Job Satisfaction within the Scottish Academic Profession

37 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 1999

See all articles by Melanie E. Ward-Warmedinger

Melanie E. Ward-Warmedinger

European Commission; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; European Central Bank (ECB); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Peter J. Sloane

University of Wales, Swansea; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: April 1999

Abstract

This paper considers job satisfaction in the academic labor market drawing upon a particularly detailed data set of 900 academics from five traditional Scottish Universities. Recent studies have revealed that in the labor force as a whole women generally express themselves as more satisfied with their jobs than men. Our results show that reports of overall job satisfaction do not vary widely by gender. This result is explained through the nature of our dataset, limited as it is to a highly educated workforce, in which female workers are likely to have job expectations comparable to their male counterparts. Ordered probit analysis is used to analyze the determinants of an academic's overall satisfaction at work as well as satisfaction with promotion prospects, job security and salary. Comparison salary is found to be an important influence on academics' overall job satisfaction, although evidence suggests that academics place a lower emphasis on pecuniary relative to non-pecuniary aspects of work than other sectors of the workforce.

JEL Classification: J44

Suggested Citation

Ward-Warmedinger, Melanie E. and Sloane, Peter J., Job Satisfaction within the Scottish Academic Profession (April 1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=166356 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.166356

Melanie E. Ward-Warmedinger (Contact Author)

European Commission ( email )

BU-1 05/190
Brussels, Bruxelles B-1049
Belgium

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

European Central Bank (ECB) ( email )

Sonnemannstrasse 22
Frankfurt am Main, 60314
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Peter J. Sloane

University of Wales, Swansea ( email )

Singleton Park
Singleton Park
Swansea, Wales SA2 8PP
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany