International Journal of Management and Business Studies ISSN 2167-0439 Vol. 10 (3), pp. 001-013, March, 2020. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Task value, goal orientation, and employee job satisfaction in high-tech firms

Jung-Yu Lai¹*, Hsin-Jung Chi¹ and Chun-Chieh Yang²

¹Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, No. 250, Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan.

²Department of Information Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 70, Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan.

Accepted 19 September, 2019

Abstract

Operating in highly competitive environments, high-tech firms leverage capital-intensive facilities, technology-intensive products and computer applications to earn competitive advantages. Doing so requires employees perform tasks that are relatively more complex in comparison with other industry sectors. Employee job satisfaction, a surrogate measure of organizational effectiveness/performance, is an important management index for practitioners and researchers. However, the impact that task value and goal orientations, as perceived by employees during task execution, have on individual and organizational effectiveness/performance has not received sufficient attention in the context of high-tech firms. This study integrated two theories, expectancy-value and achievement goal, to explore the effect of task value and goal orientation on high-tech employee job satisfaction. After surveying 156 respondents in six Taiwan-based multinational high-tech manufacturers, results show that task value and goal orientation affect employee job satisfaction in the high-tech sector positively. Findings provide guidance to managers for improving employee job satisfaction and in-depth insights for researchers interested to test or further develop organizational development theories.

Key words: Effectiveness, task value, goal orientations, job satisfaction.