Faculty in transition: A longitudinal analysis of perceived control and type of institution in the research productivity of newly hired faculty

The systemic changes facing postsecondary institutions today pose a threat to the quality of academic programs unless new faculty can be successfully attracted and retained. To be more competitive in the recruitment and reten tion of faculty, a better understanding is needed of the adjustment experie nces of newly hired faculty. Our study examined the adjustment of new hires at the point of entry into their institutions using research productivity as one indicator of adaptation. It was expected that perceived personal con trol, age, gender, and type of institution would relate to research product ivity. At the beginning of their first and second year, newly hired faculty in three different types of postsecondary institutions responded to a comp rehensive questionnaire concerning their initial adjustment experiences. A path analysis indicated both direct and indirect linkages between the indep endent variables of interest and research productivity. Substantial direct paths were found between the institution type and research productivity, sp ecifically for the research 1 and liberal arts/comprehensive institutions, and to a lesser degree, between age and research productivity. Age, the res earch 1 university, and the liberal arts/comprehensive universities had dir ect effects on two measures of perceived control and were linked indirectly to research productivity via perceived control. Perceived control resultin g from the personal qualities of the faculty members was instrumental to re search productivity, whereas perceived control resulting from activities in itiated by faculty members were not related to productivity. Surprisingly, gender was not related to research productivity through either direct or in direct paths. If the adjustment of newly hired faculty is viewed in terms o f research productivity, then these results suggest that perceived control, the milieu of research-oriented institutions. and age (to a limited extent ), are important predictors of faculty performance.