Job satisfaction in a diverse institutional environment: The Brazilian experience

Abstract

Brazilian higher education is a known case of extreme diversity with 89 % of its more than 2,300 institutions being private. Institutions range from small, family-owned professionally oriented schools to huge research universities with major annual budgets. This diverse institutional environment creates differences in opportunity and expectations among academics and is relevant to understanding variations in the general satisfaction academics have about different aspects of their professional life. The analysis found that in understanding the way individuals assess their satisfaction with the academic career, the subjective congruence between the academic’s professional goals and the institutional mission is a central issue. For example, individuals that lean towards research and work in a teaching-oriented institution tend to be less satisfied with their general work conditions. Other relevant dimension explored in the chapter is the impact of the institution’s general entrepreneurial orientation and job satisfaction. Institutions with a more entrepreneurial orientation tend to create a more satisfying environment for academics, regardless of the more objective conditions of employment (such as stability and teaching load).