University corporatisation

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the work-related attitudes ( job satisfaction, job stress and the propensity to remain) of Australian academics and their association with organisational, institutional and demographic factors. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected by distributing a survey questionnaire to 750 academics, from 37 Australian universities. Findings -The results indicate a moderately low level of job satisfaction, moderately high level of job stress, and high propensity to remain. The findings reveal that the organisational factors (management style, perceived organisational support, and the characteristics of the performance management system) exhibited the most significant association with academic work-related attitudes, with the only significant institutional factor, the declining ability of students, negatively impacting on job satisfaction and job stress. The findings revealed that work-related attitudes differ, based on discipline, with science academics found to be more stressed and less satisfied than accounting academics. Different organisational and institutional factors were associated with the work-related attitudes of academics from these two disciplines. Practical implications -The findings will make university management aware of the work-related attitudes of staff, and the factors that are associated with such attitudes, thereby assisting management in developing management policies, and taking appropriate action to address the concerns of staff. Originality/value -The study provides an initial comparison of the work-related attitudes ( job satisfaction, job stress, and propensity to remain) of Australian academics across the accounting and science disciplines. The study also provides an important insight into the association between specific organisational and institutional factors, with the work-related attitudes of Australian academics across both disciplines.

Accounting for Research: Academic Responses to Research Performance Demands in an Australian University

“…The impact of ERA on UniA academics is consistent with the views of prior studies where various changes in policies by the government have had a negative impact on academics (NTEU ; Pop‐Vasileva et al. ). It also confirms the findings of studies that indicate increased academic workload and stress levels due to the various public sector reforms to which universities have been subjected over recent years (Winefield et al.…”

“…Further, some studies also disclose that academics have been adversely affected by the various changes in the Australian HES (NTEU ; Pop‐Vasileva et al. ). It is, therefore, of interest to examine empirically the effect of internal research‐oriented PMS developed in response to ERA on the working life of academics.…”

Does emotional intelligence matter to academic work performance? Evidence from business faculties in Australia

“…While these changes to the academic work environment have been general across faculties, it has been argued that business and accounting faculties have been most strongly affected because business schools in general, and accounting faculties in particular, have been subject to the greatest pressures of over‐enrolments and staff shortages leading to higher student/staff ratios and larger class sizes relative to other faculties (Pop‐Vasileva et al , 2011; Su and Baird, 2017; Steenkamp and Roberts, 2018; Hancock et al , 2019). With respect to the accounting faculty, it has also been argued that the pressure to publish in top‐tier accounting journals is more strongly felt than in other faculties because of the small number of such journals (Vesty et al , 2018).…”

“…There has been a number of studies in recent years of the adverse effects of these changes in the academic work environment on academics’ work‐related attitudes and their psychosocial and physical health. Those studies have generally found increasing levels of job stress and burnout and decreasing levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment (e.g., Pop‐Vasileva et al , 2011; Su and Baird, 2017), as well as deleterious effects on wellbeing, work quality, and work‐life balance (e.g., Bell et al , 2012; Steenkamp and Roberts, 2018).…”

The question of research relevance: a university management perspective

“…At the institutional level, the funding implications of the research assessment exercise are important, since achieving a good rating can influence the level of university funding into the future (Agyemang and Broadbent, 2015). At the individual researcher level, although institutional pressures from government accountability and assurance measures have pressured academics to publish more (Villiers and Dumay, 2013), the 'audit culture' regime that has developed as a result (Verbeeten, 2008) has imposed on researchers both an implicit and explicit expectation that the practical significance of academic knowledge production is demonstrable (Pop-Vasileva, Baird, and Blair, 2011) to external organisations on which there is financial dependence (Broadbent, Gallop, and Laughlin, 2010). A number of disturbing consequences have been observed in response.…”