Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Institutions of higher education are facing increased pressure to do more with less while continuing to provide a high-quality education. Faculty are asked to teach more and do more with decreased resources and without additional compensation. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on institutions of higher education resulting in decreased enrollment, reduced funding, and increased stress and workload on faculty and staff. With all of these additional pressures, faculty are at an increased risk of burnout and decreased job satisfaction. One thing institutions of higher education can do to improve faculty satisfaction is to examine its organizational health. Unhealthy organizations have faculty who are dissatisfied, and dissatisfied faculty lead to high rates of absenteeism, withdrawal behaviors, poor organizational commitment, and decreased productivity. This study had two purposes: first, to examine the relationship between organizational health and faculty satisfaction at institutions of higher education, and second to examine the relationships between the variables of organizational health and the variables of job satisfaction. This quantitative study collected data from 424 full-time tenure or tenure-track faculty at four-year public and private institutions of higher education. Organizational health was measured using the Organizational Health Inventory (Hoy & Feldman, 1987), and job satisfaction was measured by the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985).A Pearson correlation was conducted to examine the relationship between organizational health and job satisfaction. The results indicated a statistically significant positive relationship between the total organizational health score and the total job satisfaction score. A canonical correlation was conducted to examine the relationships between the variables of organizational health and the variables of job satisfaction. The results found statistical significance at four of the possible seven roots. Root one indicated all variables of organizational health and all variables of job satisfaction were related. Canonical root two, identified as Institutional Environment versus Personal Environment, indicated that lower ratings of institutional integrity, low consideration, low administrator influence and high ratings of morale were associated with low ratings of operating procedures and high ratings of coworkers. Canonical root three, identified as Mission versus Employer Policy, indicated that high institutional integrity, low resource support, and high academic emphasis were associated with high satisfaction of supervision, and low ratings of fringe benefits and operating procedures. Canonical root four, identified as Institutional policy versus Tangible goods, indicated that high ratings of the organizational health variables of initiating structure, resource support, and academic emphasis were associated with high satisfaction with pay and low satisfaction with supervision. In addition to the significant findings, this study adds to the body of research on the relationship between organizational health and job satisfaction and helps to fill the gaps about the relationship between these two in the higher education setting.

Download

Share

COinS