Job related factors and moderating effect of flexible work arrangement on job satisfaction among Malaysian offshore outsourcing support employees

Job Satisfaction, organization performance and employee turnover intention are closely interlinked. High performance culture organizations that promote both job satisfaction and work-life balance often produce good results and have the ability to attract and retain talented employees. Job satisfaction of fixed scheduled employees in the Malaysian offshore outsourcing support is constantly challenged from working long irregular hours to fulfill global "Follow-the-sun" workflow commitment and maintaining effective communication in a temporal dispersed virtual organization. The work time demand is felt more as the temporal dispersion variance between parties in communication widens. This research was initiated with the objective of understanding employees working under such conditions and whether having good management policies such as flexible work arrangement buffer the impact and restore job satisfaction. For this quantitative survey, 306 Information Technology Outsourcing, and Business Process Outsourcing respondents, located in the MSC flagship town of Cyberjaya, were identified. The results reveal that Malaysian offshore outsourcing workers are generally satisfied with their work environment. Whilst global communication remains a temporal dispersion challenge, flexible work arrangement does not alleviate the impact of long irregular work hours; however, it promotes job satisfaction. The findings also confirm the importance of co-workers and supervisory support in mitigating the demands of work. Contrary to the
belief that globalization emphasizes cost optimization and reluctance of MNCs in spending and developing resources, most respondents acknowledged that good support from their co-workers and supervisors are vital. The study highlights the critical impact of globalization and temporal dispersion on job satisfaction among fixed working arrangement employees who support Malaysian offshore outsourcing.