Comparative study of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory of job satisfaction among public and private sectors by Ebrahim A.

Maidani The purpose of this study was to identify through hypothesis testing how Herzberg's theory of job satisfaction applied to two different working populations using a questionnaire based on Herzberg's classification scheme. The study was conducted using private and public sector employees for comparison analysis. The t-test technique was applied and the t-value was computed to test the four formulated hypotheses in order to determine whether any significant differences were revealed between the two employee groups. The result of this analysis showed that employees' motives for work in both sectors tended to emphasize intrinsic or motivator factors of employment, while those who worked in the public sector tended to value the extrinsic or hygiene factors significantly higher than those in the private sector. Also, the satisfaction of employees in both sectors was not attributable to hygiene factors. Dr. Maidani is currently a Project Manager/Project Engineer with Hillsborough County, Florida. He has responsibilities in the Capital Projects Department whee he manages a wide varity of environmental engineering activities md the Engineering Department where water/waste water treatment plants, sewer systems and pump stations are designed. He holds a DBA and an MBA in Management from NOVA University, and a BA in Management and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Uniersity of South Florida. Job satisfaction traditionally has been assumed to follow a single underlying continuum. One end of this continuum was supposed to represent a high level of satisfaction with the job, while the other end was purported to reflect a high level of dissatisfaction with the job. Points between the two extremes were assumed to reflect various degrees of satisfaction/ dissatisfaction. Frederick Herzberg and his associates (1959) conducted extensive interviews with two hundred engineers and accountants using the critical-incident method for data collection. Herzberg made a theoretical departure from the traditional continuum concept by suggesting that job satisfaction was hypothesized to operate on a continuum which ranged from high to no job satisfaction-while job dissatisfaction operated on another continuum which ranged from no to high job dissatisfaction. these two continua were hypothesized to be independent of each other. Based on extensive empirical investigation, Herzberg set forth a two-factor theory of job satisfaction which received both widespread support and criticism. The research was designed to discover the importance of attitudes toward work and experiences, both good and bad, reported by workers. The Two-factor Theory, or Motivation and Hygiene Theory, purports to differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of the job. The authors referred to the intrinsic factors as content or motivators, and they include: achievement, advancement, the work itself, responsibility, and recognition. The extrinsic factors were referred to as hygienes and included: company policy and administration, technical supervision, working conditions, salary, and interpersonal supervision. The purpose of this present study was to retest Herzberg's theory of job satisfaction using a questionnaire in hell of the critical incident technique used in the original study. This study was conducted using private sector and public sector employees to compare the two work environments and note differences in job satisfaction if present. Method Hypotheses Given the two diverse types of organizations - public and private, the following hypotheses were formulated for testing:

Hypothesis 1. Satisfied employees (accountants/engineers) in both private and public sectors value motivator factors significantly more than dissatisfied employees. Hypothesis 2. Dissatisfied employees (accounts/engineers) in both public and private sectors value hygiene factors significantly more than satisfied employees. Hypothesis 3. Private sector accountants and engineers value motivator factors significantly more than their public sector counterparts. Hypothesis 4. Public sector accountants and engineers value hygiene factors significantly more than their private sector counterparts. Subjects Four hundred eight-six survey questionnaires were distributed to two organizations in the same locality (Florida). One represented a private organization and the other a local government agency. The recipients in the two organizations were accountants and engineers and were given a stamped self-addressed envelope for returning the surveys. Instruments The Likert-type instrument consisted of two sections. Section 1 was adapted for this study from Rosenfield and Zdep (1971) and involved job factor importance. It consisted of 15 items, 7 of which were classified as motivators or content factors and 8 of which were classified as hygiene or context factors. Cronbach alpa coefficients were computed to be 0.83 for this instrument. Section 2 of the instrument was developed by Warr, Cook, and Wall (1979) to measure job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among employees. The reliability ...