International Journal of Business Research and Development ISSN 1929-0977 | Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 1-16 (2012) www.sciencetarget.com

Job Satisfaction among Expatriate and National Employees in an Arabian Gulf Context AbdelRahman A. AbdelRahman1*, Abdallah M. Elamin2 and M. G. Aboelmaged3 1

College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, Dubai, UAE

2

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia 3

Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract This study examines the influence of nationality of managers (domestic or expatriate) on work satisfaction in the banking industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The impact of the nationality of managers on five dimensions of work-based satisfaction was assessed. These dimensions include: satisfaction with pay; satisfaction with job characteristics; satisfaction with promotion opportunities; satisfaction with co-workers and satisfaction with supervisors. The principal finding of the study is that domestic bank managers express a higher level of satisfaction with pay, job characteristics, promotion opportunities, co-workers, and supervisors than their expatriate counterparts. The study attributes this disparity to social comparison, complexity of work, job stress, role ambiguity, lack of integration in formal and social network within work groups, unfulfilled career advancement, language and culture barriers, and the authoritarian management style of Arab managers. Keywords: Job satisfaction, Expatriates, Banking, United Arab Emirates

1. Introduction In an increasingly competitive global environment brought about by a myriad of social, economic, political, and technological forces, international job mobility is becoming a more common experience for a mounting number of employees. An international business experience may have a number of positive outcomes, including, skill acquisition, personal development, and long-term career advancement (Black et al., 1992). However, such an experience is not without drawbacks, including family and social tension associated with expatriate assignments, a lack of respect for acquired skills, loss of status, and reverse culture

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

shock on return (Daily et al., 2000; Caligiuri and Lazarova, 2001; Stahl et al., 2002). In view of these positive and negative aspects associated with international relocations, individuals must confront a high degree of uncertainty when they are offered a foreign assignment (Bonache, 2005). Therefore, one of the central questions that expatriates have to answer before accepting a foreign assignment is how satisfying will the experience be? This study is an attempt that contributes to answering this question. To provide an empirical evidence to help in answering this question, the study is divided into

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five sections: The first section provides background information on the context. The second section provides a rationale for the study while the third section reviews the relevant literature and offers a series of hypotheses relating nationality to the five work satisfaction dimensions. The fourth section discusses methods used while the fifth section presents and discusses results. The final section offers conclusions.

2. The Context The United Arab Emirates comprises seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharajah, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain, which forms a federation with substantial powers to each emirate. The economy of United Arab Emirates (UAE) is largely dependent on the production and export of oil and gas. Dubai Emirate is a notable exception to this; its economy depends on production of services. Dubai City is a busy international trading area and a major gateway to the Middle East. The UAE became a highly prosperous country after foreign investment began funding the desert-and-coastal nation in 1970s. The country has experienced a sharp rise in its standard of living in the last three decades. Manifestations of modernity are evident in UAE‟s state of the art transportation and communications systems, world-class hotels and shopping malls, and the presence of a multitude of multinational corporations and expatriate personnel. However, the country still clings to well-entrenched traditions manifested in, inter alia, the sanctity of camels in the lives of UAE nationals, the influence of identity on the material circumstances of life, and the influence of connections on work-related outcomes. Identity in the UAE revolves around which clan or tribe a national belongs to. Family names could bestow consequential social status and the kind of treatment one gets in both public and private business domains. Over the last three decades, rapid economic expansion created a severe labor shortage that could only be filled by a huge influx of expatriate workers. According to the 2005 census, 78.1 percent (2,944,159) of the UAE population are expatriates, the majority of whom is Asian expatriates. Arab, European, and other expatriates do not exceed 15 percent (441624) of the total

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number of expatriates in the UAE. Thus, the country relies heavily on multicultural expatriate workers. Accordingly, the work culture of the UAE has two distinct sectors. UAE citizens typically migrate to high paying administrative public sector work. Citizens are generally guaranteed employment and provided with government-sponsored universal health care, generous educational scholarships and resources, various financial privileges, and legal favoritism. These privileges are associated with the public policy of emiratization which seeks, among other things, to provide jobs and job-related privileges to nationals to reduce the country‟s heavy dependence on foreign labor. Jobs in private sector organizations are typically held by expatriate workers from numerous countries. Most of these individuals are temporary legal residents of the UAE and maintain their status under restrictive work visas (Askari et al., 1998). Unlike some neighboring Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, the general business culture in the UAE is less strict or rigid. However, it still remains religiously conservative, male dominated, and somewhat class oriented (Askari et al., 1998). The banking industry in the UAE has experienced substantial growth since the establishment of the country. There are currently 21 national banks and 28 foreign banks carrying various banking activities in the UAE and serving a population of approximately two million people. The UAE central bank monitors and regulates the financial sector. In the UAE, a well-structured network of local banks and branches of foreign banks provide a full range of commercial banking services.

3. Rationale of the study The rationale of the present study stems from the fact that though there are numerous publications on job satisfaction, there have been relatively very little empirical studies assessing the influence of the nationality in general and still less on the strategic implications thereof in developing countries, the UAE being no exception. Such research is needed, because the link, if any, between nationality and work satisfaction has implications for labor cost and productivity, and ultimately for economic growth. Smith (1992) succinctly argued that job satisfaction can lead to

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cost reduction by reducing absences, task errors, and turnover. Therefore, from a strategic stance, understanding the factors involved in job satisfaction is crucial to improving employees‟ performance and productivity (Okpara, 2004). Second, this study also helps fulfill the need to understand work-related attitudes in a highly multicultural setting such as the UAE. Insights into the influences of culture and nationality on job satisfaction could provide strategies for enhancing job satisfaction of workers with different cultural and national background. Mainstream management literature has argued and empirically demonstrated that job satisfaction influences organizational commitment, turnover intention, and absenteeism (McCormack et al. 2006; Miller and Monge, 1986; Cotton and Tuttle, 1986; Bonache, 2005, Vidal et al., 2007). The literature has also demonstrated that dissatisfied workers exhibit low morale, poor performance, and low productivity. Job dissatisfaction is also associated with higher costs of hiring, retention, and training (Okpara, 2004). This study also helps in filling the gap associated with the dearth of nationality-related job satisfaction studies in developing contexts. UAE‟s unique economic, political and socio-cultural context provides an opportunity for gaining some insights into the relationship between nationality and local culture on the one hand and job satisfaction on the other. This could stimulate further research in this area. Finally, from a practical standpoint, the study will inform practitioners about how to deal with such a critical issue in a multicultural work setting.

4. Literature Review Job satisfaction is one of the heavily researched areas in the management discipline. However, studies focusing on comparing the job satisfaction of domestic and expatriate managers remain a relative rarity (Bonache, 2005). As a result of many decades of research effort, there appears to be a consensus among scholars on the meaning of job satisfaction. As early as the 1970s, Lock (1976) defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of one‟s job experiences. Similarly, Kreitner and Kinicki (1992) defined job satisfaction as an affective or emotional response towards one‟s job.

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Furthermore, Bonache (2005) provided a more comprehensive definition, based on psychosociological perspectives. He defined job satisfaction as an effective or emotional response towards various facets of one‟s job, and in which processes of social comparison take place. By and large, however, job satisfaction is a product of satisfaction with a number of different aspects of the job. The work satisfaction dimensions considered in this study comprises satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with job characteristics, satisfaction with promotional opportunities, satisfaction with co-workers, and satisfaction with supervision. 4.1. Satisfaction with Pay Although job satisfaction does not depend only on the economic dimension of jobs, the literature considers pay a key human resources practice which affects employee satisfaction (Dolliver, 2004; Ducharme et al., 2005). Nevertheless, empirical studies investigating the salary and pay differences of expatriate and domestic employees and the influence of this on satisfaction with pay are rare. There are two contradictory arguments within the mainstream literature on expatriation. The first argument maintains that companies usually pay expatriates a higher remuneration than domestic employees receive (Reynolds, 1997; Selmer et al., 2001; Vidal et al., 2007) for the purpose of compensating them for working and living abroad (Bonache et al., 2001). The second argument contends that expatriates are generally not satisfied with their pay. Thus, Black et al. (1992), for instance, asserts that 77 percent of expatriate employees are highly unsatisfied with their compensation systems. Hamill (1989) suggests that these low levels of pay satisfaction might account for the high rates of expatriate failure. According to the social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954; Adams, 1965) satisfaction is a function of how fairly an individual is treated at work. Satisfaction results from one‟s perception that works outcomes, relative to inputs, compare favorably with a significant other‟s outcomes/ inputs. Dissimilar ratios lead to perceptions of inequality (Bonache, 2005). Accordingly, a main concern when analyzing people‟s satisfaction with their salary and pay level is identifying the referent used in the individual comparisons (Chen et al.,

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2002). At the work setting, expatriates are likely to use multiple referents of comparison (Bonache et al., 2001) including comparison to other fellows within the same organization (assessment of internal equity), to employees occupying similar jobs in other organizations (assessment of external equity), and to employees performing similar jobs within the same organization (assessment of relative equity). Therefore, the question of equity is very critical for satisfaction with pay. In the UAE, although expatriate employees occupy a full range of private sectors jobs ranging from janitorial and other blue color jobs to highly specialized medical jobs, their salaries and pay are typically lower than UAE nationals (Askari et al., 1998). The feelings of unfairness expatriates experience affect their satisfaction (Vidal et al., 2007). Thus, one should expect a higher level of satisfaction with pay among nationals compared to their expatriate counterparts. Hence, the following hypothesis is suggested: H1: Domestic bank managers in UAE will be more satisfied with their pay than their expatriate colleagues. 4.2. Job characteristics The literature on job satisfaction clearly states the importance of job characteristics with regard to employees‟ job satisfaction (Cotton and Tuttle, 1986; Vidal et al., 2007). The characteristics of the position that one occupies, therefore, are critical aspects of job satisfaction. There is no doubt that an interesting and rewarding job will greatly contribute to increasing satisfaction within a given work milieu. Job characteristics refer to variables that describe characteristics of jobs performed by employees. A job characteristic is an attribute that creates conditions for high work motivation, satisfaction, and performance (Hackman and Oldham, 1980). According to a job characteristics theory proposed by Turner and Lawrence (1965), employers should build into employees‟ jobs certain characteristics that create satisfying conditions. Hackman and Oldham (1980) revised this theory and proposed five core job characteristics that should be included in any job. These characteristics include skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Researchers have repeatedly shown that these job characteristics strongly influence workers‟ attitudes, including satisfaction and commitment Science Target Inc. www.sciencetarget.com

(Miller and Monge, 1986; Cotton and Tuttle, 1986; Bonache, 2005, Vidal et al., 2007). Although much of empirical research has examined the relationships between job characteristics and satisfaction, a limited number of researches have focused on expatriate and domestic managers‟ perceptions of job characteristics and how that may result in satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their jobs. One of the principal reasons expatriates give for failing in their overseas jobs is that they cannot cope with the complexity of work responsibility (Katz and Seifer, 1996). Similarly, Shaffer and Harrison (1998) and Shaffer et al. (1999) found that some variables, considered to be antecedents of job satisfaction in domestic situations, seem to be also strongly related to satisfaction in overseas assignments. This is consistent with Nauman‟s (1993) argument that various characteristics of the job were related to job satisfaction for both domestic and expatriate workers. Black (1988) argued that employees on international assignment will be subject to a higher level of stress than that of domestic employees and sometimes their workload is considerably high. Similarly, Bonache (2005) pointed out that „expatriate, as compared with domestic employees, experienced greater job overload, greater external pressure, and greater pressure from the visibility of their jobs. Moreover, their functions are not always completely specified, so they may experience a higher degree of uncertainty, confusion and role ambiguity‟. Indeed all these undesirable facets seem to affect satisfaction adversely. It can thus be hypothesized that: H2: Domestic bank managers in UAE will be more satisfied with their jobs characteristics than their expatriate counterparts. 4.3. Promotional opportunities There is little research on the differences in expatriate-domestic perceptions of promotional opportunities in work settings. However, mainstream management literature persuasively asserts that job satisfaction is strongly associated with the potential for job growth. The prospect of career advancement is an important motive for expatriates on their international assignment. Suutari (2003) suggested that one of the main reasons for employees accepting an expatriation is that they usually expect that international

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assignments increase their career opportunities within the company. Riordan and Shore (1997) pointed out that demographic similarity might influence an individual‟s perceptions of opportunities for advancement within an organization. Such an argument is central to the question of the attitudes of domestic and expatriate employees regarding promotional opportunities in a typical organization. As stated by Fernandez (1981), individuals who are demographically dissimilar (expatriate) to other members (domestic) of their work group may perceive their chances for development within an organization as low. Consequently, expatriate employees may be less integrated into the formal network within the work group and thus would be likely to perceive that fewer promotional opportunities exist within the organization. Hence, expatriate expectations of career advancement are not fulfilled (Dowling and Welch, 2004). Frequently, the company assigns expatriate employees jobs with lower hierarchical positions than the ones assigned to the domestic counterparts. Moreover, they may find that domestic counterparts have advanced further in their professional career (Vidal et al., 2007). For the purpose of this study, the following hypothesis is suggested for empirical testing: H3: Domestic bank managers will be more satisfied with their promotional opportunities than their expatriate counterparts. 4.4. Co-workers Social network theory has shown that social support from co-worker networks serves as a resource that affects job satisfaction (Ducharme and Martin, 2000, Bonache, 2005). Social support has been defined broadly as the availability of helping relationships and their quality (Hulbert, 1991). Social support may lead a person to believe that he/she is cared for, esteemed and valued and that he/she belongs to a network of communication and mutual obligation (Hulbert, 1991; Katz and Kahn 1978; Podolny and Baron, 1997). Prior research has shown that social support can originate from a number of sources: supervisor, colleagues, family, and friends (lee, 2004). By the same token, Raabe and Beehr (2003) argue that coworker relationships have an important influence on employee organizational commitment that results from employee job satisfaction. Indeed, close relationships with one‟s co-workers increase

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job satisfaction and organizational commitment, particularly in a situation where co-workers are regarded as friends, as a support system, or as family (McNeese-Smith and Nazarey, 2001). In expatriation literature, Bonache, (2005) argues that social ties are less likely to develop between people who do not share a common background. In that sense, expatriates may be exposed to less interaction with their local peers and miss an opportunity to learn about the domestic culture of their host setting. In the light of the preceding discussion, the following hypothesis is proposed: H4: Compared to domestic managers, expatriate managers will have a lower level of satisfaction with co-workers. 4.5. Supervision A relationship with immediate supervisor is an important antecedent of employee‟s job satisfaction (Dupre and Day, 2007). The consideration a supervisor has for his/her subordinates‟ feelings, well-being, and contributions are an important predictor of job satisfaction ((McCormack et al. 2006; Gagnon and Judd, 2004). Research has shown that employees who have supportive supervisors experience less job dissatisfaction than employees without supportive supervisors (Darby, 2000; Hisam, 1997). Similarly, in a study of employees remaining at the workplace after a downsizing, having supportive managers was associated with increased job satisfaction (Johnson et al., 1996). Further, employees who perceive themselves to be in a supportive relationship with their supervisor have higher satisfaction and organizational commitment than those who do not perceive themselves to be in supportive relationships with their supervisor (Firth, et al., 2004; Gagnon and Judd, 2004, McCormack et al., 2007). The literature on expatriation that touches on the issue of supervision is characterized by paucity. Studies in the Gulf region suggest that expatriates are dissatisfied with the supervision they get at their host settings. This is attributed to the negative affectivity held by domestic managers towards their expatriate counterparts. In this regard, a study based on a sample of 8,581 Kuwaitis, 60 percent of respondents described their relationships with expatriates as being superficial and limited to official or business affairs, and 45 percent admitted that domestic managers in organizational settings Science Target Inc. www.sciencetarget.com

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treat expatriates condescendingly (Daher and AlSalem, 1985). Surveyed expatriates in other organizational settings also supported these findings. Thus, only 37 percent of Egyptian expatriates indicated that they were treated with respect by domestic managers (Farjani, 1988). It is argued that lack of supervisory support in Arab Gulf business organizations is due to feeling of social isolation, diversity in culture, language barriers, and nationality differences. Furthermore, the management style of Arab managers in general is found to be authoritarian (Kaynak, 1986). Moreover, Daher and Al-Salem, (1985) reported that Egyptian expatriates expressed strong preference for non-Arab supervisors over Arab supervisors because the former treated them better. It can thus be hypothesized that, H5: compared to domestic managers, expatriate managers will have a lower level of satisfaction with supervisors.

5. Methods For the purpose of the study, two types of data are needed: (a) background data on domestic and expatriate managers in the United Arab Emirates and (b) data on the five work satisfaction dimensions of those managers. These data are generated through a questionnaire whose respondents were domestic and expatriate managers in the UAE banking industry. A questionnaire was used to generate these data. Questionnaire items for capturing the five work satisfaction components are based on a slight modification of the job descriptive index (Smith et al., 1969, 1985). This index is one of the most popular measures of job satisfaction and has been found to produce highly reliable results over time (Imparato, 1972; Kinicki et al., 2002). The index is also applicable across a variety of demographic groups (Golembiewski and Yeager, 1978; Jung et al., 1986) and reliable when translated into Arabic (Mughrabi and Johnson, 1995; Crossman and Abou-Zaki, 2003). For measuring questionnaire responses, the study used the Likert Scale with the five response categories coded as follows: Strongly Agree 5, Agree 4, Undecided 3, Disagree 2, and Strongly Disagree 1.

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5.1. Validation and pilot questionnaire instrument

test

of

the

The questionnaire of the study was designed in English and then translated into Arabic using the blind translation-back-translation method described by Brislin (1976). The English language version of the questionnaire was translated into Arabic by three bilingual Arabs and then checked by a professional interpreter. Moreover, the questionnaire was pre-tested through interviews to assess the extent to which the instrument would capture desired phenomena and to verify that important factors would not be omitted. Thus, an interactive interview process to refine and enhance the instrument was conducted with 5 bank managers and 9 MBA students. The interview process was continued until no further modification was found necessary. A random sample of 200 domestic and expatriate managers was drawn from the banking population in the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. This population was obtained from chambers of commerce and banking directorates. Respondents from the sampled organizations received questionnaires through electronic mail and face-toface contact. Follow-up telephone calls, electronic mail reminders, and field visits were conducted to ensure a reasonable response rate. A total of 82 questionnaire responses were returned. Eight questionnaire responses are invalid, as complete sections were left blank. The balance of valid responses is thus 74, representing a response rate of 37 per cent. Of the 74 managers, 25.7% are females and 74.3% are males. The majority of managers are between 30 and 40 years of age (72.2%), while the rest is either less than 30 years (17.6%) or more than 40 (10.2 %). Most of the respondents are university graduates (83.6 %). The rest (16.4 %) have professional degrees. In terms of nationality, 50% are domestic managers and 50% expatriate ones. 5.2. Data transformation For the purpose of this study, the response data were transformed to render them appropriate for use in testing the hypotheses of the study. The five response categories of the Likert Scale imply ordinal values for the five work satisfaction dimensions. To transform those responses into ordinal values for each one of these dimensions,

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the response categories Strongly Agree and Agree (which were assigned 5 and 4, respectively) were reassigned the ordinal value High. By the same token, the response categories Disagree and Strongly Disagree (which were assigned the values 2 and 1, respectively) were reassigned the ordinal value Low. The Response category Undecided (which was assigned 3) was dropped from this data transformation, as it does not suggest any ordinal value gradation. Cross tabulations were used in this study to assess the extent to which Nationality influences each one of the five work satisfaction dimensions. Gender was introduced in those cross tabulations as a control variable, as it could account for statistically significant relationships or the lack thereof between Nationality and each one of these five dimensions.

6. Results Tables 1 -10 present cross-tabulation results. Table 1 presents the results of Satisfaction with Pay by Nationality. As can be gleaned from the Table, most managers (70.0 per cent) with high satisfaction with pay are domestic whereas 64.7

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per cent with low satisfaction with pay are expatriate managers. The Table also shows that the relationship between Satisfaction with Pay and Nationality is statistically significant at .05 (ChiSquare =6.3 with P-Value=.04). However, as Table 2 indicates, this relationship is statistically significant only among male managers when Gender is controlled for. Thus, the relationship is statistically significant at .05 for Male (Chi-Square =6.0 with P-Value .049) but not for Female (ChiSquare=2.2 with P-Value .33). Table 3 presents the results of Satisfaction with Promotional Opportunities by Nationality. Table 4 shows these results, controlling for Gender. As Table 3 indicates, the majority of managers (68.4 per cent) with high satisfaction with promotional opportunities are domestic whereas the majority of managers (75.9 percent) who had low satisfaction with promotional opportunities are expatriates. These results are statistically significant at .01 level of significance (Chi-Square = 12.8 with PValue .002). As can be gleaned from Table 4, the relationship remains statistically significant, though at .05, when Gender is controlled for.

Table 1 Pay satisfaction by nationality Nationality Pay Satisfaction

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 14 70.0%

Expatriate 6 30.0%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

12 35.3%

22 64.7%

Chi-Square= 6.3, P-Value=.04

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Table 2 Pay satisfaction by nationality (controlling for gender) Male Pay Satisfaction

Nationality

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 9 69.2%

Expatriate 4 30.8%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

6 31.6%

13 68.4%

Female Pay Satisfaction

Nationality High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 5 71.4%

Expatriate 2 28.6%

Low

Count 6 % within Pay Satisfaction 40.0% Male: Chi-Square=6.0, P-Value=.049; Female: Chi-Square=2.2, P-Value=.33

9 60.0%

Table 3 Satisfaction with promotional opportunities by nationality Nationality Satisfaction with Promotional Opportunities

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 13 68.4%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

7 24.1%

Expatriate 6 31.6% 22 75.9%

Chi-Square= 12.8, P-Value .002 Table 4 Satisfaction with promotional opportunities by nationality (controlling for gender) Male Nationality Domestic Expatriate Satisfaction High Count 9 3 with Promotional % within Pay Satisfaction 75.0% 25.0% Opportunities Low Count 3 10 % within Pay Satisfaction 23.1% 76.9% Female Satisfaction with Promotional Opportunities

Nationality High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Low

Domestic 4 57.1%

Count 4 % within Pay Satisfaction 25.0% Male: Chi-Square=7.2, P-Value=.027, Female: Chi-Square=6.8, P-Value=.033

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Expatriate 3 42.9% 12 75.0%

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Table 5 presents the results of Satisfaction with Supervision by Nationality. Most managers (60.0 percent) who had high satisfaction with supervision are domestic. In contrast, 80.0 percent of managers with low satisfaction are expatriates. This relationship is statistically significant at .01 level of significance (Chi-Square = 9.9 with PValue= .007). However, when Gender is controlled for (Table 6), the statistically significant relationship between Nationality and Satisfaction with Supervision holds only for female. This relationship is statistically significant at .05 (ChiSquare=7.7 with P-Value=.02). Table 7 presents the results of Satisfaction with Job Characteristics by Nationality. As the case with the

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other dimensions of work satisfaction, the majority of managers with high job satisfaction are domestic (65 per cent) while 86.7 per cent of managers with low satisfaction with job Characteristics are expatriates. This relationship is statistically significant at .01 (Chi-Square=11.3 with P-Value=.003). Table 8 shows that this relationship remains statistically significant when Gender is controlled for. Thus, the relationship between Nationality and Satisfaction with Job Characteristics is statistically significant at .05 for both values of Gender: Male (Chi-Square=8.1 with P-Value=.02) and Female (Chi-Square=6.5 with PValue=.04).

Table 5 Satisfaction with Supervision by Nationality Nationality Satisfaction With Supervision

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 21 60.0%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

4 20.0%

Expatriate 14 40.0% 16 80.0%

Chi-Square= 9.9, P-Value= .007. Table 6 Satisfaction with supervision by nationality (controlling for gender) Male Satisfaction With Supervision

Nationality High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 10 52.6%

Expatriate 9 47.4%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

3 27.3%

8 72.7%

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 11 68.8%

Female Satisfaction with Supervision

High

Low

Count 1 % within Pay Satisfaction 11.1% Male: Chi-Square=5.2, P-Value=.07; Female: Chi-Square=7.7 with P-Value=.02.

Nationality Expatriate 5 31.2% 8 88.9%

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Table 7 Satisfaction with job characteristics by nationality

Satisfaction with Job Characteristics

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 24 64.9%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

2 13.3%

Nationality Expatriate 13 35.1% 13 86.7%

Chi-Square=11.3,P-Value=.003

Table 8 Satisfaction with job characteristics by nationality (controlling for gender) Male Satisfaction with Job Characteristics

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 14 60.9%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

1 11.1%

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Domestic 10 71.4%

Female Satisfaction with Job Characteristics

High

Low

Count 1 % within Pay Satisfaction 16.7% Male: Chi-Square=8.01, P-Value=.018; Female: Chi-Square=6.47, P-Value=.039

Nationality Expatriate 9 39.1% 8 88.9% Nationality Expatriate 4 28.6% 5 83.3%

Table 9 Satisfaction with co-workers by nationality

Satisfaction with Co-Workers

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Nationality Domestic Expatriate 30 13 69.8% 30.2%

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

1 7.1%

Chi-Square=18.5 with P-Value=.000

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13 92.9%

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Table10 Satisfaction with co-workers by nationality (controlling for gender) Male Satisfaction with Co-Workers

High

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Low

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

1 12.5%

7 87.5%

Count % within Pay Satisfaction

Nationality Domestic 14 70.0%

Expatriate 6 30.0%

Female Satisfaction with Co-Workers

Nationality Expatriate 7 30.4%

Domestic 16 69.6%

High

Low

Count 0 % within Pay Satisfaction 0.0% Male: Chi-Square=8.03, P-Value=.018; Female: Chi-Square=11.8, P-Value=.003 Table 9 presents the cross-tabulation for Satisfaction with Co-Worker by Nationality. Here also most managers who had high satisfaction with co-workers are domestic (69.8). However, 92.9 per cent of managers with low satisfaction with coworkers are expatriates. The relationship between Satisfaction with Co-Worker and Nationality is statistically significant at .01 (Chi-Square=18.5 with P-Value=.000). This relationship also remains statistically significant when Gender is controlled for. As Table 10 indicates, the relationship between Satisfaction with Co-Worker and Nationality is statistically significant at .05 for Male (Chi-Square=8.0 with P-Value=.02) and at .01 for Female (Chi-Square=11.8 with PValue=.003).

7. Discussion The statistical results presented indicate that Nationality seems to account for differences in the level of satisfaction among domestic and expatriate managers. The results demonstrate that domestic managers have high satisfaction with their jobs, promotion, supervision, co-workers, and pay. In contrast, expatriate managers have low level of satisfaction with these work satisfaction dimensions.

6 100.0%

These statistical results appear to lend support for all of the hypotheses of the study. However, there are two exceptions: the hypothesis that Nationality influences Satisfaction with Pay appears to be true only among male managers. The other exception is related to the hypothesis that Nationality influences Satisfaction with Supervision. Results indicate that this hypothesis is true only among female managers. The finding that expatriate managers are not satisfied with pay is consistent with previous research findings. Thus, according to the social comparison theory (Fesinger, 1954; Adam, 1965), expatriates usually compare themselves to multiple referent groups when assessing the fairness of their pay. More specifically, they compare themselves with expatriates in other similar companies in the same country, with those in other countries, and with domestic employees. This argument is consistent with Bonache‟s (2005) argument that high absolute pay levels are not very satisfying when perceived equity is low. Similarly, the finding that domestic and expatriate managers differ in their degree of satisfaction with supervision is consistent with previous research on expatriation and satisfaction with supervisors, particularly in the Arab Gulf region. Thus, Daher and Al-Salem (1985) concluded that domestic Science Target Inc. www.sciencetarget.com

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employees who are usually in supervisory positions show negative attitudes toward expatriates. These findings are also consistent with Farjani (1988) who argued that domestic supervisors are superficial and condescending in their relationship with expatriates. Dissatisfaction with supervisory support among expatriates in Gulf organizations may be explicable in terms of feeling of social isolation, diversity in organizational culture, language barriers, nationality differences, and the authoritarian management style characteristic of Arab managers (Kaynak, 1986). The finding that domestic and expatriate managers differ significantly in their satisfaction with job characteristics is also consistent with previous research. Katz and Seifer, (1996) argued that among the principal reasons expatriates give for failing in their overseas position is that they cannot cope with the complexity of work responsibility. Black (1988) and Bonache (2005) argued that job characteristics account for the dissatisfaction of expatriate managers with their jobs. They focused on job stress, job overload, and pressure from visibility of their jobs, uncertainty, confusion, and role ambiguity. On the other hand, this finding appears to contradict the assertion by Guzzo et al. (1993) and Suutari (2003) who claim that job characteristics is a source of satisfaction for expatriates in international assignment. The statistically significant association between Nationality and Satisfaction with Promotional Opportunities is a reflection of local culture and politics. Despite the fact that the UAE has embraced modernity and despite its fast pace of modernization, traditional practices still pervade the workplace. In recruitment, retention, and promotion, merits-based practices are paralleled and complemented by connections and other forms of rent-seeking behaviors. Such connections are probably inaccessible to expatriate managers who are unlikely to be accepted in rent-seeking networks based on local identity rather than on achievement-based criteria. On a general level, it was argued (Dowling and Welch, 2004) that expatriates are less integrated into informal network within work groups and thus would be likely to perceive that fewer promotional opportunities are open for them. Consequently, this resulted in unfulfilled aspirations for career advancement for them. The gap between

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unfulfilled career advancement aspirations and promotional realities probably account for the low level of satisfaction with promotional opportunities among expatriate managers. The finding that domestic managers exhibit a higher level of Satisfaction with co-workers than their expatriate counterparts could be explained by Bonache‟s (2005) argument that social ties are less likely to develop between people who do not share a common background. Expatriate managers in the UAE may be exposed to less interaction with their local peers and hence lose the opportunity to have the needed co-workers support. In contrast, a shared culture and similar orientations are likely to foster rather than impede interaction among domestic co-workers. The white dresses worn by domestic males (dishdasha and kandora) and the black dresses worn by local women (ibaya and sheila) are distinctive cultural symbols that are likely to imbue domestic manages with a sense of separate community and identity in the midst of expatriate co-workers who could easily be distinguished by their Western dresses.

8. Conclusions This study has sought to explore the extent to which nationality influences satisfaction with work-related dimensions among managers in the UAE banking industry. The principal finding of the study is that nationality does make a difference with respect to satisfaction with work. Domestic managers are satisfied with their pay, job characteristics, promotional opportunities, coworkers, and supervisors; their expatriates counterparts are not satisfied with these work satisfaction aspects. A number of theories and empirical findings of previous research appear to provide plausible explanations for this influence. Notable among these are social comparison theory, social network theory, and job characteristics theory. The level of work satisfaction among domestic managers appears to be influenced by the work-related privileges attendant on being a UAE national. Given cultural traditions in the UAE, access to those privileges are unlikely to be the function only of ones technical qualifications, but also of ones identity and family name. In contrast, the level of work satisfaction of expatriate managers in the

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UAE banking industry seems to be mainly influenced by multiple comparison referents. The results of this study underscore the clash between globalization on the one hand and local cultures and nationality on the other in the UAE context. The presence of multi-national expatriate workers in the UAE is a manifestation of globalization at a micro level. Local work conditions engender work dissatisfaction among expatriates. Those conditions are the outcomes of public policy which favors nationals over expatriates. Indeed, the public policy of emiratization of jobs is the embodiment of such favors at the workplace. Local identity and connections facilitate access to job-related privileges and benefits. This explains, in all probability, the differential in the level of work satisfaction of domestic managers on the one hand and their expatriate counterparts on the other. This clash may pose a dilemma for both public policy makers and businesses that depend on expatriates to manage their operations. In the case of the UAE, the presence of the large number of expatriate employees is an economic necessity. Yet, public policy is partly responsible for putting them at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their domestic counterparts. With increasing labor mobility in an increasingly globalized world, putting expatriate

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employees at a disadvantage may contribute to creating labor shortages, the very reason for allowing foreign labor into the country. This disadvantage may also pose a dilemma for businesses that rely on expatriate workers. Thus, businesses relying on expatriate employees may find it necessary to choose between retaining dissatisfied expatriate workers and suffer from the adverse productivity effects thereof and offering them offsetting compensation packages which may be costly. The conclusions of this study are at best preliminary and suggestive. Future research in this area will benefit from larger samples and also from the inclusion of potential influences, apart from nationality, on work satisfaction. One such influence is management level (e.g., senior management, middle management, and line management). Due to data limitations, this study has not investigated the potential impact of this factor on the work satisfaction of domestic and expatriate managers. Future research will also benefit from including domestic and expatriate managers from more economic sectors. In addition, similar research needs to be conducted in other national settings inasmuch as such efforts will enhance the external validity or generalizability of research findings in the area.

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