The Love of Money, Pay Satisfaction and Academic Tenure: Professors in a Public Institution of Higher Education

This study tests a model of pay satisfaction using a sample of 207 American professors, treats academic tenure as a moderator, and investigates the model across tenured (n = 126) and non-tenured (n = 77) professors simultaneously. The direct path examines the relationship between income and pay satisfaction, whereas the indirect path consists of income, the love of money, pay comparison, and pay satisfaction. For the whole sample, results supported the direct path in that income led to pay satisfaction. When both the direct and indirect paths were examined simultaneously, income led to low pay satisfaction. Income enhanced the love of money that was used to frame referent pay comparison that had an impact on pay satisfaction. For tenured professors, the indirect path was significant and the direct path approached significance. For non-tenured professors, the referent comparison to pay satisfaction path was significant. Our research contributes to our new insights and understanding of pay satisfaction among tenured and non-tenured professors in a public institution of higher education.