Job satisfaction and characteristics among staff of public higher educational institutions in Ghana

The role of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in preparing human resource for local, national and global sustainable development is paramount. Such role can be adequately performed by competent staff who are satisfied with their jobs. This study determined the extent of the relationship between job satisfaction and characteristics in public HEIs in Ghana. The study employed the cross-sectional survey design. Factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis were applied to the data collected from three categories of staff from four public universities constituting a sample size of 452. Results show that social status, recognition, remuneration and conducive work environment informed their job satisfaction. For the dimensions of job characteristics, the most important was the variety of tasks performed on the job, followed by the feedback employees received from the job outcomes. The other three dimensions were task significance, autonomy and task identity. A positive canonical correlation existed between the first canonical pair of functions, suggesting a significant relationship between the two sets of solutions. There was a possible negative relationship between remuneration and a combination of task significance and task identity. The recommendations involved leadership providing adequate information on activities, motivation packages, feedback and conducive workplace environment to the staff.