THE RELATİONSHİP BETWEEN JOB SATİSFACTİON AND AFFECTİVE COMMİTMENT AMONG ADMİNİSTRATİVE STAFF İN SAUDİ ARABİA

Previous researches revealed that there is a relationship between job satisfaction and commitment which in turn benefit the workplaces positively. Organizational commitment consisted of three dimensions, namely affective, commitment, continues commitment, and normative commitment. Job satisfaction has been considered as an important predictor to enhance affective commitment among employees. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to look at the relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment among employees of higher learning institutions of Saudi Arabia. This paper employed survey method in collecting data from a sample of 373 administrative employees selected from Saudi Arabian universities., which will further the understanding of the link between affective commitment and job satisfaction. The data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation and regression through SPSS Version 23. The findings of this paper indicate that job satisfaction has a positive effect on affective commitment at higher learning institutions of Saudi Arabia. This paper also provides discussion on the practical implication of this study toward the higher learning institution in Saudi Arabia.


INTRODUCTION
Saudi Arabia has become one of the fastest growing countries and its economy is considered as a strong economy in the Middle East. The nature of the Saudi workplace is an interactive and diverse environment. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has a large number of successful employees. It is possible that their previous experience may enhance the knowledge and skills levels of the workplaces (Shiryan et al., 2012). Active employees are always satisfied and committed to their work due to their desires to develop and help their workplaces. Research has generally found that satisfied employees are more productive and committed to their jobs, whereas dissatisfied ones experience absenteeism, grievances and turnover (Manap, 2017).
Job satisfaction and affective commitment have become very essential aspects in successful workplaces. In addition, in this productive and creative environment, organizations pay more attention on developing job satisfaction and organizational commitment among their employees in order to retain them and at the same time to be more productive. Issues such as high turnover rate, absenteeism, role conflict, job stress, burnout etc. are posing challenges for the organizations which are due to lack of job satisfaction and commitment among employees (Azem and Akhtar, 2014). Although, the concept of job satisfaction and organizational commitment are studied widely in public and private sector organizations in other parts of the world, it is not yet studied in the same way in Saudi Arabia.
Thus, this current paper aims to examine the impact of job satisfaction on affective commitment among Saudi Arabian administrative employees. It is important to understand what contributes to develop satisfaction and affective commitment among the employees which could successively enhance their performance. Previous literature indicated that work attitudes have been extensively studied over time. Work-related attitudes can be defined as evaluative tendencies towards one's job (Verquer et al., 2003). There are various constructs of work attitudes, such as job involvement, work engagement, job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Geldenhuys et al., 2014). The present research investigates two types of employees' work attitudes that might be successful characteristics in organisations. The two types of the potential work-related attitudes are job satisfaction and affective commitment. These two types of work-related attitudes are very significant to influence the behaviour of employees at the workplaces and could make the relationships between leaders and members more positive.
As a widely studied subject, several definitions of job satisfaction were described by researchers. The most popular definition of job satisfaction is given by Locke (1976) who defined job satisfaction as a pleasure of positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job experience. Job satisfaction is also defined as "the satisfaction individuals derive from intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of their careers, including pay, advancement, and developmental opportunities" (Judge et al., 1995). Thus, a sense of satisfaction or its absence could result from the individual's subjective, emotional reaction. One of the early definitions of job satisfaction that has been widely cited in the literature is the one by Locke, (1976). It refers to job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. Moreover, according to Smith et al. (1969), there are two sources of job satisfaction: intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction. Intrinsic source comes from within the person and have self-administered psychological value. In contrast, extrinsic sources of satisfaction come from influences that are not within the person, from external influence outside the control of the person. In addition, some sources of satisfaction could be both intrinsic and extrinsic at the same time. For example, a high salary and rapid career progress offer dual source of satisfaction.
Job satisfaction has several dimensions which have been introduced by researchers differently. From an alternative perspective, researchers are often interested in the relative importance of specific dimensions of satisfaction. The five facets of job satisfaction are satisfaction with work, supervision, co-workers, pay, and promotions. These are related to one another (Kinicki et al. 2002). Also, they have become very important to achieve job satisfaction and they might impact the performance of the employees positively (Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). For example, when employees are satisfied at their workplaces, they will become more active and inspired to benefit their organisations. Moreover, if workers get good payment from their employer, this will enhance their desires to focus in their jobs and not be destroyed to look for a second job with extra payment.
Researchers found affective commitment as the most beneficial (i.e. employee are less likely to leave, be absent and are more accepting of change). Affective commitment facilitates creating a strong belief and acceptance of the goals and values of the organisation (Meyer et al., 2002). The reasons of its importance can be explored from two perspectivescollectivistic values and macro-economic conditions (Jain, 2016). Commitment in the workplace can take various forms and, arguably, have the potential to influence organisational effectiveness and employee well-being (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001). It can be defined as a stabilizing or obliging force that gives direction to behaviour (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001).
According to Porter et al. (1974), commitment is reflected in a person's active participation in all facets of organisational life relevant to the person's job position in the organisation. Researchers generally agree on the three-dimensional conceptualisation of the term (i.e., affective, continuance, and normative commitment) (Allen and Meyer, 1990). It is based on such conceptualisation that commitment is viewed as an employee's (a) firm belief in the objectives of the organisation and acceptance of same; (b) a desire to invest greater efforts towards achieving the goals of the organisational; and (c) his/her strong wish to continue working with and stay with the organisation. These psychological states are a reflection of the three dimensions of commitment.
Affective commitment describes an employee's attachment to his or her workplace which translate into an emotional desire to stay and not leave the organisation. Continuance commitment is a rational calculation on the benefits accruable from or the cost of staying with the organisation, the employee always staying with the organisation where the benefits outweigh the cost. Normative commitment arises from the feeling of an obligation on the part of the organisation to continue with the working relationship. The employee stays committed to the organisation when he or she feels it is only right to do so (McKenna, 2005).
This study focuses on affective commitment only. Being a feeling of intense emotional attachment to one's workplace (Meyer and Allen, 1991), affective commitment requires harmony between an employee's values and aspirations and the origination's objectives. The product of this juncture is loyalty. A loyal and committed employee identifies himself or herself with the overarching goals of the organisation, feels a part of it and values the relationship (O'reilly and Chatman, 1986;Shore and Tetrick, 1991).
Affective commitment is alien to absenteeism in relationship (McKenna, 2005).. Affectively committed employees are hardworking and highly productive than those not so committed. Moreover, highly affectively committed employees are more susceptible to citizenship behaviours such helping colleagues, volunteering, customer-focused, workplace participation. Thus, affectively committed employees tend to be more loyal and rarely withdraw their services. The previous studies indicated a great relationships between job satisfaction and affective commitment in Saudi Arabia (Abouraia and Othman, 2017). In other words, the link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment is highly notable and significant. Job satisfaction leads employees to be committed and loyal to their jobs. When employees are satisfied with their work, definitely they will become very emotionally attached to their organisations. This means employees will love their works and will stay working due to their emotional commitment to this specific workplace.
Moreover, Literature revealed a better understanding of how high levels of turnover among employees can be mitigated through enhanced levels of job satisfaction and affective commitment. Employees with high level of job satisfaction and affective commitment don't intend to leave their jobs. Previous findings show that both job satisfaction and affective commitment influence turnover intention negatively in Saudi Arabia (Falatah, 2019). In other words, the high levels of job satisfaction and affective commitment can reduce the level of turnover intention among the employees in Saudi Arabia. Also, certain facets of job satisfaction have direct and indirect (via different dimensions of organizational commitment) effects on various dimensions of attitudes toward organizational change (Yousef, 2017).
Furthermore, various dimensions of organizational commitment have direct effects on different dimensions of attitudes toward organizational change. Organizational commitment plays a mediating role between various facets of job satisfaction and different dimensions of attitudes toward organizational change. As for practitioners (human resource managers for example), understanding the relationships among the three constructs will help them make better decisions pertaining to improving satisfaction with the facets of the job that have low satisfaction, strengthen employees' organizational commitment, and stimulating employees' acceptance of organizational change. The findings from previous studies that certain facets of job satisfaction have indirect (via various dimensions of organizational commitment) effects on different dimensions of attitudes toward organizational change imply that gaining employees' acceptance of and support to change requires that attention should to be paid to enhancing employees' satisfaction with certain facets of the job and in turn improving their levels of commitment to their organisations.
Furthermore, previous studies suggested that re-configured job designs to build and cultivate links between employees and their organisations will be necessary to enhance job satisfaction and commitment levels and to reduce turnover intention (Shiryan et al., 2012;Falatah, 2019). This can be achieved through the establishment of frequent and timely multidisciplinary team meetings that will encourage more accurate knowledge exchange (and thereby enhance mutual knowledge), better goal alignment, less process losses and more effective problem solving inter-disciplinary teams. These activities will certainly serve to positively influence work-related outcomes relevant to employees such as job satisfaction and affective commitment in Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the previous studies extend on their findings by suggesting that relational coordination plays an important role in enhancing both job satisfaction and affective commitment, which act as important mechanisms in reducing turnover intention (Azem and Akhtar, 2014;Alghamdi and Khan, 2018). Improving job satisfaction through, for example, designing effective and efficient incentive programs and job description will result in enhancing employees' commitment to their current departments and consequently they will be more respective and supportive to change (Yousef, 2017). Therefore, affective commitment is significant in this article as the outcome variable and job satisfaction as the predictor. Hypothesis : Job satisfaction will significantly positive related to affective commitment.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The survey method was employed in collecting data from a sample of 373 administrative employees selected from Saudi Arabian universities. The survey questionnaire elicited responses based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Job satisfaction was measured using a 15-item scale developed by Warr et al., (1979). This scale consists of the items related to various facets of the job to be satisfied or dissatisfied. The facets include physical conditions, management, salary, and job security. Mansell et al., (2006) found that alpha coefficients for composite satisfaction measure ranged from .88 to .91.This scale requires the respondents to indicate how satisfied or dissatisfied they were on a five-point response scale, ranging from "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied". High scores represent a high-level of satisfaction. Moreover, the researcher measured affective commitment using the affective commitment sub-scale of OCQ developed by Allen and Meyer (1990). This is because the items in this scale recorded reliability with alpha cronbach.74 (Kim, 2014). There are seven items with five-point response scales ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree in this sub-scale. The examples of item are "I don't sense I strong belonging to this company" and "I don't feel emotionally attached to this university".
Correlation coefficients and regression analysis were used to analyze the obtained data. Descriptive analysis is the basic analysis of the study variables, it reflect the view of respondent toward each variable of the proposal model. This study involves two variables. These variables were measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from "1=strongly disagree" to "5=strongly agree". For the five scale measures, the mean is classified as low, moderate or high in the range between (1 to 2.33, 2.34 to 3.66 and 3.67 to 5) respectively. Table 1 displays the obtained means scores for job satisfaction and affective commitment scales are 3.75 and 3.65 respectively. As can be seen in the table below job satisfaction has the highest mean of (3.75). However, Affective Commitment is found to fall in the moderate level with the mean 3.65. Moreover, the standard deviation for these variables are .67 and .83, which is smaller than 2 indicating the existence of considerable acceptable variability within the dataset.  .000 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The regression analysis was used to find out whether job satisfaction are influencing affective commitment. Table 3 indicates that job satisfaction (adjusted R = 0.431, F = 282.776, P < 0.00) have contributed toward the R 2 value. Based on the R square value of 0.433, the job satisfaction could explain 43% in the variation of employees' affective commitment. The study hypothesis is fully supported by the obtained result as job satisfaction is found significantly predicting affective commitment. The finding of this article revealed that job satisfaction was found significantly related to affective commitment in Saudi Arabia. Results are supported by previous research findings (Yousef, 2017;Manap, 2017;Falatah, 2019). It means, as job satisfaction of employees with the organization increases the level of affective commitment also increases. The probable reason to this connection could be better tangible and intangible rewards received by the employees as they become satisfied and committed to their jobs. The findings of several researches pointed out pay as a key human resources practice which affects employee satisfaction and commitment (Azem and Akhtar, 2014).
Overall, the findings of the present study indicate that Saudi Arabian administrative employees working in public universities are satisfied with the nature of the work they do, the supervision they receive, the co-workers they work with, and the pay they receive and promotional opportunities to grow. Employees in the sample show the level of affective commitment with university they currently work with. The job satisfaction is found significantly related to affective commitment.
This research adds to the body of knowledge by examining the relationship between job satisfaction and affective commitment. Also, it reviewed several studies relating to job satisfaction and affective commitment among administrative employees in Saudi Arabian universities. However, the results cannot be generalized as they are specific to the sample that was selected from the five universities in Saudi Arabia only. Yet the finding could help the researchers to further explore the similar variables across the country to draw a solid conclusion for actions. In addition, future researchers can examine this relationship qualitatively to understand the key factor of job satisfaction that influences affective commitment in either public or private sector in Saudi Arabia.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, in this study, job satisfaction is the independent variable and affective commitment as the dependent variable among employees in Saudi Arabia. Employees' job satisfaction is an important aspect in Saudi Arabian workplaces, as other Arab countries, particularly as it influences affective commitment positively. Job satisfaction can resolve the issues that lead employees to leave their organizations.