Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The number of women working in STEM areas of academia declines as rank progresses—a phenomenon termed the “leaky pipeline” (Burke, 2007). The leaky pipeline is due in part to discrimination. Women in STEM report high perceived discrimination, which is associated with negative career outcomes (Settles, Cortina, Stewart, & Malley, 2007; Pascoe & Richman, 2009). No research to date has examined whether mentoring might buffer the negative effects of perceived discrimination for female professors working in STEM areas of academia. This study examines whether mentoring relationships moderate the relationships between perceived discrimination and career outcomes including job satisfaction and work engagement for women in STEM. 118 women faculty in STEM completed an online survey of perceived discrimination, job satisfaction, and engagement. Although results revealed main effects of perceived discrimination and mentoring, mentoring did not moderate the relationship between perceived discrimination and outcomes. Exploratory analyses provide future research directions to understand the leaky pipeline.

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The purposes of this study were to develop a locus of control scale specific to vocational needs and to use the scale to examine the relationships between vocational need strength, need satisfaction, locus of control and voluntary worker turnover. Voluntary turnover was defined as intent to leave one's job, the dependent variable. The Kostreva Vocational Attitude Scale (KVAS) was designed to measure intent-to-leave and Internal (I), Powerful Others (P) and Chance (C) locus of control, in Levenson's (1972) format, based on Rotter's (1966) theory and the 20 need factors of the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis et al. 1968). Hoyt reliability coefficients were .74 I, .80 P, .87 C and .95 for intent-to-leave. As predicted, KVAS sub-scales had loworder positive correlations to Levenson's I, P and C scales. The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, assessing vocational need strength, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, assessing vocational need satisfaction, and the KVAS, were administered to 101 randomly selected, employed persons, ages 20-40 (52 men, 49 women). Consistent with prior research, the intending-to-leave group had a significantly lower mean score on overall job satisfaction than the not-intending-to-leave group (p=.001). Step-wise regression analyses indicated significant correlations (p < .05) between: 1) low need satisfaction and intent-to-leave on 17 of 20 vocational need factors; 2) high need strength and intent-to-leave on the Advancement factor; and 3) high Chance locus of control and intent-toleave on the Social Status factor. One-way ANOVA showed a significantly higher mean score on overall Chance locus of control for the leaving group (p=.021), but no differences on Internal or Powerful Others. Post hoc discriminant analysis indicated younger age to be significantly related to intent-to-leave. Age and total job satisfaction correctly classified 75% of subjects to leaving and not-leaving groups (i.e., a younger individual who indicated low job satisfaction was likely to be in the leaving group). Gender and years of school were not related to leaving. Further study on actual turnover versus intent-to-leave was suggested, as was additional testing with the KVAS.

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Information technology is an ever evolving field that has become a mainstay in today’s society, especially in higher education. The employees who maintain the information technology (IT) infrastructure and systems at educational institutions are tasked with similar jobs as their equivalents in the private sector; however, these employees are faced with unique difficulties. A lower salary range, less benefits, and less technological variety are typical characteristics in a higher education setting for IT employees as compared to private industry. Faced with these circumstances, IT employees continue to perform their duties and ensure the institution is functioning on a daily basis. With these employees working in this environment, where education is the focus, what factors influence IT employees’ job satisfaction? Specifically, this research focused on IT professionals employed at community and junior colleges in Mississippi and the facets that influence these employees’ job satisfaction. The abridged Job Descriptive Index and the abridged Job in General survey tools were utilized in this study to determine the level of satisfaction for pay, promotion, supervision, co-workers, the work itself, and the job in general. The results showed several interesting findings. IT employees were most satisfied with the work itself. Also, this same group was highly satisfied with their job in general. Lastly, the number of years of work experience did not make a significant difference in regards to overall job satisfaction. Recommendations were also provided in this research. One was to determine ways to improve satisfaction with the job facets with lower levels of satisfaction, which included pay and promotion. Second, community colleges should evaluate their current practices to ensure continued satisfaction in the highly satisfied areas of co-workers, supervision, and the work itself. Further study should be done to compare IT employees at Mississippi community and junior colleges with other higher educational institutions and private industry. Additional job satisfaction research should also include other departments at each institution or the entire community college. Since this research was based on a small sample, revisiting this same study to increase the population was also recommended.

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