Quality of working life in public higher education institutions: the perception of Brazilian and Canadian professors

Abstract

How do compare the quality of working life (QWL) for professors working in public universities in an emerging country like Brazil with the one of professors working in a developed country like Canada? This survey is aiming at assessing the QWL for Faculty working in these countries and testing for their differences. The sample consists of 354 Brazilian professors and 317 Canadian professors. The data were collected through an on-line questionnaire assessing the following QWL indicators: meaningfulness of work and at work, psychological wellbeing and distress, work-related stress, presenteeism, affective and continuance commitment towards university, work engagement and work-life balance. Differences were found for the meaningfulness at work, work-related stress, affective and continuance commitment as well as for work-life balance, although the size effects were small. Brazilian professors seem to find more meaningfulness at work and be more affectively committed to their universities than do their Canadian colleagues.