Abstract
Two explanations of congruency of ideal (intent) and actual (action/behavior) work of faculty are examined—reward expectations and referent others. Based on interviews with 5 college deans and 32 chairpersons, a survey of 503 faculty (69% return rate), and institutional data, it was found that referent others' goals have a greater influence than reward expectations on the congruency of work actions and intentions of faculty. Peers, chairpersons, and deans affect, in differing ways, the congruency of actions and intentions of faculty. Overwhelmingly, peers have the strongest effect, followed by chairpersons and deans. Of the three reward expectations variables (perception that work leads to tenure, promotion to associate professor, and merit salary increases), only the perception that work leads to tenure affects congruency of faculty work actions and intentions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrahamson, M. (1967).The Professional in the Organization. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Aiken, M. (1981). Crossing the boundaries and building the bridges: linking sociology to the social sciences.The Sociological Quarterly 22: 447–452.
Allison, P. D. (1980). Analyzing collapsed contingency tables.American Sociological Review 48: 123–130.
Anderson, G. L. (1963). The organizational character of American colleges and universities. In Lunsford,The Study of Academic Administration, pp. 1–19.
Bacharach, S. B., and Lawler, E. J. (1980).Power and Politics in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Biddle, B. J. and Thomas, E. J. (1966).Role Theory: Concepts and Research. New York: Wiley.
Borgatta, E. F. (1961). Role-playing specification, personality and performance.Sociometry 24: 218–233.
Bunker, G. (1967). Self-role congruence and status congruence as interacting variables in dyadic behavior. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Campbell, John P., and Pritchard, R. D. (1976). Motivation theory in industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette (ed.),Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, pp. 63–130. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publ. Co.
Caplow, T., and McGee, R. T. (1958).The Academic Marketplace. New York: Basic Books.
Clark, B. R. (1963). Faculty organization and authority. In Lunsford,The Study of Academic Administration, pp. 37–51.
Cottrell, L. S., Jr. and Sheldon, E. B. (1966). Relationship expectations. In H. M. Vollmer and D. L. Mills (eds.),Professionalization, pp. 228–236. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Davis, J. A. (1974). Hierarchial models for significance tests in multivariate contingency tables: an exegesis Goodman's recent papers. In H. L. Costner (ed.),Sociological Methodology 1973–1974, pp. 189–231. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Deutscher, I. (1973).What We Say/What We Do: Sentiments and Acts. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman.
DeVries, D. L. (1975). The relationship of role expectations to faculty behavior.Research in Higher Education 3: 11–29.
Dornbush, S. M., and Scott, W. R., with the assistance of B. C. Bushing and J. D. Laing (1975).Evaluation and the Exercise of Authority. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Dykes, A. R. (1968).Faculty Participation in Academic Decision Making. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education.
Feldman, D. C. (1984). The development and enforcement of group norm.Academy of Management Review 9: 47–53.
Festinger, L. (1957).A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson.
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., and Schachter, S. (1958). When prophecy fails. In E. E. Macoby, T. M. Newcomb, and E. L. Hartley (eds.),Readings in Social Psychology, pp. 156–163. New York: Henry Holt.
Fienberg, S. E. (1977).The Analysis of Cross Classified Data. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
French, J. R., and Raven, B. (1959).The Bases of Social Power. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Institute for Social Research.
Gaston, J. (1978).Reward Systems in British and American Science. New York: Wiley.
Gmelch, W. H., Lovrich, N. P., and Wilke, P. K. (1984). Sources of stress in academe: a national perspective.Research in Higher Education 20(4): 477–490.
Goodman, L. A. (1970). The multivariate analysis of qualitative data: interactions among multiple classifications.Journal of the American Statistical Association 65: 226–256.
Goodman, L. A. (1971). The analysis of multi-dimensional contingency tables: stepwise procedures and direct estimation methods for building models for multiple classifications.Technometrics 13: 33–61.
Goodman, L. A. (1972). A general model for the analysis of surveys.American Journal of Sociology 77: 1035–1086.
Goodman, L. A. (1979). A brief guide to the causal analysis of data from surveys.American Journal of Sociology 84: 1078–1095.
Gouldner, A. W. (1957). Cosmopolitans and locals: Toward an analysis of latent social roles—I.Administrative Science Quarterly 2: 281–306.
Gouldner, A. W. (1958). Cosmopolitans and locals: toward an analysis of latent social roles—II.Administrative Science Quarterly 2: 444–480.
Graen, G. (1969). Instrumentality theory of work motivation: some experimental results and suggested modifications.Journal of Applied Psychology Monograph 53: 1–25.
Gross, E. (1968). Universities as organizations: a research approach.American Sociological Review 33: 518–544.
Gross, N. C., Mason, W. S., and McEachern, A. W. (1975).Explorations in Role Analysis: Studies of the School Superintendency. New York: Wiley.
Hage, J. (1974).Communication and Organization Control: Cybernetics in Health and Welfare Settings. New York: Wiley.
Hage, J. (1980).Theories of Organizations. New York: Wiley.
Hagstrom, W. O. (1965).The Scientific Community. New York: Basic Books.
Harmon, L. R. (1965).Profiles of Ph.D.s in the Sciences. Washington: National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council.
Hill, W. and French, W. (1967). Perceptions of the power of departmental chairmen by professors.Administrative Science Quarterly 11: 548–574.
Hirschman, A. O. (1970).Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and the State. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
House, R. J., and Wahba, N. A. (1972). Expectancy theory in industrial and organizational psychology. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Meetings, Honolulu.
Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P., Snoek, J. D., and Rosenthal, R. A. (1964).Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity. New York: Wiley.
Katz, D. A., and Kahn, R. L. (1966).The Social Psychology of Organizations. New York: Wiley.
Knoke, D., and Burke, P. J. (1980).Log-Linear Models. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Korman, A. K. (1971). Expectancies as determinants of performance.Journal of Applied Psychology 55: 218–222.
Korman, A. K. (1976). Hypothesis of work behavior revisited as an extension.Academy of Management Review 1: 50–63.
Kornhauser, W. (1962).Scientists in Industry. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.
Lawler, E. E. III (1973).Motivation in Work Organizations. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole.
Lawler, E. E., III and Porter L. (1967). Antecedent attitudes of effective managerial performance.Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 2: 122–142.
Locke, E. A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives.Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 3: 157–189.
Locke, E. A., Cartledge, N., and Kneer, C. S. (1970). Studies of the relationship between satisfaction, goal-setting, and performance.Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 5: 135–158.
Long, J. S., and McGinnis, R. (1981). The effects of the mentor on academic career: working paper. Washington State University.
Lundsford, T. F., ed. (1963).The Study of Academic Administration. Boulder, Colo.: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Merton, R. (1957). The role-set: problems in sociological theory.The British Journal of Sociology VIII: 1–23.
Miles, R. H. (1977). Role-set configuration as a predictor of role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations.Sociometry 40: 21–34.
Mitchell, T. R., and Biglan, A. (1971). Instrumentality theories: current uses in psychology.Psychological Bulletin 76: 432–454.
Parsons, T. (1956). Suggestions for a sociological approach to the theory of organizations, II.Administrative Science Quarterly 1: 225–239.
Pfeffer, J. (1982).Organizations and Organization Theory. Boston: Pitman.
Pfeffer, J., and Salancik, G. R. (1975). Determinants of supervisory behavior: a role-set analysis.Human Relations 28: 139–154.
Pfeffer, J. (1978).The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. New York: Harper & Row.
Reynolds, H. T. (1977).Analysis of Nominal Data. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Sarbin, T. R., and Allen, V. L. (1969). Role theory. In G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds.),The Handbook of Social Psychology pp. 488–567. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Smelser, W. T. (1961). Dominance as a factor in achievement and perception in cooperative problem solving interactions.Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology 62: 535–542.
Van de Ven, A. H., and Astley, W. G. Mapping the field to create a dynamic perspective on organization design and behavior. In A. H. Van de Ven and W. F. Joyce (eds.),Perspectives on Organization Design and Behavior, pp. 427–468. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
Vroom, V. H. (1964).Work and Motivation. New York: Wiley.
Vroom, V. H. (1965).Motivation in Management. New York: American Foundation for Management Research.
Warren, D. I. (1969). The effects of power bases and peer groups on conformity in formal organizations.Administrative Science Quarterly 14: 544–557.
Zey-Ferrell, M., and Baker, P. J. (1984). Faculty work in a regional public university: an empirical assessment of goal consensus and congruency of actions and intentions.Research in Higher Education 20(4): 399–426.
Zuckerman, H., and Merton, R. K. (1971). Patterns of evaluation in science: Institutionalization, structure and functions of the referee system.Minera 9: 66–100.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zey-Ferrell, M., Ervin, D. Achieving congruent actions and intentions: An empirical assessment of faculty work in a regional public university. Res High Educ 22, 347–369 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974210
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974210