Trend analysis of faculty staffing practices and faculty vitality using secondary analysis of the 1984 and 1989 Carnegie Foundation national surveys of faculty

The study examined the relationship between changes in selected faculty staffing practices with variations in faculty vitality over time. Secondary analysis of two surveys of the American professoriate conducted by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 1984 and 1989 provided the basis for regression analysis of selected faculty staffing practices, mediating variables, and variables representing faculty vitality. The population was all two- and four-year United States colleges and universities classified in the Carnegie Foundation data base or 2559 institutions in 1984 and 2747 institutions in 1989. Faculty staffing practices studied were (a) type of appointment; (b) salary; (c) work load; (d) advancement; and (e) tenure. Faculty vitality was defined as those essential, yet intangible, positive qualities of individuals and institutions that enable purposeful production (Clark, Boyer, & Corcoran, 1985). A principal component factor analysis conducted on 14 dependent variables descriptive of the concept of faculty vitality resulted in a collapsed dependent variable. The three principal components representing vitality in the collapsed dependent variable were (a) faculty perceptions of their institutions, (b) faculty perceptions of their careers, and (c) faculty perceptions of their enthusiasm for their work. The data revealed that only changes in the faculty staffing practice of advancement were significantly related to variations in faculty vitality ($-$.497, p $\u3c$ 0.0001) in 1984 to ($-$.645, p $\u3c$ 0.0001) in 1989. Although advancement was the only faculty staffing practice that explained a significant amount of variance in faculty vitality, analysis of descriptive data from the surveys also revealed an increased emphasis on research that was evidenced in both institutional and individual elements researched in the study. Implications of the study were that institutions of higher education would do well to provide faculty with (a) career consulting services to help them clarify their career focus and (b) provide transitional support to faculty who identify feasible career alternatives outside of their present career