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Continuing job involvement of long term community college faculty members

Because of the external constraints of a tight job market for many faculty and the security of any job in uncertain financial times, faculty members today who become bored or frustrated with their work are more likely to remain in their jobs despite lack of interest, challenge, or opportunity to grow within that job. Their resulting lack of job interest and involvement can have a detrimental effect on students, other faculty, and the institution as a whole.

This research examined the problem of professional stagnation and low job involvement among community college faculty members who have been teaching for ten years or more at the same institution. Using Glaser and Strauss' discovery of grounded theory methods of research, individual interviews were conducted with 34 community college faculty members who had been teaching for ten or more years at the same institution. Findings identified factors within faculty members, community college teaching jobs, and the institution that affected the continuing motivation and involvement of faculty members in their work as community college teachers.

A theoretical framework was developed which identified two core dimensions of job involvement attitudes and behaviors for community college faculty, the variables and relationships among these which facilitate or impede continuing faculty job involvement over time, and four types of faculty job involvement response patterns. In addition, the theory of faculty adaptation to work role routinization generated by this research focused on a core characteristic of the work of community college teachers -- routinization -- a process that occurs as faculty members remain in their jobs for an extended time and which is central to the type of job attitude and behaviors adopted by faculty in relation to the various areas of their work. / Ed. D.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/101288
Date January 1983
CreatorsHarnish, Dorothy J.
ContributorsCommunity College Administration
PublisherVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation, Text
Formatix, 245 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves, application/pdf, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
RelationOCLC# 10658481

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