Factors Affecting Job Motivation among Faculty Members: Evidence from Vietnamese Public Universities

Higher education has long been considered as a means of human resource development in a nation. The faculty member plays a significant role in improving the quality of higher education. It is clear that job satisfaction and motivation have effect on the faculty member’s performance. The objective of this study is to investigate the levels and factors affecting lecturers’ motivation in Vietnamese public universities. In this study, ordinary least squares (OLS) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) have been utilized to identify the factors affecting work motivation of lecturers at Vietnamese universities. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 189 lecturers at different public universities in Vietnam. The finding indicates that seven factors including Work characteristics (WC), Wage and welfare (WW), Social recognition (SR), Peer relationships (PR), Training and promotion opportunities (PO), Leader caring (LC) and Teacher– student interaction and student’s attitude (IA) have positive effect on lecturers’ work motivation. Among these factors, Teacher-student interaction and student’s attitude (IA) has the strongest impact with the coefficient of 0.631 and Peer relationships (PR) has the least impact on work motivation with the coefficient of 0.020. The study findings can facilitate the understanding of how to increase work satisfaction at the universities in Vietnam.