| Faculty in colleges and universities have been the focus of several studies investigating role conflict and role ambiguity. However, there has been an absence of research giving attention to the role expectations and role conflict of community college faculty. Given the theoretical notion that role expectations are derived from an individual's past and present socialization experiences, it was the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between selected faculty and administrator experiences and the role expectations they hold for faculty in community colleges. In addition, potential areas of role conflict between faculty and administrators, and faculty and students were explored.;A Role Expectations Questionnaire (REQ) was developed and administered to faculty, students, and administrators in nine public comprehensive community colleges in New York State. A Faculty and Administrator Characteristics Questionnaire was administered to faculty and administrators. Useful responses were received from 1202 subjects, faculty (470), students (649), and administrators (83) resulting in a response rate of 45 percent. Factor analysis of the REQ resulted in the creation of six factor-based subscales of faculty role expectations: (1) Classroom and Teaching activities, (2) Department, College, and Professional Organization activities, (3) Research and Publishing activities, (4) Student Personal and Social Development activities, (5) Advisement and Curriculum Development activities, (6) Preparation of Students for Advanced Study activities.;Analyses of variance and Pearson correlations were performed on the data to determine significant relationships between faculty occupational experiences, educational experiences, and reference group and the six subscales of role expectations. The same procedures were used to determine relationships between administrator characteristics and faculty role expectations.;Results indicated differences in faculty role expectations were related to teaching experiences in four-year colleges and universities, faculty teaching area, faculty academic rank, faculty highest academic degree, number of courses in education taken by faculty, and reference group of faculty. Areas of potential role conflict between faculty and administrators were "Department, College, and Professional Organization" activities and "Advisement and Curriculum Development" activities. Faculty and students disagreed on several areas of role expectations, with the faculty giving higher value than students to many of the activities in their role.;In general, concepts in role theory and social systems theory were supported by the findings in this study. |
