How Has the Pandemic Affected Career Satisfaction and Employment Perceptions of Faculty in Health Administration?

Abstract

Employee satisfaction has been shown to affect productivity and turnover among faculty in higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has required significant organizational changes in higher education, including hiring freezes, furloughs, and a rapid move to online teaching. Little is known about the effects of these changes on health administration faculty. Therefore, the current study utilizes data from a national survey of health administration faculty conducted in 2018 and 2021 to perform three analyses: quantification of the proportion of faculty respondents experiencing furloughs or whose depart ments implemented a hiring freeze brought upon by the pandemic; changes in career satisfaction and employment perceptions between the years 2018 and 2021; and a cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between furloughs and/ or hiring freezes and 2021 career satisfaction and employment perceptions. Overall, 17.9% experienced a furlough and 81.4% indicated their department had a hiring freeze. We observed no significant changes in career satisfaction or employment perceptions from 2018 to 2021. However, receipt of furloughs was negatively associated with multiple indicators of career satisfaction and employment perceptions. The results of this study will be of interest to health administration program administrators and faculty as well as leaders in higher education who would benefit from understanding the impact of the pandemic on faculty more broadly.