Supporting Non-Tenure-Track Faculty at 4-Year Colleges and Universities

Abstract

This study examines the values held by 264 academic deans and the decisions they make pertaining to supporting non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF). Multiple analyses are utilized to examine the prevalence of supportive policies for both full- and part-time NTTF, as well as the extent to which deans’ values are associated with the existence of these policies on college and university campuses. Findings reveal that deans’ values play a significant role in organizational decisions to support NTTF, and part-time faculty remain under-supported in the academy. Implications for practice are discussed.

Keywords

educational policy faculty higher education higher education policy leadership organizational behavior survey research

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agle

B. R.

Caldwell

C. B.

(1999). Understanding research on values in business. Business & Society, 38, 326-387.

American Federation of Teachers. (2009). The American academic: The state of higher education workforce 1997-2007. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.aftface.org/storage/face/documents/ameracad_report_97-07for_web.pdf

Argyris

Schon

D. A.

(1981). Organizational learning. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Baldridge

J. V.

(1971). Power and conflict in the university: Research in the sociology of complex organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley.

Baldwin

R. G.

Chronister

J. L.

(2001). Teaching without tenure. Baltimore, MD: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press.

Bergquist

W. H.

Pawlak

(2007). Engaging the six cultures of the academy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Birnbaum

(1991). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Bland

Center

B. A.

Finstad

D. A.

Risbey

K. R.

Staples

(2006). The impact of appointment type on the productivity and commitment of full-time faculty in research and doctoral institutions. Journal of Higher Education, 77, 89-121.

Clark

(1998). Creating entrepreneurial universities: Organizational pathways of transformation. Tarrytown, NY: Pergamino.

10.

Cohen

West

S. G.

Aiken

L. S.

(2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Routledge.

11.

Community College Survey of Student Engagement. (2009). Making connections: Dimensions of student engagement. Austin, TX: Author.

12.

Connor

P. E.

Becker

B. W.

(1994). Personal values and management: What do we know and why don’t we know more? Journal of Management Inquiry, 3, 67-73.

13.

Deal

T. E.

Kennedy

A. A.

(1982). Corporate cultures. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

14.

Dill

D. D.

(1984). The nature of administrative behavior in higher education. Educational Administration Quarterly, 20, 69-99.

15.

Eagan

M. K.

Jaeger

A. J.

(2008). Effects of exposure to part-time faculty on community college transfer. Research in Higher Education, 50, 168-188.

16.

Eckel

(2006). The shifting frontiers of academic decision-making: Responding to new priorities, following new pathways (American Council on Education/Praeger Series on Higher Education). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

17.

Epstein

(1979). The stability of behavior: 1. On predicting most of the people much of the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1097-1126.

18.

Ferrell

O. C.

Gresham

L. G.

(1985). A contingency framework for understanding ethical decision making in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 49, 87-96.

19.

Fritzsche

D. J.

(2007). Personal values’ influence on the ethical dimension of decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 75, 335-343.

20.

Gappa

J. M.

Leslie

D. W.

(1993). The invisible faculty: Improving the status of part timers in higher education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

21.

Goldstein

(2005). College and university budgeting: An introduction for faculty and academic administrators. Washington, DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers.

22.

Gumport

P. J.

Sporn

(1999). Institutional adaptation: Demands for management reform and university administration. In Smart

(Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. XIV, pp. 103-145). Bronx, NY: Agathon Press.

23.

Harten

C. J.

Boyer

R. K.

(1985). Administrators’ receptivity to nontraditional goals. Journal of Higher Education, 56, 206-219.

24.

Hollenshead

Waltman

August

Miller

Smith

Bell

(2007). Making the best of both worlds: Findings from a national institution-level survey on non-tenure-track faculty. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Education of Women.

25.

Jacoby

(2006). The effects of part-time faculty employment on community college graduation rates. Journal of Higher Education, 77, 1081-1103.

26.

Jemison

D. B.

(1981). Organizational versus environmental sources of influence in strategic decision-making. Strategic Management Journal, 2, 77-89.

27.

Kezar

A. J.

Eckel

P. D.

(2004). Meeting today’s governance challenges: A synthesis of the literature and examination of a future agenda for scholarship. Journal of Higher Education, 75, 371-399.

28.

Kezar

Gehrke

(2014, Winter). Why are we hiring so many non-tenure-track faculty? Liberal Education, 100(1), 44-51.

29.

Kezar

A. J.

Sam

(2010). Understanding the new majority: Contingent faculty in higher education (Vol. I, ASHE Higher Education Report Series). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

30.

Lee

(1991). Campus leaders and campus senates. In Birnbaum

(Ed.), Faculty in governance: The role of senates and joint committees in academic decision-making (pp. 41-62, New Directions for Higher Education, No. 75). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

31.

Leslie

D. W.

Fretwell

E. K.

(1996). Wise moves in hard times: Creating and managing resilient colleges and universities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

32.

Meglino

B. M.

Ravlin

E. C.

(1998). Individual values in organizations: Concepts, controversies, and research. Journal of Management, 24, 351-389.

33.

Minor

(2005). Faculty governance at historically Black colleges and universities. Academe, 91, 34-37.

34.

Posner

B. Z.

Kouzes

J. M.

Schmidt

W. H.

(1985). Shared values make a difference: An empirical test of corporate culture. Human Resource Management, 24, 293-309.

35.

Rajagolopalan

Rasheed

A. M. A.

Datta

D. K.

(1993). Strategic decision processes: Critical review and future directions. Journal of Management, 19, 349-384.

36.

Schein

E. K.

(1985). Organizational culture and leadership: A dynamic view. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

37.

Shirley

(1975). Values in decision-making: Their origin and effects. Managerial Planning, 23, 1-5.

38.

Sims

R. L.

Keon

T. L.

(1999). Determinants of ethical decision making: The relationship of the perceived organizational environment. Journal of Business Ethics, 19, 393-401.

39.

Slaughter

Rhoades

(2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state, and higher education. Baltimore, MD: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press.

40.

Trevino

L. K.

(1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. The Academy of Management Review, 11, 601-617.

41.

University of California, Los Angeles. (n.d.). SPSS data analysis examples: Logit regressions. Retrieved from http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/dae/logit.htm

42.

Williams

R. M.

(1979). Change and stability in values and value systems: A sociological perspective. In Rokeach

(Ed.), Understanding human values (pp. 15-46). New York, NY: Free Press.

43.

Wolverton

Gmelch

W. H.

(2002). College deans: Leading from within. Westport, CT: Oryx Press.

44.

Wolverton

M. L.

Gmelch

W. H.

(1999). The impact of role conflict and ambiguity on academic deans. Journal of Higher Education, 70, 80-106.