The role of the department chair is considered one of the most thankless jobs in higher education, but there is surprisingly little research on the daily work-lives of faculty members serving in departmental leadership roles. This study updates the literature by using a national sample of 3,317 associate and full professors serving in department…

Building on a theoretical framework that links characteristics of individuals and their work settings to organizational commitment (OC) and citizenship behavior, this study considers why faculty may be disengaging from institutional service. Analyses of survey data collected from a state system of higher education suggest that job characteristics,…

Retention of female faculty is an important issue for institutions of higher education aiming for excellence and diversity. However, an essential first step in understanding retention is to examine what contributes to career satisfaction for academic women. This study is based on data from a census survey of faculty conducted in 1996 at a Research…

Using a theoretical model of institutional culture, organizational climate, and faculty motivation, a study examined how faculty (n=1,123) and administrators (n=381) in 10 colleges differed in their perceptions, whether differences were affected by institution type, and to what extent faculty and administrators had different implicit models of…

An exploratory study isolated factors useful for predicting faculty attitude toward collective bargaining: monetary issues, working conditions, participation in institutional decision-making, promotion and tenure policies, and individual faculty compensation. Implications are discussed for faculty, administrators, faculty organizers, and…

A study used available data to develop a profile of non-tenure-track college faculty (n=132) and compare it with a similarly derived profile of untenured but tenure-track faculty (n=587). The research explored the relationship between employment status and selected demographic, career orientation, career circumstance, and work environment…

This study sought to develop a correlate model of 3-year scholarly performance of 296 clinical pharmacy faculty. Participants were surveyed concerning refereed research, grants/books research, and nonresearch scholarship. Eight correlates, including two related to the departmental workplace, emerged as significant factors in scholarly performance.…

The relationships between job satisfaction and aspects of life at work and away from work were studied in 112 faculty members. Unlike the general population, academics appeared to experience a high degree of spillover between work and life away from work. (Author/MSE)

A study proposed a structural model of college faculty worklife and tested its generalizability by examining possible differences in the model across three cross-sectional samples of probationary faculty at a major research university over an eight-year period. Identified trends in faculty perceptions about their worklife over time can be used as…

A study at the University of Colorado compared minority (n=73) and white (n=122) faculty perceptions of employment/workplace issues and minority affairs. Minority faculty were dissatisfied with certain contexts in the institution and felt excluded. Interactions of race and gender were also examined. (Author/MSE)

A survey of approximately 2,450 non-instructional staff at a research university concerning the work environment found significant differences in perceptions of union-affiliated and non-union staff, with union-affiliated workers seeing the culture, philosophy, climate, and outcomes of their work environment more negatively. Implications for…

A study examined the relationship of writing method (cognitive strategies, tools, work scheduling, environment, and rituals) to productivity in 121 science and engineering faculty when writing technical documents such as journal articles. (MSE)

A study using both quantitative and qualitative techniques investigated the role of institutional culture in socialization of newly-recruited faculty in social sciences/ humanities departments and compared them with perceptions of current faculty concerning institutional culture and departmental subcultures. Four stages of acculturation are…

A study measured the financial, personnel, and academic dimensions of state regulation at 122 public universities, and examined how university and state characteristics affect regulatory climate and administrative flexibility. It also analyzed the dimensions of administrator satisfaction in 12 specific administrative positions in relation to…

A study of stress among 786 faculty at a land-grant university found differences in stress levels among discipline groups and higher stress reported by women than by men. The findings are discussed, and several proposals are made for individual faculty members, department heads, and academic administrators for addressing the problems of workplace…