Effects of Personal and Work-related Attributes on the Organizational Commitment and Life Satisfactions of Women Student Affairs Administrators

Abstract

Based on a sumey of 140 women student afairs administrators, this study examines the extent to which the organizational commitment and tke life satisfaction of women student aflairs administrato~s are influenced by personal and wo~k-related attributes.Women student affairs administrators are less satisfied than their male colleagues with both their positions and the student affairs profession (Bender, 1980) and have tended to leave the student affairs profession at higher rates than men (Burns, 1982). Dissatisfaction with opportunities for advancement (Bender, 1980), under-representation at senior administrative levels (Evans & Kuh, 1983; Twale, 1995;Wilson, 1977), fewer opportunities to undertake tasks and projects that are prerequisites to successful career development (Rickard, 1985), and fewer mentoring relationships (Hamrich & Carlisle, 1990) have all been cited as possible reasons for the dissatisfaction of women student affairs administrators.

Factors That Influence Satisfaction for Student Affairs Administrators

“…High levels of role conflict were negatively related to life satisfaction (r ϭ -.28) for female student affairs administrators (Blackhurst, Brandt, and Kalinowski, 1998b). Other results supported this finding for female SSAOs (r ϭ -.46) (Anderson, 1998).…”

The Delicate Balancing Act: Challenges and Successes Facing College Student Women in Formal Leadership Roles

“…Within this larger body of research on women in the workforce, a growing number of studies focus on the challenges faced by women in faculty and administrative roles in higher education (Blackhurst, Brandt, & Kalinowski, 1998;Curtis, 2005;King & Gomez, 2008;Marcus, 2007;Marshall, 2009;Tedrow & Rhoads, 1999). This body of research identifies similar challenges of those discussed above with particular emphasis on balancing career and family responsibilities, challenges with credibility, and other barriers to achieving top leadership roles within colleges and universities.…”

Personal And Work-Related Predictors Of Organizational Commitment And Life Satisfaction Of Slovak Women In Higher Education

“…The results of this study indicate partial support for the hypotheses, which had been based on the results of a similar survey of U.S. women in higher education (Blackhurst, Brandt & Kalinowski, 1998). Specifically, it was expected that the personal attribute of organizational role orientation would correlate positively with organizational commitment.…”

“…The LSI-A correlates moderately with other measures of life satisfaction ( Neugarten et al, 1961). The reliability estimate is .89 (Blackhurst, Brandt & Kalinowski, 1998).…”