Privatisation, employee job satisfaction and organisational commitment

This study was aimed, primarily, at testing for changes in employee job satisfaction and organisational commitment since privatisation. It also aimed at testing for differences between: Public vs Private Sector employees; Share Owner and Nonshare Owner employees; and Managers and Non-managers on Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment and Participation in Decision Making. 301 employees from Private (98), Public (101) and Privatised (102) organisations filled out questionnaires on Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, Attitude to Privatisation and Participation in Decision Making. In a follow-up study, 31 employees from the three organisations filled-up questionnaires based upon the findings of the first study. In the first study, Employee Job Satisfaction was assessed in 1988 and at the same time, employees were required to recall how satisfied they were with their jobs in 1983. The results indicated fewer significant differences among the three groups in 1983, the differences being mainly between the private and public sector organisations. The 1988 measures indicated several significant differences in Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment, this time mainly between the private and privatised organisations. The second study revealed significant declines in employee satisfaction with several important job aspects as, Job Security, Pay, Industrial Relations, Management etc. Managers were observed to be significantly different from workers on Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment and Participation in Decision Making. Share owner employees did not differ significantly from non-share owners on Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, Participation in Decision Making and attitude to Privatisation. Attitude to privatisation was found to moderate the effect of sector of ownership on the dependent variables. It was concluded that the perceived differences in job satisfaction and organisational commitment within the public and privatised organisations was due to certain restructuring processes going on in these organisations. Recommendations are made to future researchers interested in the relationship between privatisation and employee work attitudes