical companies.
Study results show that motivator and hygiene factors have moderate to substantial
relationship with overall job satisfaction. Five distinct job factors such as “growth”,
“coworkers”, “promotion opportunities”, “rewards and recognition” and “job security” are
found to be the significant predictors contributing 71 per cent variability in sales representatives’ overall job satisfaction. Study concludes that demographic variables do not contribute significant variations in sales representatives’ overall level of job satisfaction.
Key Words
Motivator factors, Hygiene factors, Overall job satisfaction.
Introduction
Thousands of the published research articles and dissertations report that job satisfaction is related to performance, productivity, organizational commitment, retention and turnover of the employees. Job satisfaction is regarded as a vital factor in almost all the industries and its need is gaining value in pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan as well due to intensified competition, changes in organizational objectives and socio-economic conditions.
The quittal of the salespersons due to job dissatisfaction not only incurs huge cost in hiring and retraining them but creates difficulties for the management also to rebuilding sales team, regaining market share snatched by the competitors and reestablishing relationship with the customers. So, the improvement in job satisfaction of the frontline soldiers is a matter of great concern for the management of pharmaceutical companies for sustainable competitive advantage, increased market share and building long lasting relationships with the key customers.
Job satisfaction is an attitude which in formed when an employee takes into account
his feelings, behaviours and beliefs of the job. Locke (1976) has defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable emotional state which results from the appraisal of one’s job experiences. Porter, Lawler and Hackman (1975) have noted that the feeling of job satisfaction is realized by the difference between the amount of valued outcome that an employee obtains and the amount of outcome he feels he should receive. The biggest prelude to the study regarding job satisfaction was Hawthorne studies. In these sudies (1924-1933) the researchers attempted to expore the impact of illumination on the productivity of the workers. The studies concluded that the novel changes in work conditions temporarily improves the productivity (called Hawthorne Effect). The findings of the study were later challenged on the ground that the enhancement of the productivity was not resulted from the new conditions but from the knowledge of being observed. This finding paved the way for researchers to investigate the factors, other than pay, for determining job satisfaction. Scientific management by Frederick Winslow Taylor also had a great impact on the study of job satisfaction. This significantly contributed to substantial change in philosophies of industrial production. Initially, the principles of scientific management warranted increased productivity but later on workers felt dissatisfaction leaving the researchers to address the new questions regarding job satisfaction.
The elusive nature of the job satisfaction advanced the development of number of different theories. Few theories of job satisfaction include Affect theory (Locke, 1976), equity theory (Mowday, 1992), and two-factor theory (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959). According to affect theory, job satisfaction is determined by a discrepancy between what an employee desires from the job and what he gets in the job. Further, the theory states that how much an employee values a given factor of job moderates how satisfied/dissatisfied he becomes when expectations are/aren’t met. Equity theory states that employees compare their inputs-outcomes ratios with the inputs-outcomes ratios of the other employees. If an employee perceives the ratio to be equal to those of relevant others then he perceives that justice prevails and a state of equity exists. However when the ratio is perceived unequal then inequity exists leading to the feelings of under-rewarded or over-rewarded. Perceptions of the equity are linked to job satisfaction, whereby the perceptions of inequity are related to
job dissatisfaction. The two-factor theory of job satisfaction is credited with propelling and advancing research on job satisfaction (Steers & Porter, 1992). The premise of two-factor theory (Herzberg et al., 1959) is that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are related to distinct job factors. The researchers theorized that the determinants of the job satisfaction are the factors which are related to the content of the job such as work itself, advancement, responsibility, achievement and recognition. The sources of job dissatisfaction are the factors which are linked to context of the job such as supervision, compensation, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and policy and administration.
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