Factors that influence the decision of Spanish faculty members to retire

Recent reports confirm that the European Higher Education Area is conditioning the satisfaction of Spanish faculty members, resulting in a greater number of early retirements. The present study, framed within the context of the research, development and innovation project ‘Fuga de Talentos: Un estudio sobre los motivos que han condicionado a profesores universitarios con experiencia a abandonar la profesión docente. Diseño de una propuesta (EDU2012-37068)’, intends to understand the factors that influence their decision to retire early. This study is based on the mixed sequential explanatory strategy, using logistic regression analysis techniques with a sample of 311 faculty members. The results showed differences in the factors that influence the decision-making of active faculty members who are near (aged 51–60) or approaching (aged 61–65) retirement. Their professional satisfaction, feelings and the reasons for retiring influence their decision about retiring, explaining the culture of early retirement and the loss of human capital in Spanish universities.     

Reverse flow in academic mobility from core to periphery: motivations of international faculty working in Kazakhstan

Through expanding flows of labor and knowledge on a global scale, academics are increasingly mobile as higher education institutions compete for talent that transcends borders. However, talent often flows from the periphery to the core as scholars seek out employment in recognized institutions of higher learning in developed economies. This study examines faculty mobility in a reverse direction: from the core to Kazakhstan, the largest country in Central Asia. What factors persuade faculty members to relocate to Kazakhstan for full-time employment? What types of individuals pursue this relocation? Through interviews with international faculty members based in Kazakhstan, the study identifies push factors that trigger departure from one’s previous country of residence: job market, unsatisfactory work conditions, age, and marital status. Alternatively, Kazakhstan attracts scholars via pull factors that include salary, sense of adventure, and the opportunity to build new institutions and programs as well as conduct research. Unlike previous studies that highlight boundaryless mobility and individual agency, this study reveals constraints that mediate international faculty mobility. Furthermore, salary plays a limited role as a pull factor particularly among early career academics who are seeking research opportunities and meaningful contributions in building new academic programs and institutions.     

高校海归教师首聘期工作满意度演进:1979-2017年的实证研究

改革开放以来,海归人才已成为高校教师队伍中的重要组成部分。对不同年代归国教师的首聘期工作满意度及其变化趋势、影响因素进行分析,是对高校人才政策环境和海外引才效果的检验。课题组以全国48所研究型大学1979-2017年期间归国的541名教师为样本,开展问卷调查。研究发现,过去40年海归教师首聘期总体满意度水平不高。通过对四个时期多维度满意度的量化分析发现:薪酬待遇和文化适应等方面的满意度存在显著差异;随着时间的推移,工作自主性、压力和科研团队等方面的满意度呈现下降趋势;薪酬待遇满意度的平均水平最低,但近年来已略有提升。基于研究发现,提出增加海归教师工作自主性和职业认同感、提高基础薪资和建立稳定的薪酬增长机制等建议。     

Organizational Socialization and Job Satisfaction of Faculty at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan

Like other institutions with world-class aspirations, Nazarbayev University, an emerging research university in Kazakhstan, relies heavily on international faculty. As this rapidly growing institution builds its legitimacy, it has to attract, socialize, and retain the best academic talent from around the world. Using a survey design, this study examines the largely understudied phenomena of organizational socialization and job satisfaction of international faculty using the case of Nazarbayev University.     

Correlates of Work-Life Balance for Faculty Across Racial/Ethnic Groups

Very few studies have examined issues of work-life balance among faculty of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. Utilizing data from Harvard University’s Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education project, this study examined predictors of work-life balance for 2953 faculty members from 69 institutions. The final sample consisted of 1059 (36%) Asian American faculty, 512 (17%) African American faculty, 359 (12%) Latina/o faculty, and 1023 (35%) White/Caucasian faculty. There were 1184 (40%) women faculty and 1769 (60%) men faculty. The predictors of worklife balance included faculty characteristics, departmental/institutional characteristics and support, and faculty satisfaction with work. While African American women faculty reported less work-life balance than African American men, the reverse was true for Latina/o faculty. In addition, White faculty who were single with no children were significantly less likely to report having work-life balance than their married counterparts with children. Faculty rank was a significant positive predictor of work-life balance for all faculty. Notably, the findings highlight the importance of department and institutional support for making personal/family obligations and an academic career compatible. Institutional support for making personal/family obligations and an academic career compatible was consistently the strongest positive predictor of perceived work-life balance for all faculty. In addition, satisfaction with time spent on research had positive associations with work-life balance for all faculty, highlighting how faculty from all racial/ethnic backgrounds value being able to spend enough time on their own research.     

Gender Differences in Faculty Member Job Satisfaction: Equity Forestalled?

Guided by Hagedorn’s (2000) theory of faculty job satisfaction, mindful of social and organizational structures of higher education, and acknowledging recent changes in the academic labor market, this study examines satisfaction for approximately 30,000 tenured and tenure-track faculty members in 100 US colleges and universities. Findings revealed similarity between female and male faculty members in some aspects of work satisfaction, but difference in other areas in which women reported lower satisfaction. Findings also revealed that perceptions of department fit, recognition, work role balance, and mentoring are more important to women faculty’s satisfaction than male peers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Korean academic women: Multiple roles,multiple challenges

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of Korean academic women regarding their faculty careers within Korean universities. Personal interviews were conducted with thirteen female faculty members as well other informants (administrators, male faculty and graduate students) at three large private universities in the Republic of Korea: Yonsei University, Ewha Women's University and Dankook University. The study focuses on 1) the experience of Western-trained academic women in securing faculty positions in Korean universities, 2) the work load and responsibilities of women faculty within the academy, and 3) the impact of their personal lives and social roles on their professional achievement and satisfaction. Comparisons are drawn between the experiences of these Korean academic women and what we have learned about the experiences of academic women in Western institutions.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society, Annapolis.     

Teaching in offshore programmes: an assessment of university faculty’s self-efficacy,cultural competence and preparedness

This study aims to examine the teacher self-efficacy and cultural competence of university faculty in the context of offshore programmes, and the impact of these two constructs on teaching satisfaction, intention and preparedness. A questionnaire survey collected data from the faculty members of universities in Taiwan, a non-English-speaking country, which launched offshore programmes in Vietnam. It then applies structural equation modelling technique to estimate the path coefficients and test its proposed research model. The analysis reveals that in the context of teaching in offshore programmes, cultural competence is a major factor determining university faculty’s teaching self-efficacy, and has an indirect effect, through the direct effect of teaching self-efficacy, on satisfaction, intention and preparedness. It is surprising though that faculty members are found very confident of their self-efficacy when teaching in English in offshore programmes, even though none of them are native English speakers.     

Building world class universities in China: exploring faculty’s perceptions,interpretations of and struggles with global forces in higher education

Employing a glonacal (global, national and local) heuristic as a theoretical lens, and a qualitative analysis with interview data, this study highlights how Chinese faculty members interpret the definitions and implications of pursuing world class universities (WCUs) and struggle with the multiple dimensions of their academic lives across global, national and local dimensions. The findings indicate that faculty members believe that the quest to build WCUs in China has been narrowly defined by the government, which emphasises international/global dimensions, rather than national or local. Because of this, Chinese professors believe that there are growing gaps between administration and faculty. Yet they recognise significant advancement in hardware and facilities, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This study confirms that faculty’s academic lives are intricately interlinked across the glonacal economy and that faculty continue to navigate their roles across all dimensions.     

Perception of Faculty of the Bologna Process at a Spanish Technical University: A Perspective of Change and Improvement

The Bologna Process affects the academic community, particularly faculty members who have to implement the process. This study is an initiative by a group of lecturers to evaluate the perception of faculty members in the implementation of the Bologna Process. The aim was to assess the evolution of their opinion on the process since a 2011 survey, and their degree of agreement with the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The results show that faculty members call for more adequate training for the new EHEA process and more institutional support. The study reveals the need for greater involvement and collaboration among faculty members to improve the reform process.     

Student faculty evaluation (SFE) at Jordanian universities: a student perspective

This study is the first to address student evaluation of faculty members (SFE) from a student perspective at a major Jordanian public university using a comprehensive (71-item) questionnaire administered to 620 undergraduates. Addressed are students’ perceptions of the SFE process in terms of: (a) their paper-based vs. online-format preferences; (b) their beliefs about the process; (c) the standards they adopt in the evaluation; (d) the fruitfulness of SFE outcomes; and (e) their opinions about the evaluation instruments currently used at their institutions. It also explores whether students’ beliefs vary according to their gender, GPA and college (Educational Sciences vs. Sciences). The results reveal that most students prefer online evaluation, adopt academic rather than interpersonal criteria in their evaluation, have a low level of satisfaction with the impact of previous evaluations on faculty teaching behaviours and the evaluation instruments used at their institution. Additionally, the findings suggest that gender has a less influential role in shaping students’ beliefs about the SFE process compared to their college or GPA. The findings of this study and their implications are very useful pointers for faculty and higher education administrators, faculty members and students towards further improvement at higher education institutions.     

The structural relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior in university faculty in China: the mediating effect of organizational commitment

Asia Pacific Education Review - The present study focuses on the relationship between university faculty members’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), affective organizational...     

Dimensions of faculty members' sensitivity to job satisfaction items

Researchers have suggested that questionnaire item sensitivity may be a possible source of response bias in investigations using mail surveys. In conducting job satisfaction studies of faculty members in higher education, investigators have assumed that job satisfaction items are not highly sensitive to faculty members and do not vary in their degree of sensitivity. The purpose of the present research was to assess the degree of sensitivity of various job satisfaction items to faculty members and to identify dimensions of faculty members' sensitivity to these items. Results from a questionnaire returned from 354 faculty members at a large university showed that their sensitivity to job satisfaction items centered primarily in three areas: (1) concern with extrinsic job factors, (2) concern with department head actions, and (3) concern with promotion and salary. On the whole, item sensitivity appeared to be rather low. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The experiences of Vietnamese university faculty in relation to their faculty development

As Vietnam higher education has explored ways to integrate into the international community, professional development of faculty is becoming a key element. However, there is a significant shortage of faculty development (FD) in Vietnam, resulting in a large gap in quality, quantity, and qualifications between Vietnamese faculty and their colleagues in Southeast Asia. We conducted a phenomenological study to gain insights into the experiences of Vietnamese faculty in their FD. Four themes emerged: faculty’s perceptions of faculty roles, FD activity participation, factors affecting their FD, and FD desires. To improve the quality of FD in Vietnam, we offered a number of recommendations for faculty members, policymakers at different levels, and further research.     

Creating and Implementing a Faculty Interest Group for Historically Underrepresented Faculty

This article describes the creation and implementation of a faculty interest group for historically underrepresented faculty at a large, urban community college in the Northeast. Faculty interest groups provide opportunities for faculty across disciplines to meet to explore common interests and share concerns and best practices. The faculty interest group described in this article was designed to explore and address the challenges faced by historically underrepresented faculty and facilitate the process of attaining reappointment, promotion, and tenure. Nationwide, nearly half of community college students come from populations that are also historically underrepresented, and community colleges are challenged to recruit and retain faculty that mirror the student body. Research demonstrates that historically underrepresented faculty members enrich the overall education of all students, and yet a significant number of those faculty members describe their college campuses as unwelcoming. Factors that make campuses unwelcoming for these faculty include, but are not limited to, the following: isolation and marginalization; salary disparities; microaggressions based on race, gender, and sexual identity; heightened visibility; and additional role demands. Community college administrators ought to be concerned with historically underrepresented faculty members’ satisfaction and persistence on campus because these faculty members are vital members of the academy. Faculty interest groups for historically underrepresented faculty may provide the support and professional development opportunities that will ensure their retention and success in academia.     

The interrelationship of job satisfaction and similarity in philosophic view within academic departments

This study used a questionnaire to determine the effect on job satisfaction of the similarity in philosophic view between faculty members (N=198) and their department chairperson (N=30) in four-year colleges and universities in the Midwest. On the basis of the data collected in this study no relationship was found between level of job satisfaction and similarity in philosophic view between the faculty members and the department chairperson of an academic department.     

Factors affecting university teaching team effectiveness in detached working environments

This paper presents the outcomes of a study of the factors that contribute to teaching team effectiveness in situations where team members rarely meet face to face. Academic faculty within a university Business School were asked to report the degrees to which they believed that the module teaching teams to which they belonged contained members who (1) were satisfied and committed, and (2) regarded their teams as cohesive and as engaging in reliable and useful internal communications. All the teams covered by the study operated in ‘detached’ manners. Team members’ perceptions of the presence within their teams of trust, shared understanding, disparate educational orientations among participants and certain leadership styles were also examined. A model of the determinants of detached team effectiveness was constructed and tested. The respondents’ opinions vis-à-vis levels of satisfaction, commitment, cohesion and the value of internal team communications were then compared with metrics concerning student satisfaction and rates of progression on specific modules. Trust, shared understanding, differences in educational orientation among team members, conflict and the frequency of (though not the length of time spent on) communications emerged as major influences on perceptions of team effectiveness. Teams that were regarded as operating effectively appeared to be associated with higher student satisfaction and progression ratings.     

The Dynamic between Knowledge Production and Faculty Evaluation: Perceptions of the Promotion and Tenure Process across Disciplines

This study sought to understand predictors of faculty satisfaction with promotion and tenure processes and reasonableness of expectations in the context of a striving institution. The factors we investigated included discipline (high-consensus [science and math] vs. low-consensus [humanities and social sciences]); demographic variables; and institutional support including mentoring, collegiality, work-life integration, and college commitment to faculty members’ fields. High-consensus faculty members were less satisfied with promotion and tenure processes than were low-consensus faculty members (p?<?.01). Faculty members who were more satisfied with collegiality (p?<?.001) and with college commitment to their fields (p?<?.05) were more satisfied with promotion and tenure processes. Faculty members who were more satisfied with work-life integration and mentoring were more satisfied with reasonableness of expectations (p?<?.05).     

Measuring The Change in Faculty Perceptions Over Time: An Examination of Their Worklife and Satisfaction

In this study, a two-group structural equation model was proposed and tested to investigate the change in faculty members perceptions of their worklife and satisfaction over time. Using the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty [i.e., NSOPF:93–99, National Center for Educational Statistics, US Department of Education, National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, Faculty Survey. Washington, DC, 1993–1999] restricted databases, this study examines the conceptual and measurement differences across two National samples of research faculty members. The model suggests that three dimensions of worklife and four dimensions of satisfaction may be useful in the monitoring of faculty members perceptions changing over time. The results indicate that the construct validity of the model was supported across the two groups. Moreover, that worklife and satisfaction were stable with respect to the number of factors, item loadings, and factor intercorrelations. There was also substantial equivalence across the two groups.     

Seeking Balance: The Importance of Environmental Conditions in Men and Women Faculty’s Well-being

Faculty retention is of increasing importance in the current economic climate. We examined the role of an institution’s environmental conditions (e.g., climate, collegiality, and administration) in faculty well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, intent to leave, emotional and physical health). Women reported significantly lower well-being and a more negative perception of all environmental conditions than men. Intriguingly, for both men and women, the more institutional support perceived by faculty members for work-life integration, the more positive their well-being. Policies that support work-life integration, often viewed as merely a “women’s issue,” may encourage the retention of both men and women faculty members.