Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study

Quality of life (QOL) has two main dimensions: objective and subjective. Both dimensions are equally important in determining the overall quality of life of a person (Mahadzirah et al., 2008). Hence, a comprehensive measure of people’s life satisfaction should ideally take into account these two di...

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Main Authors:	Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah, Md. Noon, Hazizan
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	The Social Sciences Research Society 2012
Subjects:	HM1 Sociology (General and theoretical)
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/1/nor_hafizah.pdf

id	iium-28563
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-285632015-07-29T02:08:01Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/ Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah Md. Noon, Hazizan HM1 Sociology (General and theoretical) Quality of life (QOL) has two main dimensions: objective and subjective. Both dimensions are equally important in determining the overall quality of life of a person (Mahadzirah et al., 2008). Hence, a comprehensive measure of people’s life satisfaction should ideally take into account these two dimensions. Empirical data for the measure of quality of life in Malaysia however has largely employed objective indicators (MQLI, 2004) and were used mainly in quantitative research. This situation has left research on subjective life satisfaction or well-being largely unexplored or limited. In light of the above, one may ask: if the MQLI has shown high score on the objective indicators, how far does this score reflect upon the people’s subjective life satisfaction. This study thus focuses on exploring subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia. Being qualitative in nature, the research is concerned mainly with the emic than the etic views and perspectives (Merriam, 2009). Framed withing a modified Allardt’s model of welfare and MQLI, the study explores the subjective meaning of life satisfaction among the staff members of a Malaysian public university namely Universiti Teknologi MARA or UiTM. Sixteen respondents from four different categories of the University’s administrative staff working at its main campus in Shah Alam, Selangor were engaged in the research. Data collected via in-depth interviews were later verified through written feedback validation (WFV) form. Preliminary findings have shown that the responses centered around two main themes namely satisfying non-living needs and satisfying the living needs with the former being the main priority of the respondents. These findings have significant bearing upon development policy in Malaysia. The Social Sciences Research Society 2012-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/1/nor_hafizah.pdf Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah and Md. Noon, Hazizan (2012) Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study. International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies, 4 (1). pp. 295-303. ISSN 1309-8063 (Online) http://www.sobiad.org/eJOURNALS/journal_IJSS/archives.htm
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
topic	HM1 Sociology (General and theoretical)
spellingShingle	HM1 Sociology (General and theoretical) Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah Md. Noon, Hazizan Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
description	Quality of life (QOL) has two main dimensions: objective and subjective. Both dimensions are equally important in determining the overall quality of life of a person (Mahadzirah et al., 2008). Hence, a comprehensive measure of people’s life satisfaction should ideally take into account these two dimensions. Empirical data for the measure of quality of life in Malaysia however has largely employed objective indicators (MQLI, 2004) and were used mainly in quantitative research. This situation has left research on subjective life satisfaction or well-being largely unexplored or limited. In light of the above, one may ask: if the MQLI has shown high score on the objective indicators, how far does this score reflect upon the people’s subjective life satisfaction. This study thus focuses on exploring subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia. Being qualitative in nature, the research is concerned mainly with the emic than the etic views and perspectives (Merriam, 2009). Framed withing a modified Allardt’s model of welfare and MQLI, the study explores the subjective meaning of life satisfaction among the staff members of a Malaysian public university namely Universiti Teknologi MARA or UiTM. Sixteen respondents from four different categories of the University’s administrative staff working at its main campus in Shah Alam, Selangor were engaged in the research. Data collected via in-depth interviews were later verified through written feedback validation (WFV) form. Preliminary findings have shown that the responses centered around two main themes namely satisfying non-living needs and satisfying the living needs with the former being the main priority of the respondents. These findings have significant bearing upon development policy in Malaysia.
format	Article
author	Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah Md. Noon, Hazizan
author_facet	Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah Md. Noon, Hazizan
author_sort	Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah
title	Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
title_short	Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
title_full	Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
title_fullStr	Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed	Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study
title_sort	subjective life satisfaction among urban malay civil servants in malaysia: a qualitative study
publisher	The Social Sciences Research Society
publishDate	2012
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/28563/1/nor_hafizah.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:42:05Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:42:05Z
_version_	1777409432851841024

Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: A qualitative study

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