Empirical Study on Job Satisfaction of Clinical Research Associates in China

Backgrounds: The level of job satisfaction among clinical research associates (CRAs) is of importance because it may affect CRAs' retention, turnover, and then further affect the quality of clinical trials. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to (1) examine the level of job satisfaction among CRAs in China and (2) explore the association between CRAs' demographic and work-related characteristics and their job satisfaction. Methods: A Chinese CRA job satisfaction questionnaire was developed to measure CRAs' attitudes in relation to their job. The questionnaire contained 6 subcomponents, including work content, work reward, supervisors, coworkers, investigators, and organization administration. Then an anonymous cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted among CRAs in China. Results: 465 valid questionnaires were received (93% response rate). The overall job satisfaction of Chinese CRAs was moderate. As for the individual subcomponents, coworkers ranked the highest and work reward ranked the lowest. The female group was more satisfied with investigators than were the male group. Different scores with supervisors were seen among age groups. Different scores with overall satisfaction, work reward, and organizational administration were seen among geographic location groups and also among company type groups. There were no significant differences in job satisfaction based on marital status, education level, and working position of the respondents. Conclusions: Chinese CRAs were moderately satisfied with their job. They were most satisfied with coworkers and most dissatisfied with work reward. Further, Chinese CRAs' job satisfaction levels were more related with work-related characteristics, including geographic location and company type.