Job satisfaction factors that influence IT lecturers in Sri Lankan state universities

Abstract

The performance of the academic staff enormously impacts on students’ learning and success. Therefore, motivation and satisfaction of the academic staff are crucial for the quality of higher education. Improving the effectiveness of the university education system will improve the growth of the country by producing highly educated and competent intellectuals. This research studies the job satisfaction factors of IT lecturers in Sri Lankan public universities with an intention of assisting policy formulation and implementation to strengthen the university education system. Academic Job Satisfaction related literature sources were analyzed in formulating the conceptual framework. Six factors were identified as the most influential to the job satisfaction of IT Lecturers and were considered as independent variables. Job satisfaction was the dependent variable. Six hypotheses were formulated based on the six factors. Then an online survey was prepared and shared among IT lecturers in public universities. Thereafter collected data was statistically analyzed to validate the consistency and to test the hypothesis. Based on the analysis it was identified that Facility & Pay, Institution, and Opportunities had a positive correlation with job satisfaction. The outcome of the study reveals that 82.8% of IT lecturers are satisfied with their jobs. However, lecturers are in the opinion that Opportunities and Facility & pay need to be improved while bringing down the present workload to a moderate level. Therefore it is recommended to formulate policies to ensure that IT lecturers are compensated in line with competitive remuneration packages and to develop a mechanism in recognizing their contributions. It is also recommended to consider in increasing the number of lecturers with the view of bringing down their present workload to a moderate level. These recommendations will ensure in having a group of IT lecturers with a high job satisfaction.