Does students’ satisfaction matter to faculty job satisfaction in higher education?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on the marketing aspects of customer satisfaction, this paper provides insights into the relationship between students’ and lecturers’ satisfaction in a higher education institution. The study critically adopts the logic of relationship marketing, arguing that students’ satisfaction affects lecturers’ job satisfaction. The relationship between students’ and lecturers’ satisfaction is explored using Balance Theory and Herzberg’s Motivation Theory. The Critical Incident Technique is used for data collection through interviews with student-lecturer dyads. The findings indicate that lecturers’ job satisfaction increases when students’ holistic feedback is explicitly shared with lecturers. Hence, investing in the communication of students’ satisfaction enhances lecturers’ job satisfaction. The current work adds a critical perspective to the relationship between lecturers’ and students’ satisfaction. It highlights a reversal of the accepted logic of relationship marketing, arguing that students’ satisfaction affects lecturers’ satisfaction. The methodological contribution of this work offers a new approach to using critical incident analysis techniques in dyads of students and lecturers.