Why college administrators leave administration: A comparison by gender.

Abstract

Telephone interviews were used to examine why some administrators leave administration while others remain and whether the factors influencing the decision to stay or leave are the same for men and women. Participants were 13 current academic administrators (eight men and five women) and 12 former administrators who had returned to teaching (seven men and five women) from eight public doctoral granting universities. Variables examined were route into administration, preparation for administration, satisfactions and disappointments and successes and failures in administration, helpful and problematic personal characteristics, strategies for coping with problems of administration, role conflict and methods of balancing the conflicting dem and s of administration, presence or absence of discrimination, and future career goals. Parallel questions addressed academic teaching. Job satisfaction theories and attribution for cause were examined as possible constructs explaining the reasons to stay or leave. Although the study is exploratory in nature, some gender differences and role function differences were found. Most respondents attributed success internally and failure externally. They were most likely to describe administrative success in terms of program development and teaching success in terms of successful students. Budget constraints was the single most frequently mentioned reason for administrative failure. Current administrators, especially the men, mentioned more satisfying aspects of administration than did former administrators. All of the women had experienced gender discrimination and most of them had also experienced role conflict. Only women said they balanced responsibilities poorly, and most of the women, but no men said they would consider leaving administration. Men were more likely to mention being caring and helpful as helpful personal characteristics in both administration and teaching and women were more likely to mention hard work and organization. In general, the women spent less time teaching before entering administration and were more likely to have jumped directly from the faculty into top level academic administration.