An objective approach to faculty promotion and tenure by the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel evaluation approach for the selection of candidates for promotion and/or tenure. The decision problem is conceptualized as a hierarchy of factors and a mathematical procedure known as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used for successively “weighting” or prioritizing factors at each level of the hierarchy, in order to arrive at a final composite set of weights for each potential candidate, listed as alternatives at the final level of the hierarchy. The procedure and its mathematical basis are explained and illustrated using hypothetical data. It is argued that the AHP can aid university decision makers in arriving at objective and consistent decisions on faculty tenure, which at present appear to be largely subjective and informal.