The influence of workplace fun on job outcomes: a study among different generations of academicians

Workplace fun can have positive individual and organizational implications. Academic studies have linked workplace fun with job satisfaction. The changing in workforce, as well as the flattening of organizations and a more casual work environment have led to a simplistic assumption that more fun is always better. Different generational cohorts namely Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials might have different views of workplace fun which affect their work outcome. This paper investigates how workplace fun of academicians in UiTM Kedah influences their job outcomes, which include job satisfaction, organizational commitment and task performance, and how different generations respond to workplace fun which in the end affects their job outcome. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 21 was used to analyse the results.The findings revealed that all generational cohorts tested agreed that workplace fun did affect job outcome in general. However, Generation Y showed a slight difference where workplace fun does not have a significant relationship with job satisfaction. These results, their implications, and directions for future research are discussed