The interaction effect of job redesign and job satisfaction on employee performance
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-01-2015-0001 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| Pages | 162-180 |
| Author | Sununta Siengthai,Patarakhuan Pila-Ngarm |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
The interaction effect of job
redesign and job satisfaction on
employee performance
Sununta Siengthai and Patarakhuan Pila-Ngarm
School of Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Thailand
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of job redesign as well as that of the
interaction effect of job redesign and job satisfaction on employee performance.
Design/methodology/approach –The qualitative research method is used, i.e., in-depth interviews,
to validate the questionnaire which is modified based on the well-established Job Diagnostic Survey
instrument. A large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted in 2012 taking the hotel and resort
industry and the banking industry in Thailand as its research sites. Multiple regression analysis was
used to analyse the survey data obtained from 295 sample respondent managers.
Findings –It is found that job redesign is significantly and inversely related to employee
performance. Meanwhile job satisfaction is found to be positively and significantly related to
employee performance. Moreover, the interaction effect between job redesign and job satisfaction is
found to be positively and significantly related to employee performance. Furthermore, when
controlled for demographic characteristics of sample respondents, it is found that being in the age
group of 37-47 years old is significantly and inversely related to employee performance. These findings
suggest that when firms implement job redesign, it is likely that it will negatively influence employee
performance in the first stage of change. Hence, firms should try to enhance employee job satisfaction
while implementingjob redesign so that the job redesignwill result in improved employee performance.
The findings suggest that implementing job redesign without concerned employees experiencing job
satisfaction or merely implementing job redesign can result in a possible decreased employee
performance. These findings also suggest that any proposed job redesign will be an effective
HR strategy to significantly mobilize employee performance only when firms ensure that the
implementation of job redesign involves the concerned employees and enhances their job satisfaction.
Originality/value –Job redesign by itself is found to have a significant negative effect on employee
performance while job satisfaction is found to always positively and significantly influence employee
performance. This study ascertains the positive interaction effect of job redesign and job satisfaction
for employee performance improvement. These findings suggest that job satisfaction positively
moderates the effect of job redesign on employee performance.
Keywords Job satisfaction, Banking, Thailand, Employee performance, Hotels and resort,
Job redesign, Middle-level manager
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Job redesign has been used as one of the HR strategies to develop a new dynamic and
productive life in a rapidly changing business environment. It has been
well-established that well-designed job characteristics ( JC) will enhance employee
motivation and hence their performance improvement (Hackman and Oldham, 1976).
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 4 No. 2, 2016
pp. 162-180
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-01-2015-0001
Received 19 January 2015
Revised 3 June 2015
14 September 2015
5November2015
Accepted 14 November 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
This manuscript is based on a paper presented at the 2013 Conference of MAGScholar in Dubai
(11-14 November 2013). The authors are grateful for all constructive comments received,
especially those from Dr Kim Fam, and from two anonymous referees of the paper. The authors
are also indebted to Dr Fabian Homberg, the Associate Editor of EBHRM whose guidance
significantly improved the quality of the manuscript.
162
EBHRM
4,2
As employees are organizational assets that are renewable, they become a key driver
for change, especially in a rapidly changing environment. Firms need to continuously
redesign jobs to align with their business strategy and enhance organizational
performance. To date, several studies have examined the direct link between job
redesign and performance and job satisfaction and performance. Many empirical
studies support the Hackman-Oldham theory of job design with respect to the
significant relationship with product quality improvement (Michalos et al., 2013).
The empirical studies on the relationship of these aspects of job design with employee
performance, work outcomes, and/or productivity have been reported previously
( Johlke and Iyer, 2013; Yeo and Li, 2011; Kahya, 2007; Rhoads et al., 2002). However,
there have been few studies that examine whether there is any link among job redesign,
job satisfaction, and employee performance. This relationship is important for HR
managers due to benefits which are expected to increase effective employee
performance. As job redesign includes activities or work-related changes that improve
work quality of employees or employee productivity (Wood et al., 2012; Maxwell, 2008;
Morgeson et al., 2006), it is expected that job redesign has a significant influence on
employee performance improvement. We aim to investigate the effect of job redesign
on employee performance. In addition, we also assert that there is an interaction effect
of job redesign and job satisfaction, which positively influences employee performance.
During the past decade, the volume of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in banks
has increased (IMAA, 2013). It is thus conceivable that M&A can be utilized as trends
metrics in support of a popular firm strategy to strengthen businesses in a turbulent
environment. In the Southeast Asian region in particular, the regional economic
integration, i.e., the ASEAN economic community, is expected to materialize by the end
of 2015. In Thailand, since the advent of information technology a few decades ago,
many organizations have experienced and implemented forms of business process
re-engineering to better serve their customers. In this process, job redesign ha s been
used to ensure the efficiency and productivity of employees. This development has
become particularly visible in business organizations, particularly those in service
sectors, such as banking and finance, insurance, hotels, telecommunications, etc.
Few studies in Thailand have investigated job redesign. Akaraborworn and McLean
(2002) study the role and impact of human resource development during the country’s
1997 economic crisis. The results confirm that human resource development could
support employees in job design processes. In the private sector, it is reported that
job rotation is intended for organizational restructuring. Moreover, the average of
interval rotation is about one-and-a-half years in a private service company and about
two years in a private manufacturing company. “Knowledge, skills, and abilities”are
found to be significant decision criteria. In addition, Jaturanonda et al. (2006) assert that
job rotation is a common management practice in Thai organizations. They study 500
Thai organizations from both private and public sectors. The results show that the
respondents positively perceive the purpose of job rotation to improve efficiency or
productivity of the organization. Similar to the findings of Akaraborworn and McLean
(2002), they find that in order to rotate employee to new jobs, knowledge, skills, and
abilities are found to be the decision criteria. Khahan (2013) examines the effect among
JC, job satisfaction, and work adjustment of new graduates working in 305 various
organization sizes of Thailand. The study asserts that JC are positively related to wo rk
adjustment and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction also has a positive influence on wo rk
adjustment. Internally, job redesign and job satisfaction also become significant
approaches to improve employee performance and hence business performance.
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Effect of job
redesign and
job satisfaction
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