WVU Faculty Work Climate Survey Leslie E. Tower, PhD Associate Professor of Social Work & Public Administration Council for Women’s Concerns (CWC)

Sampling All full-time WVU faculty were invited to participate The overall response rate was 44% (970).

Data Collection Method Electronic survey administered on Survey Monkey The survey was opened for 2 months in the spring 2009 semester.

Data Collection Method All full-time faculty were invited to participate through a web-link Posts to several MIX, E-News, etc. alerting faculty of survey Announcement to Faculty Senate to encourage Senators to inform their constituents (Welfare Committee endorsed survey) Colorful flyers posted around campus to educate & remind Email invitation was sent to Provost’s official Faculty List-serve Four reminders sent to WVU list-serves (e.g., eNews & MIX). Each announcement increased the response rate. Follow-up email invitation sent to the Provost’s official Faculty List-serve.

Literature review identified several Climate scales Instrumentation Literature review identified several Climate scales Jacobs, Bergen, & Korn (2000) selected Subscales: Positive Climate Cohesion Sexual Harassment Gender Discrimination Gender Insensitivity (e.g., inclusive language)

Climate instrument has demonstrated validity & reliability Instrumentation Climate instrument has demonstrated validity & reliability Selected dimensions of other instruments incorporated to strengthen scale Designed a new subscale: Additional Discrimination

Instrumentation Content validity Scale Cronbach alpha = .94 4 “experts” in field, including authors of the original instrument. The instrument was further revised based on the experts’ comments. Scale Cronbach alpha = .94 Subscale alphas ranged from .71 to .87.

Instrumentation Added items at Faculty Senate Welfare Committee’s request: “Issues” (10 items) Workload Faculty/Staff Shortages “Benefits” (8 items) Paid maternity/paternity leave Domestic Partner Benefits

Response Rate

Demographics

Professional Characteristics

Climate Scale

Results Climate was moderate for all WVU faculty Scale: Men perceive WVU Campus Climate to be significantly better than women (F=17.584, p=.0001). Subscales: Men perceive: more positive climate (F= 3.864, p=.050), less sexual harassment (F= 6.033, p=.014), less gender discrimination (F= 94.357, p=.014), and less gender insensitivity compared to women (F=42.043, p=.000).

Legend Green: A Strength Blue: A moderate need of being addressed 76% - 100% of faculty endorse item Blue: A moderate need of being addressed 51% - 75% of faculty endorse item Red: A critical need of being addressed 0% - 50% of faculty endorse item

Positive Climate

Cohesion

Sexual Harassment

Gender Discrimination

Gender Insensitivity

Additional Discrimination

Differences in Minority Status Racial Minority (n=49) The Positive Climate Subscale items … Additional Discrimination items tend to show a pattern of disparate perceptions Sexual Orientation Minority (n=32) Selected items throughout the survey show disparate perceptions (e.g., intrusive questions, sexist & homophobic jokes) Religious Minority (n=108) Gender Discrimination Subscale items… Gender Insensitivity items… Additional Discrimination items tend to show a pattern of disparate perceptions.

Differences in Minority Status Although the n is small, this information may be helpful in thinking about the disparate experiences/perceptions minority faculty may face and how to transform WVU into a more inclusive environment for all faculty, staff, & students.

Open-Ended Item “If there are any experiences or stories you would like to share about the climate or workplace culture at WVU, please do so below.” Used grounded theory tradition of coding Glaser & Strauss 1967; Huberman & Miles 2002; Corbin & Strauss 2008 Out of the total respondents (N=970), nearly 1 in 5 (19.3%) provided an answer to the open-ended question (N=188).

Open-Ended Themes

Issues

Issues

Issues Women identified significantly more ISSUES: Workload (79% vs. 68%; X2= 11.874, p=.000) Support Resources (68% vs. 62%; X2= 3.390, p=.039) Workplace Safety (61% vs. 52%; X2=7.109, p=.005) Parking (55% vs. 49%; X2=3.487, p=.036) Networking opportunities (53% vs. 43%; X2= 6.929, p=.005) Men identified significantly more ISSUES: Health Insurance (89% vs. 84%; X2=4.197, p=.026)

Benefits

Benefits

Benefits & Female Faculty Preferences Women perceived the following BENEFITS to be significantly more important to hiring & retaining quality faculty: Sick leave (83% vs. 68%; X2= 24.515, p=.000) Paid maternity/paternity leave (72% vs. 56%; X2= 23.386, p=.000) On-site childcare (72% vs. 57%; X2= 20.266, p=.000) Workload adjustments for new parents (66% vs. 51%; X2= 17.726, p=.000) Domestic partner benefits (60% vs. 47%; X2= 13.657, p=.000) Lactation support (41% vs. 21%; X2= 18.202, p=.000)

Benefits & Younger Faculty Preferences Benefits more important to younger faculty (20-40 years old): Paid maternity/paternity leave (81% vs. 57%; X2= 46.255, p=.000) Workload adjustments for new parents (77% vs. 50%; X2= 50.246, p<.000) On-site Childcare (73.4% vs. 61%; X2= 11.418, p=.000) Domestic Partner Benefits (61% vs. 51%; X2= 8.046, p=.003)44% vs Lactation Support (44% vs. 30%; X2= 13.505, p=.000) Tuition Remission (X2= 2.469, p=.067).

Benefits & Older Faculty Preferences Benefits More Important to Older Faculty (41 & older): Health Insurance (88% vs. 83%; X2=3.511, p=.040) Retirement Benefits (89% vs. 81%; X2=9.893, p=.001) Workplace Safety (60% vs. 51%; X2=8.708, p=.002) Staff Shortages (X2=2.752, p=.058) Faculty Shortages (X2=2.108, p=.087)

Limitations As in any survey research, this survey measures faculty perceptions. It may not always reflect practices. Researches debate whether or not to include a “neutral” response in Lickert response sets (e.g., SD, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, SA). “Neutral” may mean: “not sure,” “don’t know”, or “no opinion.” But, it is considered best practice to offer a neutral choice (Newman, 2007). The response rate is on the low side, but it is respectable for this population The open-ended item “Administration lacks leadership skills” may be a reflection of the MBA matter that had not been resolved at the time of the survey. Because of the homogeneity of the sample, it is not appropriate to run tests of difference between non-minority men and people identifying themselves as having minority characteristics.

Conclusion There are many strengths in Campus Climate at WVU that can be built on (e.g., Cohesion). Many of the Weaknesses may be addressed with Programs (e.g., trainings) or Policy Changes (Policy changes may require BOG approval and possibly the state legislature).