The gig economy comes to academia: Job satisfaction among adjunct faculty

Abstract

Colleges and universities in the United States have embraced the “gig” economy with use of non-tenure track and part-time faculty. However, much of the work on job satisfaction in academia focuses on tenure-line professors. This study seeks to answer the question of whether adjunct faculty look more like independent gig workers or contingent gig workers. Independent gig workers are their own boss and choose these jobs voluntarily. Contingent gig workers are similar to traditional workers in that they are not their own boss and are instead regular employees. However, they lack some of the advantages of a traditional job such as security. Data were collected from a university in the western United States. Adjunct professors reported similar levels of job satisfaction as their tenure-track and tenured counterparts. We conclude that at least some portion of adjunct faculty engage in contingent work voluntarily and are best categorized as independent gig workers.

Keywords

• job satisfaction
• contingent faculty
• adjunct professors
• gig economy
• professor rank
• non-tenure track faculty