Happiness at Work Viewed from Job Satisfaction

and Perceived Organizational Support

Ferry Novliadi and Rini Anggraini

Faculty of Psychology,Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl.dr. Mansur no.7, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords:

Happiness At Work , Job Satisfaction, Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract: This research aims to describe the effect of job satisfaction and perceived organizational support to happiness

at work among employees. This study involved 95 employees PT POS Indonesia, Pekanbaru Branch Office.

Data were collected by using the scale of job satisfaction, scale of perceived organizational support and the

scale of happiness at work. Data analysis using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that job

satisfaction and perceived organizational support increased the happiness at work of employees. Implications

of this study that management are expected to increase happiness at work through improving the factors which

influence job satisfaction and perceived organizational support.

1 INTRODUCTION

Happiness in life is a matter of hope in the lives of

many people, even it seems that everyone craves a

happy life (Diener, 2000). Humans must make an

effort to get happiness. Efforts made between

individuals with each other must be in accordance

with the happiness that they want to achieve. For that

reason, happiness cannot be achieved by someone

without trying. No wonder people work hard to

achieve happiness (Elfida, 2008). In defining

happiness in general, it was divided into two points of

view, namely the eudamonic point of view and the

hedonic point of view. The eudamonic viewpoint sees

happiness as a discussion that includes doing

something good, morally correct, self-righteous, and

can produce a significant positive impact, while a

hedonic point of view, which was the perspective that

sees happiness at work as a pleasant feeling and

positive judgment (Ryff & Singer, 2008). According

to Carr (2004), overall happiness depends on

evaluating cognitive satisfaction in various domains

of life such as family, work, regulation, and affective

experience. Furthermore, Carr (2004), mentions eight

domains of life to obtain happiness such as oneself,

family, marriage, relationships, social environment,

physical, work and education. Eddington and Shuman

(2005), mention the domain of life in achieving

happiness such as ourselvels family, time, health,

finance, and work, thus the work is the domain of life

to get happiness. Vanenberhge (2011), states that

work is a source of happiness so that people can feel

comfort in work (Vandenberghe, 2011).

Job satisfaction is an interesting and important

problem because it was proven that employee job

satisfaction has great benefits for the interests of

individuals and companies. For individuals, research

on the sources of job satisfaction brings up efforts to

increase the happiness of their lives (As'ad, 2003).

Furthermore, Keyes, Hysom and Lupo (2000), say

that happiness at work can be enhanced by an

effective supervisor. Supervisors who act effectively

will generate trust and positive emotions in their

employees. Uhl (2008), added that employees want

managers who respect their opinions, they want their

managers to recognize that employees also have a life

outside of work and they want job flexibility that

allows them to enjoy life. When managers do this,

they contribute to their employees and employees feel

that organization supports them.

Perceived organizational support refer to

employee beliefs about the extent to which

organizations value contributions and care for their

well-being (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, &

Sowa 1986; Foley, Ngo & Lui, 2005). Perceived

organizational supportwill lead to extra work

performance for employees. High employee

performance will lead to better organizational support

so employees feel the organization values their

Novliadi, F. and Anggraini, R.

Happiness at Work Viewed from Job Satisfaction and Perceived Organizational Suppor t.

DOI: 10.5220/0010102318151820

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1815-1820

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1815

contribution and cares for employee’s welfare (Chen,

Eisenberger, Johnson, Sucharski, & Aselage, 2009).

In line with this, employee’s perceptions of low

organizational support can reduce employee

involvement, and reduced employee involvement can

lead to worse treatment for employees and perceived

low support (Eisenberger, Fasolo, &Davis, Lamastro,

1990; Yamaguchi, 2001), When employees feel high

organizational support it will direct employees to feel

part of the organization and be proud of their

organization so as to increase commitment to the

organization (Aube, Rousseau, & Morin, 2007).

Perceived organizational support can also help in

growing employee’s self-esteem and affiliation needs

(Armeli et al., 1998); then employee perceptions of

organizational support are able to create a positive

mood in employees (Eisenberger et al., 2001); reduce

negative mood in the workplace (George et al, 1993);

and reduce the stress experienced by employees at

work (Cropanzano et al., 1997); In accordance with

the discussion above, the researcher wants to find out

whether there is an effect of job satisfaction and

employee perceptions on organizational support upon

happiness at the workplace of PT Pos Indonesia

employees in the Pekanbaru Branch Office.

1.1 Happiness at Work

Diener & Diener (2008), explained that happiness at

work can be interpreted as a feeling of enthusiasm for

work, eager to come to work, have a good relationship

with colleagues, show mutual dependence with other

people or other fields in the workplace , have good

work performance, can get along with other

employees, are willing to cover or want to replace the

work schedule of his friends when needed, work on a

number of side projects that aim to improve the

workplace, products, and services to the job.

Diener, Oishi and Lucas (2003), state that

happiness or subjective well being has three

important parts, first is a subjective assessment based

on individual experiences, the second includes an

assessment of the absence of negative affect, and the

third is assessment of general life satisfaction. Diener,

Oishi & Lucas (2003), stated that there are two

general components in happiness at work, that is the

cognitive dimension and the affective dimension.

1.2 Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is the result of workers' perceptions

of how their work can provide something that is

considered useful Luthans (2005).There are five

aspects identified to represent job characteristics as

affective responses, namely: the work itself, salary,

promotion opportunities, supervision and co-workers.

1.3 Perceived Organizational Support

Rhoades & Eisenberger (2002) explained that

perceived organizational support was a general belief

that employees recognize their assessment of

organizational policies and procedures. This belief

occurs through employees' experience of the

organization's policies and procedures, the

acceptance of resources and interaction with their

organizational agents (for example, supervisors) and

their perceptions of concern for employee welfare.

According to Rhoades & Eisenberger (2002),

perceived organizational support has three aspects,

those are: Fairness, Supervisor Support and

Organizational reward and job conditions.

2 HYPOTHESIS

The hypothesis in this study are:

 Job satisfaction have a positive role in happiness

at work.

 Employee’s perception of organizational

support have a positive role in happiness at

work.

 Job satisfaction and employee perceptions of

organizational support together play a role as a

predictor of happiness at work.

3 METHOD

3.1 Participants

The number of participants in this study were all

permanent employees of PT Pos Indonesia Pekanbaru

Branch Office, that was 95 employees.

3.2 Data Analysis

The measuring instrument used in this study was the

scale of job satisfaction, the scale of employee

perceptions of organizational support and the scale of

satisfaction in the workplace. The validity of the

measuring instrument used was content validity by

consulting the contents of the scale in the form of item

statements in expert judgment and construct validity

through factor analysis. According to Hadi (2000),

assessment using construct validity is used to see

whether the items intended to measure certain factors

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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have really fulfilled their function in measuring the

intended factors.

Factor analysis test begins with looking at the

value of Keizer-Meyers-Olkin (KMO), which

measures whether the sample is sufficient.

Furthermore, construct validity is seen based on the

factor weight value (loading factor) which shows the

magnitude of the correlation between the initial

variables and the factors formed. The construct

validity is said to be good if the loading factor was

greater than 0.5 (Santoso, 2002). The data analysis

method used to test the hypothesis in this study was

multiple regression analysis.

3.3 Happiness at Work Measurement

Instrument

The instrument of measuring happiness at workwas a

scale that was arranged based on the dimensions of

happiness according to Diener, Oishi & Lucas (2003),

which consists of the cognitive dimension and the

affective dimension. The Happiness at workScale

used five answer choices, namely Very Suitable (VS),

Suitable (S), Neutral (N), Not Suitable (NS), and

Very Unsuitable (VU). The rating for favorable items

is a score of 1 for the Very Unsuitable (VU) choice, a

score of 2 for the Not Suitable (NS), a score of 3 for

the Neutral (N), a score of 4 for the Suitable (S) and

a score of 5 for the Very Suitable(VS). As for the

unfavorable item score 1 for the choice of Very

Suitable (VS), score 2 for the choice of Suitable (S),

score 3 for the choice of Neutral (N), score 4 for the

option Not Suitable (NS) and score 5 for the choice

Very Unsuitable (VU).

The results of factor analysis of the happiness at

workscale showed that the cognitive dimension

obtained KMO values of 0.783 and MSA values

ranging from 0.732 to 0.867. Meanwhile the loading

factor value ranges from 0.642 to 0.843. Furthermore,

in the affective dimension, the KMO value is 0.746

and the MSA value ranges from 0.721 to 0.771.

Meanwhile the loading factor value ranges from

0.670 to 0.870. Based on the results of factor analysis

obtained 9 valid items with an alpha coefficient of

0.844.

3.4 Job Satisfaction Measurement

Instrument

Job satisfaction measurement instrument in the form

of a scale arranged based on aspects of job

satisfaction according to Luthans (2005), which

consists of five aspects, namely the work itself,

salary, promotion, supervision and co-workers. This

scale uses a Likert model with five answer choices

which are Very Suitable (VS), Suitable (S), Neutral

(N), Not Suitable (NS), and Very Unsuitable (VU).

The rating for favorable items is a score of 1 for the

Very Unsuitable (VU), a score of 2 for the Not

Suitable (NS), a score of 3 for the Neutral (N) choice,

a score of 4 for the Suitable (S) and a score of 5 for

the Very Suitable choice. (VS). As for the

unfavorable item score 1 for the choice of Very

Suitable (VS), score 2 for the choice of Suitable (S),

score 3 for the choice of Neutral (N), score 4 for the

option Not Suitable (NS) and score 5 for the choice

Very Unsuitable (VU).

The results of the job satisfaction scale analysis

showed that in the aspect of the work itself obtained

an alpha coefficient of 0.637. The KMO value is

0.687, then the MSA value moves from 0.576 to

0.802. Meanwhile the loading factor value moves

from 0.670 to 0.851. Furthermore, in the aspect of

salary, the alpha coefficient value is 0.731. The KMO

value is 0.653, then the MSA value moves from 0.630

to 0.666. Meanwhile the loading factor value moves

from 0.690 to 0.764. In the aspect of promotion.

Alpha coefficient value of 0.735. The KMO value is

0.689, then the MSA value moves from 0.663 to

0.693. Meanwhile the loading factor value moves

from 0.603 to 0.774. Furthermore, in the aspect of

supervision, the alpha coefficient is 0.804. The KMO

value is 0.754, then the MSA value moves from 0.702

to 0.832. Meanwhile the value of the loading factor

moves from 0.624 to 0.829, and finally on the scale

of job satisfaction shows the aspect of co-workers, the

alpha coefficient is 0.626. The KMO value is 0.698,

then the MSA value moves from 0.659 to 0.750.

Meanwhile the loading factor value moves from

0.603 to 0.778. Based on factor analysis, 21 valid

items are obtained.

3.5 Perceived Organizational Support

Measurement Instrument

The instrument for measuring perceived

organizational support was in the form of a scale

compiled based on aspects of perceived

organizational support according to Rhoades &

Eisenberger (2002) which consists of three aspects:

fairness, supervisor support and organizational

reward and job conditions. This scale also used a type

of Likert scale with five answer choices, namely Very

Suitable (VS), Suitable (S), Neutral (N), Not Suitable

(NS), and Very Unsuitable (VU). The rating for

favorable items is a score of 1 for the Very Unsuitable

(VU), a score of 2 for the Not Suitable (NS), a score

of 3 for the Neutral (N) choice, a score of 4 for the

Happiness at Work Viewed from Job Satisfaction and Perceived Organizational Support

1817

Suitable (S) and a score of 5 for the Very Suitable

choice (VS). As for the unfavorable item score 1 for

the choice of Very Suitable (VS), score 2 for the

choice of Suitable (S), score 3 for the choice of

Neutral (N), score 4 for the option Not Suitabke (NS)

and score 5 for the choice Very Unsuitable (VU).

The results of the scale analysis of perceived

organizational support shows that the fairness aspect

of the alpha coefficient is 0.730. The KMO value is

0.711, then the MSA value moves from 0.665 to

0.778. Meanwhile the loading factor value moves

from 0.518 to 0.772. Furthermore, on the supervisor

aspect, the alpha coefficient value is 0.771. The KMO

value is 0.765, then the MSA value moves from 0.735

to 0.821. Meanwhile the loading factor value moves

from 0.636 to 0.798. And finally on the aspect of

organizational reward and job conditions alpha

coefficient of 0.633 KMO value was 0.595, then the

MSA value moves from 0.580 to 0.637. Meanwhile

the value of the loading factor moves from 0.644 to

0.757 Based on the results of factor analysis obtained

14 valid items.

4 RESEARCH RESULT

Based on calculations using multiple regression

analysis, there was an effect of job satisfaction on

happiness at work with a coefficient of determination

of 0.158 which means that the happiness variable in

the workplace wasinfluenced by job satisfaction by

15.8% and the remaining 84.2% was influenced by

factors other than job satisfaction ( r = 0.397 p <0.01).

In addition there was also the influence of

perceived organizational support on happiness at

work with a coefficient of determination of 0.087

which means that the happiness variable in the

workplace was influenced by perceived

organizational support by 8.7% and the remaining

91.3% was influenced by factors other than job

satisfaction (r = 0.294, p <0.01). Next job satisfaction

and employee perceptions of organizational support

together play a role in predicting happiness at work

by 16.1% (coefficient of determination = 0.161) and

the remaining 83.9% was influenced by other factors

(r = 0.402, p <0.01). The complete data can be seen

in table 1.

Table 1:Results of regression analysis calculations

Variable r/R R

1. Job satisfaction

with happiness at

wor

0,397 0,158 0,000**

2. Perceived

organizational

support with

iness at wor

0,294

0,087

0,004**

3. Job satisfaction

and perceived

organizational

support with

happiness at wor

0,402

0,161

0,000**

**P<0,0

5 DISCUSSION

The results of the study show that job satisfaction

affects happiness at work. This is in line with the

results of Tait, Padget & Baldwin (1989), that

happiness at work and job satisfaction were

substantially correlated. Woei, Ming & Kuan (2007),

added that job satisfaction affects happiness at work,

where happiness was a direct result of job

satisfaction.

There were several reasons that can explain the

effect of job satisfaction on happiness at work. First,

employees who feel more satisfied with the job will

be more cooperative, more beneficial to their

colleagues, more timely and efficient, have a feeling

to stay in the company rather than dissatisfied

employees, resulting in happiness at work. (Harter,

Schmidt & Keyes, 2002).

Second, job satisfaction is also related to

withdrawal behavior, employees who feel dissatisfied

will perform various withdrawal behaviors in the

company such as frequent absences from work or

even high turnover in the company. In addition, job

satisfaction is also related to other specific behaviors

in the form of adaptation and coping mechanisms.

Employees who can adapt well to their work will

indirectly affect happiness in their workplace (Judge

& Hulin, 1991).

Third, job satisfaction is one of the determinants

of overall life satisfaction (Rode, 2004). Satisfaction

with life is a construct of happiness so that job

satisfaction also influences one's happiness (Diener,

Oishi & Lucas, 2003).

Furthermore, based on testing of employee

perceptions of organizational support with happiness

at work shows employee perceptions of

organizational support also affect happiness at work.

This is in line with the research of Jain, Giga &

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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Cooper (2013), employee perceptions of

organizational support influence happiness at work.

There are several reasons employee perceptions of

organizational support influence happiness at work.

First, employee perceptions of organizational support

function as an important resource to reduce stress and

work fatigue (Maslach, 1982). When an organization

gives support to their employees, job stress decreases.

Reduced job stress causes the level of employee

confidence to increase. If this develops, it will

certainly increase employee contributions. On the

other hand if there is no support provided, the job

stress level can increase, which can damage the

function of employees in carrying out their work so

that it affects their happiness at work (Malik & Saima,

2015).

Second, employee perceptions of organizational

support play a role in meeting the socio-emotional

needs of employees, increasing anticipation of

assistance when needed, increasing self-efficacy and

reducing stress, boredom, such as emotional fatigue

which ultimately increases employee happiness at

work (Kurtesis, Eisenberger, Ford, Bufardi , Steward,

Adis, 2015)

Third, employees who believe that the

organization supports them may have positive

feelings for other aspects of their work (Blackmore &

Kuntz, 2011). Furthermore, the supervisor's

supportive behavior will increase employee

happiness and help protect employees from tension,

depression, emotional exhaustion and health

problems (Greller, Parsons & Mitchel, 1992).

The results of next studies, based on testing the

variables of job satisfaction and employee

perceptions of organizational support with happiness

at work showed that job satisfaction and perception

of organizational support together became predictors

of happiness at work. This research is in line with the

research conducted by Ni & Wang (2015), employee

perceptions of organizational support and job

satisfaction have an effect on happiness at work.

6 CONCLUSION AND

IMPLICATION

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that

job satisfaction contributes to increasing happiness at

work. In addition, employee perceptions of

organizational support also have a role in increasing

happiness at work. Job satisfaction and employee

perceptions of organizational support together play a

role as predictors of happiness at work.

The implication of this research is expected that

the company can improve happiness at work for its

employees through an increase in aspects of job

satisfaction and employee perceptions of

organizational support.

7 SUGGESTIONS

Based on the explanation of the research results

above, there are several suggestions that can be

submitted by the researcher:

 Looking at the contribution of the variables of

job satisfaction and employee perceptions of

organizational support for increasing happiness

at work which is relatively low at 16.1%, then

for further researchers it is necessary to explore

to obtain other variables that have a much

greater contribution to increasing happiness at

workplace.

 With evidence that job satisfaction and

employee perceptions of organizational support

together have a role as predictors of happiness

at work, it is expected that the organization /

company will pay more attention to efforts to

improve employee satisfaction and perception

of organizational support so as to increase

happiness at work for its employees. which will

ultimately have an impact on improving the

performance of the organization/company.

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