ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Even though I am the only author for this thesis, this thesis could not have been produced without various contributions. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all individuals who are involved in making this research into reality. First, I would thanks to The Almighty to his blessings and giving me the strength and opportunity to complete this research on a timely manner. At heart, I would also like to express my sincerely gratitude to my supervisor, Puan Dayang Asmah Bt Awang Hamdan, for her guidance, patience and supports throughout the whole process of completing this thesis. She was not only my academic consultant but also a guider and a role model, someone who accepts different opinions and shares knowledges with other peoples. Even though with her limited window of time, she would spend it with me by looking onto this thesis and suggesting ways on improving it. Besides that, my heartfelt gratitude to my beloved family who has always beside me all the time I needed them along the process of making this thesis. This thesis would have not been possible if it was not for their love and full support whenever the time I felt likes giving up. I express the most gratitude to my beloved friends and seniors whom are always have been side by side with me in encouraging and motivating throughout this thesis. I am very thankful to them. Word of thanks is also extended to all the respondents of this study for their kind help and support throughout the data collection process. Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved directly or indirectly in providing valuable feedbacks and helpful suggestions making this thesis a reality. Without all these peoples, I could have not done this thesis successfully. I am very thankful to all of them.

ABSTRACT Work-family balance is considerable as one of the most important issues among working mothers in organizational studies. In order to that, the current study examine the most important type of social support, the relationship between marital status and social support among working mothers and also the differences between types of family (nuclear/ extended) and social support (family) of working mothers at Ipoh, Perak. Based on quantitative questionnaire, the amount of 60 questionnaires was distributed to mothers working in different public and private sector organization. Therefore the respondents to the questionnaire were working mothers from both private and public sector organization from Ipoh, Perak, thereby resulting in 100% response rate. The work- family balance through social support is a famous concept, and therefore, much evidence is available in the literature. The study aims to provide empirical grounds for the said relationship in a fast developing country. Meanwhile an Independent sample t-test, descriptive analysis and Pearsons correlation were used to analyze the data. As the result for the analysis, the study confirm that social support is one of the important key factor to balance between work-family among working mothers, particularly with the evidence that familys support is the prior support for working mothers from all the marital status. However the result are compared and discussed in the light of previous studies.

ABSTRAK

Keseimbangan antara kerja dan keluarga adalah salah suatu isu yang paling penting dikalangan ibu- ibu yang bekerja pada masa kini. Sehubung deangan itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti sokongan sosial yang paling penting dan diperlukan oleh ibu-ibu yang bekerja, hubungan antara status perkhawinan dan sokongan social antara ibu-ibu yang bekerja dan juga perbezaan keperluan sokongan social daripada keluarga kepada ibu-ibu bekerja daripada keluarga asas dan keluarga besar di kalangan ibu-ibu yang bekerja di sekitar bandaraya Ipoh, Perak. Berdasarkan kaedah kuantitatif yang dijalankan, sebanyak 60 soalan kaji selidik diedarkan kepada ibu-ibu yang bekerja di sekitar bandaraya Ipoh, Perak. Ibu-ibu yang bekerja terdiri daripada pekerja dari sector kerajaan dan juga swasta. Oleh kerana kajian tentang keperluan sokongan sosial kepada ibu-ibu yang bekerja adalah salah satu topik yang agak terkenal maka kajian lepas yang dilakukan oleh pengkaji digunakan sebagai panduan untuk menjalankan kajian ini. Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk menyediakan kaedah empirical yang tertera di atas di kalangan negara yang pesat membangun. Sementara Independent sample t-test, descriptive analysis dan Pearsons correlation digunakan untuk menganalisis data. Sebagai dapatan kajian, kajian ini membuat keputusan bahawa sokongan social adalah salah satu elemen yang paling penting kepada ibu-ibu yang bekerja pasa era ini, terutama sekali sokongan sosial daripada ahli keluarga. Walaubagaimanapun keputusan yang didapati daripada kajian ini dibandingkan dan dibincangkan dengan merujuk kepada kajian yang dilakukan daripada kajian lepasan oleh pengkai- pengkaji yang lain.

ii

TABLES OF CONTENTS

Topic ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT ABSTRAK LIST OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research Background 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Research Question 1.4 Research Objective 1.5 Hypothesis 1.6 Research Significant 1.7 Research Scope

Page i ii iii iv

1 4 6 6 7 7 8

Chapter II

LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theory 2.3 Definition of Social Support 2.3.1 Importance of Social Support to working mothers 2.4 Research Method 2.5 Sample Size 2.6 Measurement 16 18 19 9 9 11 13

iii

Chapter III

Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Research Approach 3.3 Research Location 3.4 Research Respondent 3.5 Research Instrument 3.6 Data Analysis 3.6.1 Descriptive Statistic Analysis 3.6.1.1 Frequency Analysis 3.6.1.2 Central Tendency and Dispersion 3.6.2 Independent Sample T- Test Analysis 3.6.3 Correlation Analysis 3.6.4 Reliability 27 27 26 21 21 22 22 24 25 26 26 26

Chapter IV

FINDINGS 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Distribution of Questionnaire 4.3 Reliability Test 4.4 Descriptive Statistic Analysis 4.4.1 Respondents Demographic Characteristic 4.4.1.1 Respondents Marital Status 4.4.1.2 Respondents Age 4.4.1.3 Respondents Ethnicity 4.4.1.4 Respondents Number of Childrens 4.4.1.5 Respondents Types of Family 32 32 33 34 35 36
iv

29 31 31 32

4.4.1.6 Respondents Working Sector 4.4.1.7 Respondents Working Experience 4.4.1.8 Respondents Working Days in a Week 4.4.1.9 Respondents Working Time 4.4.1.10 Respondents Monthly Salary 4.5 Objective Testing 4.5.1 Descriptive Analysis 4.6 Correlation Analysis 4.6.1 Hypothesis Testing 4.6.1.1 Objective: To Identify The Relationship Between Marital Status and Social Support 4.7 Independent Sample T-Test Analysis 4.7.1 Hypothesis Testing 4.7.1.2 Objective: To Examine The Differences Between Types Of Family (Nuclear/ Extended) With social support (family) 4.8 Discussion

37 37 38

38 39 40 40 46 46 46

48

48

50

Chapter V

DISCUSSION, LIMITATION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.2 Limitation, Recommendation and Conclusion 53

References Appendix A Appendix B Questionnaire (English) Questionnaire (Malay)

v

LIST OF TABLES

Pages

Table 4.3.1

Reliability Statistics of Questionnaire

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 37

Table 4.4.1.1.1 Number of Respondents by Marital Status Table 4.4.1.2.1 Number of Respondents by Age Table 4.4.1.3.1 Number of Respondents by Ethnicity Table 4.4.1.4.1 Number of Children for Respondents Table 4.4.1.5.1 Respondents Type of Family Table 4.4.1.6.1 Sectors of Working Mothers Table 4.4.1.7.1 Frequency Analysis on Number of Respondents by level of Working Experience Table 4.4.1.8.1 Frequency Analysis on Number of Respondents by level of Working Days Table 4.4.1.9.1 Frequency Analysis on Working Time of Respondents Table 4.4.1.10.1 Number of respondents by average amount of salary Table 4.5.1.1 Husband Support Table 4.5.1.2 Workplace Support Table 4.5.1.3 Family Support Table 4.5.1.4 Children Support Table 4.5.1.5 Day care centre/ Government Support Table 4.5.1.6 Relationship between marital status and social support among working mothers Table 4.6.1.1.1 Correlation between Marital Status of working mothers and Social support perceived Table 4.7.1.1.1 Independent Sample T-Test Analysis between types of family (nuclear/ extended) with social support (family)

38

38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

47

49

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Pages

Figure 1

Number of Respondents by Marital Status

37

Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7

Number of Respondents by Age Number of Respondents by Ethnicity Number of Children for Respondents Number of Respondents types of Family Sectors of Working by Respondents Frequency Analysis on Working Time of Respondents

39 41 43 44 45 48

vii

viii