How do Pay and Promotion Influence Job Satisfaction in Tertiary Institutions? Perspectives of Academic Staff in Northern Region of Ghana

Renumeration and promotion of employees are essential elements in public and private organisational structures. However, there is very little information about how these elements can influence job satisfaction of employees in educational institutions, especially at the tertiary level in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Ghana. This study was undertaken to examine the perspectives of lecturers about how pay and promotion influence job satisfaction in tertiary institutions in Ghana. The study used descriptive design and a mixed method research approach for the data collection and analysis. Survey questionnaires and interview protocols were used for the data collection involving 270 participants selected from five tertiary institutions in the Northern Region of Ghana. A logistic regression was used to establish the relationship between academic staff pay and promotion and job satisfaction. The key findings from the study indicated that pay and promotion independently have significant positive influence on job satisfaction of academic staff in tertiary institutions in Ghana. The finding of the study also suggest that Hygiene factors are as important as Motivation factors in determining employee job satisfaction at the tertiary institutions. Policy geared towards annual review of salaries and effective promotion system of academic staff of higher educational institutions are important strategies to help generate the desired job satisfaction.