Matthew West
Published: 2023
Total Pages: 0
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This study explored the level of job satisfaction among a sample of Alabama community college faculty, particularly through the felt impact of COVID-related stressors, and when controlled by variables of faculty age, gender, race, subject discipline, and college locale. These research aims are important because while community college enrollments have increased, retaining qualified faculty continues to prove difficult amidst baby boomer retirements or faculty leaving the profession altogether. Like the Alabama teacher shortage in K-12 education, an abrupt decline has also occurred among two-year college faculty, making it vitally important to identify key sources of job satisfaction to maximize or job dissatisfaction to minimize. Using a quantitative approach, a Qualtrics survey incorporating the Wood's (1973) job satisfaction questionnaire was used to collect data on 216 full-time faculty representing seven colleges in the central region of Alabama.Respondents reported the highest level of satisfaction on the dimension the work itself with a mean score of 5.18 (SD = 0.90) and the lowest level on the dimension of policy and administration with a mean score of 3.68 (SD = 1.04). COVID work stressors, COVID-related student stressors, and COVID-motivated career change considerations significantly predicted global job satisfaction, explaining 36% of the variance. Analyses showed no direct association between differences in individual characteristics - gender, race, discipline, age, college locale - and job satisfaction. COVID, students, and administration emerged as important themes explaining job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.The evidence from this study suggests that despite the average faculty member reporting they were slightly satisfied with their job nearly three years after the pandemic's outbreak, COVID-related problems continue to be a concern for both students and faculty. The pandemic exacerbated many pre-existing issues in faculty work with regard to student unpreparedness and administrative oversight, leading to over a third of faculty in this sample considering a career change. In general, however, these results suggest that even in a time of educational budget shortfalls, cost-effective organizational changes can still be made to improve faculty morale overall, retain instructors for the long term, and improve the success of students in the Alabama community college.