| The purpose of this study was to investigate job satisfaction among female and male academic chairpersons in Saudi Arabia. The focus of this study was an examination of the differences between female and male department chairpersons with respect to job satisfaction.;The study involved all the academic department chairpersons from Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, King Saud University, and Girls Colleges in Riyadh City, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Testing of seven null hypotheses was based on the response of 130 (76%) department chairpersons: 68 males and 62 females. The instruments used were: (1) the Job Descriptive Index (Smith, Kendall & Hulin, 1969; Smith et al., 1987), translated into Arabic and validated by Maghrabi, 1990, and (2) a researcher-developed demographic data sheet. The six subscales of the JDI were used as the dependent variables of the study: present work, present payment, opportunities for promotion, supervision, co-workers, and job in general. Sex and seven other demographic variables (nationality, age, academic rank, experience, department size, specialization, and place of highest degree) served as the independent variables. Statistical analysis was carried out with appropriate t-test and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The level of significance was set at 0.05.;The major findings of the study were: (1) There was a significant difference between female and male chairpersons in the present work subscale, with males tending to be more satisfied than female chairpersons. (2) There was a significant difference between male and female chairpersons in the payment subscale as females were more satisfied than male chairpersons. (3) There was a significant difference between females and males in the promotion subscale, with a higher level of satisfaction among male chairpersons. (4) There was no significant difference between male and female chairpersons in the other subscales: supervision, co-workers, and job in general. (5) The two-way ANOVA testing of the interaction between the six subscales, sex of the respondent, and the seven demographic variables revealed no significant difference between male and female chairpersons. Several recommendations were made to improve job satisfaction of chairpersons. |
