Date of Graduation

5-2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders

Advisor/Mentor

Roessger, Kevin M.

Committee Member

Kacirek, Kit

Second Committee Member

Grover, Kenda S.

Keywords

Arkansas; Community College; Organizational Commitment

Abstract

Community colleges serve an important function of allowing students to achieve an affordable education closer to home. However, these opportunities often challenge community college faculty members due to smaller budgets and resources, which leads to differentiation in curriculum delivery, underprepared students, increasing workloads, and increasing stakeholder expectations. As such, across the nation, faculty are showing lack of commitment, lowered engagement, and increasing turnover rate. This study sought to determine the predictors of organizational commitment in community college faculty, using Meyer and Allen’s framework of three components of this commitment. Both individual demographic characteristics of faculty, and institution characteristics of degree of urbanization, racial diversity, and student-to-faculty ratio were analyzed to determine whether they predicted levels of organizational commitment in faculty. A survey of faculty from all 22 community colleges in Arkansas showed that few of the identified characteristics predicted organizational commitment, namely race/ethnicity, gender, disciplines taught, and student-to-faculty ratio. However, the data overall showed strong levels of organizational commitment from those surveyed, indicating that faculty in Arkansas differ greatly in a positive manner from national trends.

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