Predictors of career anchors among teachers in higher education

Abstract

It has been observed that career today is more challenging, stressful, unpredictable, vulnerable and multidirectional, so, individuals need to have a professional communication with the organization to make better career choices. As a result, the concept of career anchor becomes applicable in today s turbulent employment context, with organizations facing challenges and opportunities because of the constantly changing world of work. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to study the career anchors of faculty members at higher education level. The sample comprised 319 faculty members from Universities of Punjab selected through multistage random sampling. This research was conducted using four separate instruments viz. Career Anchor Inventory developed and standardized by the investigator, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire by Meyer and Allen (1997), Emotional Intelligence Scale by Schutte et al. (1998) and Job Satisfaction Scale by Dixit (1993). The statistical techniques used were Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis), t -ratio, coefficients of correlation and regression analysis. The results indicate that academic faculty members in the current study did not exhibit any gender difference on the variables of career anchor, organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Significant gender difference was found in case of emotional intelligence. Female faculty members were found to be more emotionally intelligent than their male counterparts. Different faculties did not differ in their organizational commitment and emotional intelligence. Science faculty members were found to be more satisfied with their jobs and had strong career anchor and thus, had an edge over arts faculty members. Career anchor was found to have significant and positive relationship with organizational commitment, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in the case of all categories viz. total sample, faculty positions of Professors and Assistant Professors and faculties.