Abstract
Background: Relating to the macro-level changes and the increasing complexity of the academic system, a growing number of studies began to investigate the perceived working context impact on well-being and job satisfaction of academics. A unique duality characterizes this context: academics cannot be longer defined as stress-free, but at the same time they are still satisfied and engaged in their work. There is a need to evaluate the academic environment not only in terms of stressor and strain, but also in terms of which experiences are sources of fulfillment. The study aimed to explore psychometric properties of a new instrument (AQoLW) for assessing context-specific features of the academic work and environment that characterized academics' quality of life at work.Method: A 24 item scale was deployed to academics (full, associate, and assistant professors) in a public university in the north of Italy. Items were defined to represent the main academic activities in order to measure if respondents perceived each of it as a challenging or a hindrance demand. The scale was administered online to 1,012 academics, 443 females (48.7%), mean aged 51.1 years (SD = 8.2). In order to test three theoretical models underling AQoLW, a training sample was randomly extracted (242 participants) and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A validation sample with the remaining 668 participants was used to test the measurement invariance by role of the best model emerging from the training sample.Results: Model fit demonstrate the goodness of a latent structure composed by five intercorrelated factors (CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.07). Cronbach α of the five subscales was good, ranging from 0.76 to 0.88. The scale overtakes configural invariance, but not strong invariance by role.Conclusions: The scale is able to intercept the mainly dimensions of the academic work that contribute to the quality of life of academics' staff, namely: research and public engagement, didactic work and relationships with students, career development and competition, ordinary obligations, and fund raising. AQoLW is the first tool to evaluate the academic work and its environment, identifying which activities are stressful demands and which are engaging, and promote scholars' satisfaction.
Highlights
Over the last 20 years, changes in higher education in Western societies have resulted in an increase in research into academic working life
To overcome the gap inherent the conceptualization and measurement of the academic working context, the present study aimed to propose a first validation of a new multidimensional instrument—Academics’ Quality of Life at Work (AQoLW)— tailored to assess the increasingly demanding environment and to understand if academics perceive several dimensions related to their work as challenges or as hindrance demands
Considering the differentiation proposed by the JDR model between challenges and hindrance demands (Van den Broeck et al, 2010), and to evaluate how academics perceive the context-specific characteristics evaluated by the AQoLW, we examined their correlations with occupational health-related outcomes
Summary
Over the last 20 years, changes in higher education in Western societies have resulted in an increase in research into academic working life. Quantitative and qualitative studies have identified the growing cuts in research funding, increase in workload and work hours, inadequate systems of recognition and reward, longer and uncertain career paths, and work-family conflict (Doyle and Hind, 1998; Leung et al, 2000; Gillespie et al, 2001; Winefield and Jarrett, 2001; Winter and Sarros, 2002; Winefield et al, 2003; Tytherleigh et al, 2005; Houston et al, 2006; Kinman and Jones, 2008; Bentley et al, 2013; Shin and Jung, 2014) as some of the main sources of stress and dissatisfaction derived from the macro-level changes introduced by educational reforms Within this framework, existing research has often borrowed concepts and constructs from broader occupational health literature without paying real attention to the multifaceted complex of roles that emerged from the changes in the academic context. The study aimed to explore psychometric properties of a new instrument (AQoLW) for assessing context-specific features of the academic work and environment that characterized academics’ quality of life at work
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