jurnal psikologi perkhidmatan awam malaysia

Jurnal Psikologi & Kaunseling Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia Jun 2014, Bil. 9, ISSN: 2229-810X, 105-121

105

THE RELATIONSHIP OF NEWCOMER SOCIALIZATION WITH ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION AND LIFE SATISFACTION: MEDIATING EFFECT OF ROLE CONFLICT AND ROLE AMBIGUITY Mohamad Irwan Ahmad Wan Shahrazad Wan Sulaiman, PhD Juliza Abd Satar Norshaffika Izzaty Zaiedy Nor Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh sosialisasi organisasi terhadap konflik peranan dan kekaburan tugas, motivasi pencapaian dan kepuasan hidup dalam kalangan ahli baru. Kajian ini merupakan kajian rentas menggunakan kaedah kuantitatif melalui pengedaran borang soal selidik. Seramai 347 responden telah dilibatkan dalam kajian ini yang dipilih menggunakan teknik persampelan bertujuan dalam kalangan Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD) di Malaysia dengan tempoh perkhidmatan tidak melebihi lima tahun. Sebanyak empat alat pengukuran telah digunakan dalam usaha mengumpul data. Empat alat pengukuran tersebut adalah maklumat demografik untuk menilai ciri-ciri homogen responden, Newcomer Socialization Scale bertujuan mengukur sosialisasi responden di organisasi, Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale untuk mengukur konflik peranan dan kekaburan tugas, Cassidy and Lynn Achievement Motivation Scale bertujuan mengukur motivasi intrinsik terhadap pencapaian dalam kalangan responden dan The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) untuk mengukur kepuasan hidup umum dalam kalangan responden. Data dianalisis menggunakan AMOS 5. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa sosialisasi ahli baru mempengaruhi konflik peranan dan kekaburan tugas secara negatif dan signifikan. Di samping itu, konflik peranan dan kekaburan tugas juga secara negatif dan signifikan


106

mempengaruhi motivasi pencapaian dan kepuasan hidup responden. Seterusnya melalui analisi mediator, keputusan mendapati bahawa konflik peranan dan kekaburan tugas menjadi mediator yang signifikan dalam hubungan di antara sosialisasi ahli baru dengan motivasi pencapaian dan kepuasan hidup. Oleh hal yang demikian, sosialisasi ahli baru dicadangkan agar ia diaplikasikan kepada semua organisasi berdasarkan keperluan mereka agar pelbagai masalah berkaitan dengan prestasi pekerja dapat diatasi.

Introduction Career is a significant element of every individual and is a lasting and growing process. Through career, individuals can develop a wide range of abilities and potential such as their economy, lifestyle, interests, social status, well-being and motivation (Santrock 2008; DeSimone & Werner, 2010). Career is seen as a transition period for employee where if it is not accomplished properly, it will bring negative effects (Levinson et al., 1978). The transition can be viewed from several ways, which is in terms of individuals who previously do not have jobs and then newly appointed to a new job; or employees who are promoted to new positions; and employees who confront the changes in the organization. Therefore, employees who have just joined the organization need to get through organizational socialization programs according to specific organizational needs. Organizational socialization can help employees to understand the characteristics of the organization as a whole and this will help them adapt well (Jones, 1986; Chao et al., 1994; Ashforth & Saks, 1996; Fisher, 1986; King, Xia, Quick & Sethi, 2005; Bauer et al., 2007). Understanding the organization characteristics can be achieved through the learning of norms and values, culture, organization and group goals and the characteristics of appropriate work (Mariam Maanzoor & Hummayoun Naeem, 2011; Mahfuz Judeh, 2011; Allen & Shanock, 2013). Success in learning and adaptation process can lead the employees to enjoy performing their tasks. This turn leads to effective performance in addition to increased job motivation, commitment, job engagement, job satisfaction and life satisfaction (Buitendach & White, 2005; King et al., 2005; Doralia,


107

Kumari & Doralia, 2010; Hsu, Chen, Yu & Lou, 2010; Fatma Ataman, 2012; Gillet, Gagne & Fouquereau, 2013; Mafini & Dlodlo, 2014). However, failure in understanding and adaption of organizational characteristics may cause employees to experience difficulties to organize their task in line with the characteristics of the organization, low commitment, difficulty to build group cohesion, low job engagement, low motivation, low job satisfaction and high job turnover intention (Doralia et al., 2010; Hsu, Chen, Yu& Lou, 2010; Perrot et al., 2014). Furthermore, organizational socialization is more effective in contributing towards lower role conflict and role ambiguity. Through it, employees are able to perform their work effectively without having to deal with a variety of unpleasant experience (Berger & Calabrese, 1975). This can happen because employees do not have to provide large efforts in gathering information. Therefore, this research aims to: i) examine the relationship between newcomer socialization with role conflict and role ambiguity, achievement motivation and life satisfaction; and ii) examine the mediational effect of role conflict and role ambiguity in the relationship between organizational socialization with achievement motivation and life satisfaction.

Theoretical Review Organizational socialization refers to the process where newcomers learn about the ropes of organization (Van Maanen, 1978; Feldman, 1981; Fisher, 1986; Bauer et al., 2007). The ropes are the norms and values, organizational culture, organizational goal and work role. Socialization plays a crucial role in order to prepare the newcomers with related knowledge, so that they will have a clear view of the organization as a whole. This is because new employees are considered as outsiders that do not have any information about the organization. The lack of information about the characteristics of the organization will restrain employees from performing effectively, which can then contribute to a variety of loss (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). The variable of organizational socialization is a valuable indicator in the study of industrial and organizational psychology and it has produced interest among researchers as well as employers which contributes to a


108

variety of empirical studies. However, there is still no obvious and clear theory to explain organizational socialization other than multiple perspectives of theoretical framework (Saks & Ashforth, 1997; Fatma Ataman, 2012). The perspective of the theoretical framework is based on the Model of Socialization Tactics by Van Maanen and Schein (1979), Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975), Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986; 1997), Cognitive Sense Making and a model of Organizational Socialization introduced by Feldman (1981). Having said that, this article only focuses on Feldman’s Organizational Socialization model as this theory is more relevant. Feldman (1981) described that organizational socialization is a comprehensive and continuous program for new employees who join the organization until they obtain the desired output or outcome. The results obtained were significant for both employees and organization for instance new employees are able to work independently, giving effective cooperation, having high motivation, job satisfaction and job involvement, having the desire to remain with the organization and low turnover intention (Porter, Steers, Mowday & Boulian, 1974; Guimaraes & Igbaria, 1992; King et al., 2005; Mariam Maanzoor & Hummayoun Naeem, 2011; Mahfuz Judeh, 2011). This model is divided into three levels of socialization. The first stage, known as anticipatory socialization occurs before employees join the organization. They learn about the characteristics of the organization in general but not specifically through the information provided by organizations such as through internal employee organization, advertising, Internet, anecdotes and employee recruiter (DeSimone & Werner, 2010). All these will build the initial perception of workers and will be used when they join the organization (Van Maanen, 1975, 1978; Van Maanen & Schein, 1979; Feldman, 1981). The second stage is known as encounter; at this stage outside individuals enter the organization and they are called as newcomers or organization members. Newcomers will be formally appointed and they will sign a contract or agreement. This will make them comply with the rules and regulations set by the organization and strive to achieve organizational goals. At this stage, newcomers try to organize the initial perception built


109

before joining organizations (Feldman, 1981). Success in organizing their perception will cause them to want to remain in the organization. Therefore, the organization must play an important role in altering the early perception formed by employees so that they remain with the organization. In addition, at this stage newcomers are trying to manage the conflict between the external life with their work, resolve group conflict, define and clarify their exact role, become familiar with coworkers, and learn as well as fulfill their tasks effectively (Feldman, 1981). The last stage is known as change and acquisition; at this stage, the employee begins to receive the values and norms of the group and organization and can perform the job effectively and as instructed. In other words, at this stage employees have acquired mastery in performing their job. Consequently, they are able to carry out their tasks effectively and are satisfied with their job, colleagues, group, employer and management. Effective organizational socialization can avoid employees from dealing with uncertainties (Berger & Calabrese, 1975; Berger & Bradac, 1982) either in the physical cognitive form (Berger & Bradac, 1982). As an example, newcomers may not know the appropriate grooming in the office. They may not know the daily activities done by the organization, and they also may not know the real task needed to be done as well as why they are hired by the organization in the first place. As a result, employees will experience unpleasant feelings and this will affect their psychological functioning. The weakness in organizational socialization program is associated with various factors of poor performance due to poor clarity of the task and this may cause role conflict and ambiguity. This situation contributes to the decrease of commitment, job satisfaction, self-confidence, involvement, poor interpersonal relationships and intention to quit. Clarity in the implementation of tasks is important for employees to perform their tasks effectively and meet the expectation of the organization. Therefore they need to be given accurate information and this can be done through organizational socialization. Employees will be more motivated through sufficient and effective information because performing their tasks according to the organizational needs


110

can help them achieve personal satisfaction, especially in the process of growth and development of personal potential. As such, it can be associated with achievement motivation and life satisfaction because all of the work done is not only for the development and growth of the organization, but for their satisfaction in life as well. Therefore, the research is based on the proposed research model as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Proposed Research Model

Newcomer Socialization

Role Conflict & Role Ambiguity

Achievement Motivation Life Satisfaction

Method

This study uses survey method which consists of questionnaires as the data collection instrument. This study involves 347 respondents who were chosen among Diplomatic and Administrative Officers (PTD) who are currently attending training at the National Institute of Public Administration, Malaysia. Initially, a total of 400 questionnaires were distributed but only 347 questionnaires were successfully analyzed after eliminating incomplete questionnaires and outliers. Four research instruments were used in collecting data and they are: i. Newcomer Socialization Scale (Haueter, Macan & Winter, 2003) This scale aims to measure organizational socialization of new employees through three dimensions which are organizational socialization, group socialization and task socialization.


111

A total of 35 items which are positive items were used in this study. This questionnaire uses a 7-point Likert scale with 1= “Strongly disagree”, 2= “Disagree”, 3= “Slightly Disagree”, 4= “Neutral”, 5= “Slightly Agree”, 6= “Agree”and 7= “Strongly agree”. An example for the organization socialization item is, “I know the name of the product/service which is produced/offered by the organization”. An example item of group dimension is “I understand how my work group contributes to the organization’s goals”, for task socialization dimension the item is, “I know the responsibilities, tasks and projects which are the reasons why I was hired”. The reliability of this instrument ranges between α= 0.88 to 0.92 (Haueter, Macan & Winter, 2003) for all three dimensions. ii.

Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale (Rizzo, House & Lirtzman, 1970) This scale measures role conflict and role ambiguity which is experienced by the employees. It contains 16 items and the respondents were asked to answer all the items using a 7-point Likert scale with 1= “Strongly not true”, 2= “Not true”, 3= “Slightly not true”, 4= “Neutral”, 5= “Slightly True”, 6= “True”and 7= “Very true”. An example of role conflict item is “I have to do the things that has to be done in a different way”, and an example for role ambiguity item is “I am sure about the authority that I have”. The reliability of this instrument is α= 0.85 for role conflict and 0.86 for job ambiguity (Koustelios, Theodorakis & Goulimaris, 2004).

iii.

Cassidy and Lynn Achievement Motivation (Cassidy & Lynn, 1989) This scale measures internal work motivation among employees. This scale consists of three dimensions namely work ethic, excellence and mastery. It contains 21 items and respondents were asked to answer all the items using a 5-point


112

Likert scale with 1= “Strongly not true”, 2= “Not true”, 3= “Neutral”, 4= “True”, 5= “Very true”. An example of work ethic item is “I easily get bored if I don’t have something to do”, for excellence item is “I hate to see bad workmanship” and an example for mastery dimension item is “I prefer to work in situations that require a high level of skills”. The reliability of this instrument is α= 0.87 (Cassidy & Lynn, 1989). iv.

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985) This scale measures the level of satisfaction of an employee’s life as a whole with 5 items. The reliability of life satisfaction is α= 0.87. (Diener et al., 1985). Respondents were asked to answer all the items using a 7-point Likert scale with 1= “Strongly not true”, 2= “Not true”, 3= “Slightly not true”, 4= “Neutral”, 5= “Slightly true”, 6= “True” and 7= “Very true”. The reliability of this instrument is α= 0.82 (Haar & Roche, 2010)

The data were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) through AMOS 5 to measure the items and constructs validity. After the CFA was analyzed and show a fit data with the model, the analysis can be further for Structural Equation Model (SEM) that combined all of the variables into one set of analysis. The model can be categorized as fit when the value achieved the optimum value of goodness of fit. The goodness of fit of the model was evaluated using six indexes to show the overall model fit: (i) the chi-square statistic; (ii) the minimum value of the discrepancy between the observed data and the hypothesized model divided by degrees of freedom (CMIN/DF). Arbuckle and Wothke (1995) pointed out that the CMIN/DF with a value of less than 5.0 is considered acceptable; (iii) the Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI); (iv) the Comparative Fit Index (CFI); (v) the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) which compared the estimated model with the null model. The GFI, CFI and TLI usually vary along a 0 to 1 continuum in which values greater than 0.90 and 0.95 are


113

typically taken to reflect acceptable and excellent fit to the data (Schumacker & Lomax, 1996); and (vi) the root mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) was also presented. Browne and Cudeck (1993) suggest that RMSEA less than 0.05 is indicative of a “close fit” and that values up to 0.08 represent reasonable errors of approximation

Result Demographic Information Table 1 shows the demographical background of 347 respondents. According to the table below, 96 (27.7%) of the respondents were male respondents and 251 (72.3%) were female. Most of them were between the ages of 26-30 years old which were 240 (69.4%) of them, while 16 (4.3%) were between the age 36-40 years old, and 9 (2.6%) respondents were between 21-25 years old. In terms of length of service, 323 (93.1%) respondents have worked below 5 years while only 24 (6.9%) respondents have worked less than a year. Table 1 Demographic Information Demography Gender

Male Female

96 251

Percentage (%) 27.7 72.3

Age

21 - 25 years 26 - 30 years 31 - 35 years 36 - 40 years

9 240 82 16

2.6 69.4 23 4.3

Period of Service

Less than 01 year 01 - 05 years

24 323

6.9 93.1

Measurement Model

Frequency


114

To test the convergent validity of latent factors, four measurement models were estimated: newcomer socialization (organizational socialization, group socialization and task socialization), role conflict and role ambiguity, achievement motivation (work ethic, excellence and mastery) and life satisfaction. Table 2 reports the summarized of CFA results for each of the measurements. The result of CFA showed a good fit for the four-measurement model and it was decided to continue with testing the SEM model based on these measurements. Table 2 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) Scale χ2 p RMSEA NS 1253.034 0.001 0.072 RCRA 101.828 0.001 0.066 AM 287.644 0.001 0.055 SWLS 10.701 0.058 0.067

CFI 0.914 0.924 0.937 0.991

TLI 0.905 0.903 0.926 0.982

GFI 0.775 .934 .901 .983

Note: NS = Newcomer Socialization, RCRA = Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity, AM = Achievement Motivation, SWLS = Satisfaction with Life

Structural Model The Structural Equation Model of newcomer socialization, role conflict and role ambiguity, achievement motivation and life satisfaction demonstrated a satisfactory fit to data when it was recorded a fit value which is χ2 = 47.398, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.059, GFI = .961, CFI = 0.976, and TLI = 0.965. Based on Table 3, the results showed that organizational socialization negatively influenced role conflict and role ambiguity with the path coefficient = -0.438, p < 0.001. Results also showed that role conflict and role ambiguity negatively influenced achievement motivation (path coefficient = -0.521, p < 0.001) and life satisfaction (path coefficient = 0.502, p < 0.001). Table 3 Path Estimates based on Standardized Regression Weight


115

Variables RCRA AM SWLS