Job satisfaction of academics Does gender matter?

• Published in: Higher education policy Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 363 - 384
• Main Authors: Machado, Maria de Lourdes, White, Kate, Gouveia, Odilia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.09.2014; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Academic profession; Akademiker; Arbeitskraft; Bedarf; Berufstätigkeit; Career development; Career Pathways; College Faculty; Colleges & universities; Colleges and universities; Education; Education Policy; Educational Policy and Politics; Educational Technology; Family; Family Work Relationship; Females; Foreign Countries; Frau; Gender Differences; Gender differentiation; Gender Discrimination; Higher Education; Individual Development; Institutions; Job Satisfaction; Males; Men; Part Time Faculty; Portugal; Professional Development; Researchers; Scientists; Sex differences; Sex Stereotypes; Student Satisfaction; Students; Studies; Teachers; Tenure; Universities; University faculty; Wissenschaft; Women; Women Faculty; Women's employment; Work Environment; Portugal; higher education; gender; academic staff; job satisfaction
• ISSN: 0952-8733; 1740-3863
• DOI: 10.1057/hep.2013.34

Academic work in higher education has been influenced by global trends such as accountability, massification and deteriorating financial support. Within this broader context, the performance of academic staff as teachers and researchers has an impact on student learning and implications for the quality of higher education institutions (HEIs). Therefore, satisfaction of academic staff is critical to the effective functioning of HEIs. This article reports on a study of academic career satisfaction in Portugal and gender differences with respect to academic job satisfaction. It found that male respondents in HEIs were in higher positions than women, but less so in private institutions. It also analysed some aspects of the professional context in which women and men work in order to explain similarities and/or differences in job satisfaction. The main difference was that women were less satisfied with personal and professional development, especially the balance between work and family.(HRK / Abstract übernommen).