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Job Satisfaction: A study among Public and

Private University Teachers of Bangladesh

Masud Ibn Rahman*

Rumana Parveen

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors contributing to the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the public

and private university teachers of Bangladesh and also searches for influential factors. Based on a

survey, it attempts to gain insights into the satisfaction levels from the perspective of the

university teachers. It has been found that there is a significant difference between public and

private university teachers regarding job satisfaction on different factors. The present study

attempts to order all influential factors following overall job satisfaction through some statistical

techniques. It also compares the overall job satisfaction level and the nature of satisfaction among

the public and private university teachers. The result reveals that teachers age and job experiencedo not have any significant influence on job satisfaction though gender disparities were profound

among their responses. This suggests us how to reduce the dissatisfaction level of the teachers in

various universities and to find out the real nature and cause of the dissatisfaction.Key Words:

1. IntroductionA high quality teaching staff is the cornerstone of a successful educational system.

Attracting and retaining high quality teachers is a primary necessity for education in anycountry. One step in developing a high quality faculty is understanding the factors

associated with teaching quality and retention. One of these factors is job satisfaction,

which has been studied widely by organizational researchers and has been linked toorganizational commitment as well as to organizational performance (Ostroff, 1992).

Job satisfaction has been defined as a general attitude toward ones job. It is in regard toones feelings or stateof-mind regarding the nature of their work. According to Robbins

(1997), Job satisfaction is the difference between the amount of rewards employees

receive and the amount they believe they should receive. Again Mobey and

Lockey(1970) opined Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are function of the perceivedrelationship between what one expects and obtains from ones job and how much

importance or value one attributes to it.

There has been disagreement among researchers about whether Job satisfaction has

multiple dimensions. Researchers like Porter and Lawler (1972) define Job satisfaction asa one-dimensional contract; that is, one is generally satisfied or dissatisfied with ones

job. In contrast, Smith, Kendall and Hulin argue that Job satisfaction is multidimensional;that is one may be more or less satisfied with ones supervisor, pay or workplace etc.

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, Daffodil International University , Dhaka Lecturer , Faculty of Business and Economics, Daffodil International University , Dhaka*** Agri-ficilitator, LGED, Agargaon, Dhaka

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For the purpose of our work, we follow the second opinion and define job satisfaction as

an emotional response towards various facets of ones job. A person can be relativelysatisfied with one aspect of his/her job and dissatisfied with one or more other aspects.

Authors also vary in opinions of what should be these factors or facets.

According to Stephen P Robbins (1997), finding summation of satisfaction regardingdifferent job facets is a sophisticated approach of measuring Job satisfaction and the five

key elements are: nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities

and relation with coworkers. John W. Newstrom and Keith Davis (1997), addedimmediate working condition along with the above five factors.

2. Related ResearchProfessor Herzberg et al (1959), after conducting a massive study developed Two Factor

Theory that identifies two set of factors contributing to Job satisfaction anddissatisfaction. Those are (1) Hygiene factors: salary, relation with superior and peer,

quality of technical supervision, company policy and administration, working conditionetc. and (2) Motivation factors: Achievements, recognition, work itself, responsibility,

advancement and possibility of growth.

Applebums (1997) study identified that there is a positive correlation between the nature

of the job design including task complexity, task variety, task independence and jobsatisfaction.

Some demographic factors have influence on Job satisfaction as showed in some researchworks. Kalleberg and Loscocco (1983)

showed that in USA, older workers are more

satisfied than younger workers. Shapiro and Stern (1975) found that in USA professionalwomen experienced lower levels of Job satisfaction than their male counterparts. Islam

(1999) found out that in Bangladesh, the level of Job satisfaction of Government

employees is higher than that of NGO employees and male employees are more satisfiedthan women. Rahman and Sarcar (1990) found that among professional women

occupational stress was higher for unmarried ones.

However most of the studies identified the relationship between job-related factors andJob satisfaction. Khaleque and Rahman (1987)

conducted a study on Job satisfaction of

Bangladeshi industrial workers regarding influence of some job facets including job

content, coworkers, supervision, wage promotion, work environment andcommunication. They concluded that job facets can be source of satisfaction as well as

dissatisfaction. Overall Job satisfaction of industrial workers is influenced by the job

facets and personal life and the degree of satisfaction depends upon the perceivedimportance of the job facets.

Alam (2003)conducted a research on the Job satisfaction of female workers in different

garment factories in Dhaka city and concluded the level of satisfaction is positively

correlated with level of wages they get. Ziaul , Anwar and Nazrul (2005), in their study

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on comparative Job satisfaction of senior male and female executives in Bangladesh ,

showed that there are insignificant difference between male and female executivesregarding satisfaction in different facets of job.

A comprehensive research work was conducted during 1985-86 on Job satisfaction of

Teachers of Dhaka University by Institute of Education and Research. The Researchers,Muttaqui and Shaikh (1988)concluded that-

1. There were significant differences among teachers of different faculties in attitudestowards different aspects of their job

2. The teachers were dissatisfied with physical and technical facilities they use inuniversity.

3. They ere satisfied with pay and interpersonal relationships in work.4. Lecturers were less satisfied than their senior colleagues.5. The professor and female teachers were the most satisfied group.Oshabemi (1997)

conducted a comprehensive study on Job satisfaction of university

teachers in UK. He concluded that-1. Most of the teachers (81%) were satisfied though varied significantly in satisfactionof different job aspects.

2. Areas of higher satisfaction of university teachers were teaching function andresearch facilities.

3. Areas of lower satisfaction were pay, promotion and supervision.3. Purpose of the StudySatisfaction with teaching as a career is an important policy issue since it is associated

with teacher effectiveness which ultimately affects student achievement (Ashton andWebb, 1986; Carnegie Task Force on Teaching, 1986). Because faculty are both the

largest cost and the largest human capital resource of a university, understanding factors

that contribute to teacher satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) is essential to improve theinformation base needed to support a successful higher education system.

There is a research gap regarding satisfaction of teachers, specially university teachers as

professionals in Bangladesh. The growth of private universities has added a newdimension in the graduation and post-graduation education in the country. Also there are

vast differences between public and private universities regarding different job aspects.

Thus it is a contemporary matter of interest whether or not those differences affect jobsatisfaction of teachers of the two types of universities. The present study is aimed to find

out such disparity between job satisfaction of public and private university teachers

through different dimension and density of satisfaction levels.

More specifically we can furnish the objectives as follows:

1. To find out the differences between satisfaction level of public and private universityregarding nine job aspects: Pay, Benefit, Advancement and growth, Work Itself,

Leadership, Communication, Performance feedback and recognition, Colleagues and

Stress.

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2. To find out the difference between overall job satisfaction of public and privateuniversity teachers.

3. To identify the factors responsible for satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the two groupsof teachers.

4. To suggest the ways of improvement the state of job satisfaction of the two groups ofuniversity teachers.

4. HypothesisFollowing hypothesis have been furnished considering demographic issues and nine otherfactors of job-satisfaction.

1. H0: There is no significant difference between the public and private universityteachers regarding the overall job satisfaction.H1: Public and private university teachers have significant difference regarding the

overall job satisfaction.

2. H0: There is no significant effect of the age on overall job satisfaction score ofUniversity teachers.

H1: Age has significant effect on job satisfaction university teachers.3. H0: There is no significant difference between the male and female universityteachers regarding the overall job satisfaction.H1: Male and female university teachers have significant difference regarding the

overall job satisfaction.

4. H0: There is no significant association between payment of university teachers andthe overall job satisfaction.

H1: Payment of university teachers has significant association with overall job

satisfaction.

5. H0: There is no significant association between benefit of university teachers andthe overall job satisfaction.H

1: Benefit of university teachers has significant association with overall job

satisfaction.

6. H0: There is no significant association between Advancement and Growth(promotion research etc.) and the overall job satisfaction university teachers.

H1: Advancement and Growth (promotion, research etc.) have significant

association with overall job satisfaction university teachers.

7. H0: There is no significant association between various facilities (Work Itself) ofuniversity and the overall job satisfaction university teachers.

H1: Various facilities of university have significant association with overall job

satisfaction university teachers.

8. H0: There is no significant association between Leadership of university and theoverall job satisfaction university teachers.

H1: Leadership of university has significant association with overall job satisfactionuniversity teachers.

9. H0: There is no significant association between teamwork and communication ofuniversity and the overall job satisfaction of university teachers.H1: Teamwork and communication among university teachers have significant

association with overall job satisfaction university teachers.

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10.H0: There is no significant association between performance feedback andrecognition from the authority of university and the overall job satisfactionuniversity teachers.

H1: Recognition from the authority and performance feedback has significant

association with overall job satisfaction university teachers.

11.H0: There is no significant association between relationship with colleagues ofuniversity and the overall job satisfaction university teachers.

H1: Relationship with colleagues of university has significant association with

overall job satisfaction university teachers.

12.H0: There is no significant association between stress at work and the overall jobsatisfaction university teachers.

H1: Stress at work has significant association with overall job satisfaction universityteachers.

5. MethodologySampleA total number of 20 public and private universities were selected purposively and a

sample of 130 (65 public and 65 private) university teachers were selected randomly. The

public universities includes: University of Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Engineering

and Technology, Jahangirnagar University, Shahjalal University of Science andTechnology, University of Rajshahi and University of Chittagong. The private

universities include-Independent University of Bangladesh, Stamford University,

Daffodil International University, United International University, Eastern University,East west University, Northern University, South East University and American

International University of Bangladesh. The Survey was conducted on December 2005 up

to January 2006.

Survey instrument

A structured questionnaire was developed having 9 facets of job satisfaction which is

addressed through 32 statements to which the respondents is asked to react using a six step Likert scale (Murray 1999)

19ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree

(6). About two third of the items stated in a positive manner and the other one third in a

negative manner: negative items are reverse scored assessing a value of 1 to StronglyDisagree and 6 to Strongly Agree.

At the end of the thirty-two questions, a final item was added: I am satisfied with my

job. This item was intended to get the respondents gut reaction to the very generalconcept of job satisfaction.

Statistical Methods for Calculations

Data were analyzed on 3 different dimensions.

Dimension-1: Study on the association between overall job satisfaction and all othercategories/ factors along with some demographic factors to under stand the influence on

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each other and vice versa through some statistical techniques like Cross tabulations, Chi-

square tests, Cramers V and Pearsons correlation Coefficient.

Dimension-2: Comparative Study through the mean score difference of Public and

Private University teachers. This study will be conducted by the descriptive statistics

(Mean and standard deviation) and statistical F tests following P-value.

Dimension-3: Ranking of the satisfaction and dissatisfaction factor following the

frequency of response and data concentration. Frequency Distribution Techniques along

with percentage will be observed, classified and ordered.

6. Results and DiscussionFindings of Dimension-1 analysis:

The questionnaire includes six indicators (Type, Age, Gender, Career Path, Name, and

Job times) and 32 other factors in the form of opinion with 6 scale under nine influentialcategory. In each category there are 1 to 6 same type of questions/factors. Data then

compiled and analyzed by using SPSS.

To assess the association between the satisfaction level of public and private university

teachers, statistical analysis like cross tabulation and chi square test were conducted. To

understand the degree of association between the variables, Cramers V and Pearsonscorrelation coefficient r is observed. Research has shown that, among 130 respondents,

half are from public university and other half are from private university. Table-6

indicates that relationship between public and private university teachers which did not

support the assumption of difference (Pearson Chi-Square 9.58a,

P= (2-sided) .082>.05with 5 degrees of freedom, Cramer's V= 0.343 and r = -.24); that is, the null hypothesis is

accepted. As such we can conclude that there is no significant difference between public

and private university teachers regarding the overall satisfaction. Although the opinionregarding other categories of satisfaction widely differs, this is an interesting finding that

in case of overall satisfaction most of the respondents seem to be satisfied to some extent.(see Table-5 Appendix A).

Table-1: Cross-tabulation of the association between Public and private university

teachers regarding the overall job satisfaction

Type of University Total

Scale Public Private

1 1 5 6

2 3 5 83 7 10 17

4 9 13 22

5 30 27 57

I

amsatisfied

w

ithmyjob

6 15 5 20

Total 65 65 130

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Analysis has supported the hypothesis of difference between male and female

respondents regarding the job satisfaction of various aspects. Table-2 three explains theresults of highly significant associations (Pearson Chi-Square 17.35

a, P (2-sided) =.00