Title:
The staff experience in higher education: a moderated mediation study of burnout, perceived flexibility, perceived organizational support, and turnover intentions using structural equation modeling
Author:
Andrea Marie Kennedy
Thesis Advisor:
Lauren Mauriello
Committee Member:
Rachel E. Durham
Committee Member:
Greg Beecher
Degree Granting Institution:
Notre Dame of Maryland University--School of Education
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Notre Dame of Maryland University
Date Created:
2024
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
Constructs like turnover intentions, burnout, perceived flexibility, and perceived organizational support (POS) have been studied for decades. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, turnover rates reached historic highs in 2021. Simultaneously, the shift to remote or hybrid work evidenced more widespread implementation than ever before to meet changing health regulations. Employees also desired more flexibility and balance between work and personal life. Institutions of higher education (IHE) also experienced drastic shifts in their workplace into 2024 with high turnover continuing, changes to flexible work arrangements, and increasing levels of burnout. With so many of these changes in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by workplace conditions in flux, there is a need to study these constructs in a post-pandemic environment. This empirical study aimed to investigate the mediating effects of burnout on perceptions of flexibility and turnover intention with perceived organizational support as moderator. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for this moderated mediation analysis using Hayes's (2012) PROCESS Model 14. Quantitative survey data from non-instructional staff was collected at one IHE in the southeastern United States using four validated instruments. There were 367 participants who completed the survey. The results showed significant direct effects between perceived flexibility and the three dimensions of burnout, perceived flexibility and turnover intentions, cynicism and turnover intentions, and POS and turnover intentions. There was a significant mediating indirect effect of cynicism between perceived flexibility and turnover intentions, but there were no significant findings between exhaustion or professional efficacy and turnover. Additionally, there was not a significant moderating effect of POS on the other constructs of this study. The findings indicate that cynicism may be a key factor for IHE leaders and managers to investigate, as those with higher cynicism may explain the weakened association between high perceived flexibility and lower turnover intentions. Practical applications and policy implications are discussed to help IHE leaders support their non-instructional staff in a changing environment.
Subject:
Academic theses
Subject:
Electronic dissertations
Subject:
Thèses et écrits académiques
Subject:
Thèses électroniques
Subject:
dissertations
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Higher Education Leadership for Changing Populations
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
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Identifier:
KennedyAM-24
