Worsening work conditions and rising levels of job satisfaction? Measuring the happiness of academics in Japan

Abstract

Working conditions in academia are generally considered to be deteriorating. Data from surveys which look at the job satisfaction of academics, however, do not clearly support this notion. This appears to be especially true for the case of Japan. Much of the recent literature on academics’ job satisfaction globally relies on the comparison of two large-scale international surveys from 1992 and 2007, despite significant shortcomings of such an approach. In the case of Japan, where a third survey - also from 2007 - is available, these shortcomings become particularly apparent. After presenting an overview of how the working conditions of Japanese academics have changed in the twenty-five years between these surveys, the present paper identifies some of the inconsistencies and problems involved in such surveys and then explores the ‘paradox’ of rising levels of job satisfaction in Japan despite the objective worsening work conditions over the same period.