scholarly journals Shrinking Budgets, Growing Demands: Neoliberalism and Academic Identity Tension at Regional Public Universities

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285841875773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl Dugas ◽  
Kelly H. Summers ◽  
Lindsay N. Harris ◽  
Amy E. Stich
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Work ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Combined Impact

Faculty ( N = 156) at regional public universities (RPUs) in the United States were surveyed for self-reports of their primary academic identity (teacher, researcher) along with alignment of that identity with perceived departmental expectations and how their time is spent. Well-being and job satisfaction were examined as outcome measures of identity and alignment. The results are examined in the context of international concerns about neoliberalism in higher education, particularly with respect to academic identity. Participants were employed by RPUs in Illinois, a state with severe budget challenges, to assess the combined impact of neoliberalism and financial pressures on academic identity at traditionally teaching-focused institutions. Results of MANCOVA and MANOVA analyses suggested that participants who identify as teachers had greater overall well-being and job satisfaction than those who identified as researchers. Greater satisfaction was associated with alignment between identity and how time is spent. Implications and challenges to faculty work and strains on academic identity at RPUs are discussed.

scholarly journals The Neoliberal University in Ireland: Institutional Bullying by Another Name?

Societies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Margaret Hodgins ◽  
Patricia Mannix McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
New Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

New managerialism and the pervasive neoliberalisation of universities is by now a well-established phenomenon. Commentaries explore the political and economic drivers and effects of neoliberal ideology, and critique the impact on higher education and academic work. The impact on the health and well-being of academic staff has had less attention, and it is to that we turn in this paper. Much academic interest in neoliberalism stems from the UK, Australia and the United States. We draw particularly on studies of public Irish universities, where neoliberalism, now well entrenched, but something of a late-comer to the new public management party, is making its presence felt. This conceptual paper explores the concept of neoliberalism in higher education, arguing that the policies and practices of new public management as exercised in universities are a form of bullying; what we term institutional bullying. The authors are researchers of workplace culture, workplace bullying and incivility. Irish universities are increasingly challenged in delivering the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principles of decent work, i.e., dignity, equity, fair income and safe working conditions. They have become exposed in terms of gender imbalance in senior positions, precariat workforce, excessive workload and diminishing levels of control. Irish universities are suffering in terms of both the health and well-being of staff and organisational vibrancy. The authors conclude by cautioning against potential neoliberal intensification as universities grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reviews neoliberalism in higher education and concludes with insight as to how the current pandemic could act as a necessary catalyst to stem the tide and ‘call out’ bullying at the institutional level.

scholarly journals Individual-Level Determinants of Employee Shirking

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy A. Judge ◽  
Timothy D. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Work Group ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Organization Level

Employee shirking, where workers give less than full effort on the job, has typically been investigated as a construct subject to organization-level influences. Neglected are individual differences that could explain why employees in the same organization or work-group might shirk. Using a sample of workers from the health care profession in the United States, the present study sought to address these limitations by investigating subjective well-being (a dispositional construct), job satisfaction, as well as other indiuidual-level determinants of shirking. Results indicate that whites shirk significantly more than nonwhites, and that subjective well-being, job satisfaction, and age have significant, negative effects on shirking. The implications of these results are discussed.

scholarly journals Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States: Interview Survey Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changwon Son ◽  
Sudeep Hegde ◽  
Alec Smith ◽  
Xiaomei Wang ◽  
Farzan Sasangohar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
College Students ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Positive Coping ◽  
Negative Impacts

BACKGROUND Student mental health in higher education has been an increasing concern. The COVID-19 pandemic situation has brought this vulnerable population into renewed focus. OBJECTIVE Our study aims to conduct a timely assessment of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of college students. METHODS We conducted interview surveys with 195 students at a large public university in the United States to understand the effects of the pandemic on their mental health and well-being. The data were analyzed through quantitative and qualitative methods. RESULTS Of the 195 students, 138 (71%) indicated increased stress and anxiety due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Multiple stressors were identified that contributed to the increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive thoughts among students. These included fear and worry about their own health and of their loved ones (177/195, 91% reported negative impacts of the pandemic), difficulty in concentrating (173/195, 89%), disruptions to sleeping patterns (168/195, 86%), decreased social interactions due to physical distancing (167/195, 86%), and increased concerns on academic performance (159/195, 82%). To cope with stress and anxiety, participants have sought support from others and helped themselves by adopting either negative or positive coping mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS Due to the long-lasting pandemic situation and onerous measures such as lockdown and stay-at-home orders, the COVID-19 pandemic brings negative impacts on higher education. The findings of our study highlight the urgent need to develop interventions and preventive strategies to address the mental health of college students.

scholarly journals Exploring the predictor of innovative teaching using the job demands-resources model

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
M. A. Rafsanjani ◽  
L. Hakim ◽  
N. Laily ◽  
P. A. Wijaya ◽  
M. R. Irwansyah
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Role Conflict ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Teaching Activity ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Researcher Role ◽  
The Impact

Introduction. To keep in pace and remain competitive in today's environment, the lecturer must do innovation in educational process. However, encouraging lecturers' willingness to do innovative teaching is challenging in higher education due to the dual roles as teachers and researchers, which makes the excessive workload and leads to the teacher-researcher role conflict (TRC). Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the impact of TRC on the innovative teaching of lecturers. The present study utilises the job demands-resources (JDR) model due to its high popularity but rarely used in higher education.Aim. This study is aimed to explore the predictor of innovative teaching by utilising the JDR model as a theoretical anchor.Methodology and research methods. This study uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the research model on a random sample of 233 respondents.Results. The results indicated that teacher-researcher role conflict negatively predicted the innovative teaching of the lecturer. Besides, the occupational well-being is a mediating variable to explain the influence of teacher-researcher role conflict on innovative teaching.Scientific novelty. This study reveals innovative teaching predictors in higher education by using the JDR model as a theoretical anchor. The authors found out that teacher-researcher role conflict (TRC) was significantly related to innovative teaching. The high-level expression of TRC will reduce the lecturer's innovative behaviour on teaching activity, and vice versa.Practical significance. The current study provides critical insight into the related stakeholders, such as the universities and related ministries, regarding the negative predictor of innovative teaching. They should discover approaches to reduce the negative effect of TRC on the innovation behaviour of lecturer teaching activity and to address the problem of job role conflict.

Gender, type of higher education institution, and faculty work-life integration in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Catherine White Berheide ◽  
Megumi Watanabe ◽  
Christina Falci ◽  
Elizabeth Borland ◽  
Diane C. Bates ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Faculty Work ◽  
Higher Education Institution ◽  
Gender Type

Processes of Emotion Communication and Control

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Crowe ◽  
Vaishali V. Raval ◽  
Shwetang S. Trivedi ◽  
Suchi S. Daga ◽  
Pratiksha H. Raval
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
And Control ◽  
Report Measure

Emotional expression and experience are dynamic processes that vary within and between individuals of different cultural groups ( Kitayama, Mesquita, & Karasawa, 2006 ). The present study sought to compare self-reports of processes related to emotion communication and control in India and the United States. A total of 268 participants (United States: n = 160 and India: n = 108) completed a self-report measure depicting hypothetical vignettes and a series of questions assessing likely emotions elicited, likelihood of expression, motives guiding expression and control, and method of expression. Results showed that US participants primarily reported more self-focused emotions (i.e., happiness) and self- and other-focused motives for expressing or controlling felt emotion, while Indian participants primarily reported emotions that focused on others’ well-being as well as other- and relationship-focused motives. US participants more commonly reported direct verbal communication of the emotion, while Indian participants more frequently reported implicit and contextual methods of communication.

The Origins of National Technological Advantage

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-94
Author(s):  
Samuel Cohn
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Terms Of Trade ◽  
Gi Bill ◽  
Military Technology ◽  
Technological Advantage ◽  
Competitive Prices

This chapter addresses how big government is also responsible for countries achieving strategic technological advantages. Strategic technological advantage is the key to gaining from unequal terms of trade. If your country has invented something and controls proprietary technology, your nation has a monopoly and can charge monopoly prices. Other countries have to compete with other vendors to sell their goods and sell at low competitive prices. But how do countries get technological monopolies? America's scientific and engineering dominance comes from the superiority of its higher education. The United States was the only country to create large public universities with cheap tuition in every state or province in the nation. The chapter then looks at the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890; the Hatch Act of 1914; and the GI Bill. It also considers the founding of the National Science Foundation. The plan was that not only would the United States have stronger armed forces due to military technology, but it would also have a better economy due to civilian technology and would be better able to solve social problems with the use of social technology.

Thriving, Surviving, or Striving? A Part-Time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Typology for the New Era of Faculty Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Kim Nelson Pryor
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tenure Track ◽  
Work Experiences ◽  
Faculty Work ◽  
New Era ◽  
Tenure Track Faculty ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Financial Need

Context As instructional part-time, non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) come to constitute an increasing proportion of all teaching faculty in the United States, significant research has investigated the experiences and perspectives of these essential higher education workers. In past decades, a subset of this work has sought to typologize this heterogenous group by various characteristics including their professional attributes and motivations for teaching part-time. Yet these typologies evidence limited usefulness to the robust and current scholarly debate surrounding NTTF in higher education. Purpose This article presents a novel typology of part-time NTTF for the new era of faculty work—an era marked by financial inequality. Thus, the proposed typology sorts these faculty, within the context of structural inequality, by their motivation to teach part-time and their financial dependence on this work. Research Design This analytic essay synthesizes literature on the attributes, work experiences, perspectives, and motivations of part-time NTTF in order to critique existing part-time faculty typologies and present a novel classification system. Conclusions The proposed typology advances three types of part-time NTTF: “thrivers”— those who work as teachers predominantly by preference; “survivors” —those who work as teachers predominantly out of financial need; and “strivers” —those who work as teachers because of a combination of preference and financial need. As proposed, the new typology enables a more complex understanding of part-time faculty's work experiences and better differentiates lines of future inquiry and practice for these essential professionals, many of whom are indispensable to, yet face inequitable working conditions within, the field of higher education.

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