“An undisturbed afternoon of writing”: a qualitative study of professors’ job satisfaction
Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
ISSN: 2050-7003
Article publication date: 9 May 2019
Issue publication date: 2 October 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to model factors that contribute to job satisfaction among university professors.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach was qualitative; 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with Swedish university full professors representing 11 different academic subjects.
Findings
Five facets of job satisfaction were identified: distal environment (e.g. impact on society and the scientific community), proximal social environment, self (e.g. receiving external credit and experiencing internal pride), the uplifts of daily life and formal conditions (e.g. pay and opportunities to continue after retirement). A model was inductively developed according to which professors’ job satisfaction is influenced by interacting contextual and individual antecedent conditions.
Research limitations/implications
Because a qualitative approach was used, with a limited number of informants, there is a lack of representativeness and the concepts generated are of a sensitizing rather than a definitive character.
Practical implications
Attention should be paid to university professors’ need for autonomy, otherwise public management control strivings may become counter-productive.
Originality/value
A new model of professors’ job satisfaction with a richness of details was developed.
Keywords
Citation
Larsson, G. and Alvinius, A. (2019), "“An undisturbed afternoon of writing”: a qualitative study of professors’ job satisfaction", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 719-732. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-10-2018-0216
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited