The impact of faculty job satisfaction on retention and performance in Vietnam higher education sector

With the expansion of Vietnam higher education institutions (VHEIs), faculty members are under pressure from addition qualification and sufficient numbers. However, despite the potential development, faculty members’ satisfaction is reluctant to commit to the sector’s requirements due to current significant shortages. In response to this issue, this study aims to enhance faculty job satisfaction concerning the factors that affect their retention decision and performance. Utilizing the conceptualization of Herzberg (1968) two-factor theory, two causal models of satisfaction effect were integrated with other models on retention and performance effects to synthesize a new exploratory model. The synthesized model was then tested empirically for its predictive power. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which applied to two data collection phases. Qualitative data was gathered in the first phase via a semi-structured interview exercise (20 participants) to explore the emerging factors on faculty’s perceptions from the designed themes and propose a conceptual framework with predictive relationships. Quantitative data was collected in the second phase to test the framework and confirm related hypotheses using a survey form (398 respondents) to produce the structural model. NVivo 12 was used to analyze the qualitative data and two statistical software packages (SPSS and AMOS version 26) were used to analyze the quantitative data. Afterwards, linkages were made within and across the two research phases using the constant comparative method and triangulation validating results.  Results showed significant direct effects of job satisfaction variables on retention and indirect effects on performance. Also, person-job fit is an essential variable that determines faculty satisfaction and retention decisions. The findings suggest five significant variables that contribute to faculty job satisfaction: supervision, colleagues, work design, salary and responsibility.