Comparison of Job Satisfaction Perception among Emiratis and Expatriates in Information Technology Management in Emirate of Dubai in United Arab Emirates Dr. Mysoon Otoum Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Women’s College Department of Business Tel: (+971 4 2089569) Fax : (+971 4 267 3939) E-mail:
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Dr. Hana Sulieman American University of Sharjah Department of Mathematics and Statistics Tel: (971)6615152928 Fax: (971)665152950 E-mail:
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Abstract The study examines job satisfaction among information technology professionals’ in Dubai and its relation to monetary compensation and involvement in strategic management among UAE nationals and expatriates. 148 information technology professionals in Dubai were surveyed via online administered survey. A significant relation was found between job satisfaction and involvement in strategic management among Emiratis and their lack of understanding of what is needed from them at the workplace. In addition, a significance relation was found between job satisfaction and benefits among expatriates. Expatriates feel that the benefits packages that they are provided with are inequitable. Keywords: Information Technology Professionals, Dubai, Nationality, Job Satisfaction, Culture, United Arab Emirates, Involvement in Strategic Management, Monetary compensation
The Purpose of the Study The rationale behind writing this paper that literature shows enough studies about job satisfaction and motivation but not enough empirical studies about how nationality affects job satisfaction and especially in developing countries and UAE is part of it. UAE is a melting pot for more than 200 nationalities, and to research how each nationality get satisfied in the work place will take years and years. For that reason, this paper will discuss and Compare Job Satisfaction Perception among Emiratis and Expats in general in Information Technology Profession. Due to economy crisis, organizations are facing challenges to retain their talented employees, and it is very expensive for companies to replace their qualified employees. The process of recruitment, selection, training, and development consume both time and money. In addition, Emirtization is part of strategic planning in UAE. The paper will study job satisfaction and its relation to monetary compensation and involvement in the strategic management.
Theoretical Framework. According to Abraham Maslow, human needs are not of equal strength, and they emerge in a definite sequence. In particular, as the primary needs become reasonably well satisfied, a person places more emphasis on the secondary needs. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, employees were presumed to want primarily money; therefore, money was believed to produce direct motivation, however, the idea got buried after by economic rewards operated through the attitude of workers in the social system to produce an indirect incentive. Hofstsede defined culture as collective programming of the mind; it manifests itself not only in values but in more superficial ways. (Hofstede, 2002). In his article the Cultural Relativity of Organization practices and theories, Hofstede indicated that nationality is an important factor to management for several reasons: political, since nations are political units of legal educations government labor and employer’s systems’. In addition, the information politics also differ in any country where things get done differently. His second reason is sociological by urging feeling of people to belong to a nation. The third reason is psychological, where our thinking belongs to the way that we were raised and our educational experiences and organizations. (Hofsteede,G, 1983). United Arab Emirates consists of seven emirates: AbuDhabi, Dubai, Fujairah,Umm al-Quwain, Ajman, Sharjah and Ras al- Khaimanh. The seven emirates form a federation. For more than three decades Dubai as a melting pot are being heavily dependent on expatriates’. More than 74% of the population is expatriates. (Elamin,2011). While most of the emirates’ economy in UAE depends on the production and export of oil and gas, Dubai depends on production of services. ( Elmain, 2011). In UAE in general, expatriate do all kind of jobs from in the private sector and jobs range from janitorial to highly specialized paid professional jobs. However, their salaries are typically lower than UAE nationals. (Elmain,2011) (Askari et.al.,1998) At the work place, expats are comparing themselves to several people. They compare themselves to their fellows in the same organization, to employees’ that do the same job in other organizations and to the employees that performing similar jobs within the same organization. As a result, the question of job satisfaction and equity is very crucial for satisfaction with monetary compensation. (Elmain 2011) The literature has discussed monetary compensation as a job satisfaction factor since 1960 (Williams & McDaniel, 2007). The two comprehensive measures of job satisfaction in the 1960s—the Job Descriptive Index and the Minnesota Satisfaction Online survey—addressed compensation as a job satisfaction factor (Williams & McDaniel, 2007). Through the 1960s and 1970s, the literature addressed pay satisfaction as a general construct
(Williams & McDaniel, 2007). Then in the 1980s, the studies started to assess the pay system dimensions and analyze the administration of the pay system (Williams & McDaniel, 2007). The several dimensions defined by Williams and McDaniel are pay level, pay raises, benefit level, and pay structure and adminstration. Defining monetary compensation and its dimensions as a motivator for IT professionals is a complex process. Berry and Wechsler (1995) found that strategic planning is the most widely used productivity improvement strategy. The litereature indicated there is a relationship between supervisor characteristics and level of job satisfation (Soonhee, 2002). Nearly six out of 10 employees indicated that compensation was important to them (Miller, 2007). What is always formost in an employee’s mind is compensation and benefits. Compensation and benefits provide employees not only with job satisfaction but also with loyalty and productivity (Miller, 2007). Motivating IT professionals is not based solely on monetary compensation. Deci and Ryan (2000) argued that creativity theory that is based on monetary compensation is important; however, other variables have almost the same effect on creativity and job satisfaction (Hoyt & Gerloff, 2000). Singling out an IT professional for rewards has a negative effect on job satisfaction because most accomplishments in a company are a result of teamwork, and by rewarding some individuals financially, discrimination between team members will be felt (Hoyt & Gerloff, 2000). Hoyt and Gerloff (2000) used Balking and Gomez-Mejia’s 1984 study of 33 high-tech companies and 72 non-high-tech companies. Profit sharing as a form of compensation was more popular in high-tech firms than in non-high tech firms (Hoyt & Gerloff, 2000). In the 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report (2008), the average increase in salary was 3.25% from the prior year. Education and extra training impact salary. The undergraduate and graduate degrees have an average salary of $76,446, compared to $65,712 for a certificate of degree from a technical school (“2008 IT Skills,” 2008). Salary increases with additional training and certification. At the end of 2008, most major IT companies tried to freeze alsaries at the 2008 level rather than making a pay cut (Schultz, 2008). However, other compnaies cut the salary by a 2.3% average (Schultz, 2008). That dissatisfaction from the IT professionals was shown in survey responses in which they ranked their dissatisfaction to be 3 to 4 out of 10, where 10 was the highest (Schultz, 2008). Involvement in strategic management is a tool for job satisfaction creation. Participation in management has been discussed for several years in management theories. The literature emphasized the importance of participation in management and to enhance the management–subordinates relation to enhance productivity and job satisfaction (Soonhee, 2002). The main idea of strategic management involvement is sharing managers’ decision making to improve intrinsic motivation
Method The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that impact job satisfaction among IT professionals in the UAE and to determine the difference between local Emiratis and Expatriates’ and their perception toward Job Satisfaction. This paper addresses monetary compensation and involvement in strategic management as variables leading to job satisfaction. A quantitative method was used to study the factors that influence job satisfaction among IT professionals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. An online survey method was used to collect and analyze data, with a non-experimental survey research design that allowed the two variables to be examined concurrently. Hypotheses to be tested are: Ho1: There is no significant difference between Emiratis and Expatriates’ perception to job satisfaction and monetary compensation. Ha1: There is a significant difference between Emiratis and Expatriates’ perception to job satisfaction and monetary compensation. Ho2: There is no significant difference between Emirati’s and expatriate perception to job satisfaction and involvement in strategic management.
Ha2: There is a significant difference between Emiratis and expatriates’ perception to job satisfaction and involvement in strategic management. Sample The data source was several IT professionals who work in Dubai. One hundred forty-eight participants were drawn from a database of the technology companies’ IT professionals in Dubai. Instrument A cross sectional online survey was distributed among IT professionals through surveymonkey.com. In addition, a paper based survey was distributed for companies who preferred it. Researchers monitored the distribution by asking respondents’ to put it in a special box to eliminate any biases. All data will be saved in a secure environment for a minimum of 6 years. Measure A 7-point Likert scale was used to measure the variables (1=strongly disagree’ to 7=strongly agree). A Likert scale is one of the most commonly used types of scales and is the most frequently used variation of the summated rating scale, which consists of statements that express either a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the object of interest (Cooper & Schindler, 2003). Statistical analysis was performed using PASW 18, popular statistical software used in the social and behavioral sciences.
Monetary compensation Monetary compensation questions were part of a job satisfaction online survey that was developed by Spector in 1997. The questions that have a direct relation to monetary compensation were borrowed from this online survey. The survey was tested for reliability by Spector, and it is widely used by researchers to measure job satisfaction. Spector approved the use of the online survey under the conditions of sharing the results. Permission to use the instrument was granted by Spector. All questions were copied verbatim from the sources to guarantee the validity of the instruments. (Otoum, 2010) Involvement in Strategic Management: This question to test involvement in strategic management was developed in 1999 to improve employees’ work environment in Clark County, Nevada. This specific online survey was tested and validated by Clark County and then validated again by Soonhee (2002) when completing research about participative management and the relation to job satisfaction. Permission to use the instrument was granted by Clark County. Demographic Data Participants were asked to state their age, gender, education level, years as an IT professional, salary per year, and level in the organization hierarchy. The 31–35 age group represented the largest group of respondents (29.2%), while the lowest age group was 51–55. The majority of respondents were expatriates (70.0%); 26.2% of the participants were Emiratis. This reflects the population in Dubai where Emiratis comprised 19% of the population, while expatriates comprised 81% in 2008 (“Expat Population Set to Grow, 2008). The majority of respondents held computer-related bachelor’s degrees (67.7%); 13.8% of the participants held a graduate degree in another discipline. Data Analysis Measure of association between job satisfaction and independent variables were tested. The hypotheses were tested by using linear regression analysis and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient to test the association between dependent and independent variables. (Otoum, 2010). The reliability tested through Cronbach’s alpha to measure internal consistency. Involvement in Strategic Management
In the survey employees were asked several questions about their involvement in the strategic management. The significant p-value of .027 and the bar char in Figure 1 indicate that UAE nationals tend to disagree more to this item than expatriates’. It reflects lack of commitment and understanding of their role at work. Table 1. Relation between job satisfaction and understanding of what is expected at work. Question: I have a clear understanding of what is expected of me in my work. 1 2 3 4 5 Expatriates 2.27 2.27 1.14 12.50 25.00 UAE Nationals 3.03 6.06 6.06 18.18 33.33
6 30.68 21.21
7 26.14 12.12
Pearson Chi-Square = 14.089, DF = 6, P-Value = 0.027
Figure 1: Side-by-side bar charts of UAE Nationals and Expatriates responses to work expectations question
Monetary Compensation. Information Technology professionals were asked several questions about how satisfied they are when it comes to monetary compensation. The benefits were the most significan issue. The P- value for the question in table 2 was 0.014 which represtns strong significance where nationals tend to be more of undecided as can be seen from Figure 2. 41% of UAE nationals answered 4 (undecided) on this issue compared to only about 15% of the expatriates answered 4. Expatriates seem to be more on the negaive side than positive, same can said for the national but to less extent. This could be for the reason that UAE Nationals in most of the jobs are not getting any benefits (Housing, Children education and Airline tickets .etc.), instead it is all added to their monthly salary. Expatriates don’t get the same benefits since different nationalities’ get different benefits. Table 2. Employees’ satisfaction with benefits.
Question : The benefit package we have is equitable. 1 2 3 Expatriates 9.09 20.45 18.18 UAE 15.63 3.13 21.88 Nationals
4 14.77 40.63
5 18.18 12.50
6 13.64 3.13
7 5.68 3.13
Pearson Chi-Square = 15.936, DF = 6, P-Value = 0.014
Figure2: Side-by-side bar charts of UAE Nationals and Expatriates responses to satisfaction with benefits question
The p-value and Figure 3 show no significant differences in the overall job satisfaction between nationals and expatriates. Both groups reveal same level of satisfaction with their job. Figure 3 shows that within each group, larger percentage of positive responses than negative is observed. Table 3: Employees Job Satisfaction in General Overall I am satisfied with my job. 1 2 Expatriates UAE Nationals
8.89 8.82
4.44 0.00
3
4
5
6
7
11.11 17.71
16.67 11.76
28.89 35.29
23.33 23.53
6.67 5.88
Pearson Chi-Square = 2.516, DF = 6, P-Value = 0.867
Figure 3: Side-by-side bar charts of UAE Nationals and Expatriates responses overall satisfaction question .
Conclusion:
Some limitations are expected to occur because of the demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, race, culture, history, education level, position level) that may affect the participant responses and their viewpoints (LeHew, 2006). Limitations could include the assumption that the study was limited to participants who were willing to agree to complete the instrument. The participants were IT professionals who worked for companies in Dubai in the UAE. As a result, it may not be possible to generalize the results to all workers in IT because of cultural differences and the different benefits provided. Another limitation may include making recommendations that will generalize across all economic conditions. The economic downturn may have an effect on IT workers’ attitudes toward job satisfaction with the independent variables of the study. Nevertheless, few to no studies about job satisfaction among IT professionals in the emirate of Dubai in the UAE have been attempted. It is anticipated that this study will enrich job satisfaction studies in multicultural cities, and future studies of IT workers will be conducted to determine generalization.
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