Privatizing Monopolies in the Telecom Sector - Lessons from the Employee Job Satisfaction Perspective
Dr. Padmakumar Ram, Dr. Gantasala V. Prabhakar

Abstract
This paper reports on the results of a study done to find out the impact of privatization on the job satisfaction of 50 full time employees of a public sector telecom company in Oman. The primary data was collected using a job satisfaction questionnaire consisting of 25 questions that were scaled on a five-point Likert-type scale. Overall employee satisfaction was also assessed with a one-item statement. The empirical validation of the employee satisfaction scale was performed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The relationships between the quality dimensions and the dependent variables were examined by means of regression analysis. For each quality dimension we used summed-score measures of their corresponding items. All extracted quality dimensions have a strong significant impact on an overall satisfaction levels, explaining 61% of its variance. The study indicates that most of the respondents are satisfied with their jobs after the privatization of Omantel, as compared to the situation when Omantel was a public sector organization. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that in Oman, there is now a renewed interest in the performance level of the public sector, as they face a more competitive global environment. Future research could look into the impact of privatization on the other variables like tardiness, absenteeism, productivity and customer satisfaction.

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