Casual academics’ motivation and well-being: evidence from Australia

There is growing concern that casual academics operate in an environment characterised by precarity and inequality which has implications for motivation and well-being. This study examines how various factors support or inhibit casual accounting academics’ motivation and well-being in Australian universities. Using Herzberg’s two-factor theory and self-determination theory, this study employs an interpretive research design involving semi-structured interviews to investigate casual academics’ motivation and well-being. The findings demonstrate that subject coordinators’ supervision and interpersonal relations play a key role in fostering psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness, leading to increased motivation and well-being. These findings also highlight how particular hygiene and motivation factors inhibit casual academics’ job satisfaction, resulting in negative well-being. Our findings, concerning the key influence of subject coordinators in supporting casual staff’s motivation, provide new insights that hygiene factors can play a role in improving performance outcomes when satisfaction of the psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness are met. Our findings underscore the imperative for the accounting discipline to focus on promoting casual staff well-being, to enhance teaching and learning performance outcomes. If universities prioritise practices that promote casual staff well-being, staff in return will respond positively, enhancing the teaching quality and the student learning experience.