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Temporary contracts are increasingly being used in academia. This is a major concern for non-tenured researchers, since weak job security may hamper job satisfaction. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the role of academic tenure for job satisfaction of researchers in European countries. The work uses data from the MORE2 survey, a large-scale representative survey of researchers in all European countries. The results show that, all other things being equal, academics with a permanent contract are on average more satisfied with their job than those that are employed on a temporary basis.
The paper also shows that academic tenure is a relatively more important factor of job satisfaction for researchers at an intermediate stage of the career. Finally, the paper points out some important differences in the working of the model among European countries.