Determinants of Job Satisfaction Among Members of Academic Staff

Abstract

Scholars and human resource professionals generally concur that job satisfaction is how content an individual is with his or her job. They make a distinction between affective job satisfaction and cognitive job satisfaction. The former is the extent of pleasurable emotional feelings which individuals have about their jobs in their entirety, and the latter is the extent of individuals' satisfaction with particular facets of their jobs, such as pay, pension arrangements and working hours. Job satisfaction of academic staff is not well studied; yet they are very important professionals for socio-economic development of any nation. They train human resources of their countries and conduct researches, among other responsibilities. This paper analyses the major factors of academic staff's job satisfaction in Tanzania using the Moshi University College of Co-operative and Business Studies (MUCCoBS) as a case study. Generally, 74 members of academic staff were interviewed. Data were gathered using questionnaires, interviews and observation, and were analysed descriptively using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study found out that promotion, training and publication opportunities were affecting academic staffs ‘job satisfaction. Deliberate efforts must be taken to increase academic staffs' job satisfaction by establishing incentives structures which include short and long term training opportunities. To do this, the MUCCoBS and the Government must solicit extra funds which will curb financial constraints facing the College. MUCCoBS must increase the chances for academic staff to publish their articles; which in turn increase their chances for promotion This may be done by increasing the number of academic publications, especially journals, and making them online and open access.