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BUSINESS
e-ISSN: 2773-5044 RMTB
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2024) 145-154
https://publisher.uthm.edu.my/periodicals/index.php/rmtb
1. Introduction
Job satisfaction is a positive feeling or emotion towards work that employees receive based on their experience.
Job satisfaction is an individual's perception of something he does (Faramarzpour et al., 2011). In other words,
when a person is satisfied with their work, they tend to represent the organization with its commitment. Job
satisfaction is defined as an employee’s sense of accomplishment and success in the job. It is also related to
productivity and personal well-being. Job satisfaction is by doing a job without feeling burdened, being able to
do it in good condition, and being appreciated for the effort. It shows how enthusiastic and happy a person is
towards his work (Kaliski, 2007).
Compensation is a significant factor in determining an employee's level of job satisfaction. Compensation is
also very important to employees and individuals as a whole. Compensation is important to the success or
failure of an organization. Compensation is driven by policy, structure, employee involvement in the
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Research in Management of Technology and Business Vol. 5 No. 1 (2024) p. 145-154 146
organization (Kang & Lee, 2021). Compensation is a set sum of money paid by an employer to an employee in
exchange for productive labor done (Heathfield, 2012).
Manufacturing sector is one of the sectors that contribute to the development of the Malaysian economy.
Sectors that also contribute to the Malaysian economy are the services sector, agriculture sector, and
construction sector. The manufacturing sector is associated with production that uses machinery, equipment,
raw materials, and labor. This proves when Malaysia is heavily dependent on electronics, electrical machinery
and appliances; chemicals and plastics; and petroleum products for production and export to Singapore, China,
the EU, the United States, and (Yusoff & Salleh, 2017). The rapid growth of this sector results in high
employment opportunities (Samsi et al., 2018). The increasing rate of manufacturing sector employees causes
employers to pay attention to employees’ needs to make sure they are satisfied with their jobs (Varshney, 2019).
Job satisfaction should be an important focus by employers because employees are the main factor that
determines the performance of an organization. A survey found that 46% of Malaysian employees are
dissatisfied with their jobs (Hays Asia, 2020). This proves that Malaysia ranks highest in terms of dissatisfaction
among several Asian countries like China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore due to the salaries received by
Malaysian employees. Past studies have shown that dissatisfaction in work makes employees unable to perform
their jobs well, and this makes employees withdraw from their jobs (Loh et al., 2019). This dissatisfaction drives
employees to complain about various things. Insufficient salary, too much work, co-workers who aren’t ‘as good
as’, a leader who is only good at directing, or an unconducive work environment are some of the elements in the
workplace that cause some people to feel dissatisfied being in the workplace. Job dissatisfaction occurs due to
conditions at work, interpersonal relationships, and problems in personal life; without these, employees aren’t
motivated to do their jobs (Thant & Chang, 2020).
Manufacturing employees are dissatisfied with their management because their salaries or compensation do
not being paid. They did not get any explanation on this matter from their management. Compensation does
significantly affect job satisfaction. Employers who pay attention to this issue make employees eager to continue
to serve the organization, and also motivate employees to remain committed to their work (Chongyu, 2021). Job
satisfaction among employees is important for organizations to be able to retain employees in the organization
by meeting their satisfaction needs (Khaira & Shariff, 2021). To date, there is less research related to the
problem of compensation and job satisfaction in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia. Therefore, the researcher
chose to conduct a study related to compensation and job satisfaction among manufacturing employees around
Johor Bahru, Johor. Specifically, this study aims to determine the level of compensation among manufacturing
employees, to determine the level of job satisfaction among manufacturing employees and to investigate the
relationship between compensation and job satisfaction among manufacturing employees.
2. Literature Review
Job satisfaction improves a person’s well-being, reduces fatigue, greater work engagement and attention can be
given better if a person has a good perception of their job (Molina-Hernández, 2021). Employees who live in a
good environment show a positive side with the people around them, especially their co-workers (de Oliveira
Vasconcelos Filho, 2016). Career development causes employees to be dissatisfied in turn intending to leave the
organization. Employees showed interest in developing their future careers but employers didn’t take note of
this. Career development can keep employees in the organization but employers have to incur costs for it (Chin,
2018).
Several theories have been used to explain human motivation such as Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
(Herzberg, 1959); Expectancy Theory (Vroom, 1964); and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1970). These
theories have been used to understand the behavioral factors that lead to job satisfaction. Therefore, Maslow’s
Needs Hierarchy Theory was chosen in this study because it is suitable for studying the relationship between
compensation and job satisfaction. This theory relates if manufacturing employees are rewarded to satisfy their
needs leads to high job satisfaction in manufacturing companies in Johor Bahru, Johor.
2.2 Compensation
Compensation needs to be considered as it contributes to employee job satisfaction. Compensation is considered
important for employers and employees to convince employees to continue working in the organization.
Employees tend to relocate or quit work or go on strike if compensation is not paid properly. Satisfactory
compensation will instill employee trust in employers and organizations (Pertiwi & Supartha, 2021). When an
organization offers the best compensation to employees, then employees will get job satisfaction in the
organization, in turn, they are motivated to equally improve organizational performance (Syahreza et al., 2017).
The following are the components of compensation that will be used in this study.
look non-discriminatory in keeping with current standards. Therefore, the researcher agrees that compensation
is important in ensuring that these two groups do not feel valued by the organization.
Compensation
1. Financial Rewards Job Satisfaction
2. Non-Financial Rewards
3. Methodology
Research methodology is a process that connects research questions with data and it is basic planning that
includes research design, research instrument, data collection methods, and data analysis methods.
4. Data Analysis
Data analysis will participate in this research to identify research findings and to determine whether this
research will meet the objectives of the research. Data collection from primary sources that became the
questionnaire will be analyzed using descriptive analysis and correlation analysis methods.
6 – 10 years 71 33.6
11 – 15 years 33 15.6
16 years and above 19 9.0
Income level RM1,000 and below 51 24.2
RM1,001 – RM3,000 85 40.3
RM3,001 – RM5,000 52 24.6
RM5,000 and above 23 10.9
Based on the Table 5, financial rewards are 0.572 correlated with job satisfaction. It indicates that the
relationship between financial rewards and job satisfaction are interrelated with positive value of the
correlation coefficient. According to Pearson correlation, it considered as moderate strength of correlation
coefficient since 0.572 is fall under the range of 0.40 to 0.59. Hence, there is a moderate relationship between
financial rewards and job satisfaction. While non-financial rewards are 0.610 correlated with job satisfaction. It
indicates that the relationship between non-financial rewards and job satisfaction are interrelated with positive
value of the correlation coefficient. According to Pearson correlation, it considered as high strength of
correlation coefficient since 0.610 is fall under the range of 0.60 to 0.79. Hence, there is a strong relationship
between non-financial rewards and job satisfaction.
6. Conclusion
This chapter covers in detail the findings and conclusions of previous researchers by commenting on the results
of the analysis for each research instrument used. This chapter has also suggested that this study be a reference
to the organization, individual, or researcher who will come and then draw conclusions for the entire study
conducted.
6.4 Conclusion
Based on the overall findings of this study, it is possible to conclude that non-financial rewards have become key
rewards, and in fact, are one of the reasons why employees are satisfied with their jobs. Furthermore, the results
of this study clearly suggest that there is a relationship between compensation and job satisfaction. This
demonstrates that, despite the fact that the relationship appears straightforward, it has an impact on job
satisfaction among manufacturing employees. The researcher suggests that future researcher to conduct
advanced studies that combine quantitative and qualitative research methods such as conducting interviews
with respondents or observation methods in the workplace. This study can be used in future with same and
some other combinations of variables to have more accurate and specific results.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Faculty of Technology Management and Business, Universiti Tun Hussein
Onn Malaysia for its support.
153 Research in Management of Technology and Business Vol. 5 No. 1 (2024) p. 145-154
Conflict of Interest
Authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of the paper.
Author Contribution
The authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: N.Z.M.A. and S.A.R.;
data collection: N.Z.M.A.; analysis and interpretation of results: N.Z.M.A.; draft manuscript preparation:
N.Z.M.A. and S.A.R. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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