The personal motivation of chief academic development officers

The purpose for conducting this study was to establish a profile of the personal motivations of chief development officers (CDO) in higher education, to see if a significant difference existed in what motivated successful and unsuccessful fund raisers, and to see if significant differences in personal incentives existed between CDOs and other professionals. The selection of development officers for this study was accomplished using data obtained from the National Association of College and University Business Officers\u27 1989 report on endowment growth. Data were collected using a questionnaire that included the Spectrum I Test of Adult Work Motivation. The sample was stratified to reflect 15 institutional CDOs who reported endowment growth over 27 percent and 15 CDOs who reported endowment growth of one percent or a decrease in total endowment size. Of the original 30 CDOs identified, 23 CDOs responded to the mailed questionnaire. With a return rate of 76 percent, no significant differences were found between high- and low-success chief development officers, or between CDOs and other professionals. The personal value mean scores measured for CDOs, however, did reveal a significant difference between the value mean scores for accomplishment (mean score 73.5) and each of the other three values measured (affiliation mean score 55.7, recognition mean score 57.5, and power mean score 47.0), and between the value means for recognition and power. These findings indicated that CDOs were primarily task-oriented individuals whose primary focus was on completing an assignment