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Abstract
Much of the research on the faculty experience has focused on productivity, engagement, satisfaction, and well-being; however, no instrument or theoretical framework that contributes to an understanding of a faculty member’s optimal psychological functioning–or thriving–currently exists. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in the literature by developing a deeper, richer understanding of faculty thriving through the development and validation of a new instrument: The Faculty Thriving Quotient (FTQ). The FTQ was developed using a sample of 415 full-time faculty across 11 four-year-institutions, both public and private. The results of this study indicate that the FTQ is a reliable (α = .92) and valid instrument that can be used to measure faculty thriving in full-time faculty at four-year institutions. Although the theoretical framework of the FTQ was hypothesized to aligned with the five elements of Seligman’s (2011) theory of well-being, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) results from this sample did not fit the hypothesized model. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using Maximum Likelihood extraction and Promax rotation was conducted to determine the elements of faculty thriving on a randomly selected sample of the data (n = 150). Five distinct factors of faculty thriving emerged from this analysis: Meaningful Engagement, Institutional Alignment, Student Impact, Affirmed Value, and Relational Support that explained 70.21% of the variance. Informed by the results of the EFA, a new five-factor model of faculty thriving was tested for fit to the remaining 265 cases. After a series of respecifications, the CFA indicated the final model of faculty thriving adequately fit the sample (χ2 = 313.428, df = 152, p < .001; CFI = .945; RMSEA = .063). The model suggests that thriving faculty enjoy their work with students and are meaningfully engaged in it, are aligned with the values of their institutions, believe they are making a difference in the lives of their students, have been affirmed by their supervisors, and experience a sense of value and support from their co-workers and faculty colleagues. Given the results of the FTQ, this instrument provides actionable data that can be used to foster environments, refresh policies, or establish developmental supports that are conducive to faculty thriving.
