Date of Award

January 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Foundations & Research

First Advisor

Robert H. Stupnisky

Abstract

This three-article dissertation examines gender and family differences in faculty motivation. Faculty motivation has primarily been studied in the context of development but has only recently begun to focus on productivity and success. Further, studies of faculty motivation do not provide in depth analysis of gender and family differences. Therefore, the current program of research uses the Self-Determination Theory to examine gender and family differences in faculty motivation and considers how traditional gender norms may contribute to these differences. The first study explored if gender difference existed. Data from a small sample of faculty (N=118) from two universities in the Midwest identified that men reported more competence and perceived success in research than women, married faculty reported more intrinsic motivation for research than unmarried faculty. Stepwise regression revealed that competence, autonomy, professional balance, and job satisfaction predicted autonomous teaching motivation, and autonomous teaching motivation predicted perceived teaching success. In the research domain, competence and job satisfaction predicted autonomous motivation, professional balance predicted controlled motivation, and both controlled and autonomous motivation predicted perceived success. The second study expanded upon the first study by examining data from a much larger sample (N=651) of faculty from 11 universities in the United States. Quantitative findings revealed that married faculty reported more relatedness, autonomous motivation, and perceived success in research, more personal balance and more job satisfaction than unmarried faculty. Faculty with children reported more perceived research success and personal balance than faculty without children, and men reported more autonomy, personal balance, and professional balance than women. Structural equation modeling identified the regression pathway between autonomy and external motivation were stronger for men than women, and the pathway between competence and introjected motivation was stronger for women than men. Regression pathways between autonomy and amotivation were stronger for unmarried than married faculty. In the third (N=210) a measure of external social support was included to examine how it related to motivation and success. Stepwise regression revealed that social support was a significant predictor of autonomous motivation for research and autonomous motivation predicted perceived research success. Mediation analysis with bootstrapping revealed that autonomous motivation nearly mediated the effect of social support on perceived research success. When controlling for gender, marital status, and parental status, gender was a significant predictor of autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and perceived research success in all three steps. Results from all three studies revealed more group differences in research motivation and success than in teaching motivation and success, however, there was some indication that lack of balance related to controlled motivation for teaching. Further, findings showed that gender and marital status differences were much more evident than differences in parental status, indicating there may be more similarities than differences between academic parents. These findings must also be considered in the context of the for-profit university system that encourages faculty to achieve success for external reward, which, theoretically and empirically, does not produce the best outcomes. In other words, for the greatest success outcomes (e.g., high rankings, funding, production of knowledge), higher education should be interested in fostering environments that support the genuine scholarly and pedagogical interests of faculty

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