Ijafb 2022 42 08 09
Ijafb 2022 42 08 09
71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
71
Volume: 7 Issues: 42 [August, 2022] Special Issues pp. 71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
Introduction
Being motivated at work and attaining high job satisfaction level in the desired profession are
some of vital aspects that employees seek in their job. According to General Employee
Motivation Statistics, employees are 87% less likely to leave their job, and companies with
highly motivated employees will experience approximately 27% increase in profits. Therefore,
these will be the reason why many of the companies in Malaysia are trying to figure out what
would be the best ways to overcome these issues that basically could affect their organizations
day by day. Because employees are the company's most valuable asset, it is crucial to study and
understand the factors that can motivate and enhance job satisfaction.
The company’s performance will be enhanced if the employees are vigorously involved in
motivating and satisfying their job. Nevertheless, it is hard to obtain and maintain high level of
employee engagement and performance. Based on data from Gallup Institute, globally, the
percentage of employee engagement is only 15%, with the remaining 85% not engaged or
inactive. (Riyanto, Endri & Herlisha, 2021). Consequently, the company will not be able to
achieve their vision and mission that might cause lose big sums of money. Due to that reason,
active employee participation in company’s programs should be encouraged in order to provide
job satisfaction and motivation in accordance with employee expectations, resulting in a high
level of passion for work and optimal performance achievement.
Literature Review
In this section, several prior literatures related with employee motivation and job satisfaction
will be reviewed and explained.
Employee Motivation
Motivation is a one of the terms that has been conceptualized and reviewed by numerous
numbers of scholars. In the early years, motivation has been defined as an individual's
willingness to carry out something that intentionally serves to satisfy his or her needs (Whiseand
& Rush, 1988). Later, motivation has been described as something that invigorated a person to
act that relating with the options the person creates as a piece of his or her goal-oriented
behaviour (More, Wregner & Miller, 2003). Then, Fuller et. al (2008) described motivation as
an individual direction, intensity, and persistence of efforts in achieving a particular goal.
Whereas, Saraswathi (2011) had defined motivation as an eagerness to deliver high-level of
effort, toward goals of organization, conditioned by the effort’s capacity in fulfilling certain
need of individual.
There have many motivation theories that basically can be categorized as either content or
process motivation theory (Campbell et. al, 1970). Content theories help to highlight on the
needs and factors that motivate and encourage behaviour and performance of the employees.
These motivation theories are concentrating on employees’ internal factors which help to
invigorate and influence their working behaviour (Whatmore, 2012). Moreover, content
theories are known as the outcomes of internal forces that drives employees to move or act
towards their job satisfaction. According to Whatmore (2012), several content theories that
can be useful to the organization includes Herzberg Two Factors Theory, Maslow’s Hierarch
of Needs, McClelland’s Theory of Needs and Alderfer’s ERG.
On the other hand, process theories are known as the motivation theories that basically focused
on behaviours of the employees that influence by their individual needs. Motivation will be
gain by the employees when their values and expectations are satisfied in their job. These
theories involved the process by which several variables such as employees’ comparisons,
needs and values as well as expectations relate with job tasks in determining motivation
(Whatmore, 2012). Besides, in these theories, attention is given on the motives that influence
the direction and intensity of employees’ behaviours as well as the sources and causes of those
behaviours. Additionally, Kian, Rajah and Yusof (2014) were indicated that the well-known
process theories of motivation include Adam’s Equity Theory, Skinner’s Reinforcement
Theory, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory and Locke’s Goal-Setting Theory.
Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is well known term that basically has very broad definition contributed by
numerous numbers of researchers. Based on Permana et. al (2021), job satisfaction can be
defined as positive or happy feelings resulting from assessment of individual’s work and
experience. Whereas Tnay et. al (2013) indicates that job satisfaction is known as a combination
of psychological conditions and environmental styles that can make a person reliably
acknowledge satisfaction with the job done. Job satisfaction basically can be divided into
intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Refer to Spies (2006), intrinsic job satisfaction comprises
of responses that affect individual’s emotions and feelings towards job features associated to
the job itself, such as autonomy, variety, and expertise while extrinsic job satisfaction comprises
of traits outside of the job itself, such as the way the company is managed and salary.
The employees who satisfy with their job more possibly to speak well about the organization,
they usually are more aligned with task decisions and more sensitive to help co-workers
(Vizano et. al, 2021; Husin & Nurwati, 2014). While dissatisfied employees are unwilling to
accept the values and goals of the organization (Wu et. al, 2019). Today, many organizations
have acknowledged the importance of satisfied and motivated employees as crucial contributors
towards long term goals. Furthermore, Risambessy et. al (2022) were discovered that
motivation also can affect performance not only at individual but also group level that finally
influencing the organizational performance.
There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the importance of employee motivation
and job satisfaction. Consequently, the summary of research findings from previous scholars
on Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction is shown in Table 1.
73
Volume: 7 Issues: 42 [August, 2022] Special Issues pp. 71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
74
Volume: 7 Issues: 42 [August, 2022] Special Issues pp. 71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
Maartje Paais
Effect of Motivation, Leadership, and
Jozef R. Pattiruhu
2020 Organizational Culture on Satisfaction and Indonesia
Employee Performance
Rafia Hasan Taheri,
Impact of Working Environment on Job
Md. Shipon Miah, 2020 Europe
Satisfaction
Md. Kamaruzzan
The Effect of Motivation on Employee
Yeti Kuswati 2020 Indonesia
Performance
Setyo Riyanto,
Effect of work motivation and job satisfaction
Endri Endri,
2021 on employee performance: Mediating role of Ukraine
Novita Herlisha
employee engagement
Ismail Hajiali,
Andi Muhammad
Determination of Work Motivation,
Fara Kessi,
2022 Leadership Style, Employee Competence on Indonesia
Budhi andriani,
Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance
Etik Prihatin,
Mukhlis Sufri
The Effect of Soft Skill, Motivation and Job
Saihu Akla,
2022 Satisfaction on Employee Performance through Indonesia
Rhian Indradewa
Organizational Commitment
Source: The Authors
Growing Interest
In recent years, the quantity of published articles on the issue of employee motivation and job
satisfaction has steadily declined. There were ten publications published between 2016 and
2017. From 2018 to 2020, the trend dwindled to just seven articles. The number of articles
produced then dropped to three in the years 2021-2022.
75
Volume: 7 Issues: 42 [August, 2022] Special Issues pp. 71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
Methodology
In completing this review paper, the methods that have been applied were conducted by
conducting a literature review. Several literatures have been used in which the discussion and
deliberations about employee motivation and job performance were reviewed and assessed
during the writing process. Moreover, in accomplishing the objective of this review paper, the
authors comprehensively assessed and reviewed the empirical study papers or articles cited in
online databases such as the UiTM database system, ResearchGate and Google Scholar. The
articles that have been chosen and reviewed ranged between 2016 and 2022.
Furthermore, a person's success and performance in a field of work are defined by their level
of skill and professionalism in respective field, but if success is achieved without the presence
or lack of attention and acknowledgment, motivation will be decreased (Paais & Pattiruhu,
2020). Additionally, according to equity theory, motivation is a function of equity in social
exchange. Employees can actively participate in the company if they comprehend
organisational truth (Riyanto, Endri, & Herlisha, 2021). As a result, a motivated employee is
an asset that may help the company maintain and increase their revenue.
Furthermore, job satisfaction is linked to the working environment. Job satisfaction is mostly a
psychological trait. It is dependent on the employees and differs from one person to another.
Essentially, it refers to the emotional consequences that allow employees to succeed at work
(Taheri, Miah, Kamaruzzaman, 2020). Furthermore, effective motivation at all levels of the
business is critical in order to keep personnel satisfied and devoted to their employment (Madi,
Assal, Shrafat and Zeglat, 2017). Employee satisfaction, as a result, has a favourable and
considerable impact on employee performance.
Based on the finding, it reveals that many study has been conducted on the topic of Employee
Motivation and Job Satisfaction in Malaysia. However, since motivation and job satisfaction
are important predictors in ensuring employees and organizational productivity and
performance, more study should be encouraged to be conducted in these areas. This paper shed
the light that firstly, future researchers could further investigate the others antecedents’ factors
regarding Employee Motivation at the workplace. Second, future research can investigate the
76
Volume: 7 Issues: 42 [August, 2022] Special Issues pp. 71 - 79
International Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business (IJAFB)
eISSN: 0128-1844
Journal website: www.ijafb.com
DOI: 10.55573/IJAFB.074209
theories related to Job Satisfaction at work which can enhance the contribution of the
knowledge in this area. Another potentially area for this research is to identify the association
between Employee Motivation, Job Satisfaction, Job Engagement and Job Performance
particularly in several different field or environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, concern should be given to the Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction issue
in the workplace since it is less highlighted in by the scholars in the past few years. This article
review will enhance the body of knowledge of Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction that
the organizations will benefit from with a more comprehensive understanding of the
relationship of those variables especially in Malaysia. It seems obvious that there is no single
definition of job satisfaction, therefore it is a complicated phenomenon with numerous
definitions and views. Although research has shown that motivation at work and job
satisfaction are all associated and interconnected, the relationship is circular rather than linear.
According to the integrated model of individual motivation to work, the two factors of
motivation and job satisfaction interact and are interconnected on a holistic level. However,
when assessed in terms of group member satisfaction, it is common that work groups served as
open systems with member satisfaction as the primary output. As a result, member satisfaction
has been one of the most important factors in establishing long-term work groups. To achieve
improved job satisfaction many factors must be considered, including task definition, clear
goals, and membership diversity. These aid the manager in determining that these inputs are
required for the group to achieve desired results.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express a great acknowledgement of the funding from Universiti
Teknologi MARA Melaka.
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