Abstract
This study is a pioneer study examining the effects of personal and occupational background variables on the attitude of faculty members to an obligatory retirement age in academia. Previous studies on performance measures of academic faculty in research, teaching, academic administration, and contribution to the community, testified to associations between faculty member achievements and their personal characteristics (gender, age) as well as features related to their academic field of occupation (faculty, academic rank, tenure). Hence, these quality measures of academic faculty have meaning for and influence on research, even after the customary retirement age.
 
 Obligatory retirement age is a well-known issue and it is arousing much interest in general, and in academia in particular. Academic work includes activity focused on research, teaching, advisory work, participation in academic committees and conferences—namely, activities that require human thinking. This leads to the question of whether and to what degree personal and occupational characteristics are associated with the attitude of faculty members to retirement age.
 
 One hundred and eight questionnaires administered to senior faculty were collected in a case study of a single university. Qualitative and statistical research tools were employed, with the aim of creating a model that expresses the association between faculty members’ personal and occupational characteristics and their attitude to retirement age in academia. The research findings show that the background variables affecting the attitude of faculty members to retirement are age and tenure—faculty members’ age and status as tenured faculty determine their objection to the obligatory retirement age.
Highlights
Previous studies on performance measures of academic faculty in research, teaching, academic administration, and contribution to the community (Davidovitch & Sinuani-Stern, 2014; Davidovitch, Soen, & Sinuani-Stern, 2011) have testified to associations between the achievements of faculty members, their personal characteristics, and features related to their academic field.Evaluating the activity of faculty members and performance-based rewards have become important topics in the last four decades (Wadsworth, 1994; Gillespie, Hilsen, & Wadsworth, 2002)
We examine the effect of personal and occupational background variables on the attitude of faculty members to an obligatory retirement age in academia, assuming that changes are occurring in life expectancy and in quality of life in general
To the first question on whether employment should be restricted by setting an obligatory retirement age, eight respondents aged 38 to 46, of whom only two had tenure, answered “Yes”, without expanding
Summary
Previous studies on performance measures of academic faculty in research, teaching, academic administration, and contribution to the community (Davidovitch & Sinuani-Stern, 2014; Davidovitch, Soen, & Sinuani-Stern, 2011) have testified to associations between the achievements of faculty members, their personal characteristics (gender, age), and features related to their academic field (faculty, academic rank, tenure).Evaluating the activity of faculty members and performance-based rewards have become important topics in the last four decades (Wadsworth, 1994; Gillespie, Hilsen, & Wadsworth, 2002). Previous studies on performance measures of academic faculty in research, teaching, academic administration, and contribution to the community (Davidovitch & Sinuani-Stern, 2014; Davidovitch, Soen, & Sinuani-Stern, 2011) have testified to associations between the achievements of faculty members, their personal characteristics (gender, age), and features related to their academic field (faculty, academic rank, tenure). Faculty members in academic institutions perform a wide range of activities that include teaching, research, research publications, presenting at conferences, submitting research grants, academic administration, community service, and others (Kreber, 2001). We examine the effect of personal and occupational background variables on the attitude of faculty members to an obligatory retirement age in academia, assuming that changes are occurring in life expectancy and in quality of life in general. Building on the assumption that the inclusion of experienced faculty members is essential and crucial and that research is an important tool outlining the future course of academic institutions—the question explored was whether the continued employment of retired faculty enriches and jel.ccsenet.org
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