JOB ENRICHMENT AND EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION IN MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANIES IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Oparanma, A. O.

Department of Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

and

Orlu, C. C.

Department of Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The study examined the relationship between job enrichment and employee job satisfaction in mobile telecommunication companies in Rivers State, Nigeria. The Herzberg Two Factor Theory and the Job Characteristics Theory served as the theoretical underpinnings for this study and helped to explain the relationship between the study variables. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design, a type of quasi-experimental research. The population of the study consisted of 190 administrative staff of the four major GSM mobile telecommunication companies in Rivers State (MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile). This study adopted the entire population as the sample size since the population was not too large. The primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire that was designed in a multiple-choice format with a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using an inferential statistical technique with SPSS version 25.0 at a 95% confidence interval and a 0.05 level of significance. Spearman’s rank order (rho) correlation coefficients and p-values were calculated in order to ascertain the nature and direction of the proposed associations and for testing the stated hypotheses. The findings from the study revealed that there is a moderate relationship between job enrichment and employee job satisfaction. Therefore, it is concluded that the more jobs are enriched in mobile telecommunication companies in River State, employee job satisfaction gets moderately affected. Based on the findings from the study, the study recommends that management of mobile telecommunication companies should consider using the job enlargement technique to increase worker’s scope. This is necessary to make work more stimulating and helps to motivate employees to do their best work.

Keywords: Job enrichment, employee job satisfaction, affective job satisfaction, cognitive job satisfaction.