Leadership behavior of deans as a determinant of faculty job satisfaction and job commitment

Background: Faculty job satisfaction and commitment contribute to the success of academic programs of a college. The main purpose of the study was to determine the relationship of leadership behavior of the deans of nursing colleges to the job satisfaction and job commitment of the faculty members.Methods: The study used a descriptive correlational design. Twenty deans and 100 faculty members from 20 nursing colleges in the National Capital Region, Philippines participated. Survey instruments used were the (1) modified Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, (2) modified Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, and (3) Job Commitment Questionnaire. Leadership behavior was measured based on the “initiating structure” and “consideration” dimensions.Results: Deans of nursing schools viewed their leadership behavior as “highly initiating” (M = 44.0, SD = 5.61) and “very highly considerate” (M = 50.1, SD = 4.99). Assessment of faculty members revealed congruent findings for the leadership dimensions of initiating structure (M = 46.6, SD = 3.83) and consideration (M = 49.9, SD = 2.66). Faculty members were generally “satisfied” (M = 4.20, SD = .25) and “committed” (M = 4.00, SD = .23) to their teaching job. Among the recently established colleges, the “initiating structure” dimension was highly positively correlated with job commitment of faculty members, r = .82, p < .05. There were no statistically significant relationships between the school classification, and the job satisfaction and job commitment of nursing faculty members.Conclusions: Measures must be instituted to improve the “initiating structure” behavior of deans of recently established nursing schools to increase job commitment of faculty members. Other factors associated with job satisfaction and job commitment should be explored.

Women Faculty in STEM Disciplines: Experiences with the Tenure Process and Departmental Practices

Using data from a national survey of tenure-track faculty job satisfaction, the purpose of the study is to explore predictors of perceptions of tenure clarity for faculty in STEM and non-STEM fields. We build on extant studies and use the gendered organization framework as the conceptual lens to examine whether for four groups of faculty (women and men in STEM, and women and men in non-STEM) assessment of fairness in tenure decisions and evaluations, messages about tenure requirements, mentoring, and relationships with peers have a similar effect on their assessment of tenure clarity. Bivariate findings reveal that compared to all other faculty, women in STEM fields are less likely to perceive the expectations for tenure as clear, and the messages about tenure requirements as consistent. Compared to men in both STEM and non-STEM fields, women in STEM are less likely to assess tenure decisions and evaluations as fair, mentoring as effective, and relationships with peers as satisfactory. Multivariate results show that for women in STEM, except for relationships with peers, all other independent variables significantly influence their assessment of tenure clarity. Policy and practice recommendations are discussed.

Demographic factors, compensation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in private university: an analysis using SEM

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect effects of demographic factors on employee compensation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in private higher educational institutes in Bangladesh. Specifically, how do compensation structure and job satisfaction mediate in the link between demographic factors and organizational commitment? To answer this question, a theoretical framework using the theory of employee retention provided by Martin and Kaufman, as its basis was established. Design/methodology/approach Data (n = 515) were collected from faculty members of the private universities in Bangladesh. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings Findings indicate that though demographic factors have no direct impact on organizational commitment, they have indirect impacts on organizational commitment through the mediation of compensation structure and faculty job satisfaction. Besides, compensation structure also has a significant mediating role in the link between demographic structure and faculty job satisfaction. Research limitations/implications One possible drawback is the number of private universities from which the data were collected. In the sample used here, only 20 private universities were selected to conduct the survey. Besides, the study could not include public universities that are also a significant part and parcel of higher education in the country. So, if more private and public universities were taken into consideration to collect the data, the results might be improved. Thus, the usual cautions about overgeneralizing findings from this sample, to populations for which it is not strictly representative, apply. Practical implications From a practical perspective, as a cumulative body of work on organizational commitment, we will be better able to advise policymakers and educators on the elements they need to address to increase the longer engagement of the faculty members in their institutes. In this study, the one area of findings that may help policymakers and educators the most concerns compensation package that affects job satisfaction and organizational commitment. We found that demographic factors and compensation packages are the most important factors for the faculty members to impact on organizational commitment in this study. Social implications The social implication is that policymakers of the private universities can focus on fair justice in terms of demographic factors and compensation package for job satisfaction, motivation and organizational commitment of the faculty members in their universities. Originality/value The findings of the study are important for the policymakers of the higher education institutes.