The influence of satisfaction on job outcomes among foreign and local academic staff at a selected international university

Abstract

South Africa is experiencing high turnover rates among academics in higher education institutions. Establishing the antecedents that retain and attract academics in the field of Tourism and other related disciplines is crucial in attracting and retaining these academics. The study sought to investigate the impact of job satisfaction and selected demographic variables on turnover intentions among academic staff members. In the study, a cross-sectional quantitative research design was adopted. Data was collected from a population of 102 local and international academics. SPSS 23 used for data analysis. Pearson’s correlation was conducted to establish the cause-and effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the study. Results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intentions. In this respect, it was evident that although the academics were satisfied with their jobs they still had intentions to leave their jobs. On the other hand it was noted that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between job level and turnover intentions. In this vein, junior staff members were noted to have high levels of turnover intentions. The main implications established in the study were that higher education institutions should use several human resource interventions such as employee engagement and work-life balance to ensure that they retain academics.