Faculty's Turnover in Private Higher Learning Institutions: a Phenomenal Inquiry

Abstract

The quality of the faculty is one of the most important components of higher education’s quality assurance. Turnover among faculty, however, could undermine the efficiency, productivity and in some occasions, threats the institution’s long-term survival. Preliminary interviews with human resource personnel of selected private higher institutions revealed a high turnover rate of 18%. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the reason on why faculty resigns their job. In-depth interviews were conducted with faculty members from 5 private universities in Malaysia, using purposive sampling. The NVivo 8 software was used to analyze the data thematically. Seven major themes emerged from the analysis including; employer image, availability of external job opportunities, social media bullying, unfair performance measurement, unfair compensation, work overload and job Insecurity. Although some emerging themes could be traced to previous literatures, an emerging theme of social media bullying warrants further scrutiny. The research results could help private universities to strategize how to minimize the high turnover rates while optimizing the levels of faculty retention. Furthermore, this research provides some initial insight on the role of social media bullying in turnover literature.