The Correlation of Business English as Lingua Franca and the Job Satisfaction of Non-native Speakers of English

The objective of this thesis is to examine the correlation between Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) in the context of using business English at work and job satisfaction amongst non-native speakers of English, particularly in view of their professional self-actualization.

In this study, FLA was measured by using the FLA-FS scale developed by Gargalianou et al. (2016). Job satisfaction was measured on the scale developed by Fischer & Lück (1972). Sociodemographic data was taken into consideration as well. The results reveal a low negative correlation between FLA and job satisfaction (r = -.39) and a low negative correlation between FLA and self-actualization in the workplace (r = -.40), which means the higher the anxiety scores on the FLA scale, the lower the job satisfaction and professional self-actualization. Moreover, there is a strong positive correlation between FLA and the individual proficiency level of English (r = .70), which means that FLA affects mainly, but not solely, beginners of English.

Given the results and the impact of FLA on the psychological and physical well-being of employees, multinational organizations which have adopted business English as lingua franca must be able to detect behavioral and non-behavioral signs of FLA and implement measures to combat the negative effects on their workforce. As there have been no studies on this topic yet conducted, this thesis strives to close the gap in research.
Further large-scale research on the correlation of FLA and job satisfaction would be necessary to determine in-depth findings and pull significant business-psychological insights.