IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i3p21582440231181515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are Professors Satisfied With Their Jobs? The Factors That Influence Professors’ Job Satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Chi Yuan Chen

Abstract

This study aims to explore professors’ job satisfaction and the factors that influence their satisfaction. Professors whose main duties were instruction, research, service, and advising (i.e., four types of responsibilities) were invited to participate in the study; the participants of the study ( n  = 117) completed a questionnaire survey, and interviews ( n  = 50) were also conducted to investigate their job perceptions. The study proposed a model that includes a second-order hierarchy of professors’ job satisfaction comprising four duties (i.e., instruction, research, service, and advising) and factors that influence job satisfaction. The results revealed that the participating professors tended to be moderately satisfied with their jobs and that the job satisfaction of full professors was greater than that of assistant professors. The order of four key duties that influenced professors’ overall job satisfaction were service, instruction, advising, and research. Furthermore, consistent with motivator-hygiene theory, the “university work environment†and the “nature of academic job†were the two factors that significantly influenced the job satisfaction of the participants. Of these two factors, the “university work environment†had a greater influence in predicting the participants’ job satisfaction, especially for higher-ranked professors. The study findings suggest that universities can increase the job satisfaction of professors by enhancing their professional development activities; improving their work environment, equipment, and support; providing more regulatory flexibility; and implementing teacher grievance mechanisms and reward systems that meet the needs of professors.

Suggested Citation

  • Chi Yuan Chen, 2023. "Are Professors Satisfied With Their Jobs? The Factors That Influence Professors’ Job Satisfaction," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:21582440231181515
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231181515
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231181515
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231181515?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Isabelle Dorenkamp & Sascha Ruhle, 2019. "Work–Life Conflict, Professional Commitment, and Job Satisfaction Among Academics," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 90(1), pages 56-84, January.
    2. Hyun Jung Lee, 2021. "Relationship between Emotional Labor and Job Satisfaction: Testing Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence on South Korean Public Service Employees," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 337-353, June.
    3. Carlo Cavicchia & Pasquale Sarnacchiaro, 2022. "A multi-group higher-order factor analysis for studying the gender-effect in Teacher Job Satisfaction," METRON, Springer;Sapienza Università di Roma, vol. 80(1), pages 23-38, April.
    4. Jean Waltman & Inger Bergom & Carol Hollenshead & Jeanne Miller & Louise August, 2012. "Factors Contributing to Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction among Non-Tenure-Track Faculty," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(3), pages 411-434, May.
    5. Pucciarelli, Francesca & Kaplan, Andreas, 2016. "Competition and strategy in higher education: Managing complexity and uncertainty," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 311-320.
    6. Carlo Cavicchia & Maurizio Vichi, 2022. "Second-Order Disjoint Factor Analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 87(1), pages 289-309, March.
    7. Majid Ghasemy & Leila Mohajer & Lena Frömbling & Mehrdad Karimi, 2021. "Faculty Members in Polytechnics to Serve the Community and Industry: Conceptual Skills and Creating Value for the Community—The Two Main Drivers," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    8. Irum Saba, 2011. "Measuring the Job Satisfaction Level of the Academic Staffin Bahawalpur Colleges," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 12-19, April.
    9. Mumford, Karen & Sechel, Cristina, 2019. "Job satisfaction amongst academic economists in the UK," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 55-58.
    10. Donghun Yoon, 2020. "The job satisfaction level analysis for the research environment and the research production," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1818364-181, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlo Cavicchia & Pasquale Sarnacchiaro, 2024. "A new hierarchical composite indicator model for ranking the top 20 European football teams," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(5), pages 4033-4051, October.
    2. Furtasan Ali Yusuf, 2020. "The Effect of Organizational Culture on Lecturers’ Organizational Commitment in Private Universities in Indonesia," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(2), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2016. "Higher education and the digital revolution: About MOOCs, SPOCs, social media, and the Cookie Monster," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 441-450.
    4. Pujol-Cols, Lucas J. & Dabos, Guillermo E., 2019. "Dispositional and situational factors at work: A validation of scales and examination of effects on job satisfaction," Nülan. Deposited Documents 3203, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    5. ILSIAR Pogorelskaya & LÁSZLÓ Várallyai, 2020. "Trends In Education 4.0," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 367-375, July.
    6. Adéla Fajčíková & Hana Urbancová, 2019. "Factors Influencing Students’ Motivation to Seek Higher Education—A Case Study at a State University in the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-14, August.
    7. repec:ers:journl:v:v:y:2017:i:2:p:3-13 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Yong Ming Wang & Waqar Ahmad & Muhammad Arshad & Hong Li Yin & Bilal Ahmed & Zulfiqar Ali, 2021. "Impact of Coordination, Psychological Safety, and Job Security on Employees’ Performance: The Moderating Role of Coercive Pressure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Alina Iorga Pisica & Tudor Edu & Rodica Milena Zaharia & Razvan Zaharia, 2023. "Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Pros and Cons from the Perspectives of Academics," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, May.
    10. Anu Jose Vengal, 2017. "Higher Education In China – The Conceptual Framework," Working papers 2017-23-08, Voice of Research.
    11. PoTsang B. Huang & Ching-Chow Yang & Maria Magdalena Wahyuni Inderawati & Ronald Sukwadi, 2022. "Using Modified Delphi Study to Develop Instrument for ESG Implementation: A Case Study at an Indonesian Higher Education Institution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, October.
    12. Kaplan, Andreas, 2018. "A school is “a building that has four walls…with tomorrow inside”: Toward the reinvention of the business school," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 599-608.
    13. Mariaelena Bottazzi Schenone & Elena Grimaccia & Maurizio Vichi, 2024. "Structural equation models for simultaneous modeling of air pollutants," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(3), May.
    14. K. Karno, 2017. "Gravity Modeling Approach for Indonesia's Exports with ten Asian Countries," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(3), pages 3-20.
    15. Aziz Muslu, 2022. "Professional Commitment Levels of Officer Class Y Generation Seafarers," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    16. Ryan A. Fitch & Julie M. Mueller & Rebecca Ruiz & Wade Rousse, 2022. "Recreation Matters: Estimating Millennials’ Preferences for Native American Cultural Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-11, September.
    17. Sheema Matloob & Mónica Lorena Sánchez Limón & Halia Mayela Valladares Montemayor & Ali Raza & Julio Cesar Castanon Rodriguez, 2023. "Does Strategic Change Enhance the Relationship between Firms’ Resources and SMEs Performance in Pakistan?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Kaplan, Andreas & Haenlein, Michael, 2020. "Rulers of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 37-50.
    19. repec:ers:ijebaa:v:v:y:2017:i:1:p:3-13 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Suyadi, & Nuryana, Zalik & Sutrisno, & Baidi,, 2022. "Academic reform and sustainability of Islamic higher education in Indonesia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    21. Machado de CAMPOS, Silvia Regina & Henriques, Roberto & Yanaze, Mitsuru Higuchi, 2019. "Knowledge discovery through higher education census data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    22. Richard McManus & Karen Mumford & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Measuring research excellence amongst economics lecturers in the UK," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 386-404, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:21582440231181515. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.