Estimating and comparing job satisfaction among contemporary public and private employees in Shanghai : who is the happier worker?

Abstract

Shanghai is the one of largest and fastest growing cities in China. With the intensive competition between organisations, the employee, as one of the core elements, is significant to the success of any organisation. In China, through the open door policy after 1978, many private organisations have been created. The increase in private organisations and their staff seems to suggest that people are being attracted to private sector jobs. Public organisations have also been reformed and reconstructed in order to maintain and increase their competitive ability. However, despite of each sector's characteristics, both sectors have to face high employee turnover, and are unable to retain sufficient experienced and skilled employees.

This study investigates job satisfaction among Shanghai's public and private sector employees, and reports findings about what factors affect the job satisfaction of contemporary employees in Shanghai. The results we demonstrated may help to explain the reasons for staff turnover and give a new perspective on how to keep these valuable employees. This paper also compares some facets of job satisfaction and the overall satisfaction level between those two sectors in order to identify which type of organisation has the happier worker and what aspects of the job have significant influences on the employees.

This project used self-completion survey questionnaires which were distributed to participants through the researcher's social relations. The target of this research was all employees, who were randomly chosen from all levels in each organisation. Out of the 800 questionnaires sent, 206 were completed and returned. Descriptive tables showed the differences between the ratings by respondents in the two types of organisations based on demographic factors, such as gender, age, income level, educational level and position level. In order to identify important factors, ordinary least square regression was performed. Three factors were found have significant relationship with overall job satisfaction. However, significant differences were only found in terms of organisations' type, pay satisfaction, and job self between the two sectors.

Through inferential statistics, this research found workers in public organisations were more satisfied than their private counterparts. Whereas, for job self and pay satisfaction two items, private employees were found have higher satisfaction level than public employees. Therefore, it is important for managers in both sectors to address issues related to those factors with the purpose of achieving efficiency and effectiveness. Some limitations and suggestions are also provided in this research regarding issues arising from the research.