Skill development and job satisfaction: Workers’ perspectives in Thailand’ industrial sector

Abstract

© Common Ground Research Networks, Chanchai Phonthanukitithaworn, Phaninee Naruetharadhol, Chavis Ketkaew, All Rights Reserved. Several Thai initiatives have tried to educate laborers in the industrial sector, as they are the primary source of economic growth for Thailand. However, little has been discussed regarding the perspectives of laborers in Thailand’s industrial sector concerning skill development and job satisfaction. This article investigates the association between industrial laborers’ perspectives on skill development and their levels of job satisfaction. Using a stratified sampling method, we surveyed 600 laborers in Thailand’s industrial sector, namely in automobile manufacturing, agriculture, the electronics sector, and tourism and hospitality. The sample was classified into gender stratum (male and female). As this study hypothesized that perspectives on skill development positively correlated with the level of job satisfaction, ordinary least square and ordered logit regression models were employed to test the significance of the stated relationships. The independent variables (perspectives on skill development) were divided into perspectives on learning and training, whereas the dependent variable was defined as the level of job satisfaction. The variables were collected and transformed into five-point rating scales. The test results from the two models reveal that both learning and training significantly correlate with the level of job satisfaction of Thai industrial laborers. However, laborers’ perspectives on learning demonstrate a stronger positive effect on the level of job satisfaction than their perspectives on training.