An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Faculty Engagement in Higher Education

Abstract

This research attempts to investigate the relationship between different organizational, individual and demographic factors with effective faculty engagement in private higher education institutions of Bengaluru, Karnataka state, (India). Hypotheses testing included a data of (n=302) higher education faculty members with different academic positions, by using simple random sampling method. The study uses exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for testing sampling adequacy, reliability and discriminant validity and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to prove significant causal relationship between the variables. Structural equation modeling was used for detecting the direct effects of the independent variables like Personal Resilience, Individual optimism, Coworker support, Pay, Performance, Affective Commitment and Locus of control, with the dependent variable, faculty engagement. Confirmatory factor analysis measurement model revealed significant positive relationship between Pay, Performance, Coworker support, Personal Resilience and Individual Optimism with faculty engagement in higher education institutions of Bengaluru. This research study further proves the connection between demographic factors such as gender, employment status, salary and position with faculty engagement. The study provides insights for academic leaders, universities and HR professionals to improve engagement levels of teaching faculty in higher education and concludes with limitations and future research agenda. newline