• Paper Title

MEDIATING EFFECT OF WORKPLACE HAPPINESS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED HRM PRACTICES AND RETENTION AMONG CAREER WOMEN

  • Full name of authors:
  • Junaidah Hashim
  • Saodah Wok
  • Organisation affiliation/position(s)
  • Professor Datin Dr Junaidah Hashim

International Islamic University Malaysia

  1. Professor Dr. Saodah Wok

International Islamic University Malaysia

  • Address
  • Department of Business Administration,

Kulliyyah of Economics & Management Sciences,

International Islamic University Malaysia,

Jalan Gombak,

53100 Kuala Lumpur.

  1. Department of Communication,

Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge & Human Sciences,

International Islamic University Malaysia,

Jalan Gombak,

53100 Kuala Lumpur.

  • Email address
  • Stream

No. 2) Career management and development

  • Submission type

Refereed papers

MEDIATING EFFECT OF WORKPLACE HAPPINESS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED HRM PRACTICES AND RETENTION AMONG CAREER WOMEN

Structured Abstract (244 words)

Purpose:This study was conducted to find the extent to which HRM practices contributed towards workplace happiness of working women, which ultimately influences their retention at workplace.

Design/methodology/approach:This study employed quantitative research design using survey method. The sample of this study was confined to married/divorced career women in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The questions regarding perceived HRM practices were adapted from Huselid (1995), workplace happiness from Albano (2009), and employees’ retention from Maha and Al-Falasi (1997). All these measures were reliable with Cronbach alpha values greater than 0.70.

Findings: Perceived HRM practices have strong relationship with career women retention. Workplace happiness partially mediated the relationship between HRM practices and career women retention, which was also moderated by family support. The family size (number of young children) failed to moderate this relationship.

Research limitations: This study focused only on married working women which limits the generalisation of findings to all working women. This study also did not include single working women.

Practical implications: Workplace happiness is an important outcome of HRM practices which does influence employees’ retention. This, to some extent, has been obscured by the heavy emphasis that has traditionally been placed within the HRM literature on managerially oriented performance outcomes.

Originality: Most of previous studies on workplace happiness primarily focused on Western work contextand not on Asian. Asia provides a very good context because of its multi-racial, multi-religions, and multi-cultural background. Workplace happiness, thus, may be interpreted differently with such diverse backgrounds.

Keywords: HRM practices, workplace happiness, retention, working women.

1.0Introduction

Women form important contributors to a country’s economic and social development. In Malaysia, as many as 2.3 million Malaysian women are ‘absent’ from the labour market, leaving the country’s talent pool performing below optimum. One reason for such a situation could be their difficulty in maintaining a balance between their employment and family obligations (TalentCorp and ACCA, 2012). For example, married Malaysian women are less likely to work, especially if they have children that require childcare. The same reason accounts for many to quit their jobs. Although employee resignation is generally associated with on-the-job factors such as job dissatisfaction, unjust treatment, employees’ unhappiness with the job itself, and co-workers or/and supervisors, for female employees there are other additional factors too.

Many local employers blame the lack of available talent as a key hurdle in realising companies’ growth. But employers, on the other hand, have not done enough actually, to help women participate in the workforce. Retaining employees regardless of their gender has always been perceived as a Human Resource Management (HRM) related matter. There is evidence to suggest that managerial practices have an impact on employees’ emotions and performance (Carson, 2005; Legge, 1995; Storey, 1995). The key then appears to lie in nurturing such a workplace environment in which individuals do not need to worry about their child’s care, while at the same feeling happy and satisfied. Thus, this study was conducted to know the extent to which HRM practices can contribute to workplace happiness of working women which consequently influences their retention at jobs.

Although several studies have examined the issue of retaining women, they seemed to focus mainly on why women leave their jobs (Aminah, 2007; TalentCorp and ACCA, 2012; UNDP, 2012) and are generally descriptive. Not much has been done on predicting women’s turnover with respect to HRM practices. Hence, the present study not only examines the influence of HRM on women retention in an organisation but also extends the existing knowledge by examining the mediating role of workplace happiness, while at the same time incorporating family support and family size as moderating variables.

In this specific and important area, this study can be an important reference for future study. By discovering evidence of how HRM practices make people feel happy may help HR managers better understand how to create positive and supportive workplace environment. In fact, this has always been of interest to many HR practitioners. Moreover the findings will also provide valuable insights to the policy makers, including government, to relook into the policies affecting working women employment.

2.0 Theoretical Framework

Social Exchange Theory (SET) is among the most influential conceptual paradigms for understanding workplace behaviour (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). Interactions between workers and their organisations are reciprocal relationships. SET predicts that the extent to which these interactions are perceived as reciprocal influences the strength of these relationships. These interactions are usually seen as interdependent and contingent on the actions of others (Blau, 1964). This reciprocal relationship is integral to organisational HRM practices since it involves the exchange of work-related behaviours for rewards that satisfy the employee's needs. The organisation acts first to provide employees with something of social value such as work-related happiness. The employees, perceiving that the organisation has worked towards their benefit, feel indebted to reciprocate with something of equal or greater value, such as being loyal.

Motivational theory also finds relevance in this study. Herzberg (1959) in his two-factor theory argued that employees are motivated by internal values rather than those values that are external to their work. In other words, motivation is internally generated and is propelled by variables that are intrinsic to the work itself, which Herzberg termed “motivators”. These intrinsic variables include achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth. Conversely, certain factors cause dissatisfaction to employees and are largely related to non-job related variables (extrinsic). Herzberg coined the term “hygiene factors” for such factors which, although do not motivate employees, must be present at the workplace to make employees happy. These factors are company policies, salary, co-worker relationships, and supervisory styles (Bassett-Jones and Lloyd, 2005, p. 929). However, empirical studies (Kinnear and Sutherland, 2001; Maertz and Griffeth, 2004; Meudell and Rodham, 1998;) have revealed that extrinsic factors such as competitive salary, good interpersonal relationships, friendly working environment, and job security are cited by employees as the key motivational variables that influence their retention in the organisations. This implies that management should not rely only on intrinsic variables to influence employee retention; rather, a combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic variables should be considered as an effective retention strategy. It is also obvious here that the elements in two-factor theory are related to HRM practices.

It is also well-established that women’s employability is hampered especially if they have young children to look after.Butfor most parents, low income parents specifically, work or a job is essential to meet the basic needs of their family. In such a situation, employers that implement family-friendly policies are thought to attract and retain a higher percentage of employees than those that have not.

In the present context HRM is defined as a set of practices used to manage an organisational workforce through practices such as staffing, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation, and employee relations (Beer et al., 1984; Guest, 1989; Walton, 1985). HRM practices can have different consequences depending on employees’ predispositions. Although employees are largely affected by performance appraisal and compensation, these are not to undermine the importance of other HRM practices that too exert their influence on employees.

Not many studies are found in the literature in terms of HRM effect on feelings or happiness of employees. Most of the limited past studies examined the relationship between HRM practices and job attitudes such as job satisfaction and commitment (Marescaux et al., 2013). In the same vein, it should be noted that job satisfaction and workplace happiness are not synonymous, while workplace happiness can produce job satisfaction. Ford et al. (2003, p. 23) argued that fun and happiness at workplace go beyond job satisfaction to involve activities that convey a sense of “pleasantness, happiness, and positive well-being that makes working not only satisfying but also fun”. In this regard, Baptiste (2008) and Cannibano (2013) found that innovative HRM practices can lead to both positive and negative well-being outcomes for the employee. Other studies showed that certain HRM practices, such as working in teams, greater discretion and autonomy at theworkplace, and various employee involvement and pay schemes do motivate workers and hence generate higher productivity (Boselie and Van derWiele, 2002; Cully et al., 1999). Similarly, Atkinson and Hall (2011) studied one HRM practice, flexible working, and found employees’ perception that flexible working makes them ‘happy’. There were also found attitudinal/behavioural links among the happiness, discretionary behaviour, and performance outcomes.

Workplace happiness has also been studied on its direct effect on organisational outcomes (Connolly and Viswesvaran, 2000; Grossman, 2000). It is also reported to have positive effects on a company’s performance (Alexandre et al., 2011; Pryce-Jones and Lutterbie, 2010) on measures such as increased productivity andhigher employee satisfaction (Connolly and Viswesvaran, 2000; Karl and Peluchette, 2006), organisational citizenship behaviour (Fluegge, 2008), and reduced employee turnover (Thoresen et al.,2003).Hence it is hypothesizedhere that workplace happiness has a mediating effect in the relationship between perceived HRM practices and employee retention. Simply, employees who experience happiness at work tend to stay.

Then, workplace happiness, its antecedents, and its consequences may be influenced by a host of individual factors such as age, gender, and more. The moderating variables tested in this studyare family support and the number of young children. Family support refers to the extent family members such as spouse, children, and extended family memberssupport the career women to continue working. In this context, it was found in a study in Britain, the United Stated, and Japan that married women’s employment is strongly influenced by their young children. For this reason, the employment rate of married women with infants (children under one year of age) is about 40 percentage points lower than that of married women with no children. Hence,based on the literature reviewed the following hypotheses were formulated:

H1: HRM practices correlate with career women retention.

H2: HRM practices correlate with workplace happiness.

H3: HRM practices influence workplace happiness which in turn influences career women retention.

H4: There is a moderating effect of family support on the relationship between HRM practices, workplace happiness, and career women retention.

H5: There is moderating effect of family size on the relationship between HRM practices, workplace happiness, and career women retention.

HRM Practices




Figure 1: Theoretical framework

3.0 Methodology

This study employed quantitative research design using survey method. The sample of this study was confined to married/divorced career women in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The context here is crucial because the cost of childcare and the problems associated with career women in Kuala Lumpur are different from other places in Malaysia.

The population of Kuala Lumpur is more than 100,000. In order to achieve 95% confidence level the sample had to be 1,200. Stratified random sampling was employed. Enumerators were sent to pre-identified industries from public, private, and government-link organisations. This ensured no overlapping among the enumerators. The HR department of each organisation helped in identifyingthe respondents for this study.

The questions regarding perceived HRM practices were adapted from Huselid (1995), workplace happiness from Albano (2009), and employees’ retention from Maha and Al-Falasi (2014).All these measures were reliable with Cronbach alpha values greater than 0.70.

4.0 Findings of the Study

4.1 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

The respondents of the study are described in terms of age, marital status, years of marriage, ethnicity, family size composition, level of education, and family support (Table 1). The respondents are considered young with mean age of 37.7 years (SD=16.5). Almost three-quarters of the respondents (74.8%) were below 40 years old;the rest (25.2%) were older.

Most of the respondents were married (91.8%) while the remainingwere single parent (8.2%). Only 439 respondents indicated their years of marriage. More than one-third of them (36.2%) have been married for 1-5 years. Almost 28% have been married between 6-10 years. The rest constituted lesser percentages with increase in number of years of marriage.

Majority of the respondents (91.2%) were Malays, while small proportions were Chinese (3.9%), Indians (3.4%), and other races (1.6%). Family size composition included spouse, siblings, parents, and children both aboveand below 6 years. Surprisingly, even though most of the respondentswere married, they did not stay with their spouses – only half (51.8%) of the respondents had their spouses staying with them. Many of them (14.4%) had siblings, parents (26.1%), children above 6 years (42.0%) andchildren below 6 years (36.4%).

With respect to education, 40.4% held a basic degree. Some of them (12.1%) went up to their master’s degree and only few (4.1%)to a PhD degree. In terms of tiers of education, 77.5% had tertiary education, while the rest (22.5%) managed to attend only up to secondary level.

The respondents did receive family support, especially from their parents (50.5%), helpers (16.9%), and other relatives (10.3%). There were others too,willing to give family support to them (20.0%). To summarise, the respondents are young, married, Malay, with varied family size compositions, highly educated, and receiving help from various parties mainly parents.

4.2 Work-related Characteristics of the Respondents

Table 2 presents the work-related characteristics of the respondents: position, tenure length with the organisation, income, number of times employer is changed, and number of times promoted at the job. Results show that almost half of the respondents (48.7%) belonged to the support staff,though many were also working as executive officers (35.1%) and some at managerial level (16.2%). Many of them (35.8%) have been working within the past 5 years, while a significant number (30.2%) has been working since 6-10 years. The descending trend in percentage continues as the number of years at work increases.

In terms of household monthly income, more than half of the respondents (54.1%) were earning between RM2001-RM5000. Slightly more than one-third of the respondents receivedan income of RM5001 and above. Again, these percentages decrease as the income increases. Almost half of the respondents (48.2%) never changed their employer at all. Many of them have changed one employer (14.8%), two employers (18.8%), and three employers (10.6%), butvery few changed 4 employers and more. In addition, the study also asked the number of times the respondents have been promoted. Results show that more than half of the respondents have never been promoted (55.3%). This proportion decreases as the number of promotionsincreases.

4.3 Organisation Characteristics

The study also explored the characteristics of those organisations with which the respondents worked (Table 3). These characteristics include type of sector, organisation size, type of industry, and childcare facilities and services rendered to the career women. More than one-third of the respondents workedin government sector (37.1%), a similar proportion in government-link companies (36.8%), while26.2% worked in the private sector. Most of the organisations that they worked for (82.1%) are large companies having 100 and more employees. The top three industries that the respondents are employed in are education (26.3%), finance/banking/accounting (19.0%), and for the government (15.3%). Other industries were sparsely preferred by women in this study. About half of the employers provided childcare facilities and services for female employees’ children. This was claimed by 597 respondents (49.8%) with the following breakdown: nursery (21.4%), childcare facilities (19.9%), and kindergarten (8.4%). It can be said, in conclusion, that the career women in this study were working in various sectors mainly in government and government-linked organisations, were employed in large organisations, involved in the education, finance/ banking/accounting industry, and that their organisations providedchildcare facilities and services for their children.

4.4 Human Resource Practices: Staffing

The staffing items in the human resource practices were found to be reliable (α=0.818). There was a general agreement of the respondents with all the items(71.7%) with mean range 3.245-3.953 (Table 4). The item ‘I was formally interviewed by a manager before being hired for my current job’was agreed with the highest (79.1%), while the lowest agreement (64.9%) was with the item ‘I took formal written tests before being hired’. Further, more than three-quarters of the respondents agreedto the statement‘I got the job in the company because I am the right person’ (77.4%) and ‘I was interviewed by more than one person before being hired at my company’(77.6%). Others with less than 70% were for items ‘I have been involved in interviewing candidates before they are hired in my company’ (65.6%);‘I went through a very lengthy interview process’ (67.0%); and ‘It does not take very long to hire someone at my company’ (67.4%). This implies that the respondents were hired for their capabilities and that they had undergone formal interviews by many officials of the organisation.