Work Adjustment and Job Satisfaction of Filipino Immigrant Employees in Canada

Abstract

This study investigates the work adjustment and job satisfaction of Filipino immigrants in Canada to explore the impact of self‐efficacy and perceived social support from different sources, such as other immigrant coworkers, Canadian‐born coworkers and management. The sample is composed of 142 Filipino immigrant employees. The results show that Filipino immigrant employees' work adjustment is significantly correlated with self‐efficacy and perceived support from peer immigrants and Canadian‐borns, while job satisfaction correlates with support from Canadian‐born coworkers and management only, and not with perceived support from peer immigrants and self‐efficacy. Whereas Filipino immigrant employees reported greater support from other immigrant coworkers, this source of support was not found to have any significantly higher correlation with work adjustment. The support from management, however, was found to have a significantly higher correlation with Filipino immigrant employees' job satisfaction than other sources. The implications of these findings are discussed. Résumé La présente étude examine l'adaptation au travail et la satisfaction professionnelle des immigrants philippins au Canada. Elle se propose d'explorer l'impact de l'auto‐efficacité et du soutien social perçu issu des autres sources, dont les autres collègues immigrants, les collègues canadiens de souche, et l'administration. L'échantillon comprend 142 employés immigrants d'origine philippine. Les résultats indiquent que l'adaptation au travail des employés immigrants philippins est en forte corrélation avec l'auto‐efficacité et le soutien qu'ils perçoivent chez les collègues immigrants et canadiens. De l'autre côté, la satisfaction professionnelle est en corrélation uniquement avec le soutien des collègues canadiens et de l'administration, et non avec le soutien perçu chez les collègues immigrants et l'auto‐efficacité. Bien que les employés immigrants philippins affirment bénéficier d'un grand soutien de la part des autres collègues immigrants, notre étude révèle que cette source de soutien n'est pas corrélée de façon significative avec l'ajustement au travail. Enfin, le soutien de l'administration se révèle avoir une plus forte corrélation avec la satisfaction professionnelle des employés immigrants philippins que les autres sources. Nous terminons notre étude en analysant les implications de ces résultats.

Educated Immigrant Women Workers Doing Well With Change: Helping and Hindering Factors

“…In our study, participants highlighted the importance of access to resources and services that helped them to gain perspective, insight, motivation, and confidence. Similarly, adequate support and training have been found to be crucial to the adjustment of immigrants in the workforce (Wang & Jordache Sangalang, 2005). In our study, participants highlighted the necessity of a supportive work environment to help them to do well with change.…”

Predictors of acculturation attitudes among professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace

“…According to Choi and Thomas (2009), social support can have a significant influence on the acculturation attitudes of immigrants. Wang and Sangalang (2005) point out that those immigrant employees who get more support from co-workers and management in the workplace adjust better to their working environment and are more likely to feel satisfied with their jobs. The reason for this relationship is that social support from these sources enables immigrant employees to better understand their jobs and get more information about the organization and therefore they more readily acculturate into the workplace and further improve their job performance.…”

Immigrants and host nationals at work: Associations of co-worker relations with employee well-being

“…Social support provided by co-cultural co-workers was however unrelated to acculturative stress. In Wang and Sangalang's (2005) study of Filipino immigrants, perceived support from Canadian-born (host national) co-workers correlated positively with job satisfaction, whereas support from peer immigrant co-workers was not related to job satisfaction. Two other studies, one conducted in Germany (Hoppe, 2011) and the other in the US (Hoppe, Heaney, & Fujishiro, 2010), also showed that social relations at work are particularly important for immigrants' well-being.…”

“…Two studies (Amason et al, 1999;Wang & Sangalang, 2005) are exceptions in this regard, as they take into account the source of support when looking at the social support − well-being link among immigrant employees. In the study by Amason et al (1999), social support received from host national (Anglo-Americans) co-workers was negatively related to the emotional acculturative stress of Hispanic immigrants.…”