IMPACT OF JOB SATISFACTION ON JOB ENGAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES: A CASE STUDY OF STAFF GRADE OFFICERS IN WESTERN PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, SRI LANKA

Abstract

The prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka compels to bring several reforms to the public sector to trim the massive number of employments. Despite the other concerns, it highlights the necessity of revitalizing the workforce optimally. Therefore, job satisfaction and job engagement are of paramount importance to organizational performance in accordance with the overwhelming research in developed countries. This study aimed to find out the most affecting factors of job satisfaction and its relevance to job engagement among executives in the public sector. The dearth of research in the Sri Lankan public sector in this regard and the multidimensional role of the executives in their multitude of services led to selecting the staff grade officials serving in the Western Provincial Council as the stratified random sampling method. The quantitative approach was followed and a self administered online questionnaire was used to measure their job satisfaction and job engagement. Findings obtained from the 90 respondents were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Results revealed a positive relationship between job satisfaction and job engagement exist among the staff grade officials. Further, this study summarized all the observed factors affecting job satisfaction, i.e., remuneration, performance appraisal, career development opportunities, support of co-workers and subordinates, nature of work and appreciation and recognition positively influenced job engagement. Insight into these findings would benefit to reinforce the mechanism for better public service delivery, at this vital stage to bloom Sri Lanka.