UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business BUI THI THU HA THE STUDY OF ACCOUNTANTS’ TURNOVER INTENTION IN NHA TRANG MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business BUI THI THU HA THE STUDY OF ACCOUNTANTS’ TURNOVER INTENTION IN NHA TRANG ID: 22110012 MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) SUPERVISOR: Ass Prof Le Nguyen Hau Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincere thankfulness to my research advisor, As Prof Le Nguyen Hau, for his clear and careful direction, guidance and correction to my thesis I also thank Prof Nguyen Dinh Tho who exerts every effort in guiding me as well as ISB students to implement research I would like to thank my dear colleagues, friend and classmates for their invaluable advice, help, encouragement and support during the time I was doing this thesis Especially, I would like to give my special thanks my family for supporting me spiritually throughout my life Ho Chi Minh City, Bui Thi Thu Ha ii TABLES OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER I 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Research background and problem 1.3 Research question and objectives: 10 1.4 Scope of the study: 11 1.5 Organization of the study: 11 CHAPTER II 12 2.1 Introduction: 12 2.2 Theoretical review 12 2.2.1 Job autonomy 12 2.2.2 Task Interdependence 13 2.2.3 Job Satisfaction 14 2.2.4 Affective Commitment 14 2.2.5 Turnover Intention 16 2.3 The relationship among hypothesized variables 17 2.3.1 Job autonomy and Job satisfaction .17 2.3.2 Task interdependence and Job satisfaction 17 2.3.3 Job satisfaction and Affective commitment 17 2.3.4 Job satisfaction and Turnover intention 18 2.3.5 Affective commitment and Turnover intention .18 2.4 Concept framework of the study 19 CHAPTER III 20 3.1 Research Process 20 3.2 Conceptual variables and measurement scales 20 3.2.1 Job autonomy 21 3.2.2 Task interdependence .21 3.2.3 Job Satisfaction 21 iii 3.2.4 Affective commitment 22 3.2.5 Turnover intentions 22 3.2.6 Questionnaire’s measurement items: .23 3.3 Sampling method 24 3.3.1 Sampling 25 3.3.2 Data collection .25 3.4 Statistical Method 25 CHAPTER IV 27 4.1 Sample characteristics 27 4.2 Evaluation of measurement scales 30 4.2.1 Testing the reliability of variables 30 4.2.2 Scale testing by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 31 4.3 Correlation analysis 34 4.4 Hypotheses testing 35 4.5 The relationship between demographic variables and continuous variables: 40 4.6 Conclusion 45 CHAPTER V 47 5.1 Introduction 47 5.2 Summary 48 5.2.1 Relationship between Job characteristic and Job attitude: .48 5.2.2 The Internal relationship of job attitude: .48 5.2.3 Job attitude and behaviour intention 48 5.3 Managerial implications 48 5.4 Limitations and Recommendation for the future research .49 APPENDICES 58 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: A Conceptual Model 19 Figure 4.1 histogram 39 Figure 4.2 normal P-P of regression standardized residual 39 v LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Demographic characteristic of respondents 27 Table 4.2: Reliabilities Analysis 30 Table 4.3 EFA result of variables 32 Table 4.4 Rotated Component Matrix 32 Table 4.5 Correlation among factors 34 Table 4.6 Regression analysis - ANOVA 35 Table 4.7 Regression analysis - ANOVA 36 Table 4.8 Regression analysis - ANOVA 37 Table 4.9 Multiple Comparisons 41 Table 4.10 Conclusion 45 ABSTRACT Nowadays, role of accountants in every organizations are more and more important Their duties now are not restricted only to bookkeeping but they are involved in different managerial levels, analyze past, examine and evaluate present conditions and make financial decision for future activities of organizations The purpose of this study is to examine accountants’ job satisfaction focusing on the relationship among job characteristic and job attitude, and behavioral intention represented by turnover intention of accountants in Nha Trang organizations In this study, job characteristic is utilized with two variables which are job autonomy and task interdependence Job attitude is utilized with two variables which are job satisfaction and affective commitment Behavioral intention is utilized with turnover intention The data of this study are collected form 231 accountants who are working in Nha Trang The study used SPSS version 20 to analyze the data The study’s results indicate that in general the job attitude is affected by job characteristic The relationship within the variables of job attitude also indicated the job satisfaction has a positive relationship to affective commitment Moreover, the relationship between Job attitude and behavioral intention was showed that affective commitment and job satisfaction have positive influence on turnover intention CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction It is important issue for the HR manager to control employee turnover There are certain costs associated with replacing the existing employees like advertising, selecting, recruiting and training (Dalton, Todor, & Krackhardt, 1982) New employees often don’t work effectively as previous workers perform According to Dess & Shaw (2001), turnover of trained employees is social loss for the organization Several previous research have examined job satisfaction as a foundation of turnover intentions (Mobley et al., 1979; Price and Mueller, 1981; Shore and Martin, 1989; Ghiselli et al., 2001; McBey and Karakowsky, 2001), however, these research are conducted in the United States and Canada In addition, these research focus on hospitals, military and food-service companies However, the research found that turnover intention is predicted by job satisfaction, the strength of the job satisfaction and turnover intentions varies according to each setting The main purpose of any organizations is to improve their productivity, their performance and to become more competitive and gain a larger market share HR departments or managers of organizations should be concerned about their employees’ needs and work To every manager, understanding their employees’ psychology will help him to organize their organization better, as well as, improve the working effects in their organization They also want to establish satisfactory working conditions to enhance employees’ satisfaction Every people know that the role of accountants in every organization is very important Their duties now are not restricted only to bookkeeping but they are involved in different managerial levels, analyze past, examine and evaluate present conditions and make financial decisions for future activities of organizations Therefore, research to find what make their satisfaction is important too Autonomy involves responsibility for the outcomes of the work which results in outcomes like high work efficiency and higher levels of intrinsic motivation (Hackman & Oldham1976; Langfred & Moye, 2004) According to Cordery & Wall (1985), Job autonomy is the core of job characteristic It relates to the individual’s freedom in his/her work If the freedom can partly reduce the stress in the job, then he/she can promote their ability in the job Therefore, autonomy can make the job productivity Hackman & Oldham, (1975); Morgeson, Delaney-Klinger &Hemingway, (2005) suggest that Job autonomy is the degree to which the job offers considerable liberty, proving free hand and choice to the individual in scheduling the work and also defining the means to achieve the tasks According to Saragih (2011), Job autonomy results in an improved job performance because individuals think and consider themselves skillful and creative in accomplishing their tasks Autonomy and independence are not the same as autonomous workers may depend on interpersonal communication in order to complete the interdependent tasks (Dee, Henkin & Chen, 2000) Campion et al (1993, 1996) have also examined task interdependence as a job characteristic and they used employees’ perceptions to measure the variable They found employee task interdependence perceptions were positively related to employee satisfaction (Campion et al., 1993), employee and manager judgments of effectiveness (Campion et al., 1996), and productivity (Campion et al., 1993), suggesting a direct relationship between perceptions and team outcomes According to Meyer and Allen (1997), affective commitment refers to an employee's emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization Affective commitment is the affective bond an individual feels toward the organization, characterized by identification and involvement with the organization as well as njoyment in being a member of the organization (Allen and Meyer, 1990; Meyer and Allen, 1997; Mowday, Porter, and Steers, 1982) Job satisfaction has effect on to determine staying in or leaving the organization If employees are dissatisfied with their work they are likely to leave from the organization If employees believe that they are treated fairly and getting rewards they are unlikely to leave the organization Focusing on accountant’s job satisfaction, Strawser et al (1969) are among the first to examine the impact of job satisfaction on the productivity level within this profession Prodromos, Eftichia, Eleni , Elena and Anastastios (2011) also have a Structural Equation Model about Greek accountants’ satisfaction and turnover intentions QUESTIONAIRE Dear Respondents, This questionnaire is designed to measure the relationship among Job Autonomy, Task Interdependence, Job Satisfaction, Affective Commitment, Turnover Intention of accountants in companies/enterprise in Nha Trang Please, base on your own experience to answer this questionnaire completely The information you provide will help the researcher better understand the various aspects of accountants’ psychology in the Nha trang’s companies/ enterprise I request you to respond to the questions frankly and honestly Your response will be kept strictly confidential Only the author of the research will have access to the information you give In order to ensure the utmost privacy, the completed questionnaire will not be made available to anyone other than the research author Thank you very much for your time and assistance To The highest degree, I appreciate your help in furthering this research endeavour Yours sincerely, Researcher: Bùi Thị Thu Hà – Student of master program of EUH (ISB – International School of Business) PART I: OVERVIEW INFORMATION Are you accountant? □ True □ Fail If you are not accountant in Nha Trang organization, you needn’t answer these questions Thank you so much! If you are accountant who are working in Nha Trang, please, answer these questions completely 62 PART II: AFFECTED FACTORS Strongly agree Agree Lightly agree question Neuter Circling the chosen answers You must choose one answer for one Lightly disagree 5-Lightly agree , 6- Agree ,7- Strongly agree Disagree 1- Strongly disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Lightly disagree, 4- Neuter , Strongly disagree Which degree you agree with (scale from to 7)? JOB AUTONOMY I control the content of my job I have a lot of freedom to decide how I perform assigned task I set my own schedule for completing assigned tasks I have authority to initiate project at my job 7 Other job depend directly on my job 7 Unless my job gets done, other job cannot be completed The job activities are greatly affected by the work of other people 7 10 I am satisfied with my working condition 11 I am satisfied with my pay 12 I am satisfied with my promotion 13 I am satisfied with my supervision 14 I am satisfied with my co-workers 15 I am satisfied with my security JOB INTERDEPENDENCE The job requires me to accomplish my job before others complete their job The job depends on the work of many different people for its completion JOB SATISFACTION 63 AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT Disagree Lightly disagree Neuter Lightly agree Agree question Strongly disagree Strongly agree Which degree you agree with (scale from to 7)? 16 I really feel as if this organization's problems are my own 17 I feel like "part of the family" at my organization 18 I feel "emotionally attached" to this organization 19 This organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me 20 I would be very happy to spend the rest of my career with this 1- Strongly disagree, 2- Disagree, 3- Lightly disagree, 4- Neuter ,5Lightly agree , 6- Agree ,7- Strongly agree Circling the chosen answers You must choose one answer for one organization TURNOVER INTENTION Very unlikely Unlikely Somewhat unlikely Neuter Somewhat likely Likely Very likely Which degree you agree with (scale from to 7)? 7 23 I often think about quitting 24 As soon as I can find a better job, I will quit at this organization 25 I have started to look for other jobs 1- Very unlikely, 2- Unlikely, 3- Somewhat unlikely, 4- Neuter ,5Somewhat likely , 6- Likely ,7- Very likely Circling the chosen answers You must choose one answer for one question 21 I intend to leave the organization 22 I intent to make a genuine effort to find another job over the next few months 64 PART III: RESPONDENT’S INFORMATION What is your sex? □ Male □ Female What is your marital status? □ Married How old are you? □ 46-50 □ 20-25 □ Single □ 26 – 30 □ 31 – 35 □ 36 – 40 □ 41 – 45 □ >50 What is your current degree status? □ Professional School □ Collegue □ University □ MBA/PhD □ Others What is your current salary? □