Differences in factorial structures of job satisfaction between national cultures and their interaction with the corporate culture of a global company

Masters Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Psychology - Work, Business, Organisation, grade: 62/100, The University of Liverpool, language: English, abstract: To enhance job satisfaction in an organization, it is important to understand how workplace properties influence job satisfaction. Factorial structure models assume that job satisfaction is based on multiple underlying (latent) factors that are not directly measurable. An alternative concept assumes that satisfaction with different job facets adds up to overall job satisfaction. As job satisfaction is dependent on culture, this study examined how the importance of job facets varies across cultural areas and countries within a global organization. An attempt was made to estimate the influence of an overarching company corporate culture on job satisfaction in different national cultures. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) was used in eight countries in Europe, East Asia, Latin America, and North America. Five MSQ-items were conceptually attributed to the overarching corporate culture of Roche, a global pharmaceutical company. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine latent factors. Also, stepwise regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of job satisfaction based on statistical significance. The average levels of job satisfaction were high. Within an overall picture of high variability in factor solutions, there were ten MSQ-items loading relatively consistently on the first two latent factors across cultures. Amongst them, social services was the only job facet attributable to corporate culture. The other ten MSQ-items loaded variably on higher factors. Stepwise regression analysis partially confirmed the interpretation of factor solutions. Ability utilization and achievement were suggested to be universal predictors of job satisfaction.