Antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction of group B government officers in the Indian audit and accounts department

Abstract

The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was set up to bring about transparency, accountability and probity in public life. In essence, it s most important function is to promote good governance by ensuring accountability. In working towards this objective, the Group B officials (15000+) in the Department, who are directly involved in the day-to-day work of the Department, interacting directly with the auditees or the public to improve processes, manage accounts, identify lapses in governance and misuse of government money, play a critical role. These officers carry out challenging work, often under difficult circumstances. Therefore job satisfaction is a very important factor in their carrying out to their duties with integrity and delivering high quality work. This study examines the antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction of Group B Government officers in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. It measures the impact of Organisational Justice on job satisfaction and work environment of government servants in the IAAD in India and also the behavioural output of Job Satisfaction of Government employees in terms of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour. The study also observes the relationship between Job Satisfaction and Affective Organizational Commitment, Organizational Identification and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and find out the extent to which perception of fairness influence job satisfaction. This study was carried out in different major offices of the IAAD, covering 17 states, in locations covering the length and breadth of the country. Through a formal, self-administered questionnaire, officers of the Grade of Senior Audit/Accounts Officers, Audit/Accounts Officers and Assistant Audit/Accounts Officers were surveyed. This is the first attempt to measure various dimensions of job satisfaction of government employees in the IAAD. Review has been done on previous research findings on similar studies and available literature; and based on these studies, the following theoretical model was developed for testing in this research.