Institutional mission and faculty satisfaction: Organizational and professional values in higher education

The last decade of the Twentieth Century has witnessed unprecedented challenges to the structure and culture of higher education. The shrinking availability of grant support coupled with public demand for accountability has resulted in criticism from within and outside the academy, escalating competition among faculty to attract external funding and internal resources, and increasing the tension between research and teaching.; The need for professionals' satisfaction is considered in the context of three premises: the importance of the interaction between professional values (expectations) and institutional values (norms, culture), the perception of greater support among faculty whose role concept is congruous with institutional priorities, and the motivation of faculty by intrinsic factors, meaning that satisfaction is a reflection of institutional ability to minimize negative environmental conditions.; Data was obtained from the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty-1988 (NSOPF-88). Independent variables were derived from the survey instrument and included mission (represented by institutional type categorized by Carnegie classification), tenure status, academic discipline, scholarly productivity, and role conceptualization. Principal Components Analysis was conducted for those items reflecting the dependent variable of satisfaction, which was determined to consist of three factors: Collegiality, Workload and Autonomy.; Hypothesis testing consisted of two parts. First, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) procedures determined that there was a significant effect of mission on satisfaction with collegiality and workload but not autonomy. Next, separate standard multiple regressions were conducted to measure satisfaction with each extracted factor. It was determined that academic discipline, tenure status, and role conceptualization had significant effects on satisfaction, although these results differed by institutional type and factor (i.e., collegiality, workload, autonomy). Scholarly productivity had no significant effect on satisfaction in any type of institution.; The results of this exploratory study indicate that the academic enterprise is context-driven. Consideration of differences among disciplines, tenure status, and role conceptualizations of faculty must be made in the context of the institutional mission. Recommendations include modification of faculty evaluation and reward systems to reflect institutional and departmental missions, and institution of aggressive faculty socialization and development programs.