The SAS Project: Exploring the Role of Motivational Strategies in Faculty Well-Being

• In Event: Examining Faculty Burnout, Well-Being, and Job Performance

Abstract

Emerging research highlights the importance of examining predictors of well-being in post- secondary faculty (Byrne et al., 2013; Catano et al., 2010; Watts & Robertson, 2011) with existing research principally examining contextual predictors (e.g., tenure status, Ghorpade et al., 2011; class size, Lackritz, 2004; institutional support, Rothmann et al., 2008). Recent research has also found motivational beliefs to predict faculty well-being such as optimism (Barkhuizen et al., 2014; Otero-López et al., 2008), intrinsic motivation (Fernet et al., 2004; Singh et al., 1998), and perceived control (Fernet et al., 2004; Gomes et al., 2013; Navarro et al., 2010).

Heckhausen et al.’s (2010) Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development describes how individuals regulate motivation in response to situational challenges through three types of motivational strategies. Corresponding educational research with young adults has found the most beneficial strategies to involve “goal engagement” (Haase et al., 2008), mixed effects for “goal disengagement” (e.g., lower achievement, higher well-being; Hall & Sverdlik, 2016; Heckhausen & Tomasik, 2002), and “self-protection” strategies to help preserve psychological and physical health (Hall et al., 2006a, 2006b). Despite research on specific emotion regulation strategies and faculty well-being (e.g., reappraisal, humor, emotional labor; Gomes et al., 2013; Tümkaya, 2007; Zhang & Zhu, 2008), Heckhausen et al.’s (2010) comprehensive self-regulatory framework has yet to be examined.

The present international faculty sample (N = 721; female = 69.8%; Mage = 39.7 years; Memployment = 7.4 years; Mteaching = 5.1 courses/year; English first language = 86.2%) were employed primarily in the U.S. (65.5%) but recruited from 33 countries across 43 disciplines. Motivational strategies in response to academic career setbacks were assessed using a modified 24-item version of the Optimization of Primary and Secondary Control Scale (Heckhausen, 2002). Exploratory factor analyses revealed a 9-item goal engagement scale (e.g., persistence, self-talk, help-seeking; α = .79), a 5-item goal disengagement scale (e.g., downgrading aspirations, cognitive avoidance; α = .64), and self-protection subscales of positive reappraisal (4 items; benefit finding; α = .71), intraindividual comparisons (2 items; reminding of other successful life domains; r(681) = .70; p < .000), blaming others (2 items; r(681) = .43; p < .000), and downward social comparisons (2 items; r(679) = .56; p < .000). Well-being outcomes included job satisfaction, quitting intentions (Moe et al., 2010), work-life balance (Gutek et al., 1991), impostor syndrome (Clance, 1985), depression (CESD10), exhaustion (Maslach et al., 1996), and illness symptoms (Cohen & Hoberman, 1983).

Regressions controlling for gender, age, and experience showed hypothesized well-being benefits of goal engagement (|β|s = .16-.32; 5 outcomes), intraindividual comparisons (|β|s = .11-.20; 5 outcomes), and positive reappraisal (|β|s = .10-.12; 2 outcomes), and hypothesized negative effects of blaming others (|β|s = .12-.21; 5 outcomes). Weak mixed effects for downward comparisons were observed (|β|s = .13-.15; higher satisfaction, lower balance) as were consistent unanticipated benefits of goal disengagement (|β|s = .13-17; 4 outcomes). These findings underscore the utility of Heckhausen et al.’s (2010) motivation theory for predicting critical well-being outcomes in post-secondary faculty and warrant further study concerning faculty orientation and intervention implications.

Author

• Nathan C. Hall, McGill University