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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 6

Publication Date: June 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/assrj.96.12406. Alharthey, A. M., Leong, Y. C., Said, M. F., & Chong, C. W. (2022). An Analysis of the Perceived Factors Impacting Employee

Satisfaction and Retention in Saudi Arabia’s Higher Education Sector. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 19-43.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

An Analysis of the Perceived Factors Impacting Employee

Satisfaction and Retention in Saudi Arabia’s Higher Education

Sector

Abdullah Mulfi Alharthey

Ph.D. Candidate; School of Business and Economics UPM, Malaysia

Lecturer; Faculty of Economics, Najran University, KSA

DR. Yee Choy Leong

Ph. D, School of Business and Economics, UPM, Malaysia

DR. Mohd Fuaad Said

Ph. D, School of Business and Economics, UPM, Malaysia

DR. Choo Wei Chong

Ph. D, School of Business and Economics, UPM, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to examine the factors that are perceived to have an

impact on employee satisfaction and retention. This study employed a survey

approach in order to gain the respondents' perceptions of the study. The target

respondents of this study are academicians in the educational sector in Saudi

Arabia. The source of the sampling based on the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education.

A total of 384 respondents participated in this study, and the collection of the data

was based on a stratified probability sampling technique. To address the research

objectives, the study employed PLS-SEM to test the hypotheses of the study. The

study has found that work engagement, co-worker relationships, and a supportive

work environment are key to employee satisfaction in the educational sector in

Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the working environment, perceived organizational

support, and a supportive work environment are key to employee retention.

Keywords: employee satisfaction, employee retention, educational sectors, Saudi Arabia

INTRODUCTION

Higher education in Saudi Arabia has suffered from low employee satisfaction and employee

retention. The scarcity of academic staff and the failure to retain quality academic staff in Saudi

Arabia's higher education system reveal emerging problems. Most Saudi universities are facing

challenges to becoming world-class in teaching, research, and services related to the

development of academic institutions [1]. Universities need to have committed staff with high

intentions to stay in their employment. Job retention for academics in institutions is essential

for institutional health and survival as well as for the achievement of conceived missions [2].

However, job retention among academic staff is reported to be low in Saudi universities [3]. The

government and the Ministry of Higher Education are concerned about academic staff leaving

Saudi Arabian universities, and most academic units are understaffed [4]. That means there is

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 6, June-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

a high percentage of unfilled teaching posts and understaffing, a high number of students

compared to the academic staff ratios, and overdependence on existing lecturers, which are all

counterproductive to the functionality of the university.

The determinants of employee satisfaction and retention still have asymmetrical findings

within the theoretical basis. This is due to the varied organizational environments and industry

types. The higher education sector received less attention in the literature. The most relevant

theoretical basis is constructed within the industrial industry, which lacks application in service

sectors [5-7]. This study helps to close this gap by looking at employee satisfaction and

retention in the higher education sector through a single model.

To address these issues, this study identified factors that have a potential impact on employee

satisfaction and employee retention. These factors were retrieved from the related literature,

which first found a less concerning response from the Saudi Arabian higher education

authorities, and second, these factors were found to have high predictive influence on employee

satisfaction and employee retention. Thus, the objective of the study consists of two contexts,

which are: 1) to examine the factors perceived to have the impact on employee satisfaction; and

2) to examine the factors perceived to have the impact on employee retention.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

Based on literature analysis, this study has identified factors perceived contributed to the

employee satisfaction and employee retention. Those factors have discussed in bellowing

section.

Work Engagement and Employee Satisfaction

Work engagement is the degree to which one's work execution in an organization has been

assimilated [8]. The engagement level of employees resulted from the management decision,

which decided to which extent its employees were involved in drafting the organizational

objectives and strategies. It occurs when the management commits to allowing employees to

craft the organization's orientation [9]. Engaged employees are motivated to show up for work

every day and do everything in their power to help their businesses succeed.

Several previous studies, such as Côté, Lauzier [6], Perera, Granziera [10], Ilkhanizadeh and

Karatepe [11], confirmed a significant and positive relationship between work engagement and

employee satisfaction. These studies examine this relationship from the perspective of

employees, unlike other studies that measured this relationship from the perspective of the

organization. The organization's perspective based on satisfying employees will lead to high

engagement of the employees. Some companies only care that their employees are satisfied.

When many of the staff are satisfied with their jobs, they settle for showing up to the office

every day and are not actively looking for another job [12]. Because they are satisfied, their

companies have a low turnover rate, which in some cases, convinces management that all is

well. Based on the above arguments and the findings from past literature, it can be

hypothesized:

H1: work engagement has a significant and positive effect on employee satisfaction in

education sector in Saudi Arabia

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Alharthey, A. M., Leong, Y. C., Said, M. F., & Chong, C. W. (2022). An Analysis of the Perceived Factors Impacting Employee Satisfaction and Retention

in Saudi Arabia’s Higher Education Sector. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 19-43.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.96.12406

Co-Worker Relationship and Employee Satisfaction

Sollitto and Myers [13] defined co-worker relationship as relationships between employees at

the same hierarchical level who do not have formal responsibility over one other. Synergy is a

vital component of co-worker relations in any company [14]. It is the ability of its members to

organize their selves when faced with a need. Synergy can be established as a common group

dynamic in a company, it is most likely that the goals will take very little time to be achieved.

The co-worker relations that occur in a company can be so diverse that you must know them

before attempting any change.

Several previous studies such as Valaei and Rezaei [7], Alegre, Mas-Machuca [15], Mohamad

Faridthul Azhar [16], found that co-worker relationship has a significant and positive

association with employee satisfaction. The employment relationship that occurs when a

temporary contract is signed is not the same as the one that occurs in an indefinite-term

contract. But despite the existence of different work modalities, classifying them for analysis is

not impossible. Based on the above arguments and the findings from past literature, it can be

hypothesized:

H2: co-worker relation has a significant and positive effect on employee satisfaction in

education sector in Saudi Arabia

Compensation Package and Employee Satisfaction

Compensation package is payments made by the company to its workers, such as: salaries,

awards, social benefits, and opportunities for advancement [17]. An easier way of explanation

would be that compensation package are rewards or incentives for the worker to which extent

they are satisfied. The scientific management movement initiated the rise of compensation

package systems by providing objective standards of performance, by which employee

productivity could be measured and rewarded. Mauno and Ruokolainen [18] believed that

employees could apply more effort if they were paid a satisfied compensation package based

on the number of units they produced. Although the compensation package schemes varied

from the system for calculating pay, all were an attempt to relate employee wages more closely

to productivity.

Several previous studies such as Alegre, Mas-Machuca [15], Valaei and Rezaei [19], and

Mohamad Faridthul Azhar [20] found that compensation package has a significant and positive

relationship with the employee satisfaction. The main objective of the compensation package

is to satisfy the workers of an organization to improve their performance in activities, which

perhaps they do not consider motivating with compensation systems such as hourly, seniority

or both at the same time. Based on the above arguments and the findings from past literature,

it can be hypothesized:

H3: Compensation package has a significant and positive effect on employee satisfaction in

education sector in Saudi Arabia

Perceived Organizational Support and Employee Satisfaction

Perceived organizational support was defined by Afsar and Badir [21] as an employee's

conviction that the organisation values and cares about his or her contribution to the long-term

success of the organisation. Eisenberger, Huntington [22]found that the employees of the same

organization presented common patterns regarding their perception of how the organization

valued their contributions and how it would react to a series of situations whose objective was