Higher education and job satisfaction a stydy with postgraduates in HO CHI MINH CITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, HO CHI MINH CITY

Lê Thị Mỹ Nhung

HIGHER EDUCATION AND JOB SATISFACTION:
A STUDY WITH POSTGRADUATES
IN HO CHI MINH CITY

MASTER‟S THESIS
In
Business Administration
Ology code: 60.34.05

Supervised by

Dr. Trần Hà Minh Quân

Ho Chi Minh City – 2010


Acknowledgement
Completing a dissertation is one of great efforts in my education. It is an
opportunity for me to practice, apply the knowledge and understand how market is
working. However, I would not able to finish it without kind helps and supports from
whom I would like to express my eternal gratitude.
I highly appreciated the lecturers in the University of Economic Ho Chi Minh
City who provided me precious knowledge during last three years. Specially, the
MBA course in English was so pleased that I had a chance to know how a student can
have new approach and new studying method in second language within limited time
and budget.

A sincere thankfulness is for my supervisor, Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan, for all his
guidance, ideas and inspiration throughout the research as well as during the course.
I would express my heartfelt thanks to my MBA Batch 16 classmates,
especially Mr Nguyen Thanh Trung, Mr Lam Hong Phong and Ms Dang Hai Yen.
They all have been along with me for years and given me so many supports and
encouragement to complete this thesis.
Many thanks to all my close friends, my colleagues and interviewees who I
may not mention herein, but they did help me on data and gave me many kind advice
to improve the study.
Finally, I am deeply indebted to my parents, who gave me the life and shape of
how I am now, for their loves, encouragement, understanding and patient to keep
asking me how I was doing.
Let me take a chance to give them my best regards and dedicate this work as a
gift to them all.

ii


Abstract
Attending higher education, especially Master level, is a movement in Vietnam
in recent years. Meanwhile, job satisfaction is a well know research topic for years.
However, a link better these two dimensions have not been either reviewed much or
performed in Vietnam. A model was developed from extensive literature and a study
of 220 postgraduates from many Master programs in Ho Chi Minh City was
conducted to examine the relationship between reason for pursuing Master‟s degree
courses and participants‟ overall job satisfaction. Besides, some extensions were done
to find out the different concepts among groups of postgraduates. Fine hypotheses
were developed to represent three research questions and analysis techniques
including multiple linear regression, sample t-test and ANOVA were then applied to
test all the hypotheses. According to the result, the original measurements could be

applicable in Vietnam market, but the content was changed as local respondents‟
evaluation. It showed insignificant impacts from attending Master‟s degree courses to
overall job satisfaction. In addition, there were small variances among groups of
postgraduates when they were different from each other in job level, study languages
and study duration.

Key words: higher education, Master’s degree course, postgraduates, Job
satisfaction

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................... ii
Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... iv
List of Tables................................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. vii
List of Abbreviation .................................................................................................... viii

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
1.1

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1

1.2

Rationale of the research ................................................................................... 1

1.3

Research objectives and Questions ................................................................... 4

1.4

Scope of the study.............................................................................................. 5

1.5

Methodology of research ................................................................................... 5

1.6

Implication of the research ................................................................................ 6

1.7

Structure of the study ......................................................................................... 7

Chapter 2: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 8
2.1.

Higher education and relevant theories ............................................................. 8

2.2.

Reasons for continuing education and PRS..................................................... 11

2.3.

Job Satisfaction ................................................................................................ 14
2.3.1 Definitions and outcomes of job satisfaction ......................................... 14
2.3.2 Measuring Job Satisfaction .................................................................... 17

2.4.

Relationship between continuing higher education and Job satisfaction ........ 24

2.5.

Summary .......................................................................................................... 25

Chapter 3: Research Methodology ............................................................................... 27
3.1

Research design ............................................................................................... 27

iv


3.1.1 Research process .................................................................................... 28
3.1.2 Measurement and Scales ........................................................................ 28
3.1.3 Focus group discussion .......................................................................... 30
3.1.4 Pilot testing ............................................................................................ 31
3.1.5 Main survey ........................................................................................... 33
3.2

Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 39

Chapter 4: Data analyses and results............................................................................ 40

4.1

Descriptive statistics of sample ....................................................................... 40

4.2

Scales assessment ............................................................................................ 43

4.3

Hypotheses testing ........................................................................................... 48
4.3.1 Correlation between reasons for pursuing Master‟s level and Job
satisfaction ....................................................................................................... 48
4.3.2 Difference in reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses among
groups of postgraduates ................................................................................... 50
4.3.3 Difference

in

overall

job

satisfaction

among

groups

of

postgraduates ................................................................................................... 55
4.4

Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 58

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implication ....................................................................... 60
5.1

Introduction ..................................................................................................... 60

5.2

Conclusions from the research ........................................................................ 60

5.3

Implication of the research .............................................................................. 63
5.3.1 Theoretical implications......................................................................... 63
5.3.2 Practical implications ............................................................................. 64

5.4

Limitation and recommendation for further researches .................................. 66

List of References ........................................................................................................ 68
Appendixes ................................................................................................................... 71
1.

Focus group outline ......................................................................................... 71

2.

Survey Questionnaire ...................................................................................... 72

3.

Total Variance Explained ................................................................................ 76

v


List of Tables
Table 3.1: Scales to measure reasons for pursuing Master‟s degree courses .............. 32
Table 3.2: Scales to measure Job satisfaction .............................................................. 33
Table 3.3: Estimating margin of Error on Sample survey results ................................ 36
Table 4.1: Communication methods and respondents ................................................. 40
Table 4.2: Respondents‟ demographic profiles............................................................ 41
Table 4.3: Reliability of measurement instruments ..................................................... 45
Table 4.4: Rotated Component Matrix ........................................................................ 47
Table 4.5: Linear Regression ....................................................................................... 49
Table 4.6: Group Statistics of Job Level ...................................................................... 50
Table 4.7: Independent Sample T tests for Job Level groups ...................................... 52
Table 4.8: Group Statistics of Language ...................................................................... 53
Table 4.9: Independent Sample T tests for Language groups ...................................... 54
Table 4.10: Independent Sample T tests ...................................................................... 56
Table 4.11: Test of Homogeneity of Variances ........................................................... 57
Table 4.12: ANOVA Testing ....................................................................................... 57
Table 4.13: Multiple Comparisons............................................................................... 58

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List of Figures
Figure 2.1: Aspects of participation ............................................................................. 12
Figure 2.2: Definitions of job satisfaction ................................................................... 15
Figure 2.3: Consequences of high and low job satisfaction ......................................... 19
Figure 2.4: Average Job Satisfaction levels by facet ................................................... 22
Figure 2.5: Proposed Research model.......................................................................... 26
Figure 3.1: Research process ....................................................................................... 29
Figure 4.1: Language characteristics ........................................................................... 42
Figure 4.2: Duration characteristics ............................................................................. 42
Figure 4.3: Job level characteristics ............................................................................. 43
Figure 4.4: Hypothesis testing results .......................................................................... 58

vii


List of Abbreviation
CPE

Continuing Professional Education

JDI

Job Descriptive Index

JIG

Job in General Scale

JSS

Job Satisfaction Survey

HE

Higher Education

LLL

Lifelong Learning

MOET

Ministry of Education and Training

MSQ

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire

NOSQ

Neutral Objects Satisfaction Questionnaire

PRS

Participation Reasons Scale

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

viii


Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1

Introduction
In the first chapter, researcher provides general introduction of the study

through five sections. Rationale and objectives of the research help explain the
circumstance and concerns in which the study may become necessary. From that,
research questions as well as their hypothesis are developed in the context. However,
the mentioned circumstance would be so wide and overall that researcher needs to
narrow down the scope of the study in section 1.4. Then, section 1.5 presents research
methodology used for this study, section 1.6 mentions main implications of the
research while the hypotheses are tested in other chapter later on. Finally, section 1.7
provides whole structure of the essay.

1.2

Rationale of the research
Higher education (HE) has been prioritized and considered as one of the

essences in national strategy for the development of education and training in Vietnam
towards the years. The aims are to build a modern system that is capable of training
professionals with the high level of education demanded by the causes of
industrialization and modernization, and to secure development of the country as well.

The growth of HE in Vietnam during recent years, especially in the training field, has
resulted in the increase of high level human resources; thus it meets requirements of
economy and social, as well as creates good opportunities for citizens in various
backgrounds who have the desire and the ability to keep up with their studies of HE,
improves the common cultural standard in the whole country (Ministry of Education
and Training [MOET], 1998). Over the past ten years, HE in Vietnam has
continuously experienced many changes including diversification in types of
institutions and the establishment of quality improvement standards for its developing
accreditation model. According to statistic data from MOET, there were 140
universities (divided into public and non-public groups) in 2007-2008. Particularly,

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mentioned by Dung (2009), Vietnam had 160 universities by August 2008. They were
invested in many types such as public, private (the fastest growing sector), and foreign
related. Primary authority for governing the HE system in Vietnam lies with the
highly centralized MOET, which is responsible for drafting and implementing policy
guidance, as well as supervising the connection between all education programs and
management of HE institutions. The government allocated 20% of the national budget
for education (VND 67 trillion or US$ 4.3 billion in 2007) of which HE received
VND 297 billion or US$ 18 million (MOET, 2006). Dung (2009) also lists out
characteristics of the higher education system of Vietnam as following:
 Training focus: be small size, create a restricted market; little research on the
potential of higher education; formal institutional uniformity (although there
are numerous types of institutions) with hierarchy ostensibly recognised.
 Centralised management: relatively centralised control of the curriculum,
funding, and resources; low institutional initiative, since the conditions of
centralisation inhibit the taking of initiatives, challenging bureaucratic rule in
the universities, or the developing an entrepreneurial spirit.

 Restricted competition: not due to markets, students, or business but to statecontrolled resources; high consumer demand but low recognition of this by the
universities. With limited resources (teaching staff, facilities and funding),
universities are able to select only more capable students (about 15-25%).
In the respect that labor markets have been seeking for skilled, well-trained
people, higher education graduates and postgraduates, there are more and more people
attending higher education including Master‟s degree courses. They are not only
spending money but also sacrificing time and taking into account the trade-off
between time for academic learning and time for working and families, and they
choose the course for some specific reasons. Recently, globalization trends have made
thousands of Vietnamese apply to study abroad. The most favorite countries are
United States, Europe countries, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, etc. (Vietnam
MOET, 2008 – cited by Thuy, 2009). The students have different purposes to study
abroad, but mainly are to gain knowledge from the developed countries and high

2


technology application that they can perceive “real-world” for their future, to learn
necessary occupational skills for career development (Thuy, 2009). For others who
have no opportunities to study abroad, Master‟s degree courses that are conducted
either by local universities or by co-operated units between local universities and
foreign universities seem to be the preferable choices. As a response to the
requirements of both labor markets and the postgraduates, universities in Vietnam
have developed themselves with new strategies, reputation, and varieties of
curriculums for the Master‟s degree programs and make these courses seem ideal
destination for who would like to continuing higher education. Tho, Trang and Dung
(2006) agree that there has been an increasing trend of Master‟s degree training since
1990s while many universities have been opening courses. There are many programs
such as local Master‟s degree courses taught in Vietnamese and designed with
traditional style or co-operated with foreign universities taught in English in which the

postgraduates may study in Vietnam full time or may spend a part of their training
time in other countries. Furthermore, from 2007, the University of Economics in Ho
Chi Minh City has organized pilot Master‟s degree courses in English (e.g. Master of
Business Administration and Master of Banking), and established International
Business School (IBS) in 2010. In that circumstance, it can be explained that Vietnam
HE system has also adapted a raise on needs of their customers, especially the
postgraduates. However, has the system satisfied the customers as their expectation?
Dung (2009) helps to identify that Vietnam HE system is facing with many
challenges. Among them, we can see some points related to relationship between
higher education and jobs, careers or economic:
 The quality of higher education is low and relevance is limited by a weak link
between universities and industry.
 There is a lack of articulation between training and economic development.
 Many employees require retraining after graduation.
These things remind us about importance of connection between higher
education and participants‟ jobs. It seems there is a necessary to consider whether the
participants have satisfied with benefits from their academic learning or not,

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especially if the learning can help improving their job satisfaction. Nevertheless, there
are not many researches help to determine if continuing education can help
participants feel more or less satisfied with their jobs. Particularly, there is no research
on the relationship between why Vietnamese postgraduates continue Master‟s degree
course and participants‟ satisfaction. Therefore, this study is a need to examine that
kind of interesting relationship.

1.3

Research objectives and Questions
The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between

reasons why postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their overall job
satisfaction. In other words, it is to know whether the courses have any impacts on
postgraduates‟ job satisfaction by interpreting the root causes made postgraduates
choose the courses at Master‟s degree in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, researcher
analyzes deeply to measure different expectation between managers and nonmanagers while pursuing higher education as well as different job satisfaction among
groups of postgraduates who have studied in different languages and duration.
From that, three research questions are included:
Q1: Is there statistically significant relationship between the reasons why
postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their job satisfaction?
Q2: Is there statistically significant difference in reasons for pursuing Master‟s
degree courses among groups of postgraduates?
Q3: Is there statistically significant difference in overall job satisfactions
among groups of postgraduates?
From these research questions, the hypotheses are developed as following:
Hypothesis 1:
H1: There is statistically significant correlation between reasons why
postgraduates attending Master‟s degree courses and their overall job
satisfaction.

4


Hypothesis 2:
H2a: There is statistically significant difference between the reasons why
managers and the reasons why non-managers pursuing Master‟s degree
courses.
H2b: There is statistically significant difference between the reasons why

postgraduates pursuing Master‟s degree course in Vietnamese and the reasons
why they pursuing the course in English/Bilingual.
Hypothesis 3:
H3a: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction
between people attending Master‟s degree courses in Vietnamese and people
attending Master‟s degree courses in English/Bilingual.
H3b: There is statistically significant difference in overall job satisfaction
among people who are studying; who are in thesis preparation; and who have
graduated.

1.4

Scope of the study
Higher education and job satisfaction are very extensive concepts. There are

innumerable reviews on these terms conducted by many researchers in all over the
world. This study only focuses on investigating whether or not there is any
relationship between reasons for attending Master‟s degree and job satisfaction with
postgraduates in Vietnam with difference of reasons, job satisfaction among groups of
postgraduates. Then, the scope is extended to see the difference between the groups of
participants when they are different from each other on job level, study languages and
study duration. As mentioned, there are many universities and Master‟s degree
courses throughout Vietnam, but the survey is done especially in Ho Chi Minh City
where the dynamic higher education system has developed rapidly for years.

1.5

Methodology of research
This study is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City with postgraduates who have

been attending Master‟s degree courses or have finished the Master‟s level while they

5


have been working in specific areas. Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) is used to
measure the reason for pursuing Master‟s degree, and modified Job Satisfaction
Survey (JSS) is applied to clarify overall job satisfaction. Focus group discussion and
Pilot testing are used to finalize the questionnaire. Subsequently, both web-based and
word-template-based questionnaire are sent to interviewees. A quantitative approach
is then applied and SPSS 16 is used to analyze data. Web-based answers are exported
from website in excel format and used for SPSS entry while word-template-based
ones are manually input to SPSS. Reliability of each factors then tested by Cronbach
Alpha coefficient and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Finally, Multiple Linear
Regression analysis, Independent sample T-test and One way ANOVA are applied to
test the hypotheses.

1.6

Implication of the research
The study contributes new approaches to management both in higher education

and in business, as well as to postgraduates for their decision-making. For educators‟
side, the application of PRS provides new perspectives to penetrate what graduates
expect from the Master‟s degree courses. It shows the different point of view of
Vietnam interviewees from those in other countries. Educators may know more about
their target students to focus on the appropriated segments. Besides, the difference
among groups of postgraduates with different study languages, duration need to be
considered while the educators are setting up a Master‟s degree course or program to
improve the training quality to adapt increasing requirements from the customers and

labor market. For managers, it should be a chance to consider which one is appropriate
motivator for their staff and which level is valuable to be invested with long-term
training in Master level to increase employees‟ job satisfaction level; consequently, to
improve job performance. For postgraduates, the research can be considered as a
review of the real reasons why they want to join the Master‟s courses or what they
expect from the training to prevent the movement that hundreds of people joined the
courses with unclear expectation, which can make them disappointed and influence
their life and job satisfaction.

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1.7

Structure of the study
This study includes five chapters in which research questions and overall

information of the study are mentioned in Chapter 1. Recent research and published
papers related to job satisfaction and higher education, including relevant theories, as
well as their relationships are reviewed in Chapter 2: Literature Review. Chapter 3
describes methodology, research design used in the study, and finalizes questionnaire
for the main survey. Following Chapter 3, collected data is processed and analyzed in
Chapter 4. In addition, all research findings are interpreted, explained and all research
questions are answered with clarified hypotheses in the forth chapter. Lastly, Chapter
5 mentions conclusions resulting from the findings with their implication, discloses
limitation of the study and provides recommendation for further researches.

7

Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1.

Higher education and relevant theories
According to Mott (2000), education has been becoming an increasingly

important factor in society, people‟s lives and workplace especially. It is a wide term
that includes many theories and definitions. Starting with Lifelong Learning (LLL) – a
general concept which was defined by the European Commission (2006) that is all
learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge,
skills and competence, within a personal, civic, social and/or employment related
perspective. In fact, people have opportunities to gain knowledge throughout their
whole life. The LLL framework conducts the learning process from early childhood
until retirement. It encompasses formal learning (educational and training
institutions); non-formal learning (structured on-the-job training); and informal
learning (skills that can be learned from family members, people in the community or
people all around us). Through LLL, people can have access to learning opportunities
since they need them, as opposed to because they have reached to a certain age. LLL
is vital in preparing the workers to compete in the global economy. (Lifelong Learning
in a Global Knowledge Economy, World Bank Report, 2003). It involves individuals
and organizations in the overall process of learning. Moreover, it helps to renew or
develop their knowledge as well as complete and compliment the knowledge that
people attain during their careers. This new paradigm of learning promotes and
motivates the continued search for knowledge, and for individuals who occasionally
need it - when it is required to broaden their range of opportunities. The learning
conducted nowadays is rapidly changing, and how learners want to learn, (or can
learn) as set in motion the need for this change. LLL can be further defined as the
activity a person performs throughout the life to improve his or her knowledge, skill
or competence. LLL has little bias, as working individuals, unemployed persons,
current students and university alumni, are all good target groups for the LLL process.

8


In recent research, Barrington and Zahidur (2009) agree that LLL is concept of
continuing education through the process of augmenting structures that fit the realities
of individuals from a professional perspective. The authors firstly classify program
type offerings from higher education system - Universities and Institutions - are
formal whether it is a bachelor‟s, Master‟s, one or two-year programs, or Doctor of
Philosophy. These programs are characteristic in nature and truly represent traditional
learning that is somehow different from LLL concept. Then, they see the changes
within education system while the Universities can adapt to the principle of the
vocational training programs that are geared towards the industries, rather than
academic perspective, which enhance and attract learners, which derive benefits for
all. From that, it can be understood that the University can also organize their
platform, programs, including Master‟s degree, curriculums and all educational
materials to ensure the best quality of education through LLL process. In addition,
reviews on board functions of University or higher education institutions that are
providing many courses including Master‟s degree once again emphasize the roles of
higher education. According to an American scholar, Short (2002) refers to four broad
functions of the US University related to the basic mission of advancing knowledge
and preparing people to use it. They are to provide a general education for all students;
as well as to provide particular education for specialists, researchers and educators.
Then, an African scholar (Froneman, 2003) mentions that higher education institutions
satisfy four categories. Those are the intellectual pursuit of knowledge (seeking
knowledge for its own sake); knowledge of education for society (knowledge for
ethical purposes); public goals such as the development of national capacity (e.g.
when governments are interested in supplying the skilled labor that markets desire);
and private goals (providing in the market demand for educated labor). Thence, we
can see the significant role of higher education and it have been contributing variety of

training courses including Master‟s degree which are formal learning in Lifelong
Learning framework.
On the other hand, the extensive definition of LLL can cover continuing
professional education (CPE) in the way that individuals can base their self-worth on

9


their work and find that their identity and satisfaction come from their profession.
Grotelueschen (1985) describes professional employee educational participation as the
involvement in formal education activities that are typically either short-term or parttime. Educational institutions, professional associations and societies, professional
service agencies, the government, and other organizations provide continuing
professional activities. Besides, Grotelueschen makes the distinction between
continuing education in general and CPE basing on characteristics of the referent
population, the nature of the participation, and the benefits received from the
educational experience. The author also gives specific examples of CPE that are
continuing education in many professional fields such as accounting, law, medicine,
nursing, pharmaceuticals, education, project management, social work, and human
resources (Grotelueschen, 1990). Cervero (1990) notes four trends of CPE as
following:
Trend 1: The amount of continuing education offered at the workplace dwarfs
that offered by any other type of provider, and surpasses that of all other
providers combined.
Trend 2: Universities and professional associations are active and important
providers, with an increasing number of programs being offered in distance
education formats.
Trend 3: There are an increasing number of collaborative arrangements among
providers, especially between universities and workplaces.
Trend 4: Continuing education is being used more frequently to regulate
professionals‟ practice.

Besides, some scholars identify CPE and continuing education are same terms.
Continuing education is described as learning experiences that prepare employees for
future positions (Spears & Parker, 2002). Mott (2000) expands the definition of CPE
as “improving professional competence and practice”; and CPE has been growing in
size, coherence, and stature (Cervero, 2000). Nevertheless, CPE is also a part of
Lifelong Learning framework as its nature.

10


Furthermore, Wood (2008) points out the necessity of higher education in
continuing professional development. The major debates within her field of study are
the tensions between formal and informal learning and higher education as provider
training services for professional groups. In the standards framework of Higher
Education Academy, it refers to a range of professional values, one of which is
“commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice” (HE
Academy, 2005 – cited by Wood, 2008).
From the discussion, higher education including Master‟s degree somehow
connects to continuing professional education. In some aspects, higher education is a
part of CPE while they are both under umbrella of Lifelong Learning.
Regarding to this study, the term “higher education” means education at a
college or university where subjects are studied at an advanced level (Cambridge
Advanced Leaner Dictionary, 3rd edition), but it is narrow down to the involvement in
Master‟s degree courses. Participants are postgraduates who also have been working.
These postgraduates may include ones either who continue studying in their relevant
background to improve specific professional development, or others, with some
reasons, attending the master‟s degree courses differentiated from their undergraduate
programs or work experience.

2.2.

Reasons for continuing education and PRS
There are more and more people would like to continue education. Houle

(1961) is one of the first to postulate a framework for continuing professional
education. To explain why adults are motivated to continuing learning, his theory
proposes three orientations as following:
 Goal-oriented individuals are adults, who use education as a means to
accomplish definite objectives.
 Activity-oriented individuals are adults who take part in education because they
find in the circumstances of the learning a meaning which has no necessary
connection to the content or the announced purpose of the activity.

11


 Learning-oriented individuals are adults who seek knowledge for the sake of
learning.
Grotelueschen (1985) expands the reasons into five operational constructs:
professional improvement and development, professional service, collegial learning
and interaction, professional commitment and reflection, and personal benefits and job
security. Recently, in her research, Eggleston (2007) consolidates from the studies
reviewed deterrents were determined to be the main inhibiters to participation in
formal adult education from the perspective of mid- to upper-level professional,
technical, executive, administrative, and managerial employees. She has also
uncovered aspects that enable adults to participate in formal education in order to
achieve personal and professional goals, which is actually considered as new aspect
on reasons for attending continuing education (Table 2.1).
Figure 2.1: Aspects of participation
Motivation:

Objectives; Needs/Wants
Desires; Aspirations
Change
Participation in

Goal/ Objective

adult education

achieved

Enablers:
Access;
Employer Support
Dependent Care
Financial Support
Flexible Work Schedules
Transportation
Source: Margeret A. Eggleston (2007)

For this study, researcher prefers Grotelueschen (1985)‟s theory to others
because it fixes to scope of the research which is to examine the reasons why
Vietnamese postgraduates pursuing in Master‟s degree courses. Besides, the
Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) developed by this author is popular one, but it is a
new measurement applied in local market.

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PRS is a psychometric test instrument that has been used in many studies to

measures reasons or motivation for individuals in professional occupations for
participation in continuing professional education. The tool is created by
Grotelueschen (1985) who would like to explain why participants focused less on
adult learning in general and more on the subgroup of working adult professional
learning. The author expands Houle‟s (1964) theoretical learner orientations by
creating five operational constructs to further detail the reasons adults seek CPE.
Grotelueschen identified the following five factors to explain why adults participate in
CPE:
 Professional Improvement and Development relates to nine reasons that are
clearly associated with the day-to-day practices. The PRS items in this factor
include such key words as "knowledge or skill", and/or references to a concern
for competent, "quality performance". The concepts in this factor relate to the
need to keep up with rapid changes in technology.
 Professional Service relates to five reasons those are associated with the
service aspects. Key words in this factor are "effective", proficient, and "better
service".
 Collegial Learning and Interaction includes four participation reasons related
to learning through an interchange with professional colleagues. Key words in
this factor include "exchange thoughts", "relate ideas", and learn from
"interaction. The concepts in this factor however, are learning oriented rather
than socially oriented.
 Personal Benefits and Job Security consist of six participation reasons related
to job security, financial illustrative of gain, or professional advancement.
Words that are these reasons include "increase...benefits, "change the emphasis
of", "professional advancement", and "individual security". This concept is
descriptive of the establishment of a professional role that provides longevity
and rewards accomplishment.
 Professional Commitment and Reflection includes six participation reasons
related to a membership within a larger professional body, and to reasons that

13


are external to the technical aspects. Key words are such as “maintain identity”,
“enhance the image”, “reflect on the value”, and “review my commitment to
my profession”, illustrate concepts in this factor.
The PRS has been used in numerous studies to assess the reasons for
participation in CPE of many populations. Some remarkable ones are veterinarians
(Harnisch, 1980); physicians (Cervero, 1981); judges (Catin, 1982); public school
employees (Barry-Cybulski, 1990); engineers and scientists (Tait, 1990); registered
nurses (DeSilets, 1990); librarians (Smith & Burgin, 1991); physical therapists
(Langsner, 1993); army engineers (Grzyb, 1995); nursing staff development
specialists (Aucoin, 1997); public and private school teachers (Alfone, 1997), special
agents in the U. S. Treasury department (Houlihan, 1998); army engineers (Grzyb,
Graham & Donaldson, 1998); first-line supervisors in the nuclear power industry
(McCamey, 2003); and information technology professionals in higher education
(Bennett, 2006).
In Vietnam, to the best of researcher‟s knowledge, there is no particular study
on the reasons for pursuing Master‟s level. Therefore, the present study contributes to
the literature through its examination on the reasons postgraduates from many areas
continuing higher education in Master‟s level, especially in Ho Chi Minh City where
higher education system has significantly developed for years.

2.3.

Job Satisfaction

2.3.1 Definitions and outcomes of job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is a concept that has been widely researched, both academically
and professionally. It is closely connected to motivation theories as Herzberg‟s (1965)

and Maslow‟s (1954) hierarchy of needs. According to Brief (1998), there were more
than 3,300 research articles and dissertations published on job satisfaction in the year
of 1976. Two decades later, the desire to comprehend the antecedents and
consequences of job satisfaction continued. Brief added that by 1994, more than
12,400 research articles and dissertations had been published on job satisfaction. The
elusive nature of the job satisfaction construct advanced the measurement and

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theoretical development pertaining to job satisfaction. From that, there are several
variations of definitions about job satisfaction are listed by Bennett (2006) and others
as in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2: Definitions of job satisfaction
Researchers
Vroom (1964)

Definitions
Job satisfaction is the basis of an employee‟s evaluation of
whether one gets what he/she wants from a job.

Herzberg (1968)

Job satisfaction is the basis of human-relations theory, which
posits that employees develop positive job attitudes if their jobs
allow them to fulfill their needs.

Locke (1976)

Job satisfaction refers to employees‟ affective relations to their

work role and is a function of the perceived relationship between
what one wants from one‟s job and what one perceives it is
offering.

Weissman,

Job satisfaction is the degree of positive affect toward the

Alexander, and

overall job or its components.

Chase (1980)
Schermerhorn

The degree to which an individual feels positively or negatively

(1986)

about various aspect of the job is called job satisfaction. It
includes assigned tasked, the work setting, and relationships
with co-workers.

Brooke, Russell,

Job satisfaction is an individual‟s general attitude toward one‟s

and Price – 1988

job.

Ulrich & Lake

Job satisfaction is a positive emotional state produced from a

(1991)

person‟s experience associated with his or her job.

Scarpello and

Job satisfaction is the disparity between what the employee

Vandenberg (1992) desires from a job and what he or she actually receives from the
work.
DeLeon and Taher

Job satisfaction is a function of its intrinsic and extrinsic

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rewards, as well as the employee‟s needs, expectations, and

(1996)

characteristics.
Comm and

Job satisfaction is the difference between perception of work

Mathaisel (2000)

and expectations and importance of work.

Johnson and

Job satisfaction is the employee‟s response to the conditions of

Johnson (2000)

the workplace.

Recently, Judge and Robbins (2007) agree that job satisfaction is a positive
feeling about one‟s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. It is one of
important dependent variables in organizational behavior model and represents an
attitude rather than a behavior. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds
positive feelings about the job, while a person dissatisfied holds negative feelings
about the job. Besides, there is a belief that satisfied employees are more productive
than dissatisfied being a basic tenet among managers and supported by reliable
researches.
To business, building job satisfaction or creating satisfied employees is
significant and important strategy because it has specific outcomes as following:
 Job Performance: researchers used to believe that the relationship between job
satisfaction and job performance was management myth. However, a review of
300 studies suggested that the correlation is fair strong (Judge et al. 2001).
When satisfaction and productivity data are gathered for the organization as a
whole, it is found that organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be
more effective than ones with fewer satisfied employees.
 Organizational Citizenship Behavior: satisfied employees seem more likely to

talk positively about the organization, help others, and be willing to go beyond
the normal expectations or formal job requirements, as they are more prone to
go beyond the call of duty because they want to reciprocate their positive
experience.
 Customer Satisfaction: Judge and Robbins (2007) note that employees in
service jobs often interact with customers and satisfied employees increase

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customer satisfaction and loyalty. The reason is that in service organizations,
customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how frontline
employees deal with customers. Satisfied employees are more likely to be
friendly, upbeat, and responsive which customers appreciate. Besides, because
satisfied employees are less prone to turnover, customers are happy to see
familiar faces and receive experienced service.
 Absenteeism: Judge and Robbins (2007) also confirm a consistent negative
relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism, but the correlation is
moderate to weak. While it certainly makes sense that dissatisfied employees
are more likely to miss work, other factors have an impact on the relationship
and reduce the correlation coefficient.
 Turnover: as well as absenteeism, satisfaction is negative related to turnover,
but the correlation is stronger. However, other factors such as labor-market
conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities, and length of
tenure with the organization are important constraints on the actual decision to
leave one‟s current job (Hultin et al. 1985). Evidence shows that an important
moderator of the satisfaction – turnover relationship is the employee‟s level of
performance (Spencer & Steers, 1981). Specially, level of satisfaction is less
important in predicting turnover for superior performers than it is for poor
performers.

 Workplace deviance: job satisfaction predicts many specific, behaviors,
including unionization attempts, substance abuse, stealing at work, undue
socializing, and tardiness. Nevertheless, if employees do not like their work
environment, they will respond somehow, but it is not easy to forecast exactly
how they will respond.

2.3.2 Measuring Job Satisfaction
From the analyzed outcomes, it is found that job satisfaction is an extremely
important factor influencing business productivity and performance. Therefore,
studies researching and measuring job satisfaction are numerous. This part focuses on

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