Exploring factors influencing job satisfaction among higher education lecturers in Hainan, China: a Delphi approach

This paper explores lecturer satisfaction in higher education within Hainan Province, identifying and prioritizing the dominant factors influencing satisfaction while offering theoretical and practical implications for building a fair and high-quality education environment. Despite rapid development under the Hainan Free Trade Port initiative, challenges such as income inequality, unequal resource allocation, and rising professional pressures undermine teaching quality and staff stability. This study employed the Delphi method with two rounds of expert surveys to determine and rank key satisfaction factors. Findings reveal that salary and benefits, career development opportunities, mental health, work environment, organizational management, and interpersonal communication significantly influence lecturer satisfaction. Among these, the widening gap between salary and living costs, limited career progression opportunities, and inadequate mental health support emerge as the most critical concerns. The study suggests practical measures to address these issues, including optimizing wage systems to align with living expenses, diversifying career development mechanisms, enhancing mental health support, improving organizational management practices, fostering a positive work environment, and strengthening interpersonal communication channels. These measures can improve lecturer satisfaction, enhance educational equity, and expand the application of two-factor theory in regional higher education.