Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 02180030
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED217800 AUTHOR: Sagaria, Mary Ann D.
TITLE: The Mobile Staff: Concepts and Determinants of
Academic Administrator Job Change.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1982
NOTE: 15 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
American Educational Research Association (New York, NY,
March 1982).
ABSTRACT: Predictors of academic staff administrators' job
change were studied based on a conceptual framework derived
from Rosabeth Kanter's work on opportunity. Questionnaire
data from higher education administrators who had been
employed between 1973 and 1978 following the application of
affirmative action to higher education were analyzed.
"Academic staff" refers to positions that are adjunct to
primary institutional tasks and are generally intended to
support the organizational chain of command. The
questionnaire addressed: administrators' educational and
professional background, job characteristics, professional
activities, observations about work responsibilities, career
influences and prospects, and mentor relationships. The
investigation entailed a secondary analysis of data
originally collected as part of an administrator survey
undertaken in 1979 in Pennsylvania colleges and
universities. To determine the predictors of mobility for
staff administrators, a series of stepwise multiple
regressions were performed. Seven variables combined to
account for nearly 50 percent of the variance. The
predictors in order of importance were: age, planning to
move to another position, and having a mentor relationship.
Being a woman and serving as editor of a professional
journal also entered the regression analysis with
significant weights. Other characteristics that affected
mobility were being married and serving as a president of a
professional organization. The negative relationship of age
to job change indicated that younger administrators are more
mobile than older administrators. It is concluded that
mobility or job change is a useful conceptual medium for
looking at career opportunity. (SW)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Administrator-Responsibility;
Administrators-; Age-Differences; Educational-Background;
Employment-Opportunities; Females-; Higher-Education;
Mentors-
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Administrator-Characteristics; *Career
Ladders; *College-Administration; *Occupational-Mobility;
*Predictor-Variables
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