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Abstract
Purpose - This study aims to examine workplace learning and job satisfaction in small, commercial US banks.
Design/methodology/approach - Survey data collection with correlational procedure.
Findings - The study found a statistically significant relationship between the workplace learning variables and the job satisfaction variables.
Research limitations/implications - Furthers the linkages between the opportunities for learning in the workplace with how satisfied employees are with their jobs. Also establishes the importance of informal and incidental learning, rather than formal learning.
Practical implications - Emphasizes the need for managers to make learning opportunities available to enhance overall job satisfaction. In addition, helps place the need for expenditures on non-formal learning, not just formal learning where all the money is usually spent.
Originality/value - Few studies have looked at the role of workplace learning in small businesses. Very few have linked workplace learning to the things that make people feel good enough about their work to stay on with a company. This study also solidifies the need to focus on something besides "training."
Keywords Workplace learning, Job satisfaction, Commercial banks
Paper type Research paper
This study examines the relationship between workplace learning and job satisfaction in the context of the small business. Job satisfaction is one of the most widely researched yet least understood phenomenon in organizations today. Perhaps because job satisfaction is one of subjective perception - how one feels about one's work numerous factors have been associated with job satisfaction, such as pay, benefits, promotion, communication, supervision, co-workers, and so forth. One area that has not been explored adequately is the impact workplace learning has on job satisfaction (Cropanzano and Byrne, 2001). Size of company and the industry may also be factors.
In 1997, for example, the Wall Street Journal (Tannenbaum, 1997) and Small Business Economic Trends (1997) reported on a survey conducted for Inc. Magazine. Each year Inc. Magazine releases its annual report on the state of small businesses in the US. Normally, their report presents the latest trends, issues, legislation, and start-up/failure statistics concerning small businesses. However, in 1997 for the first time they surveyed workers in large and in small businesses to find out how they felt about their jobs. The findings revealed what most had expected - that big companies...