Abstract
A national study was conducted toexamine the quality of midlevel leaders'worklife, satisfaction, morale and theirintentions to leave. The study included 4,000midlevel leaders who were randomly selectedfrom a total national population of 11,300 fromboth public and private institutions withinfive Carnegie classifications (e.g.,Doctoral/research-extensives and intensives,Baccalaureate generals and Liberal arts) acrossthe United States. Three separate mailingsyielded 2,000 responses for a 50 percent returnrate and 1966 useable surveys. Midlevel leadersare defined as academic or non-academic supportpersonnel within the structure of highereducation organizations (e.g., directors andcoordinators of admissions, institutionalresearch, registrars, computing and technology,human resources, alumni affairs, studentaffairs, placement and counseling services,financial aid, development and planned giving).This national study proposes: (1) to examinethose demographic characteristics and worklifeissues that may have an impact on theperceptions of midlevel leaders' morale,satisfaction and intent to leave; and (2) todemonstrate the role satisfaction and moralehas on midlevel leaders' intentions to stay orleave their current position or career. Thefindings indicate that individual perceptionsof midlevel leaders' professional andinstitutional worklife are powerful variablesthat have an impact on their satisfaction,morale, and turnover intentions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amey, M. (1990).'Bridging the cap between expectations and reality’, in Moore, K.M. and Twombly S.B. (eds.), Administrative Careers and the Marketplace, New Directions for Higher Education Series 72, vol. 18(4). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Austin, A.E. (1984).'Work experience of university and college administrators’, Administrative Update (newsletter of American Association University Administrators) 6(1), 1–4.
Austin, A.E. (1985). Factors Contributing to Job Satisfaction of University Mid-Level Administrators. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper, March.
Austin, A.E. and Gamson, Z.F. (1983). Academic Workplace: New Demands, Heightened Tensions. Washington, D.C.: ASHE/ERIC Higher Education ResearchReport No. 10.
Bany, M.A. and Johnson, L.V. (1975). Educational Social Psychology. New York: Macmillan.
Baynes, J. (1967). Morale: A Study of Men and Courage. New York: Praeger.
Benge, E. and Hickey, J. (1984). Morale and Motivation: How to Measure Morale and Increase Productivity. New York: Franklin Watts.
Bensimon, E.M. and Neumann, A. (1993). Redesigning Collegiate Leadership: Teams and Teamwork in Higher Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bess, J.L. and Lodahl, T.M. (1969).'Career patterns and satisfaction in university middle management’, Educational Record 50(4), 220–229.
Blum, D.E. (March 29, 1989).'24-Pct. turnover rate found for administrators: Some officials are surprised by survey results’, Chronicle of Higher Education, A1, A14.
Bluedorn, A.C. (1982a).'The theories of turnover: Causes, effects, and meaning’, Research in the Sociology of Organizations 1, 75–128.
Bluedorn, A.C. (1982b).'A unified model of turnover from organizations’, Human Relations 35(2), 135–153.
Bruce, W.L. and Blackburn, J.W. (1992). Balancing Job Satisfaction and Performance. Connecticut: Quorum Books.
Doherty, J. (1988).'Psychological morale: Its conceptualisation and measurement: The Doherty Inventory of Psychological Morale (DIPM)’, Educational Studies 14(1), 65–74.
Grassmuck, K. (March 28, 1990).'Big increases in academic support staffs prompt growing concern on campuses’, The Chronicle of Higher Education 36(28), A1, 32-34.
Grassmuck, K. (August 14, 1991).'Throughout the 80s, colleges hired more non-teaching staff than other employees’, The Chronicle of Higher Education 37(48), 22.
Gruenberg, M.M. (1979). Understanding Job Satisfaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Henkin, A.B. and Persson, D. (1992).'Faculty as gatekeepers: Non-academic staff participation in university governance’, Journal of Educational Administration 30(2), 52–64.
Johnsrud, L.K. (1996). Maintaining Morale: A Guide to Assessing the Morale of Midlevel Administrators and Faculty. Washington, D.C.: College and University Personnel Association.
Johnsrud, L.K. and Edwards, R.L.R. (2001).'Mediating the intent to leave: The affective responses of midlevel administrators to their worklives’, ASHE Annual Meeting Paper, Richmond, VA., November.
Johnsrud, L.K., Heck, R.H. and Rosser, V.J. (2000).'Morale matters: Midlevel administrators and their intent to leave’, Journal of Higher Education (January/February) 71(1), 34–59.
Johnsrud, L.K. and Rosser, V.J. (1999a).'Predicting and reducing midlevel administrative staff turnover’, CUPA Journal 49(1,2), 1–8.
Johnsrud, L.K. and Rosser, V.J. (1999b).'College and university midlevel administrators: Explaining and improving their morale’, The Review of Higher Education 22(2), 121–141.
Johnsrud, L.K. and Rosser, V.J. (eds.) (2000). Understanding the Work and Career Paths of Midlevel Administrators. New Directions for Higher Education Series No. 111, vol. 28(3). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Johnsrud, L.K., Sagaria, M.A. and Heck, R.H. (1992). University staffing decisions to hire or promote. International Journal of Educational Management 6(2), 20–31.
Kauffman, J.F. (1990).'Administration then and now’, in Moore, K.M. and Twombly, S.B. (eds.), Administrative Careers and the Marketplace, New Directions for Higher Education Series 72, vol. 18(4). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lee, T.W. and Mowday, R.T. (1987).'Voluntarily leaving an organization: An empirical investigation of steers and mowday's model of turnover’, Academy of Management Journal 30(4), 721–743.
Madron, T.W., Craig, J.R. and Mendel, R.M. (1976).'Departmental morale as a function of the perceived performance of department heads’, Research in Higher Education 5, 83–94.
Mobley, W.H. (1982). Employee Turnover: Causes, Consequences, and Control. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
Montgomery, D.C. and Lewis, G.L. (1995).'Administrative staff: Salaries and issues’, The NEA Almanac of Higher Education, 109–125.
Mooney, C.J. (1993).'Study examines turnover rates in 12 campus jobs’, The Chronicle of Higher Education (February) 2(10), A16.
Moore, K.M. (1983). Leaders in Transition-A National Study of Higher Education Administrators. University Park, PA: Center for the Study of Higher Education, The Pennsylvania State University.
Moore, K.M. and Sagaria, M.A. (1982).'Differential job change and stability among academic administrators’, Journal of Higher Education 53(5), 501–513.
Moore, K.M. and Twombly, S.B. (1990). Administrative Careers and theMarketplace: Toward the Year 2000, New Directions for Higher Education Series No. 72, vol. 18(4). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Muthén, L.K. and Muthén, B.O. (2003). Mplus: The Comprehensive Modeling Program for Applied Researchers User's Guide, Version 2.13 Los Angeles, CA.
NEA Update (1997).'Characteristics of college and university staff’, NEA Higher Education Research Center 3(4), 1–4.
Price, J.L. (1977). The Study of Turnover. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Raykov, T. and Marcoulides, G.A. (2000). A First Course in Structural Equation Modeling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rosin, H. and Korabik, K. (1995).'Organizational experiences and propensity to leave: A multivariate investigation of men and women managers’, Journal of Vocational Behavior 46, 1–16.
Rosser, V.J. (2000).'Midlevel administrators: What we know’, in Johnsrud, L.K. and Rosser, V.J. (eds.), Understanding the Work and Career Paths of Midlevel Administrators, New Directions for Higher Education Series No. 111, vol. 28(3). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 5–13.
Rosser, V.J. and Javinar, J.M. (2003). Student Affairs Leaders Intentions to Leave: Examining the Quality of Their Worklife. Refereed paper presented at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), St. Louis, Missouri, March.
Sagaria, M.A. and Johnsrud, L.K. (1992).'Administrative promotion: The structuring of opportunity within the university’, Review of Higher Education (Winter) 15(2), 191–211.
Scott, R.A. (1978). Lords, Squires and Yeoman: Collegiate Middle Managers and Their Organizations. ASHE-ERIC/Higher Education Research Report No. 7. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.
Sherif, M. and Sherif, C.W. (1956). An outline of social psychology. New York and Evanston: Harper and Row Publishers.
Solomon, L.C. and Tierney, M.L. (1977).'Determinants of job satisfaction among college administrators’, Journal of Higher Education 48(4), 412–431.
Steers, R.M. and Mowday, R.T. (1981).'Employee turnover and post-decision accommodation processes’, in Cummings, L.L. and Staw, B.M. (eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 3. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 235–281.
Twombly, S.B. (1990).'Career maps and institutional highways’, in Moore, K.M. and Twombly, S.B. (eds.), Administrative Careers and the Marketplace, New Directions for Higher Education Series 72, vol. 18(4). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Volkwein, J.F., Malik, S.M. and Napierski-Prancl, M. (1998).'Administrative satisfaction and the regulatory climate at public universities’, Research in Higher Education 39(1), 43–63.
Volkwein, J.F. and Parmley, K. (2000).'Comparing administrative satisfaction in public and private universities’, Research in Higher Education 41(1), 95–116.
Ward, L. (1995).'Role stress and propensity to leave among new student affairs professionals’, NASPA Journal 33(1), 35–45.
Zeitz, G. (1983).'Structural and individual determinants of organizational morale and satisfaction’, Social Forces 61, 1088–1108.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rosser, V.J. A national study on midlevel leaders in higher education: The unsung professionals in the academy. Higher Education 48, 317–337 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HIGH.0000035543.58672.52
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HIGH.0000035543.58672.52