A comparative analysis of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among lecturers in public and privately-owned universities in Nigeria

 

This comparative study integrates the Two-Factor Theory and the Job Characteristics

Concept to develop a Three-Factor Model to identify unsettling job satisfaction and

turnover intentions of academics at public and private Nigerian Universities.

A total of 280 (164 public and 116 private) academics were analysed using survey and

semi-structured interviews from a convenience-selected sample of 10 (five public and

five private) universities in North-Central Nigeria. The Mann-Whitney U–Test was used

to examine four hypotheses - to determine any statistically-significant differences in

the overall levels of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, core job dimensions and turnover

intention between lecturers from the sampled groups.

The statistically-significant findings showed no differences in overall intrinsic factors,

but advancement and growth opportunities at public universities were greater than at

private universities due to their exclusive access to government funding. There were

no overall extrinsic job satisfaction differences, but private university lecturers

experienced better working conditions, while public university lecturers registered

higher job security. Also, overall job dimension factors, except for skill variety, did not

differ - private university lecturers had more skill opportunities. The turnover intentions

by private university academics revealed a higher turnover intention because of lack

of advancement and growth, job insecurity and the absence of Trade Unions.

Furthermore, work overload, insufficient research funding, small office space and

inadequate work facilities were the topmost job dissatisfactions of academic staff at

public and private universities.

By combining and refining the Two-Factor Theory and the Job Characteristics Model

into a unified approach, the Three-Factor Model highlights previously-unknown job

dissatisfaction causes at public and private universities. Consequently, policy makers

and other stakeholders should now have a fuller understanding of the turnover

anomaly not identified by previous theoretical models.