The Impact of Human Capital and Selected Job Rewards on Community College Faculty Job Satisfaction

Community colleges accommodate nearly half of all United States college students. Increased reliance upon community colleges is driven by the current economic downturn, rising costs of higher education, and changing expectations for today's workforce requiring advanced skill sets. Community colleges offer more affordable options for broader spectrums of students including traditional and nontraditional college students and dual-enrolled high school students.

Community college faculty facilitate student learning and program completion. A shortage of community college faculty will likely emerge as numerous faculty retire. Community college administrators need strategies for retaining and recruiting faculty amid increasing retirements. One effective strategy is to offer a work environment that cultivates positive work-related attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction). This study examines the ability of select human capital investments, intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and sociodemographics to predict overall job satisfaction for full-time community college faculty. A cross-sectional predictive design was used with secondary analysis of the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04) dataset.

Logistic Regression was utilized to determine predictive ability of the independent variables on overall job satisfaction. Results indicated that faculty were more likely to be satisfied with their work if they were satisfied with their salary, benefits and workload; were satisfied with the teaching support they received from their institutions; and if they perceived that females and minorities were treated fairly by the organization. Conversely, minority faculty were less likely to be satisfied, as were faculty who indicated they would again choose a career in academe if given the choice.     

An Investigation of the Profiles of Satisfying and Dissatisfying Factors in E‐Learning

ABSTRACT Various factors influence e‐learners' feelings of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their e‐learning experience, but from an extensive search with six major academic research databases we did not find any research that demonstrated comprehensive profiles of satisfying and dissatisfying factors in e‐learning. We conducted a qualitative study to initiate the effort. We used Thorndike's law of effect and Herzberg's motivation‐hygiene theory as the conceptual frameworks for our study. Thorndike's law of effect applied to human psychology suggests that people would try to avoid annoying stimuli whereas they would try to preserve satisfying stimuli. Herzberg's motivation‐hygiene theory suggests that different factors influence extreme satisfaction and extreme dissatisfaction on the job. Using the two theories as the conceptual frameworks, we revealed profiles of satisfaction‐dissatisfaction factors in e‐learning by analyzing extant data of course evaluation obtained from 17 e‐learning courses. In this article, we provide recommendations on how other e‐learning institutions might utilize the research findings to optimize their e‐learning programs and we discuss the potential impact of such interventions on overall institutional outcomes such as learner retention.     

MINNESOTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY ACTIVITIES AND ATTITUDES, 1956–1980

A six‐page questionnaire sent in 1980 to a 25% random sample of teachers in Minnesota's 18 public community colleges provides information that is compared with similar information collected in 1956 and 1968. The nature and extent of professional activities, sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with careers, attitudes toward collective bargaining, and some demographic variables of Minnesota community college teachers are described and compared.

Minnesota community college faculty members in 1980 were generally contented, as they were in 1956 and 1968. In all periods they spent most of their time on teaching‐related activities. Although the proportion involved in consulting with schools, business, and industry has doubled in the past 12 years, faculty involvement in off‐campus services is still limited. Research and scholarly writing is not a function of most of the faculty. About three‐fourths of the respondents supported collective bargaining in 1980. The most serious source of dissatisfaction, reported by 40% of the respondents in 1980 was inadequate salary. The chief source of satisfaction reported in all three periods was the opportunity to help college‐age students learn and develop. Implications of the results for a re‐examination of community college functions are discussed.

The pecking order in this state does not reflect the major contribution of this system to higher education. Working conditions, particularly in terms of load and support services are primitive. Financial rewards, the status and extra income of consulting fees are severely limited. I can no longer afford five percent salary increases and twenty percent inflation. I am currently looking for a position in private industry, which seems to have the resources education does not. (Sociology instructor)

I cannot remember a profession/job that could be more personally rewarding, spiritually constructive or totally satisfying as college teaching. (English/history instructor)     

INFLUENCE OF ASCRIBED AND ACHIEVED SOCIAL STATUSES,VALUES, AND REWARDS ON JOB SATISFACTION AMONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY

Research on job satisfaction among community college faculty has been largely atheoretical. The present study examined the contribution of four sets of factors to explaining faculty job satisfaction in the community college. According to Kalleberg's (1977) theory of job satisfaction, employee's affective reactions to their jobs are largely determined by ascribed social statuses, achieved social statuses, job values, and job rewards. A random sample was drawn of 371 full‐time faculty from a multi‐campus community college district located in a metropolitan area in the Southwest. Nonresponses and partial responses resulted in an effective sample size of 261. A correlation analysis revealed that institutional age and physical safety job value were significantly, inversely related to job satisfaction and that all job rewards were significantly, positively related to job satisfaction. A simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that institutional age was a significant, inverse predictor of job satisfaction and that chronological age, and the good supervision and work itself job rewards were significant, positive predictors of job satisfaction. Of the variation in job satisfaction scores accounted for by all predictors, approximately 5% may be attributed to ascribed and achieved social statuses and to job values, and 48% to job rewards. For faculty in the district we surveyed, the keys to promoting job satisfaction would be to enhance the satisfying aspects of the work itself and good supervision. Programs which afford faculty who are less than satisfied with their jobs opportunities to be “origins” rather than “pawns” may be beneficial.     

Does Part-Time Faculty's Self-Efficacy Predict Critical Dimensions of Online College Teaching?

Surveys have repeatedly depicted a dismal picture of part-time teaching in academia, including low pay, scant benefits, limited institutional support, and lack of job security. Thus, the main purpose of the present study was to delve deeper into part-time faculty's ability to sustain the demands of a tough work environment by examining the extent to which specific psychological characteristics predict key self-reported dimensions of teaching in such faculty. The sample selected comprised part-time online instructors, as they are a relatively new and growing entity in academia. Teaching dimensions upon which faculty rated themselves belonged to three categories of factors known to shape satisfaction of faculty in the online environment (i.e., instructor-related, student-related, and institution-related). They included current satisfaction with the teaching profession, preparation to teach subject matter, responsibility for students' academic success, beliefs in the impact of one's teaching on student learning, perceived institutional support, and desire to remain in the teaching profession (i.e., commitment). Psychological characteristics examined were self-efficacy and self-monitoring. In this study, each key dimension of teaching was found to be positively related to one or more self-efficacy measures, whereas no links with self-monitoring were uncovered. The findings involving self-efficacy confirm those of studies of full-time faculty in that beliefs of one's capability are a source of resilience and, as such, a staple of the teaching profession.     

The role of teacher and faculty trust in forming teachers' job satisfaction: Do years of experience make a difference?

This study relates trust at the level of both the teacher and the faculty to teachers' job satisfaction. Teaching experience is explored as a moderator of the trust–satisfaction relationship. Multilevel analyses on data of 2091 teachers across 80 secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) revealed positive associations between teacher trust in students, parents, colleagues, and the principal and satisfaction. Although faculty trust did not affect job satisfaction and teaching experience did not moderate the trust–satisfaction relationship, our findings highlight the social dimension of teaching. Improving the quality of teachers' social relationships in the workplace should enhance their job satisfaction.     

Instructors' uses,experiences, thoughts and suggestions regarding Calibrated Peer Review

This paper presents a qualitative study conducted with faculty members who participated in a project funded by the National Science Foundation focusing on student development with Calibrated Peer Review (CPR)?, a web‐based tool created to promote writing and critical‐thinking skills. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of faculty members' thoughts and opinions about CPR. Interviews with 12 faculty members – six in biology, three in physics and three in mathematics – were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed. Findings revealed various aspects of instructors' experiences, thoughts and opinions regarding CPR. Findings provided information about how instructors used CPR, how CPR helped their teaching and enhanced students' critical‐thinking skills and writing skills, and positive and challenging aspects of CPR, as well as various observations and suggestions for others using CPR.     

The Level of Decision-Making,Perceived Influence,and Perceived Satisfaction of Faculty and Their Impact on Student Retention in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT

This study expanded on previous models that looked primarily at student and support factors related to student retention and examined other stakeholder group functions not previously reviewed in relation to student retention. The research question assumed that greater faculty participation in campus decision-making and faculty satisfaction would have been associated with a higher campus student retention rate. The non-experimental retrospective design examined the unanalyzed 2007 community college (CC) Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey in relation to campus retention rates. The CAP captured faculty perceptions of whether faculty or non-faculty entities were the primary influence on decisions regarding academic matters, as well as a rating of faculty satisfaction. Analysis indicated that CC faculty rated their participation in campus decision-making versus non-faculty entities similarly to the ratings of faculty who had completed the CAP at four-year institutions. When compared with the 2007 retention rate per campus, only faculty job satisfaction was statistically significantly positively associated with student retention. Recommendations for future research include continuing to look at retention as an outcome of a multi-factorial model involving all campus stakeholders, and more research with retention as the outcome.     

压力与坚守:大众化背景下研究型大学教师工作满意度研究

本文对研究型大学专任教师在科研和教学任务均较为繁重情况下的工作满意度进行了探讨。通过对国内A大学367名专任教师进行问卷调查,结果显示:A大学教师满意度水平处于中等略微偏上,在教学、学术交流、工作条件、人际关系方面满意度较高,但在科研、国际化等方面满意度不高;在满意度的各维度上,不同性别、不同科类、不同学历、不同职称教师之间存在显著性差异;此外,A校教师普遍感觉工作压力较大,且学历越高压力越大。这一研究发现对于制定研究型大学管理政策具有相当的参考意义。     

Modeling teacher empowerment: The role of job satisfaction

Empowerment is defined and measured in terms of teachers' power to participate in decision-making about teaching and learning conditions. Job satisfaction refers to the level of teacher satisfaction by matters related to these conditions: student achievement, decision-making ability, self-growth, and so on. This research considers the relationship between job satisfaction and teacher empowerment, which includes dimensions of job satisfaction that contribute to teacher empowerment. In particular, it examines the levels of teacher satisfaction in four dimensions (professional growth, decision-making, promotion, and status) and their contribution to the sense of teacher empowerment among Cypriot teachers. The results support the importance of job satisfaction in the construction of teacher empowerment. Specifically, (1) teachers' level of job satisfaction varies depending on the dimension of school life that is focused; (2) teachers' job satisfaction is related to teacher empowerment.     

DEMOGRAPHIC AND JOB SATISFACTION CHARACTERISTICS OF FLORIDA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY

The demographic and job satisfaction characteristics of Florida community college faculty were studied in Florida's 28 community colleges. A total of 1,116 faculty responded in the fall of 1977 to an instrument developed to measure faculty characteristics and attitudes.

The results showed that the Florida faculty is a satisfied faculty with over 95% reporting that they were satisfied with community college work as a career and with 72% stating that they plan to stay in the community college field until they retire. Second, it was found that faculty participation in in‐service training programs had increased significantly since 1968. In 1977‐1978, 69% of the faculty reported participation in one or more in‐service programs while the 1968 percentage was 37%.

It is concluded that periodic surveys in other community colleges and states similar to this one should provide useful information for the further development and improvement of community colleges.     

The Teaching Demonstration: What Faculty Expect and How to Prepare for This Aspect of the Job Interview

Many institutions require candidates for faculty positions to present a teaching demonstration as part of the interview process. To help job candidates prepare for this and to assist departments in planning how to structure this portion of the interview, we surveyed biology faculty from community and liberal arts colleges and master''s- and PhD-granting institutions concerning how their departments assess teaching potential. We also asked survey respondents to share advice on how candidates can prepare for teaching demonstrations. Here we report on the survey results and offer suggestions based on comments from respondents.     

Follow-up study of graduates from the College of Agriculture,University of Florida

Abstract

Baccalaureate degree recipients from the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida were surveyed to determine their occupational status and to evaluate their educational experiences. These educational experiences include the teaching quality of professors, advisement, course work and extracurricular activities. Results of the study showed that 97% of the respondents perceived their overall experience within the College of Agriculture as either excellent or good. The respondents rated teaching characteristics of the College of Agriculture faculty to be higher in clarity, enthusiasm, and organization than for faculties from other colleges. The administration, faculty and advisors of the College of Agriculture should be pleased with the positive feedback from graduates. The continuing challenge to these educators is to attain higher levels of graduate satisfaction while keeping pace with changing professional requirements. Recommendations for annual evaluations would provide a longitudinal assessment of academic programs and enable researchers to make comparisons among departments.     

The Relationship between General Job Satisfaction and Specific Work-Activity Satisfaction of Community College Faculty

Abstract

Data on job satisfaction of community college faculty, as obtained from five state and national surveys, are analyzed in this study. Results of this analysis indicate that many instructors are generally satisfied with their jobs but somewhat dissatisfied with their working conditions. Examination of the methods used in those studies to measure job satisfaction suggests that the measures may be tapping different dimensions of satisfaction, and that they may not be related to one another or to the criteria measures they are designed to predict. Data from a survey of two-year college humanities faculty (N = 1,493) and nonhumanities chairpersons (N =505) revealed that a measure of general job satisfaction was relatively independent of a measure of specific work-activity satisfaction, and that the former measure of satisfaction was a much better predictor of several indicators of faculty desire to remain at their college than the latter. These findings indicate that different methods of measuring job satisfaction may yield highly discrepant reports, which in turn can pose serious problems of interpretation.     

Environmental satisfiers in academe

Utilizing a nationwide sample of university professors in the United States, this study explored job satisfaction levels of academicians and the differences between perceived satisfaction of faculty in professional schools and that of faculty in other disciplines. The results were based upon responses from 336 faculty representing 24 universities selected on a stratified basis which included large, small, public and private universities. Teaching dimensions and research requirements were the most satisfying elements of the academic work environment; support and compensation aspects were the most dissatisfying. Faculty from professional schools reported higher levels of satisfaction for almost all of the 22 separate environmental dimensions, and these faculty also reported higher salaries and less stringent requirements for tenure and promotion. The demographic variables which explained the greatest amount of variance in work satisfaction scores were tenure, teaching load, sex, institution (public-private), and age. Salary and academic rank, which a priori are considered to be significant in an academician's satisfaction with work, appeared to have a lesser impact.     

Job satisfaction variance among public and private kindergarten school teachers in Cyprus

The main purpose of this study is to compare the differences in job satisfaction among public and private kindergarten school teachers in Cyprus. These comparisons take place from the perspectives of the teachers themselves and how they evaluate the working conditions in their own schools. More specifically, a series of three logistic regressions and a MANOVA were performed to predict whether the teachers are employed in private or public schools based on (a) the motivational factors that influenced them to enter the teaching profession, (b) their satisfaction with their working conditions, (c) the status and recognition that they receive, and (d) their satisfaction with the work of educational boards and associations. The results are interpreted in the context of how a country's cultural, social, and economic structures contribute to the development of particular forms of private/public schooling and the ways in which these structures seem to influence teacher job satisfaction.     

负重致远：工作压力对“双一流”高校教师科研产出的影响机制与破解之道

为调节“双一流”高校教师工作压力、激发教师队伍创新活力,使用微观调查数据,基于个人-环境匹配理论和双因素理论,构建了高校教师工作压力与科研产出的有调节的中介模型。研究发现：“双一流”高校教师普遍面临较高的工作压力,对其论文产出与其他科研产出均有显著的负向影响;对工作本身的满意度和对工作外在条件的满意度在教师工作压力与其论文产出或其他科研产出的关系中均起中介作用,相比对工作本身的满意度,对工作外在条件的满意度所产生的中介效应更大;职称的内部流动性能够有效缓冲工作压力对教师工作外在满意度的负向影响,进而降低对其科研产出的消极影响,尤其是对论文产出数量与质量的消极影响。基于研究发现,对于提升“双一流”高校科研产出的数量与质量、促进高校教师科研创新提出三点对策建议：一是建立支持型的教学与科研环境,采取有效举措缓解教师的工作压力;二是满足教师对工作的内在与外在需求,提高教师对工作本身及其外在条件的满意度;三是提高高校教师职称的内部流动性,结合教师评价改革深化职称制度改革。     

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.     

Student evaluation: The faculty responds

Results are presented of a survey of faculty members concerning their observations and opinions about the effects of student evaluation of instruction in a university where this practice had been a mandatory requirement for personnel evaluation purposes for several years. The respondents reported a definite reduction in morale and job satisfaction, changes in various instructional practices—mainly reduced course work demands on students and the occurrence of counterproductive actions as a result of this policy. Only limited expectations of improved ratings were indicated. There was also a clear division of opinion about the use of SEI ratings for personnel decisions that corresponded mainly with judgments about the validity of the ratings students provide.