| Women have made significant progress in earning graduate degrees and entering the professorate, but they have not had the same success as men in developing and sustaining faculty careers, as illustrated by the following comparisons: (1) In 2001, 48 percent of full-time female faculty and 65 percent of full-time male faculty had tenure at four- and two-year institutions (Lindholm, Astin, Sax, and Korn, 2002); (2) In 2001, 21 percent of female faculty and 43 percent of male faculty were full professors (Lindholm et al., 2002); (3) Women comprise only 31 percent of full-time faculty, an increase of 5 percentage points in the last 75 years (Cooper and Stevens, 2002);;Research suggests that slower progress by women through the academic ranks reflects the differential treatment men and women receive in their institutions and departments (Aguirre, 2000; Jackson, 2001; Tierney and Bensimon, 1996). This disparity produces at least two outcomes for female academics. First, they are less satisfied with their jobs than male faculty (Boice, 1993; Hagedorn, 1996; Tack and Patitu, 1992). Second, female tenure-track faculty are more apt than men to leave academe before a tenure decision (Tack and Patitu, 1992; Tierney and Rhoads, 1994).;This dissertation examines the job satisfaction of tenure-track faculty and endeavors to understand how and why it differs by gender at one institution, but not at another. Two overarching questions guide this research: What factors do tenure-track faculty at two institutions cite as contributing to their job satisfaction? How do tenure-track faculty at two institutions describe the relationship between their expectations, values, and needs and their job satisfaction? Data was collected through qualitative interviews with 31 tenure-track faculty at two research sites, one at which there were gender disparities in the overall job satisfaction of tenure-track faculty, and one at which there were not. Data analysis was informed by two theories of job satisfaction: content theory and process theory. Content theory strives to identify factors that influence job satisfaction and study the degree to which these factors predict job satisfaction, while process theory underscores the significance of an individual's expectations, needs, and values, and whether they are fulfilled in the workplace.;Study findings suggest that there are no gender differences in the factors contributing to tenure-track job satisfaction. However, there are gender differences in how these factors conform to individuals' values, interests, needs, and expectations. Specifically, women tend to value teaching more than men, while men tend to value autonomy more than women. In addition women were more likely than men to find that the tenure criteria did not allow them to do what they enjoyed most, and this was not what they expected when they started their junior faculty jobs. These gender differences were more pronounced at the institution where gender differentials in overall job satisfaction were evident. |
