This study seeks to understand academic faculty job satisfaction, focusing on three different sets of variables--characteristics of the individual, the work context and institutional interactions. In one sense, each explanation is rooted in the individual, as is appropriate to a study of individual satisfaction. Thus, when the authors examine characteristics of work, they focus on the composition of work for individuals rather than on work classifications. Likewise when they focus on characteristics of organizations and institutions they are interested in individuals' interactions or affiliations. As is the case with most of the job satisfaction literature, their analysis is based on responses to questionnaires. A special feature of this study is that it is based on a representative national sample of university faculty working in Carnegie Research Extensive universities (Carnegie Foundation, 2000) in all fields of science and engineering. Findings indicate that faculty members are more satisfied with their jobs when they perceive that their colleagues respect their research work and they are paid what they are worth. Women tend to be less satisfied, and the tenured are more satisfied. Industry and university research center affiliations do not predict job satisfaction. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)