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: Md. Noon, Hazizan, Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/1/Full_paper_for_izmir_conference_-_the_submitted_version.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/4/ICSS_program12012.pdf
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author Md. Noon, Hazizan
Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah
author_facet Md. Noon, Hazizan
Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah
author_sort Md. Noon, Hazizan
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
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.
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language English
English
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spelling iium-285642015-06-11T05:48:55Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/ Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: a qualitative study Md. Noon, Hazizan Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah H Social Sciences (General) 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. 2012-10-06 Proceeding Paper PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/1/Full_paper_for_izmir_conference_-_the_submitted_version.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/4/ICSS_program12012.pdf Md. Noon, Hazizan and Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah (2012) Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: a qualitative study. In: 2. Fifth International Conference On Social Sciences – ICSS 2012 , 5-7 October 2012, Izmir, Turkey. (Unpublished) http://www.sobiad.org
spellingShingle H Social Sciences (General)
Md. Noon, Hazizan
Mohamed Harith, Nor Hafizah
Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: a qualitative study
title 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_short 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
topic H Social Sciences (General)
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/1/Full_paper_for_izmir_conference_-_the_submitted_version.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/28564/4/ICSS_program12012.pdf