FACULTY RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AT ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY Mehary T. Stafford, B.A., B.TH., M.A. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2011 APPROVED: Marc Cutright, Major Professor Michael Lawson, Minor Professor Ron Newsom, Committee Member Janice Holden, Chair of the Department of Counseling and Higher Education Jerry R. Thomas, Dean of the College of Education James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Stafford, Mehary T. Faculty research productivity at Addis Ababa University. Doctor of Philosophy (Higher Education), May 2011, 86 pp., 33 tables, 1 figure, references, 66 titles. This study explores the research productivity of Addis Ababa University (AAU) faculty. AAU was established in 1950 and is the oldest modern higher educational institution in Ethiopia. Recently AAU took steps to transform itself to become a pre-eminent African research university. One of the characteristics of a research university is the focus on the amount of research conducted by the institution’s faculty. Academic institutions measure research productivity primarily based on published work. The purpose of this study was to analyze the research productivity of AAU faculty, and to examine the differential predictive effects of individual and environmental variables on faculty research productivity. This quantitative study used a theoretical framework and instrument, Faculty at Work. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to Addis AAU faculty in person and 298 questionnaires were returned resulting in a 74.5% response rate. After exclusion of 12 cases with missing information, 286 cases (71.5% response rate) were analyzed. Most of the respondents were men (M = 92.1%, F = 7.9%). The average age of AAU faculty was 44. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the ability of six sets of independent variables (sociodemographic, career, self knowledge, social knowledge, behavior, and environmental response) to predict research productivity (publication output). Results indicated that there are productive researchers at AAU, and the theoretical framework explained 67.6% of the variance in publication output. Copyright 2011 by Mehary T. Stafford ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wrote the dissertation with the guidance and support of so many people around me. I would like to say thank you to Dr. Marc Cutright, Dr. Michael S. Lawson, and Dr. Ron Newsom for their contribution to this research and their mentorship. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Addis Ababa University faculty who participated in this study. I would like to say thank you to Dr. Shimelis Admassie, Professors Andreas Eshete, Brook Lemma, Fekade Azeze, and Endashaw Bekele. I am also thankful to Dr. Janet H. Lawrence for allowing me to use the Faculty at Work instrument. I am honored to have a supporting family in Ethiopia and the United States of America. Your support sustained me through the years and I am forever grateful to all of you. My special thanks goes to my wife Paige and our two children Kaitlyn and Ashlyn. The journey was long but it was all worth the time and effort invested in it. Finally, I would like to give all the glory and honor to the Triune God who gave me life through faith in the salvific work of Jesus Christ alone. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 Statement of Research Problem .................................................................................................. 2 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 3 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................ 3 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................................... 4 Theoretical Foundation ............................................................................................................... 5 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................. 6 Delimitation of the Study ............................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................................. 8 Measures of Faculty Research Productivity ............................................................................... 8 The Variation in Research Productivity ...................................................................................... 9 Individual Characteristics ..................................................................................................... 12 Sociodemographic Variables ............................................................................................ 13 Career Variables ............................................................................................................... 15 Self Knowledge and Social Knowledge Variables ........................................................... 17 Environmental Characteristics .............................................................................................. 18 Research Productivity in an African Context ........................................................................... 20 iv page Research Productivity at Addis Ababa ..................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3. METHODS AND PROCEDURES ....................................................................... 27 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Participant Characteristics ........................................................................................................ 28 Procedures for the Collection of Data ....................................................................................... 29 The Instrument .......................................................................................................................... 30 Study Variables ......................................................................................................................... 30 Procedures for the Analysis of Data ......................................................................................... 35 Reporting of the Data ................................................................................................................ 36 CHAPTER 4. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA ................................................................................ 37 Data Screening and Descriptive Results ................................................................................... 37 Study Participants by Sociodemographic Variables ................................................................. 37 Study Participants by Career Variables .................................................................................... 38 Study Participants by Self Knowledge Variables ..................................................................... 40 Interest and Preference to a Role .......................................................................................... 40 Personal Preference ............................................................................................................... 40 Commitment to Research ...................................................................................................... 41 Self-efficacy (Competence) .................................................................................................. 41 Self-efficacy (Influence) ....................................................................................................... 42 Psychological Characteristics (personal disposition for research)........................................ 43 Satisfaction and Morale ........................................................................................................ 45 Study participants by Social Knowledge Variables .................................................................. 45 v page Credence ............................................................................................................................... 45 Social Support ....................................................................................................................... 46 Collegial Commitment .......................................................................................................... 47 Material Support/Financial Support ...................................................................................... 48 Institutional Preference/ Perceived Institutional Preference ................................................. 49 Study Participants by Behavior Variables ................................................................................ 49 Study Participants by Environmental Response Variables ....................................................... 50 Research Question 1 ..................................................................................................................... 52 How Productive are the Faculty of AAU in Research? ........................................................ 52 Publication Output by Sociodemographic and Career Variables ......................................... 53 Faculty Publication and Research Activities ........................................................................ 54 Faculty Scholarship Activities .............................................................................................. 55 Research Question 2 ..................................................................................................................... 56 What are the Differential Predictive Effects of Individual and Environmental Variables on Faculty Research Productivity? ............................................................................................ 56 CHPATER 5. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................................... 59 Discussion of Findings .............................................................................................................. 59 Analysis by Sociodemographic and Career Variables .......................................................... 60 Analysis by Self Knowledge Variables ................................................................................ 61 Analysis by Social Knowledge Variables ............................................................................. 63 Analysis by Behavior Variables ........................................................................................... 65 Analysis by Environmental Response Variables .................................................................. 66 vi Analysis Scholarship Activities ............................................................................................ 67 Conclusions............................................................................................................................... 73 How Productive are AAU Faculty? ...................................................................................... 73 What are the Differential Effects of Each Predictor Variable Set? ...................................... 73 Salient Predictors .................................................................................................................. 74 Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 74 Implications for Practice ........................................................................................................... 74 Recommendations for Further Research ................................................................................... 76 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................................. 77 Information Notice....................................................................................................................78 Cover Letter to Participants......................................................................................................79 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 80 vii LIST OF TABLES 1. Number and Percentage of AAU Faculty by Demographic Variables......................................28 2. AAU Faculty Study Participants by Sociodemographic Variables..........................................38 3. AAU Faculty Study Participants by Career Variables...............................................................39 4. Interest in Teaching and Research.............................................................................................40 5. Faculty Preference to a Role .....................................................................................................41 6. Faculty Self-report on Commitment to Research......................................................................41 7. Faculty Self-Report on Obtaining Grants ................................................................................. 42 8. Faculty Self-report on Publishing ............................................................................................. 42 9. Faculty Self-report on Influence on Publication ....................................................................... 43 10. Faculty Self-report on Influence on Obtaining Money for Travel .......................................... 43 11. Faculty Self-report on Being Ambitious ................................................................................. 44 12. Faculty Self-report on Being Competitive .............................................................................. 44 13. Faculty Self-report on Being Perseverant ............................................................................... 44 14. Satisfaction of Career and Institution......................................................................................45 15. Credence of Feedback from Chair/dean on Scholarly Activities ............................................ 46 16. Credence of Feedback from Colleagues’ on Scholarly Work.................................................46 17. Intellectual Climate..................................................................................................................47 18. Colleague Review of Scholarly Work.....................................................................................47 19. Colleague Commitment at Department (unit) Level .............................................................. 48 20. Colleague Commitment at Institutional Level ........................................................................ 48 21. Source of Funding .................................................................................................................. 48 22. Perception of Institutional Preference to Faculty Roles ........................................................ 49 23. Submitted and Written Proposals............................................................................................ 50 viii 24. Grant Proposals for Five Years and Over Career ................................................................... 50 25. Current Research Effort .......................................................................................................... 50 26. Clerical and Student Assistance .............................................................................................. 51 27. Article Review and Serving on an Editorial Board ................................................................ 51 28. Grants, Publications, and Fellowships .................................................................................... 52 29. Five-year Publication Frequency Count by the Predictor Variable Sets ................................ 53 30. Faculty Publication and Research Activities .......................................................................... 54 31. Faculty Scholarship Activity................................................................................................... 55 32. Differential Predictive Effects of the Variable Sets ................................................................ 56 33. Predictive Effect of Individual Variables ............................................................................... 56 ix