impact of age on the job satisfaction of university teachers, The

Research in Education, May 1998 by Oshagbemi, Titus

Arising from the post-Second World War baby boom, many countries are acing the problem of an ageing population. The problem is manifested, for example, with the change in the age composition of the work force. The United Kingdom is no exception to the general trend of organisations staffed with older workers. A similar trend was reported in Singapore (Kong et al., 1993) and the United States (Eichar et al., 1991).

A recent publication of the Government Statistical Service confirms that the United Kingdom has an ageing population (Church, 1994, p. 2). For example, the number of people over pensionable age is projected to exceed 16 million by 2031 - more than double the number in 1961 (Church, 1994, p. 21). Table 1 presents a distribution of the percentage of the population who were 80 years or over in 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991. The table also shows projections for 2001, 2011 and 2021 (Church, 1994, p. 23). From the table it can be seen that the percentage of people who were at least 80 years of age increased steadily from 1961 to 1991. In addition, the projections show a further increase in the percentage of senior citizens.

It should be noted that although there has been a decline in the birth rate in the United Kingdom, the overall population is growing steadily. This means that the number of births each year exceeds the number of deaths. The UK population is getting older for two reasons. First, there is a slow-down in the birth rate, so there are fewer young people to pull the population's average age down. Second, life expectancy is increasing, so there are more older people to pull the average age up.

A breakdown of the respondents to this study (Table 2) shows that over 50 per cent of them are at least 45 years old and about 86 per cent are at least 35 years of age. We do not have data to substantiate or refute the statement that the academic population in the United Kingdom is also ageing. However, even if the overall academic population may be growing steadily older, the satisfaction of academics with their jobs may not be improving (Oshagbemi,1996). This study investigates the impact of age on the job satisfaction of university teachers in the United Kingdom. We are interested in addressing the research question of whether age or age and interaction with gender and/or rank is related to job satisfaction. In essence, this study examines the relationship between age and the job satisfaction of academics. While job satisfaction studies have been published of a variety of occupational groups, surprisingly not many studies have been reported which focus on university teachers. Yet it is probably true to say that the majority of the published studies have been conducted by university teachers. Therefore more studies on the job satisfaction of university teachers are not only justified but long overdue (Oshagbemi, 1996, pp. 389-90).

Literature review

As labour market trends indicate that older workers may come to play an increasingly important role in the work force (Eichar et al., 1991, p. 609), the work orientation of this group of employees is of both theoretical and practical interest. A review of the relevant literature shows that most of the age-job satisfaction studies have concluded that there is some association between employee age and job satisfaction.

Gibson and Klein (1970) found an increase in satisfaction with age over all tenure levels in their sample. They explained the age-satisfaction relationship in terms of changing needs, a mellowing process, and changing cognitive structures associated with age. From their own studies Siassi et al. (1975) reported higher levels of job satisfaction in workers over 40 than in those under 40, regardless of the length of time they had been in the job. They explained this result by suggesting that there is an increase in coping capacity with age, perhaps as a result of greater stability, ego strength and similar factors.

Glenn et al. (1977) suggest that cohort differences may play a part in the age-job relationship, in particular the tendency of older workers to have less formal education than young adults. Their theory suggests that education has a negative impact on job satisfaction because increased education is associated with higher expectations, such that a person may become dissatisfied with performing the routine tasks required of most jobs. Wright and Hamilton (1978) offer evidence supporting the job change hypothesis as an explanation of the age-satisfaction relationship. They state that virtually all the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that older workers are more satisfied than younger workers only because they have better jobs, where 'better' is defined in terms of what people themselves say is important in their work.

Ronen (1978) reported a linear relationship between age and job satisfaction in a sample of private-sector production workers but not in a sample of Israeli kibbutz workers. Near et al. (1978) examined the relationship between age, occupational level and overall satisfaction, reporting that the strongest predictors of job satisfaction among eighteen variables were occupational level and age. When the effects of occupational level were controlled for, age remained a significant predictor of satisfaction. O'Brien and Dowling (1981) reported similar findings to those of Glenn et al. (1977). O'Brien and Dowling investigated variables representing ageing effects, including skill utilisation, influence, variety and income in addition to education. They found that neither cohort nor ageing variables alone accounted for the positive association between age and job satisfaction but rather it was a result of both cohort and ageing effects, specifically the decreasing difference between perceived and desired attributes.