Why They Intend to Leave: The Role of Burnout Between the Faculty Work Environment and Intent to Leave Academia

Abstract

Though faculty are crucial to university success, faculty work motivation research often lacks a theoretical basis and discounts potential affective influences like burnout. Such limitations reduce the ability to understand faculty work motivation and, thus, to facilitate its development. To overcome these, the Affective Events Theory was applied to the domain of faculty work motivation. The resultant model was tested using faculty participants from 24 doctoral universities. Participants completed a survey assessing work-related characteristics, affect (burnout), and cognitions. Results revealed that faculty at doctoral universities (i.e., High and Very High Research Activity Universities) experienced less burnout when they received support from their institution, had autonomy in structuring their daily tasks, viewed their job as important, completed their tasks from beginning to end, experienced less skill and task variety, and were in good health. Those who experienced burnout reported diminished job satisfaction, reduced commitment, and less intention to stay in academia. The implications for theoretical research, institutional policy, and practice are discussed.