Implementation of Islamic Work Ethic and Its Impact to Job
Satisfaction
Survey on BRI Syariah Bandung
Mega Rachma Kurniaputri, Agus Rahayu, and Neni Sri Wulandari
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Work Ethic, Human Resource Management, Work Satisfaction.
Abstract: The existence of Islamic banking in Indonesia has existed for a long time. However, it is known that turnover
rate in this industry increase 5 – 15% per year. Based on that issue, it can indicate the lack of job satisfaction,
management human resources issues in organization, the quality of human resource in banking industry, and
also other issues caused by the employees itself such as fraud, indiscipline, or disobedience. Therefore, every
organization need an instrument to prevent issues also to improve human resources within the organization
which is implement the work ethic. One of work ethic imply in organization is Islamic work ethic, which has
relate work and religion. This study aims to find how Islamic work ethic influences employees satisfaction
and its effect to organization. Through quantitive causal method, this research was conducted to 100
employees of BRI Syariah KC Bandung. The results of this study proves that as one of the biggest Islamic
bank in Indonesia, BRI Syariah has implied Islamic work ethic as their own management human resource
system which is not only affect to the employees but also improves organizational performance.
1 INTRODUCTION
Bank is one of organization which has human
resources as the main factors, where at present
Islamic banking sector growth in Indonesia is at peak.
But in its development, the degree of work turnover
is quite high, i.e. it reaches 5 – 15% per year (Otoritas
Jasa Keuangan, 2015). Work turnover is one behavior
that indicated when employees feel unsatisfied about
his work. Whereas, the forming element of
organizational performance is worker satisfaction.
Based on the survey results conducted OJK (2015) in
Figure 1, the factors that most affect employees
turnover is mismatch compensation in the banking
sector.
Figure 1: Turnover rate factors.
Source: Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, 2015
A successful organization is an organization that
has a good performance with sustained by high
quality human resources. The quality of human
resources will greatly support organization
achievement. Therefore, it need an instrument to
improving human resources within the organization,
which is to implement the work ethic.
Work ethic become one of organizational succes
to optimize work performance. If the work ethic not
applied, it cause harm to the organization as in the
case of Bank Syariah Mandiri in 2012, the employees
37
54
4 4
Career
Experiences
Payment Self
Challenging
Satisfaction of
superiors
TURNOVER RATE FACTORS
Turnover Rate Factors
222
Kurniaputri, M., Rahayu, A. and Wulandari, N.
Implementation of Islamic Work Ethic and Its Impact to Job Satisfaction - Survey on BRI Syariah Bandung.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Islamic Economics, Business, and Philanthropy (ICIEBP 2017) - Transforming Islamic Economy and Societies, pages 222-227
ISBN: 978-989-758-315-5
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reser ved

made fictitious credit disbursement by using of 197
debtors such as 113 debtors are fictitious (Kompas,
2012). In order to avoid bad things happen to
organization as BSM case, then need an ethic in the
workplace. Ethic is a concept about what is wrong
and right and about moral rights (Rivai, 2012).
Meanwhile, work ethic is moral concept applied at
work
The development of work ethic started from
Protestant Work Ethic concept found by Max Weber
in 1985. Since then, the concept of work ethic based
religion began. However, the Protestant Work Ethic
only used in Europe, and could not generalized to
other religion, especially for Muslim workers.
Muslim has special life guide that is from Al Qur’an,
neither does the rules about work.
The application of Islamic values in work is
known as the Islamic work ethics. Islamic work ethics
is an orientation that form and influences employee
involvement in the workplace viewed from the work
objectives, the way of work and the achievements
gained from his work based on Al Qur’an as the way
of human life (Ali & Owaihan, 2008).
Islamic work ethic shows the legal system and
morality that covers all aspects of human life like
action and spirituality. One of them is Allah Swt.
command to human about working in Islam in the
Quran surah At Taubah verse 105:
“And say, “Do [as you will], for Allah will see
your deeds, and [so, will] His Messenger and the
believers. And you will be returned to the Knower
of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will
inform you of what you used to do.”
Based on the paragraph above, Allah SWT
strongly ordered the human to work. Besides Allah
SWT has reminded the human race that he as the All-
Seeing, will always keep an eye on every effort and
behavior we are and in the next life later human
beings will be rewarded according to what is done.
Therefore, if the Islamic work ethic always applied by
employees in the work it will be able to form and
influence the personality of the individual to be a true
Muslim. On top of that, the work performance is not
only achieved by itself but also the company which
will further generate a sense of satisfaction. The
theory is supported by the results of research
conducted by Merri, et al. (2012) which states that
Islamic work ethics can provide satisfaction for
employees who apply it well on the organization.
2 LITERATUR REVIEW
Al Quran has explained that work is human duty as in
Al Jumuah verse 10:
“And when the prayer has been concluded,
disperse within the land and seek from the bounty
of Allah, and remember Allah often that you may
succeed.”
Based on the verse above, Allah commanded us to
work. Therefore all forms of work for Muslim should
be done with consciousness and as a devotion to Allah
SWT., which will lead to world and hereafter welfare.
When people reached their prosperity, they will feel
satisfy. As well as employees reach their goals, they
will satisfy about their own job.
Acording to Luthans (2011), job satisfaction is “a
pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from
the appraisal of one’s job or job experience”. Job
satisfaction will be felt by the employees as a result
of employees hope about how well their job provides
those things that are viewed as important. There are
five dimensions that have been identified to represent
the most important characteristics of a job about
which employees have affective response, these are
pay, the work itself, promotion opportunities,
supervision, and coworkers. Those five dimensions
has relationship to ethic in the workplace.
Ethics has been derived from the Greek root of
ethos which has the meaning on custom and habit.
Ethics may be defined as the set of moral principles
that distinguish what is right and wrong (Beekun,
1996). Nowadays, work ethic has relation to religion
such as Islamic work ethic. Within an Islamic context,
Islamic work ethic closely related to khuluq or
akhlaq. Definition of Islamic work ethic itself
according to Ali (2008) is “an orientation that form
and influences the involvement and participation of
employee in workplaces based on the Qur'an”. In
addition, Islamic work ethic shows the legal system
and morality that covers all aspects of human life by
their action and spiritual sides
Meanwhile, work satisfaction is one of emotion
felt by worker when their expectation of work are
achieved. But in Islam, work satisfaction will be felt
if Muslim worker prioritize the purpose of work as a
worship not only to fulfil their own needs. In the end
of work, they will pay more attention to what is done
and always remember the main purpose of work
because of Lillahi ta’ala. As the results of research
conducted by Amalia (2015), found that the work of
Muslim worker is influence by religious values that
they apply at work or in their daily life.
Implementation of Islamic Work Ethic and Its Impact to Job Satisfaction - Survey on BRI Syariah Bandung
223

3 METHODS
This research is using quantitative causal method.
The object in this research are employees of BRI
Syariah, one of Islamic Bank in Indonesia with total
100 sample respondents out of 212 population by
using cluster random sampling technique. In addition,
data collection technique in this research are
questionnaires and by interviews.
Meanwhile, in order to have high level of
accuracy, the questionnaire should to test the validity
and reliability through SPSS 23.0. Then, the result of
data research is processed to know the coefficient
determination and how big the impact of Islamic
work ethic to job satisfaction by statistic analysis.
4 RESULTS
The following results of research on the
implementation level of Islamic work ethic based on
the characteristics of respondents:
Table 1: Respondent score by gender.
No
Gender
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
Male
3087
82,88
53,22
58
2
Female
2244
84,13
53,43
42
Total
100
Based on the result from Table 1 shows that
female employees get the highest score than male
employee. It can conclude that the employee who
tend to apply more Islamic work ethics are female
employees. The results are in accordance with Becker
& Ulstad (2007) research, that is ethics in workplace
will be more applied by female employees because
they has basic nature to follow rules than aggresive
nature of men.
In accordance with implementation of Islamic
work ethics by the employees, the level of job
satisfaction is more felt by female employee. Based
on their human nature, female has different
perception, potential, values and characteristics than
male. Likewise in work when they apply work ethics
and take decision so that will also affect the value of
work, also job satisfaction level amongst employees
(Becker & Ulstad, 2007).
When viewed from educational background has
shown different result. The following result of the
research are:
Table 2: Respondent score by educational background.
No
Educational
background
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
Diploma
2379
84,96
53,57
28
2
Bachelor
5317
83,08
53,21
72
Total
100
From the table 2 it shows that diploma employees
are apply more Islamic work ethic than bachelor
employees. Based on data, most of the diploma
employees work in front office such as supervisor,
teller, customer service and pawn which mean they
have to meet with costumers directly every day. In
that case, they become a face of organization who
should give service excellent in many ways. Here are
also the results of this research based on division of
work:
Table 3: Respondent score by work division.
No
Work Division
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
Front Office
1542
83,97
53,17
29
2
Back office
3789
82,82
53,37
71
Total
100
ICIEBP 2017 - 1st International Conference on Islamic Economics, Business and Philanthropy
224

Although front officer has a few employees than
back officer, but the result stated that front officer
more apply work ethic than back officer. Based from
score in Table 3, it also shows that back officer has
the highest job satisfaction level than front officer.
The difference from both work division determine
level of satisfaction and willingness to apply work
ethic. Front officers has to meet costumers every day
so they should behaving carefully at work and has to
follow rules more than back officers. While back
officers does not need to meet costumers every day,
they tend to analyzing and doing work behind
costumers. From job satisfaction level, back officers
has the highest score than front officers. It because
back officers has higher salary levels and also has
different job grade than front officers, so it would
impact their feeling at work. According to Sinambela,
when employees has higher job grade also higher
salary than others they tend to feel satisfy in work
(Sinambela, 2016).
Otherwise when viewed from length of work,
employee age and work experience, the results are:
Table 4: Respondent score by length of work.
No
Length of
work
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
<1 year
265
83,40
53
5
2
1-5 year
3631
82,26
52,62
69
3
6-10 year
1435
87,15
55,19
26
4
>10 year
0
0
0
0
Total
100
Table 5: Respondent score by employee age.
No
Employee age
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
<25
265
83,40
53
4
2
25-30
1652
82,77
53,29
33
3
31-35
1189
83,52
51,70
18
4
36-40
1940
83,62
53,89
42
5
>40
175
91,67
58,33
3
Total
100
Table 6: Respondent score by work experience.
No
Work Experience
Total
Score
Implementation of
Islamic work ethic
Job
Satisfaction
Respondents
1
Yes, i have
4019
84,14
53,59
74
2
No, i don’t
1365
82,18
52,50
26
Total
100
Based from Table 4, 5 and 6 the results of the
research from length of work, age and experience
shows that senior employee apply more Islamic work
ethic than younger employee as well as job
satisfaction. It means the senior employees has more
experiences, maturity and adapting well in
organization. Generally, younger employees still
have high expectations of work such as salary, work
environment, bonus, career achievement, and
promotion. Unlike senior employees, they have less
expectations because they has experience of work so
they will tend to feel more satisfied and apply work
ethics well (Sinambela, 2016).
In accordance with this research, results from
previous research by Purida, et al (2010) also shows
that senior employees tend to be more satisfy and
applying work ethic than younger employees. The
senior employees are more adaptable in any ways
because they has experiences more than younger
employees.
From general result, BRI Syariah employees has
always implement the Islamic work ethic on the
organization. It means that work ethics in BRI
Implementation of Islamic Work Ethic and Its Impact to Job Satisfaction - Survey on BRI Syariah Bandung
225

Syariah has been followed well by employees, where
the organization has PASTI OKE a written work
ethics that include behavior may should done and not
be done by the employee in workplace.
Then the coefficient of determination (R
2
) tested
to measure how big the impact of work ethic
implementation to job satisfaction.
Table 7: Coefficient Determination Analysis (R
2
).
Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std.
Error
1
,470
,221
,213
3,62705
The result of the analysis test shows that Islamic
work ethic impact the job satisfaction is only 22,1%
which means the rest of 77,9% job satisfaction
influenced by other factors which was not
investigated by this research. While the result of T
test found that Islamic work ethic give an impact to
job satisfaction, these are the results of T test analysis:
Table 8: T test.
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients
t
Sig.
B
Std. Error
Beta
1
28,641
4,702
6,091
,000
X
,279
,053
,470
5,250
,000
Based on Table 8, T
count
test is 5,250 which means
T
count
is bigger than T
table
(T
table
= 1,98447) and it can
be said that Islamic work ethic give an impact to job
satisfaction. The more employees apply the work
ethics, as well as the job satisfaction level increases.
The statistic results support previous research by
Yousef (2001), Qistina (2017), Marri (2012), Amalia
(2015), Nouman and Haseeb (2015) which describe
that Islamic work ethic give an impact to employees
at work and their life. It because when employees
apply the work ethics based on religious value at
work, their behaviour in daily life will also change
and it also make their perspective about job and
satisfy feeling changed. When the Islamic work ethics
make employees feel satisfy about their work,
indirectly the organization and also employees
performance will increase.
5 CONCLUSION
Based on the results of this research and discussion of
the previous chapter it can be concluded that BRI
Syariah employees has been implement the Islamic
work ethic in workplace. Even if there has a
differences between respondents characteristics but
in general, the employees always implement the
Islamic work ethic based on written work ethic and
Islamic values such as work intention, honesty,
relationship at workplace, commitment, justice and
fairness, also self-generosity. Furthermore, the
Islamic work ethic has an impact to job satisfaction
which mean if the employees applying Islamic work
ethic more, the job satisfaction will be increases.
Based on the research, job satisfaction level is more
felt by employees who are more likely to apply
Islamic work ethic although there has other things
affect job satisfaction when viewed from the
respondent characteristics.
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