Date of Award

January 2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching & Learning

First Advisor

Myrna Olson

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived levels of burnout, autonomy, and job satisfaction in full-time public community college faculty members; it was also of interest to determine potential relationships between burnout, autonomy, job satisfaction, and demographic factors. Participants in this study were 146 full time faculty members from twelve public community colleges within Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Measures in this study assessed perceived levels of burnout, autonomy, and job satisfaction. Independent samples t-tests and Pearson correlations were utilized to analyze data.

Results indicated that full-time public community college faculty members have moderate levels of emotional exhaustion, low levels of depersonalization, and moderate levels of personal accomplishment. These faculty also have relatively high levels of method autonomy and high levels of scheduling autonomy (compared to criteria autonomy) and high levels of total job satisfaction and satisfaction regarding pay and fringe benefits.

Community college faculty members with higher levels of autonomy had significantly lower levels of burnout and higher levels of total job satisfaction, while higher levels of burnout were significantly correlated with lower levels of total job satisfaction. Female community college faculty members had significantly higher levels of emotional exhaustion compared to male faculty. Nursing and allied health faculty members had higher levels of autonomy related to work methods and scheduling than general education faculty. Non-unionized faculty had significantly higher levels of total job satisfaction and job satisfaction regarding promotion than unionized faculty members. Number of credits taught each semester had a significant negative correlation with levels of emotional exhaustion.

Female community college faculty members should be aware of their higher risk of emotional exhaustion. Individual community college faculty members and their institutions should focus on improving faculty autonomy in an effort to buffer potential negative effects of a high teaching workload in order to minimize burnout development and to improve job satisfaction. Future research should include additional questions on workload, such as the amount of clinical work for health faculty and the amount of online vs. campus teaching. Additionally, questions regarding participants’ perceived need for autonomy should be addressed.

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