Job Satisfaction Level among Dental Faculty Members Based on Their Specialty

Background: Job satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job. It can be influenced by many factors such as nature of the work, salary, job opportunities, work environment, supervision, mental conditions, and job security. We aimed to compare satisfaction among academic members of dentistry faculty based on their specialty. Methods: 98 Faculty members of Shahid Beheshti dentistry school (n=114) were surveyed during 2016 to assess their job satisfaction level. We used two questionnaires, the first one assessed demographic and personal data (academic position, teaching experience) and the other questionnaire was for evaluating job satisfaction. Results: The level of satisfaction of our samples was moderate and the average score was 2.77±0.5. The nature of work that is maintaining an academic position plays the most important role in job satisfaction. Mental conditions and job security ranked moderate satisfaction. The opportunities for promotion and personal growth were ranked the most dissatisfied domains. There was. significant difference among academic members’ level of satisfaction, about salary (P≤0.02), nature of the work (P≤0.007) and physical condition (P≤0.001). Conclusion: In general, prosthodontists were the least and the dental material specialists were the most satisfied dental specialists among faculty members. To increase job satisfaction of faculty members and their maintenance in academic position we suggest considering resource allocation and strategies in a direction that provide equal opportunities for promotion and members flourish.