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International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.38) (2018) 1554-1557
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET
Research paper
Family Bonding Elements and Job Implication
Ahmad Azan Ridzuan, Jessica Ong Hai Liaw, Norlaila Mazura Hj. Mohaiyadin, Noor Azmi Mohd Zainol, Haslinda
Abdullah1
National Defence University of Malaysia
Abstract
The family is the basic unit of society. The bonds between husband and wife, parents and children, are so firmly conceal in history and
experience that often are lacking. The strength of family bonds is important to a family’s capacity to provide, promote, and care for its
members. Frequent deployments, separations, and relocations are attributes of military life and can greatly affect military families. This
study examines the correlation between family bonding elements and job implication using self-administered questionnaires gathered from
384 sample of Navy personnel and other ranks. The quantitative research has been conducted on Navy personnel based at Lumut Naval
Base, Perak. All the data’s collected has been analyzed by using SmartPLS version 3.2.5 path model analysis resulted four important
findings: first, believe was significantly associated with job implication. Second, financial support was significantly associated with job
implication. Third, communication skill was significantly associated with job implication. Fourth, family support was significantly
associated with job implication. These results confirm that family bonding elements is vital and act as important determinant of job
implication in the studied organization. Further, this study will be thoroughly offer discussion, and conclusion.
Keywords: Family Bonding, Job Implication, Believe, Financial Support, Communication Skill, Family Support, Navy Personnel
1.
Intr
oduction
The family is the basic unit of society. The bonds between husband
and wife, parents and children, are so firmly planted in history and
experience that often take them for granted. The strength of family
bonds is crucial to a family’s capacity to provide, nurture, and care
for its members. Frequent deployments, separations, and
relocations are hallmarks of military life and can greatly affect
military families. Many families have been able to cope with and
overcome these difficulties, but others have needed additional
support to recover from the stresses associated with military life7.
It is crucial that family members are able to manage pressure from
routine separation to maintain the values of both the family and
military institution. Military personnel face stress such as moving
from one place to another due to work demand14. This includes
geographical segregation and the lack of extended family support
system, and the potential of military personnel to be assigned to a
completely different environment. Even though stress can be
managed well when being alone, many military personnel’s family
members face stress3. For instance, it leaves family members in a
great pressure when military personnel are assigned for certain
duties away from their family. Family members who could not
manage the separation period will lead to the weakening of the
family system.
Families interact in a consistent way daily as they misinterpret
demands with capabilities. Yet there are times when demands
significantly outweigh a family’s capabilities, which can produce a
crisis. A crisis often results in a major change in family structure or
functioning patterns and can create a discontinuity in the family’s
functioning15. Family stress and coping defies family adjustment or
adaptation as the result of the processes families practice as they
balance demands with capabilities as they intersect with meanings.
Attachment theory offers an understanding of personality
development and behaviour in close relationships and provides an
account of the difference in people’s emotional and relationship
styles. In its earliest form, it concentrated on the dynamics and
quality of relationships between children and their parents but it has
since been expanded to cover the lifespan13.
Unfortunately, the theoretical and empirical literature examining
military families bonding is scarce, so our understanding of this
distinction is limited. This study was conducted to measure four
relationships. They are as follows: (1) The relationship between
believe and job implication; (2) the relationship between financial
support and job implication; (3) the relationship between
communication skill and job implication; and (4) the relationship
between family support and job implication.
2. Literature review
2.1. Family Bonding Elements and Job Implication
In regard to the creation of family bonding, reflect the idea of the
family as an island of security and togetherness in a somewhat
hostile world, which may interfere with the family values and
family cohesion. To keep up family togetherness through
organization in the temporal sense, reflected activities that would
demonstrate how to operate as a family, so that in life (family
members) will know how a family’s supposed to operate19. Belief
is the acceptance of the moral validity of the central social-value
system. Religious orientation is identified by many researchers as
being an important component of strong families’ bond. The
emphasis is that strong families bonding are guided by an
underlying moral or value system shared by all members21.
Family’s financial support on socioeconomic position affects the
life course development and interrelationships of family members.
1555
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
Offering employees performance-based incentive pay is one
common approach. Job performance-related pay and all three well-
being outcomes indicates that employees may see increases in pay
as a reasonable and even positive trade-off for contributing toward
organizational success17. The effective communication patterns are
one of the most frequently mentioned characteristics of strong
families bonding22. 22points out that communication skills are a
particularly fruitful area in terms of intervention. Skill in
communication and teaching families to communicate better has
been a successful intervention technique and is the focus of many
programs.
Family togetherness will not be fruitful if not all members are
willing to devote time and keep an open mind about planned
activities intended for the entire group. Family roles and the lack of
support by family members are seen to be a constraint that pulls
people away from desired participation in their chosen hobby or
serious work activity19. Work is taking over the lives of many of
individual and families today’s fast-paced, global environment, and
if do not guard against work–life imbalance, there could be
increasing work–family conflicts and stress resulting from long
hours and workload escalation. Decrease in work–life balance has
been linked to job implication such as higher unwanted turnover,
lower physical and psychological well-being, lower productivity,
greater stress-related ailments, and the like1.
2.2. Conceptual Framework and Research Hypothesis
The literature has been used as foundation to develop a conceptual
framework for this study as shown in Figure 1.
2.3. Independent variables Dependent variable
Figure 1: Relationship between family bonding elements and implication.
Based on the framework, it can be hypothesized that:
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between believe and
job implication.
Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between financial
support and job implication.
Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between
communication skill and job implication.
Hypothesis 4: There is a positive relationship between family
support and job implication.
3. Research method
This study used a cross-sectional research design which allowed the
researchers to integrate family bonding elements literature, a pilot
study and the actual survey to gather data for the study. The use of
this data collection method reduces bias and ensures high-quality
data 6,22. This study gathered data from the KD Selangor, KD
Mahamiru, KD Indera Sakti, KD Jerai, KD Jebat, KD Penyu, KD
Hang Tuah, and the KD Kinabalu that based at Lumut Naval Base,
Perak. This unit serves as operations, training, logistic and
administration under the auspices of the Royal Malaysian Navy. At
the initial stage, a pilot study was conducted via a survey
questionnaire with five experienced naval officers comprising a
commanding officer, an officer executive officer, a religious
officer, an administrative officer and a senior non-commission
officer who had been involved in the management of the units. The
information gathered from the naval officers helped the researchers
to develop the content and format of the survey questionnaire for
the actual research.
The survey questionnaires were developed from many validated
scales Family Assessment Device (FAD) by Epstein et al., (1982): 7
items of believe, 7 items of job implication, 7 items of financial
support, 4 items of communication skill and 5 items of family
support that were adapted from family bonding literature and job
implication scale. All these items were measured using a seven-point
scale ranging from “1 = very strongly disagree” to “7 = very strongly
agree”. Demographic variables were used as the controlling
variables because this study focused on soldier family bonding.
The researchers had obtained official approval to conduct the study
from Royal Malaysian Navy Headquarters’ about the procedures of
conducting surveys in a Lumut Naval Base, Perak. The targeted
population for this study was 1,200 soldiers who served in a
following ship: KD Selangor, KD Mahamiru, KD Indera Sakti, KD
Jerai, KD Jebat, KD Penyu, KD Hang Tuah, and the KD Kinabalu
in the Lumut Naval Base, Perak. A convenient sampling technique
was used to distribute the survey questionnaires. The participation
of the soldiers was completely voluntary. A total of 384 usable
questionnaires were returned to the researchers, yielding a 90%
response rate. The number of participants exceeded the minimum
sample size of 30 required by probability sampling, showing that
data may be analysed using inferential statistics 5,20. Further, the
SmartPLS version 3.0 as highly recommended by prominent
scholars like 11,12,18 was employed to analyzed the survey
questionnaires and test the research hypotheses. Data analysis
followed a step-by-step procedure: First, a validity test was
performed to evaluate both convergent and discriminant validity.
Second, a reliability analysis was performed using Cronbach’s
alpha and composite reliability. Third, the structural model was
assessed by examining the path coefficients using standardised
betas (β) and t statistics. In addition, R2 was used as an indicator of
the overall predictive strength of the model. The values of R2 were
considered as follows: 0.19 (weak), 0.33 (moderate) and 0.67
(substantial) 4,12,18.
4. Result and discusssion
In terms of sample profile, most respondents are male navy
(90.4%), rank of Laskar Kanan or equivalent (40.1%), appointment
as a Kejuruteraan (44.0%), unit placement at KD Hang Tuah
(28.9%), aged group from 31 to 40 years old (49%), navy who
served between 11 to 15 years (24.9%), SPM/MCE/SPMV holders
(44%), and mostly frequency involved in operation more than 3
times a year (67.4%).
The outcomes of confirmatory factor analysis were shown in Tables
1 and 2. Table 1 shows that military family bonding elements, and
job implication had the values of average variance extracted (AVE)
larger than 0.5, indicating that they met the acceptable standard of
convergent validity 2,9,12. Besides, the table shows that all constructs
which had the diagonal values of √ AVE were greater than the
squared correlation with other constructs in off diagonal, showing
that all constructs met the acceptable standard of discriminant
validity 11,12.
Job
implication
Believe
Financial Support
Communication Skill
Family Support
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
1556
Table 1: The Results of Convergent and Discriminant Validity Analyses
Note: √ AVE shows in diagonal
Table 2 shows that all constructs loaded more strongly on their own
constructs in the model, exceeding the specified minimum, 0.7,
showing that the validity of measurement model met the criteria
4,9,10. Besides, the composite reliability and Cronbach’s Alpha had
values greater than 0.8, indicating that the instrument used in this
study maintained high internal consistency 12,16. Figure 2 shows the
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) test to confirm the reliability
and validity of data.
Figure 2: Outcome of Testing Hypotheses
Table 2: The Results of Cross Loadings for Different Constructs and
Construct Reliability Analysis
Figure 3 and Table 3 shows the outcomes of testing SmartPLS path
model using bootstrapping procedure. The value of R2 is used as an
indicator of the overall predictive strength of the model. The value
of R2 is interpreted as follows: 0.19, weak; 0.33, moderate; and
0.67, substantial 4,11. In this model testing, the inclusion of believe,
financial support, communication skill, and family support in the
analysis had explained 74.9 percent of the variance in job
implication. The results of SmartPLS path model analysis revealed
four important findings as shown in Figure 3 and Table 3. The
hypothesis H1, H2, and H4 are significantly correlated, therefore
H1, H2, and H4 are supported. While hypothesis H3 is not
significantly correlated, therefore H3 is not supported. In overall,
this result demonstrates that believe, financial support, and family
support is an important determinant of job implication in the studied
organization.
Figure 3: Outcome of Testing Hypotheses
Table 3: Outcomes of Testing SmartPLS Path Model
Note: Significant at *t ≥ 1.96; **t ≥ 2.57; ***t ≥ 3.29
5. Discussion and conclusion
The organization should define family bonding for programs and
specify components or outcomes to target in order to better
understand how programs help service members and their families.
Definitions, models, frameworks, and outcomes should be
explicitly defied in written policy. The family bonding program in
respective organization should have a “road map” that follows
established programs, policies, and definitions, ensuring that all
stakeholders know their role and how they contribute to the success
of the overall family bonding program. Different stakeholders in the
military (e.g., medical, youth coordinators, religious heads, and
family advocates) make different contributions to family bonding,
but there is no mechanism to unify them and their efforts. Family
bonding must have a clear definition and set of outcomes or goals.
Agencies must have a clear understanding of how they contribute
to the whole, as well as to organizational structure, command, and
authority.
The findings of this study had confirmed that family support,
financial support and believe practices in studied organization does
act as an important determinant of job implication. In the context of
this study, well exposed military family with religious activities in
the unit contributes to better job implication. According to the
majority of the respondents, the levels of believe, family support,
financial support and job implication are substantial. This situation
posits that majority of respondents feel that proper plan on religious
programme will increase military family bonding and enhance job
implication. This study provides significant insights into three
major aspects namely, theoretical contribution, robustness of
research methodology and practical contribution. In terms of
theoretical contribution, this study reveals that family support,
financial support and believe practices are important determinants
of job implication. This finding supports and broadens studies by
1,13,17,19,21,22. Regarding the robustness of research methodology, the
survey questionnaire used in this study has exceeded the minimum
standard of validity and reliability analyses; this is necessary to
produce accurate and reliable findings. With respect to practical
contribution, the findings of this study may be used as useful
indicators by respective studied units to upgrade the military family
AVE
Believe
Job
Implication
Financial
Support
Communic
ation Skill
Family
Support
Believe
0.667
0.816
Job
Implicati
on
0.590
0.733
0.768
Financial
Support
0.575
0.636
0.742
0.758
Commun
ication
Skill
0.625
0.694
0.699
0.609
0.791
Family
Support
0.669
0.641
0.765
0.602
0.687
0.818
Construct
Number of
Item
Cross Factor Loadings
Composite
Reliability
Cronbach
Alpha
Believe
7
0.749 – 0.858
0.933
0.916
Job Implication
7
0.703 – 0.798
0.910
0.884
Financial Support
7
0.702 – 0.811
0.904
0.877
Communication Skill
4
0.777 – 0.812
0.870
0.801
Family Support
5
0.705 – 0.857
0.910
0.876
Relationships
β
t
P
value
R2
H1: Believe -----> Job Implication
0.235
5.810
0.000
0.749
H2: Financial Support -------> Job Implication
0.318
6.807
0.000
H3: Communication Skill --------> Job Implication
0.096
1.840
0.066
H4: Family Support ---------> Job Implication
0.357
7.076
0.000
1557
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
bonding programme in order to cope with current challenges in
administration of the soldiers in the unit. With proper military
family bonding are given more attention, it’s may help the unit to
manage their soldiers at both individual and group levels to enhance
positive job implication. As a result, the units need to put military
family bonding elements into practice as it ensures the ultimate and
the continuous success of the unit. In future the perception of
military family bonding elements should be expanded by attach
more variables to enhance the contribution towards this topic.
Acknowledgement
This research works was funded by research grant,
RAGS/1/2015/SS02/UPNM//02/1, National Defense University of
Malaysia.
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