Date
6-2018
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Chair
Brian C. Yates
Keywords
Adjunct Faculty, Informal Mentoring, Job Satisfaction, Orientation, Part-time Faculty, Part-time Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
Nanna, Kevin, "The Effects of Informal Mentoring on Adjunct Faculty Job Satisfaction at an Open Enrollment University" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 1756.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1756
Abstract
Job satisfaction has long been considered a predictor of employee loyalty and retention. On the academic side, adjunct faculty have played a key role in post-secondary education for decades. As use of part-time adjunct faculty increases, now more than ever colleges should be focusing on attracting and retaining qualified adjunct faculty. Increasing enrollment, a changing demographic of student, modern technology and cost implications are all reasons why there has been an increase in demand for non-tenured or part-time faculty. With increased demand comes competition for the most qualified and able instructors. While competitive salary is a consideration, there are many other factors such as reputation, flexibility, comfort, and training that should be considered. This quantitative, Ex-Post- Facto (Casual-Comparative) study focused on Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Motivation, utilized the Part-Time Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey (P-TFJSS), specifically the subscale for overall job satisfaction, drew from a sample size of 250 adjunct faculty with 83 participants. Two outliers were removed leaving the sample size of 81 participants. A Mann-Whitney U test allowed the researcher to reject the null hypothesis. The researcher concluded that informal mentoring does indeed impact adjunct faculty job satisfaction.
