ABSTRACT

Faculty job satisfaction is critical to the success of students and institutions of higher education. Satisfaction of faculty has often been tied to the autonomy of faculty to complete their work with many faculty viewing themselves as independent contractors whose roles and identities are separate from the institution’s, but the implications of this mentality are scarcely understood. This study applies the empowerment framework which encompasses constructs like trust and self-determination to enhance understanding of the relationship between faculty’s perception of their level of empowerment and job satisfaction. Utilizing the empowerment framework, we provide insight on how the multiple dimensions of faculty empowerment are associated with job satisfaction. We employ a confirmatory factor analysis to develop a structural equation model (SEM) that can account for the relationships between empowerment and job satisfaction. Our sample includes associate and full professors (N = 913) from 20 states and findings indicate that the trust and personal consequence constructs within the empowerment framework are most salient. It is intended that this research will inform both faculty and higher education administrators on specific dimensions of empowerment which should be emphasized for achieving job satisfaction to promote the success of faculty and the students they serve.

摘要

教师的工作满意度对学生和高等教育机构的成功至关重要。教师的满意度通常与教师完成工作的自主权有关，许多教师将自己视为独立的承包商，其角色和身份与机构的角色和身份不同，但人们几乎不了解这种心态的含义。本研究应用包含信任和自决等结构的授权框架来增强对教师对其授权水平的感知与工作满意度之间关系的理解。利用授权框架，我们深入了解教师授权的多个维度如何与工作满意度相关联。我们采用验证性因素分析来开发结构方程模型 (SEM)，该模型可以解释授权与工作满意度之间的关系。我们的样本包括副教授和正教授（N = 913) 来自 20 个州，调查结果表明授权框架内的信任和个人后果结构最为突出。本研究旨在让教职员工和高等教育管理人员了解赋权的具体维度，应强调赋权的具体维度，以实现工作满意度，以促进教职员工及其服务的学生取得成功。