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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to model factors that contribute to job satisfaction amonguniversity professors.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach was qualitative; 12 in-depth interviews were conductedwith Swedish university full professors representing 11 different academic subjects.

Findings – Five facets of job satisfaction were identified: distal environment (e.g. impact on society and thescientific community), proximal social environment, self (e.g. receiving external credit and experiencinginternal pride), the uplifts of daily life and formal conditions (e.g. pay and opportunities to continue afterretirement). A model was inductively developed according to which professors’ job satisfaction is influencedby interacting contextual and individual antecedent conditions.

Research limitations/implications – Because a qualitative approach was used, with a limited number ofinformants, there is a lack of representativeness and the concepts generated are of a sensitizing rather than adefinitive character.

Practical implications – Attention should be paid to university professors’ need for autonomy, otherwisepublic management control strivings may become counter-productive.

Originality/value – A new model of professors’ job satisfaction with a richness of details was developed.