MENTorINg ANd JoB SATISFACTIoN IN MAlAYSIA: A TEST oN SMAll MEdIUM ENTErPrISES IN MAlAYSIA

Background. Mentoring plays a significant role in bridging the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. Past research studies found that job satisfaction had significant impact on organizations. This study endeavours to investigate mentoring and satisfaction of employees in Malaysian organizations. This study examines mentoring and employees’ job satisfaction in the Malaysia context. Methods and Results. This research attempts to test empirically and to validate a conceptualization of mentoring, namely, career functions and psychosocial functions, with the presence of supervisors’ gender as moderator on job satisfaction. Data was gathered through a survey using a structured questionnaire from a sample of 156 executive level employees employed in small and medium enterprises in Sarawak, Malaysia. Conclusions. This study revealed the positive connection between mentoring and job satisfaction was partially supported. Gender was found to have direct impact on employees’ job satisfaction. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study, and directions for future research are further suggested. keywords: job satisfaction, mentoring, Malaysian executives, gender. Human resource management encounters the daunting tasks of employing essential employees into the organizations to match the organization’s requirements and expectations. As a result, there is 1 Address for correspondence: Faculty of Economics and Business, University Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Sarawak; phone: +(60) 164491009, e-mail: mclo@feb.unimas. my. May-Chiun Lo, T. Ramayah, Lim Chin Kui 70 a pronounce need to create suitable ideas, develop appropriate strategies to enhance the interactions between supervisors and workers, and to detailed a broad insight that can assist managers of human resource increased results and enhanced performance. Knippenberg and Steensma (2003) postulated that the expectation of a future interaction between the supervisors and subordinates would reduce the usage of hard influence tactics as this may endanger the relationship and make it less attractive. Previous research have evidenced the impact of mentoring in professional and personal development of young members in the organizations. Extant research has shown that mentoring is one of the best ways in organizational learning and has demonstrated positive results with support (Ortiz-Walters and Gilson, 2005; Okurame, 2008; Simmonds & Zammit Lupi, 2010) and job satisfaction (Bahniuk et al., 1990; Seibert, 1999). It was noted that protégé’s that received mentoring support were able to demonstrate better job performance and career development (Liden, Sparrowe, & Wayne, 1997) and reduce turnover intention among the employees in the organization mentorship (Bverly & Sharon, 2005; Branch, 1999). In addition to that, companies that have proper mentoring programs in place are able to attract job seekers and retain good employees (Allen & O’Brien, 2006). Past studies have elucidated that, the rapport between supervisors and subordinates could be strengthened through mentoring (Dawley, Andrews, & Bucklew, 2010). Researchers in the past have evidenced that committed protégé demonstrated high job satisfaction and hence unlikely to look for other jobs (Iverson & Buttigieg, 1999). Previous researchers have not found consistent evidence concerning the effect of mentor’s gender on an individual’s job satisfaction. Some studies have confirmed that gender is the foremost important traits that could have a strong effect on how men and women perceived themselves and as perceived by others (Korabik, 1997; Ridgeway, 1992). Hence, there appears to be a gap in extant literature as there shows little evidence of research being done to examine the possibility of mentoring as a predictor of subordinates’ job satisfaction and if gender of the mentors has a significant impact in moderating the relationships of these variables. This research attempts to determine the effect of mentoring on job satisfaction among executives working in Malaysian manufacturing industry. This research endeavours to shed lights on the following issues on: International Journal of Psychology: A Biopsychosocial Approach Tarptautinis psichologijos žurnalas: biopsichosocialinis požiūris 71 2013, 13, 69–90 p. (i) Does mentoring positively influence employees’ job satisfaction? (ii) Does gender of the mentors moderate the relationship between mentoring and employees’ satisfaction?