Job Satisfaction

In May 2024, the Office of Faculty ADVANCEment invited all faculty at Clemson University to take part in an updated version of the climate survey, designed to provide data on faculty characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors. Following the recent blog post related to burnout, we are now reporting on a few additional aspects, that relate to job satisfaction.

Measuring Job Satisfaction

Just like any other metric linked to perception, the topic of measuring job satisfaction has been addressed from multiple lenses and (in many cases) drawing parallels with other job types and settings (including business firms, hospitals, government agencies, professions, and the military). In general, the concept of job satisfaction can be linked to “an overall affective orientation on the part of individuals toward work roles which they are presently occupying”. This information is very important to managers and administration because higher job satisfaction can be rationally associated with greater productivity, better quality of life, and the overall intention to remain in the academic position. It is also important to note that perspectives about academic job satisfaction are not only affected by the university’s work environment (workload model, mentorship, etc.) but also by the intersectional identify of the respondents (gender, minority status, tenure status, faculty track, etc.).

 

How faculty at Clemson feel about their jobs

The survey distributed provided faculty the opportunity to express how they felt about different aspects of their jobs, giving them the option to choose between strongly disagree, disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree, agree, and strongly agree. As it can be observed in the summary report, faculty at Clemson have expressed an overall positive view related to job satisfaction, although it is absolutely clear that not all of us feel the same way.

Out of those questions, the most favorable answers relate to job security (related to the number of TT/T faculty that responded the survey), the overall impression of their department as a place to work, the overall impression of Clemson University, and the course load. To provide context, it is important to note that Clemson has a 16:1 student/faculty ratio (according to USNews), placing us among the universities with higher ratios (according to the Open Education Database). Only 17% of our classes have more than 50 students and the average course load for tenure track faculty at Clemson is 2.1 – 2.3 typical courses per semester (3.2 – 3.5 typical courses per semester for non-tenure track), which is in line with other institutions and supports the overall positive sentiments expressed in the survey. Please note that a typical course is defined as a 3-credit hour organized class and that the definition of “load” varies across institutions, limiting the value of the numerical comparison.

The questions with lowest scores relate to institutional support, how equitable committee assignments are, and the time available for research. Some of these issues where specifically addressed in the analysis presented in the previous post on burnout, which are also in agreement with recent literature. Notably, similar aspects related to job satisfaction in academic settings have been reported for numerous universities, including some in China, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland, among others.

 


Another aspect that rendered an overall positive score (answers with positive sentiment / answers negative sentiments = 3.5) is the amount of research productivity that is expected from faculty. In fact, Scopus shows a strong portfolio of publications from Clemson University covering a wide range of subjects; where the largest number of documents have been broadly associated with Engineering (15,981), Agricultural and Biological Sciences (8,548), Materials Science (7,879), Computer Science (7,800), Physics and Astronomy (6,984), Social Sciences (6,793), Chemistry (6,060), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (5,441), Environmental Science (5,383), and Mathematics (4,869). These figures not only support our Carnegie classification as Doctoral Universities / Very High Research Activity but also our overall positive evolution in terms of the volume, impact and quality of the institution’s research output, the number of patent applications, and the citations that our research output receives from patents (Scimago). Behind these numbers are other factors to be considered including the amount of research funding that we are expected to find to satisfy the goal of doubling research expenditures by 2035 (answers with positive sentiment / answers negative sentiments = 1.9). As shown in the research tab of our dashboard, we have already exceeded our goal of graduating at least 300 doctoral students per year and we seem to be on track to meet many of the goals of the strategic plan.

What happens when faculty are not satisfied with their jobs? 

There are multiple consequences of poor job satisfaction in academic settings, including negative effects on faculty well-being, collegiality, tenure clarity, engagement, and student outcomes. Moreover, a recent study focused on staff relations concluded that there is a critical interrelationship between job satisfaction, belonging, and workplace flexibility. While these are just examples of the multiple factors that could affect how faculty feel, job satisfaction is a key predictor for intention to remain in or leave an academic position. While financial aspects, such as a pay/salary increases, is the most cited reason that employees declare when seeking other employment, a pilot study led by Harvard University concluded

  • that the quality of colleagues was more important than salary in their decision to stay or leave,
  • that the retention negotiation often suffers from gender bias,
  • that the expectation to cultivate outside offers before they can ask for a better deal at home is simply ineffective, and
  • that the cost of replacing faculty members extends far beyond start-up packages and lost grants, as there are also sunk costs of hiring and training, morale, mentorship, service and leadership.

 

Want to know more?

If you have any questions regarding this post, please contact:
DR. CARLOS D. GARCIA

Faculty Fellow, Best Practices in Faculty Reviews
Office of Faculty ADVANCEment
cdgarci@clemson.edu

 

Please use this form to provide feedback, propose stories, or nominate a colleague to be featured (including self-nominations).