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Predicting faculty job satisfaction in university departments

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Abstract

This study attempts to examine the relationships between several dimensions of organizational climate and faculty job satisfaction in university departments which offer Ph.D. degrees. The three dimensions of organizational climate examined are: power perception, the perceived organizational goals, and the assessment of rewards. The major findings of the study are:

(1) Nonresearch perceived organizational goals are by and large weakly related to job satisfaction in both the physical and social sciences. (2) Power perception is a strong determinant of job satisfaction in the social sciences and considerably less dominant in the physical sciences. (3) The assessment of rewards is the strongest predictor of faculty job satisfaction in both the physical and social sciences. The major conclusion of the study is that the organizational climate is one of the keys to understanding faculty job satisfaction. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

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Neumann, Y. Predicting faculty job satisfaction in university departments. Res High Educ 9, 261–275 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00976999

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