Universities have a duty to students and faculty to address employment outcomes in online adjunct faculty members. Findings from a quantitative study at a predominantly online college demonstrated that the encouragement of person-environment fit is one promising methodology for achieving positive correlations with adjunct job performance and job satisfaction.
Institutions of higher education are relying on part-time faculty at ever increasing rates at the undergraduate level. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2016) reported the ranks of part-time adjuncts grew in number by nearly 140,000 from 2003 to 2013. Driving this expansion are benefits to universities. The nature of adjuncts’ short-term contracts provides administrators with more scheduling flexibility within and across academic sessions. Part-time faculty also tend to cost much less to employ than do full-time faculty (Baldwin & Wawrzynski, 2011). It is reasonable to expect that institutions will continue the pattern of hiring large proportions of part-time adjuncts given the increasing price of attending college.
Complicating the decision to rely on adjunct faculty members are potential hidden costs of part-time employment engagements. An emerging research base has demonstrated that adjuncts experience negative employment outcomes such as lower job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. In terms of performance, evidence suggests part-time faculty engage high impact teaching behaviors at lower rates than their full-time counterparts (Umbach, 2007). Adjuncts also have demonstrated negative attitudinal outcomes and poor relationships with their institutions (Levin & Hernandez, 2014). The American Federation of Teachers (2010) found that half of all part-time adjuncts would prefer a full-time teaching engagement. A large proportion of adjuncts earn an income below the federal poverty line for their service (Hoeller, 2014). This evidence on outcomes suggests that an ethical dilemma has emerged in higher education. Institutions are benefiting at the cost of part-time adjuncts and the students whom they teach.
This study considered the variable of person-environment (PE) fit in this context. PE fit is the compatibility between an individual’s characteristics and those of the work environment (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). A rich research tradition, summarized in meta-analyses such as Kristof-Brown et al. (2005) and Verquer, Beehr, and Wagner (2003), has demonstrated that fit correlates with various employment outcomes, including heightened performance and positive attitudes, irrespective of employee demographic and industry segment. These findings needed to be tested in adjunct faculty as only a few studies have applied elements of the fit construct in this population (Castiglia, 2006; Chunjiang, Honglan, & Ye, 2011).
The study tested the relationships between PE fit and job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Online adjuncts at a small, private university in the northeast completed a measurement of fit and demographics at the beginning of the study. The second phase of data collection included self-reports of job satisfaction and organizational commitment and job performance scales that were completed by adjuncts’ supervisors. Correlation analyses were used to test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in all hypotheses. Findings indicated that, consistent with prior research, PE fit correlated positively with some employment outcomes in part-time adjuncts teaching online. There was a significant positive correlation between fit and job performance, albeit with a small effect size. Similarly, motivator factors of job satisfaction and hygiene factors of job satisfaction correlated positively with fit at a significant level and with a small-to-medium effect size. Organizational commitment, however, had no correlation with PE fit.
While caution should be exercised in overgeneralizing these findings, an implication is that institutions should explore how fit could be applied in their contexts to improve employment outcomes in adjuncts. Schneider’s (1987) attraction, selection, attrition (retention) model provides a guiding framework in that regard to systematize implementation of PE fit and outcomes measures for interested organizations. Universities could consider attraction strategies in job postings and institutional websites; selection strategies such as interview scripts and administration of fit measures; and retention strategies like training and ongoing surveys of attitudinal outcomes. These tactics and the study’s findings comprise an opportunity for institutions of higher education to transform their employment relationships with adjunct faculty members. University administrators must lead the way by acknowledging the costs of relying on contingent employment arrangements to the institution and adjuncts and taking steps to reverse negative outcomes. Such a future state would bring into balance the ethical and equitable treatment of adjuncts with benefits felt by universities.
References
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Castiglia, B. (2006). The impact of changing culture in higher education on the person-organization fit, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 10(2), 23-43.
Chunjiang, Y., Honglan, W., & Ye, L. (2011, May 13-15). The effects of person organization fit on job satisfaction and turnover intention: The case of service industries. 2011 International Conference on Business Management and Electronic Information. https://doi.org/10.1109/icbmei.2011.5917911
Hoeller, K. (2014). The academic labor system of faculty apartheid. In K. Hoeller (Ed.), Equality for contingent faculty: Overcoming the two-tier system (pp. 116-155). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
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Umbach, P. D. (2007). How effective are they? Exploring the impact of contingent faculty on undergraduate education. The Review of Higher Education, 30(2), 91-123. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2006.0080
Verquer, M. L., Beehr, T. A., & Wagner, S. H. (2003). A meta-analysis of relations between person–organization fit and work attitudes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63(3), 473-489. doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00036-2