Faculty self-actualization: Factors affecting career success

Abstract

This study determined the degree of relationship between four personal factors related to faculty growth and development, two environmental indices, and career success and satisfaction. Maslow's notion of self-actualization guided the construction of the personal indices of self-democraticness, support, tolerance, and trust; McGregor and Likert provided the theoretical bases for the environmental indices. The data came from the American Council on Education—Carnegie Commission national survey. Selecting only faculty at the rank of assistant professor and higher who were teaching in arts and science departments produced an N of 7,534. Trust was the only personal variable significantly and consistently related to success and satisfaction, but even it had low contingency coefficients. Control of the work environment was the best predictor of the outcome variables and produced CC=0.41 under certain conditions. While not a causal study, the findings nonetheless suggest that factors which can be more easily changed (environmental in contrast to personal) can positively affect faculty growth and development. Implications for administrators follow.