Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction among Women Workers in the Hosiery Industry of Ludhiana: A Primary Survey

Abstract

The hosiery and knitwear industry of Ludhiana is one of the most economically significant industrial clusters in northern India, employing an estimated 90,000 to 1,20,000 workers — a substantial proportion of them women engaged in stitching, finishing, dyeing, and quality inspection tasks. Despite this scale, the motivational dynamics and job satisfaction levels of this largely informal female workforce have received virtually no systematic academic attention. Drawing on Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, this study investigates what motivates women workers in Ludhiana's hosiery sector and examines the relationship between identified motivational factors and self-reported job satisfaction. Primary data were collected from 210 women workers across nine manufacturing units in Ludhiana's major hosiery clusters — Sahnewal, Gill Road, and Focal Point — through a structured interview-administered questionnaire comprising 32 items on a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive analysis, reliability testing, and multiple regression were used to analyse the data in SPSS 26. Findings indicate that hygiene factors — principally wages, working conditions, and supervisory behaviour — dominate the motivational landscape, with motivators such as recognition and growth opportunities remaining significantly underdeveloped. Wages emerged as the single strongest predictor of job satisfaction (β = 0.41), followed by working conditions (β = 0.29) and supervisory fairness (β = 0.24). Recognition and promotion opportunities, despite being highly desired, were rated the lowest in terms of actual availability. The study contributes original, field-based evidence on an understudied industrial population and offers targeted recommendations for HR managers, factory owners, and labour welfare policymakers in Punjab.

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