Job satisfaction in a Saudi Arabian University

Al-Sumih, Abdul Mohsin (1999) Job satisfaction in a Saudi Arabian University. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This research considers job satisfaction in a Saudi Arabian university using a quantitative and qualitative perspective. The subjects of this study were 307 academics from King Saud University (KSU), the principal University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Higher education in KSA in general and KSU in particular is confronted with the problem of the strong link between job turnover and job dissatisfaction. This thesis explores the attitudes of university teachers to job satisfaction to provide insights that may help to reduce the intention of staff to leave KSU.

The study examines overall job satisfaction, and also considers this in relation to nationality; job title; age; and overseas qualification. It concludes that overall job satisfaction does exist amongst academics, but that there are certain areas of job dissatisfaction. In fact, 33.8% of the respondents were more satisfied than five years ago, while 24.7% were less satisfied in their jobs than five years ago. The research concludes that job satisfaction is strongly linked with factors such as relationships with students, relationships with colleagues, supervision, responsibility, academic career, working conditions, and recognition. It also concludes that job dissatisfaction is strongly connected with factors such as promotion, pay, and workload. This study indicates that the cultural context and Islamic faith play an important positive role in Saudi Arabian academic staff members' job satisfaction. It also reveals that the maturity of a country's higher educational system influences job satisfaction positively if this system has been established for a long time.

This thesis indicates that non-Saudi academic staff members, in KSU, are more satisfied than their Saudi colleagues with nine factors out of the ten job satisfaction factors. Thus, Saudi academics are more satisfied than their non-Saudi colleagues with only one factor that is the workload factor. It also confirms, both facts, that the increase of the academic position as well as the increase of the members' age influence job satisfaction positively. This study concludes that there is no significant difference in satisfaction and/or in dissatisfaction between Saudi academics who graduated from 'USA' and those who graduated from 'UK'.

The research provides contributions to the understanding of job satisfaction in general and job satisfaction in the context of higher education, as well as providing both analytical methodologies and interpretative models of job satisfaction that will support future policy development in KSU, KSA and the wider international arena of higher education.

This record has no associated files available for download.