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Job Satisfaction of Academics: Does Gender Matter?

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Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIPES-Center for Research in Higher Education Policies,

    Maria de Lourdes Machado-Taylor

  2. Federation University, Australia

    Kate White

  3. PhD Student in Sociology in University of Minho,

    Odilia Gouveia

  4. Researcher at the Center for Research on Higher Education Policies (CIPES),

    Odilia Gouveia

Authors
  1. Maria de Lourdes Machado-Taylor
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  2. Kate White
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  3. Odilia Gouveia
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Additional information

Correction

Kate White and Odilia Gouveia were not included in the HTML version of this article. Originally published 5 November 2013. These corrections have been made in this final version.

Appendix

Appendix

Table A1

Table A1 Dimensions of satisfaction
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Machado-Taylor, M., White, K. & Gouveia, O. Job Satisfaction of Academics: Does Gender Matter?. High Educ Policy 27, 363–384 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2013.34

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