SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I LEAVE : THE QUESTION OF TENURE TRACK FACULTY JOB SATISFACTION AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how tenure procedures at institutions of higher education, workload, confidence in support of teaching and research objectives, climate, culture, collegiality and salary affect job satisfaction of tenure track faculty. The study compares three different cohort groups composed of tenure-track faculty from over eighty institutions of higher education in the United States. The cohort groups used in this study are Baccalaureate, Masters and Research institutions that have been classified by Carnegie Classification. Institutions of higher education were invited to participate in the Harvard University Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey. Institutions that participated provided lists of their full-time tenure track faculty members who were pre-tenure. The University of North Carolina system (consisting of sixteen institutions) mandates that its institutions participate in this study. Previous research indicated both individual and institutional characteristics contribute to faculty job satisfaction. This study explored the differences in tenure track faculty job satisfaction by Carnegie Classification using exploratory factor analysis with oblimin rotation to construct factors which represent the dimensions of workload, confidence and support of teaching and research objectives by the institution's administration, autonomy, climate, collegiality and salary. Because of institutional differences, these factors are experienced differently by the three cohort groups and therefore are indicative to each group. In order to observe the strength of each component and the amount of variation explained by the combination of these factors a stepwise linear multiple regression was conducted for each Carnegie Classification. Stepwise linear regression allowed estimation of the strength of the institutional components which contribute to tenure track faculty job satisfaction or dissatisfaction by observing differences in standardized beta weights and allowed observation of the amount of variation explained by each regression equation for each institution. This study has observed differences in the constructs that make up tenure track faculty job satisfaction across different types of institutions defined by Carnegie Classification. This study enhances the institutional component of Johnsrud and Rosser's research because it used data that was collected more recently and focuses only on tenure track faculty. Additionally, it adds to the literature currently published by COACHE, which has been primarily descriptive in nature, by predicting what sets of variables contribute more predominantly to tenure track job satisfaction. The study observed differences in both the way that Johnsrud, Johnsrud, and Heck, Rosser and COACHE portray tenure track faculty job satisfaction. The use of Carnegie Classification is also new because previous inferential studies have used public/private institutions as a method of classification.