Job Satisfaction among Dental School Faculty in Tehran, Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Job satisfaction among dental faculty members has remained relatively understudied. This study aimed to evaluate the level of job satisfaction of faculty members teaching at dental schools.Methods and Materials: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, data collection was conducted using the persian version of the Smith, Kendall, and Hulin job descriptive index questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among faculty members attending dental school at Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Shahed and Islamic Azad Medical University from January 2018-2019. The survey collected demographic information and assessed satisfaction in six domains: salary and benefits, opportunities for promotion and personal growth, supervision and communication, mental conditions and job security, physical conditions and the nature of work. Data collection involved rating their satisfaction in each domain on a 5-point Likert scale. Kruskal–Wallis, Independent samples T-test and Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient were used for statistical analysis.Results: A total of 164 faculty members completed the questionnaire. The majority of participants (%78.4) showed a moderate level of overall job satisfaction. A moderate level of satisfaction was observed in salary and benefits (%46.3), opportunities for promotion and personal growth (%48.3), supervision and communication (%70), mental conditions and job security (%64.6), physical conditions and the nature of work (%54.3). There was a statistically significant relationship between age and the scores for the “supervision and communication” and the “salary and benefits” domains (P<0.05 for both). Older age resulted in higher “salary and benefits” scores and lower “supervision and communication” scores.Conclusion: The majority of faculty members exhibited a moderate level of overall job satisfaction. The domain with lowest satisfaction score was “salaries and benefits” which should be addresses through careful assessment and meticulous planning.

Keywords

• dental faculty
• job satisfaction
• dental schools
• occupational health