JOB SATISFACTION--

JOB SATISFACTION OF EXPERIENCED PROFESSORS AT A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE

Junfeng.Ma

Background

Purpose: examine career satisfaction and explore

motivations for staying in the profession

Target: experienced professors at a moderate- sized liberal arts college Characters: tenure-track faculty who had been teaching in higher education for at least 15 years Methods: Experienced Teacher Survey and

Interview

Four Questions

To what extent are experienced college professors satisfied with their work?

What are the primary areas of satisfaction

that motivate professors to remain in their positions?

What role does scholarship play in the lives of professors?

How important is it for professors to provide service to their institution?

ETS Data Source

Of the 170 surveys that were distributed, 74 (43.5%) were returned by experienced professors

Interview Data Source

25 professors =12 males + 13 females; 12 SOLA, 6 SOS, 3 SEBA, 4 SOE

QUESTION 1

To what extent are experienced college professors satisfied with their work?

Result for Question 1

In table 1 ,by mean scores ranging from 3.25 (SD, 0.60) to 3.50 (SD, 0.65) on the 4-point scale

The survey data suggest that these experienced professors were satisfied with their jobs

QUESTION 2

What are the primary areas of satisfaction

that motivate professors to remain in their positions?

Result for Question 2

Professional satisfaction factors

Practical satisfaction factors

Social satisfaction factors

Professional satisfaction factors

Professional Satisfaction factors contributed substantially to the professors' overall satisfaction

with their work and were an important reason for their remaining in teaching

Practical satisfaction factors Practical factors were important to

professors, but not as important as the Professional Satisfaction factors

Social satisfaction factors

Two relationships : faculty colleagues and administrators Having good relationships with faculty

colleagues is more important than relationships with

administrators

QUESTION 3

What role does scholarship play in the lives of professors?

Result for Question 3

Engaging in scholarship appears to have had a

greater influence on the participants' decision to remain in the profession than the opportunity to perform service

QUESTION 4

How important is it for professors to provide service to their institution?

Result for Question 4 The opportunity to perform service was

the lowest quantitative factor professors identified as an influence in their decision to remain in the profession.

Conclusion

Professional Satisfaction factors is the most powerful motivators that induced experienced professors to remain in the classroom.

Scholarship was also a great source of satisfaction for the professors (although time

and expectations were constraints), as was their relationships with colleagues. Service to the institution and Practical Satisfaction factors were generally rated lower

as motivators

Conclusion

Having a good administrator ranked near the bottom of factors professors identified as important for their job satisfaction

Some Questions

Do you think you would get similar answers from professors at large research universities such as Penn State, Arizona State, Texas AM or Virginia Tech?

Do you think the overall satisfaction level would be lower if non-tenured professors were surveyed?  And if so, what specific areas do you think would score the lowest?

Thanks