Purpose – This study investigates the relationship between employment status (full time (FT)/part time (PT)), organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, “Does the growing population of PT faculty preclude effective cultures from developing and, accordingly, adversely affect institutional effectiveness?” Design/methodology/approach – The study surveyed 159 PT faculty and 65 FT faculty from seven schools of an online, proprietary university. The instrument, consisting of the Organizational Culture Survey Instrument and demographic questions, was distributed and data collected utilizing an online survey application. Statistical analysis methods including descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings – The study found no significant differences between perceptions of organizational culture or institutional effectiveness FT and PT faculty. Inter-school differences in perceptions were identified. Further research in this area is warranted to investigate discipline as a cause for the inter-school differences. Research limitations/implications – The study included respondents from only one online university. Therefore, additional studies involving traditional, ground based and hybrid institutions are required to establish generalizability. Additionally, self-assessments of institutional effectiveness were used. Future studies should consider quantitative research models for the measurement of institutional effectiveness. Practical implications – The study indicates that PT faculty are not less committed to the institution than their FT counterparts. This strengthens the case for using PT faculty, particularly in an online environment. Originality/value – This study investigates the relationship between organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education from the faculty perspective. This has not been done before.

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