The Antecedents of Job Satisfaction amongst Academicians: An Empirical Evidence from a Malaysian Private University

Abstract

Job satisfaction has always been a prevalent area of interest around the globe. Generally, job satisfaction amongst academicians is inspired by several constructs which follow several theoretical assumptions. Many job satisfaction antecedents have been recommended based on the principles as stated by higher education institutions. This paper provides an extensive critical analysis whether the economic and environmental factors could influence the job satisfaction amongst academicians in a Malaysian private university. This antecedent is extensively investigated in literature and most of them are observed from the Western countries’ viewpoints. Despite the comprehensiveness of the empirical research on job satisfaction in the West, previous research investigating on job satisfaction antecedents in the Malaysian higher education institutions particularly in private universities remain scarce. As a result, this study provides empirical evidence from a Malaysian perspective on job satisfaction antecedents. The study surveys a sample of 198 respondents (99.0% usable response rate) which were duly completed and returned to the study. The findings showed relationships were significant among the constructs developed in assessing job satisfaction. The dimension of human resources policies is the most contributing factor. It could be concluded that the economic and environmental factors significantly influence the job satisfaction amongst academicians with several imperative constructs. The management of universities in Malaysia need to identify best practices that could provide maximum job satisfaction benefits to the academicians. This paper will contribute towards literature of job satisfaction, whereby lead to enhancing higher education institution performance in Malaysia, especially for private universities.