Abstract

At a time in the history of higher education when the value of a college education is under siege and college faculty are reexamining their career choices, this research study investigates the impact a
student recognition program has on a disaggregated faculty in a competency-based university. In this case, three different types of university faculty facilitate the student’s learning. This study aims to determine the relationship between faculty job satisfaction and job retention and the impact of student recognition on that relationship. Barnard Simon’s Theory of Organizational Equilibrium posits a faculty’s “decision to remain is after weighing one’s perception of one’s contribution to the organization of one’s perception of the organization’s contribution to one’s life.”

The treatment group is faculty whose students received an excellence award and wrote grateful messages, and the control group is faculty whose students have not received an excellence award. The faculty completed a survey regarding their level of satisfaction with their career and institution and their gratitude for their life and career. There was also demographic data, including the length of time teaching at the institution. Using a T-test for Equality of Means and Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances, the treatment group had a 14% to 18% greater mean (p<0.01) than the control group for teacher motivation and gratitude. There was a tenure difference between the groups by eight years for faculty tenure greater than five years. This study’s significant results have shown that the student recognition program positively impacts faculty satisfaction and retention.

Keywords: Job satisfaction, higher education, job retention, intention to leave, student recognition