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The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether the concepts of quality held by academic staff influences their job satisfaction. The paper defends the thesis that the lack of congruence between the meaning that academics give to quality, on the one hand, and the quality policies implemented by higher education institutions, on the other, generates an (usually latent) conflict that negatively influences the job satisfaction of academics. In addition, this type of disagreement could reduce the effectiveness of quality policies and systems as well as the overall functioning of higher education. Consequently, the identification and measurement of this phenomenon acquires importance. The paper is based on a quantitative research, based on 911 questionnaires from academics in Mexico. Evidence gathered shows that, when academic staff feel that the university where they work does not share their own values and personal convictions about what educational quality should be, it is more likely that they declare job dissatisfaction with their work. The paper also recommends the introduction of variables measuring the symbolic conflict between academic personnel and managers in the models of academics' job satisfaction in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]