Academicians' perceptions regarding supervisor support, co-worker support and life satisfaction

This study aimed to examine the academicians' perceptions regarding supervisor support, co-worker support and life satisfaction. In the study, a survey method in a quantitative research approach was adopted. The study was carried out with the target population, which consists of 778 academicians working at Abant Izzet Baysal University during the 2014-2015 academic term. Consequently, a total of 317 academicians participated voluntarily. Throughout the study, three different scales; namely, "Satisfaction with Life Scale", "Co-Worker Support Scale", and "Supervisor Support Scale" were used. In addition, a Personal Information Form developed by the researcher was utilized to gather academicians' socio-demographic information. To analyze the data collected in the study, correlation, Kruskal Wallis H Test and Mann Whitney U Test were computed. The results of the study revealed that life satisfaction of academicians displayed no significant difference regarding gender and age; on the other hand, there were statistically significant differences based on length of service, length of organizational service, marital status, and title. In addition, academicians' perceived co-worker support did not differ depending on gender, age, and marital status while it demonstrated significant differences in relation to length of service, length of organizational service, and title. Moreover, academicians' perceived supervisor support showed no significant difference in terms of gender, age, length of service, marital status, and title whereas it demonstrated significant difference with regard to length of organizational service. The results of the study also indicated that there were statistically significant positive relationships between life satisfaction and perceived co-worker support, supervisor support. The results were discussed along with the strengths and limitations of the study and suggestions for future researches were made in the study. Keywords: Academician, Life Satisfaction, Supervisor Support, Co-Worker Support.