Have gender differences in job satisfaction disappeared? A study of Turkish universities in North Cyprus

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence to establish whether gender differences exists in relation to the job satisfaction of male and female university teachers in Turkish universities in North Cyprus. The study will also demonstrate whether gender is a reliable predictor of their job satisfaction. The study instrument used was the short form Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) which measures job satisfaction using 20 facets of the job. The instrument was personally administered to respondents. The population for the study consisted of university teachers in North Cyprus. A total of 412 university teachers (69% response rate) agreed to take part in the study. Data analysis consisted of the computation of descriptive statistics in order to examine the job satisfaction levels of the university teachers, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in order to understand whether a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and gender exists. The study results demonstrate that university teachers are only moderately satisfied with their job. Addititonlly, results indicate that female university teachers, as compared to male university teachers, have a higher level of satisfaction with overall job satisfaction with this difference being statistically significant with gender. The study supports general findings in the literature relating higher job satisfaction levels for female university teachers. Out of the 20 facets of the job examined, 7 are found to be statistically significant with gender. The study concludes that gender differences do exist in relation to the job satisfaction of university teachers. Key words: Job satisfaction, job dissatisfaction, university teachers, gender, North Cyprus.