Exploring and testing the predictors of new faculty success: a mixed methods study

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate and test the factors contributing to new faculty members' success. In the first phase, qualitative analysis of focus groups revealed four prominent themes affecting new faculty members: expectations, collegiality, balance, and location. In the second phase, new faculty members completed an online survey using scales developed from the qualitative themes. Factor analysis revealed five distinct factors (qualitative theme ‘balance’ split into professional and personal), each demonstrating construct validity, reliability, and significant intercorrelations. Female faculty reported less personal balance, self-reported health, and general life satisfaction. Also, faculty with more years of service had lower job satisfaction and perceived departmental support. Finally, multiple regressions revealed professional balance had the greatest predictive effect on faculty members' self-perception of success at work; alternatively, expectations, collegiality, and location had greater effects on indirect success indicators such as job satisfaction, general life satisfaction, health, and stress.

[1]  Career Stage Differences in Pre-Tenure Track Faculty Perceptions of Professional and Personal Relationships with Colleagues , 2011 .

[2]  Pamela L. Eddy,et al.  New Faculty on the Block: Issues of Stress and Support , 2008 .

[3]  M. D. Sorcinelli,et al.  The pretenure years: A longitudinal perspective , 1992 .

[4]  L. Mortari,et al.  Phenomenology as Philosophy of Research: An Introductory Essay , 2010 .

[5]  FACULTY RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION: CONCERNS OF EARLY AND MID-CAREER FACULTY , 2005 .

[6]  Erin D. Reilly,et al.  Academic fathers pursuing tenure: A qualitative study of work-family conflict, coping strategies, and departmental culture. , 2012 .

[7]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.

[8]  A. Nir,et al.  Planning for academic excellence: tenure and professional considerations , 2006 .

[9]  Pamela L. Eddy,et al.  Faculty in the Hinterlands: Cultural Anticipation and Cultural Reality , 2012 .

[10]  C. Ward Struthers,et al.  Faculty in Transition: A Longitudinal Analysis of Perceived Control and Type of Institution in the Research Productivity of Newly Hired Faculty , 2000 .

[11]  Cl Smith,et al.  EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO NEW FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT , 1994 .

[12]  Dominick M. Maino,et al.  The New Faculty Member: Supporting and Fostering Professional Development , 1998 .

[13]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research , 2006 .

[14]  J. Murray,et al.  New Faculty's Perceptions of the Academic Work Life. , 2000 .

[15]  Ann E. Austin,et al.  Making Tenure Viable , 1998 .

[16]  L. Hagedorn.  Conceptualizing Faculty Job Satisfaction: Components, Theories, and Outcomes. , 2000 .

[17]  E. Seaquist,et al.  One School's Strategy to Assess and Improve the Vitality of Its Faculty , 2002, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[18]  유창조.  Naturalistic Inquiry , 2022, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[19]  Linda Serra Hagedorn,et al.  Faculty Research Productivity: Exploring the Role of Gender and Family-Related Factors , 2002 .

[20]  M. Amey.  The Institutional Marketplace and Faculty Attrition. , 1996 .

[21]  Amy J. Good,et al.  Building a support system toward tenure: challenges and needs of tenure‐track faculty in colleges of education , 2008 .

[22]  A. L. Wright,et al.  Some Hidden Costs of Faculty Turnover in Clinical Departments in One Academic Medical Center , 2009, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[23]  R. Perry,et al.  Faculty in Transition: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Role of Perceived Control and Type of Institution in Adjustment to Postsecondary Institutions , 1997 .

[24]  Career satisfaction of physical therapy faculty during their pretenure years. , 1996, Physical therapy.

[25]  Shelley M. Park.  Research, Teaching, and Service: Why Shouldn't Women's Work Count?. , 1996 .

[26]  Claire M. Woolley,et al.  Meeting the Mixed Methods Challenge of Integration in a Sociological Study of Structure and Agency , 2009 .

[27]  R. MacCallum,et al.  Sample size in factor analysis. , 1999 .

[28]  Kenneth E. Foote,et al.  Concerns, Attitudes, and Abilities of Early-Career Geography Faculty , 2004, Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

[29]  N. Hill.  An Empirical Exploration of the Occupational Satisfaction of Counselor Educators: The Influence of Gender, Tenure Status, and Minority Status , 2009 .

[30]  Sheneka M. Williams,et al.  Perceptions of African American Male Junior Faculty on Promotion and Tenure: Implications for Community Building and Social Capital. , 2006 .

[31]  Deborah Olsen,et al.  Work Satisfaction and Stress in the First and Third Year of Academic Appointment. , 1993 .

[32]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[33]  E. Guba,et al.  Naturalistic inquiry: Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1985, 416 pp., $25.00 (Cloth) , 1985 .

[34]  A Five-Year Study of Junior Faculty Expectations about Their Work , 1998 .

[35]  Mary Deane Sorcinelli,et al.  Understanding New Faculty Background, Aspirations, Challenges, and Growth , 2007 .

[36]  Mònica Feixas,et al.  Academics as Teachers: New Approaches to Teaching and Learning and Implications for Professional Development Programmes , 2012 .

[37]  Ellen M. Bradburn,et al.  2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04): Background Characteristics, Work Activities, and Compensation of Instructional Faculty and Staff, Fall 2003. E.D. TAB. NCES 2006-176. , 2005 .

[38]  Bruce E. Wampold,et al.  Use of Multiple Regression in Counseling Psychology Research: A Flexible Data-Analytic Strategy. , 1987 .

[39]  J. Creswell.  Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches, 2nd ed. , 2007 .

[40]  Ann E. Austin,et al.  Heeding New Voices: Academic Careers for a New Generation. Inquiry #7. Working Paper Series. New Pathways: Faculty Careers and Employment for the 21st Century. , 2000 .

[41]  T. Kamarck,et al.  A global measure of perceived stress. , 1983, Journal of health and social behavior.

[42]  Todd Bodner,et al.  Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: a meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes, and methods. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[43]  Mary Deane Sorcinelli.  Satisfactions and Concerns of New University Teachers , 1988 .

[44]  Carole J Bland,et al.  The Impact of Appointment Type on the Productivity and Commitment of Full-Time Faculty in Research and Doctoral Institutions , 2006 .

[45]  Raymond P. Perry,et al.  The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective , 2007 .

[46]  M. D. Sorcinelli,et al.  The Career Development of Pretenure Faculty: An Institutional Study. , 1992 .

[47]  Suzanne H. Lease,et al.  OCCUPATIONAL ROLE STRESSORS, COPING, SUPPORT, AND HARDINESS AS PREDICTORS OF STRAIN IN ACADEMIC FACULTY: AN EMPHASIS ON NEW AND FEMALE FACULTY , 1999 .

[48]  C. Mullen,et al.  Untenured Faculty: Issues of transition, adjustment and mentorship , 2000 .

[49]  W. Swann,et al.  Do people's self-views matter? Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life. , 2007, The American psychologist.