The influence of traditional culture and demographic characteristics on job satisfaction among Kuwaiti women employees in the Kuwaiti banking sector

This study explores the relationship between some demographic characteristics and job satisfaction among Kuwaiti women employees in the Kuwaiti private banking sector. The analysis is focused on the responses of the female employees to their own jobs as indicated by their level of job satisfaction. Specifically, the research involved a stratified sample of the Kuwaiti women employees in the whole private banking sector in Kuwait. This study differs from previous investigations of job satisfaction in three principal ways: in dealing with the private sector (rather than the more common public sector in studies of the Middle East), in incorporating the environment as well as traditional culture, in taking into account demographic variables such as age, education, family status (i.e., marital status, number of children, children's ages, and presence of servants at the household) in the private sector work setting. The thesis builds on a large body of earlier work on job satisfaction, using well developed concepts in a new context. In relation to previous work in this area, this study clearly builds upon the evolving demographic, environmental approach to work. Recent research in job satisfaction has focused on job redesign or on job characteristics such as task variety, job autonomy and so forth as the primary means of increasing job satisfaction. The major findings of this research indicate that a much broader approach towards increasing satisfaction than focusing on the job itself is required. The thesis shows that traditional culture, as well as the respondents' demographic characteristics is of substantial importance in predicting and affecting job satisfaction. Indeed traditional culture explains much of the variance in job satisfaction through affecting the perceptions of the employees toward their work