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This article examines whether the field of entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly institutionalized by examining market trends, AACSB jobs, and salaries. The findings indicate that the field is becoming increasingly institutionalized through market trends. During 2014/15, there were 471 advertised positions and 163 candidates in Schools of Business and Management. The number of tenure track positions (261) was significantly higher than the number of tenure track candidates (161) for a ratio of 1.62. This is the highest ratio of tenure track positions to candidates since 2005/06 (2.1). Out of the 261 tenure track positions, 174 were at AACSB institutions.The ratio of tenure track positions at AACSB schools per tenure track candidate was 1.08. The study also looked at average salaries at AACSB schools and found them to be competitive with other mainstream areas. Average salaries were: full professors ($162,000), associate professor ($131,400), assistant professor ($113,600), instructor ($85,800), and new doctorates ($97,800).

The faculty, as higher education's most valuable asset, is being dramatically altered. Changes in appointment status drive this alteration, resulting in the essential work of faculty being transformed. Given this change in faculty composition, this study seeks to examine how faculty appointments relate to the production of faculty work in teaching, research, and service. Faculty appointments affect faculty work and it implies that the function of higher education also is altered. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the rise of contingent faculty on the professoriate and higher education.

The National Study of Postsecondary Faculty of 2004 provided data for analyses. There were faculty and instructional staff participants (26,110) from a sample of 980 institutions in the USA and the District of Columbia. The National Center for Education Statistics provides access to its Data Analysis System (DAS) for public use. Basic calculations can result in straight counts, percentages, means, correlation coefficients, and tables. Complex analytic capabilities include covariance using both weighted least squares regression and logistic regression. The DAS was used to examine how changes in faculty composition were related to teaching, research, and service.

Overall, the results indicate that tenured and tenure‐track faculty out‐perform contingent faculty on all major items of teaching, research, and service. With few exceptions, contingent faculty can be viewed as less productive faculty members within the historical function of higher education to promote inquiry and advance the sum of human knowledge, provide general instruction to the students, and develop experts for various branches of the public. If faculty are the heart and health of colleges and universities, the future of higher education may be bleak if the reliance on contingent faculty continues to soar.

The gap between performance levels of tenure/tenure‐track and contingent faculty in teaching, research, and service indicates the quality of higher education is rapidly eroding. This study indicated that the contributions to promoting inquiry and advancing the sum of human knowledge are diminished with increasing use of contingent faculty. It suggests that not only is the work of faculty threatened by a contingent faculty approach but the well‐being of higher education is threatened also.

Overall, tenured and tenure‐track faculty out‐performed other types of faculty appointments according to essential values of faculty – teaching research, and service. Faculty appointments play a significant role in the overall performance of higher education. The function of higher education cannot help but be affected. Society relies on higher education for not only career training but an educated citizenry. If left to contract and part‐time help, it raises concern for the overall well being of society.

Although there is literature discussing concerns about the influx of contingent faculty, there is little, if any, empirical evidence of its impact on the professoriate and its relationship to the overall health and well being of higher education. This study suggests that the traditional framework of faculty work – teaching, research, and service – is being dramatically altered.

The increasing use of non-tenure employment contracting as a cost savings and/or management flexibility increasing mechanism in colleges and universities raises concerns about the impact of this strategy on other aspects of the higher education system. The purpose of this paper is to document reduced research productivity at a university that uses rolling contracts in comparison to research productivity at another university in the same state university system in the USA that uses tenure track contracting.

Negative binomial regression analysis allows investigation of the primary variable of interest (appointment type) while controlling for other factors that may also affect research productivity.

The findings suggest that non-tenure track employment contracting may have other long-term implications for institutions of higher education that warrant consideration.

No prior study has investigated the topic of comparative research productivity in business schools using this methodology or data source.

While postdoctoral research (postdoc) training is a common step toward academic careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the role of postdoc training in social sciences is less clear. An increasing number of social science PhDs are pursuing postdocs. This paper aims to identify factors associated with participation in postdoc training and examines the relationship between postdoc training and subsequent career outcomes, including attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and early career salaries.

Using data from the National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients, this study applies propensity score matching, regression and decomposition analyses to identify the role of postdoc training on the employment outcomes of PhDs in the social science and STEM fields.

Results from the regression analyses indicate that participation in postdoc training is associated with greater PhD research experience, higher departmental research ranking and departmental job placement norms. When the postdocs and non-postdocs groups are balanced on observable characteristics, postdoc training is associated with a higher likelihood of attaining tenure-track faculty positions 7 to 9 years after PhD completion. The salaries of social science tenure-track faculty with postdoc experience eventually surpass the salaries of non-postdoc PhDs, primarily via placement at institutions that offer relatively higher salaries. This pattern, however, does not apply to STEM PhDs.

This study leverages comprehensive, nationally representative data to investigate the role of postdoc training in the career outcomes of social sciences PhDs, in comparison to STEM PhDs. Research findings suggest that for social sciences PhDs interested in academic careers, postdoc training can contribute to the attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and toward earning relatively higher salaries over time. Research findings provide prospective and current PhDs with information helpful in career planning and decision-making. Academic institutions, administrators, faculty and stakeholders can apply these research findings toward developing programs and interventions to provide doctoral students with career guidance and greater career transparency.

To provide an introspective review of one author's account of his first year in a tenure‐track academic career and general recommendations that can be drawn therefrom.

A critique of the book Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year is presented to assist individuals pursuing or newly engaged in a tenure‐track academic position or to aid those serving as mentors of pre‐tenure faculty members. Areas addressed are balancing professional and personal life domains, teaching, research, service, publishing and tenure.

A central theme emerges suggesting that more information and formal and informal guidance are needed to assist new faculty members during the transition into academic positions. A number of practical suggestions and resources are provided.

A practical resource for new faculty members and graduate students planning to pursue a position in academia. Also a valuable source for administrators or senior faculty members supervising junior colleagues who have recently obtained a tenure‐track position.

This review identifies and expounds upon salient suggestions provided by author James Lang for surviving the first year of a tenure‐track position.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the demographic variables of tenure and functional track have a moderating effect on the strategic leadership of school leaders.

Using a conceptual framework developed by the researcher, a static/cross‐sectional questionnaire‐based study on a convenience sample of public primary school principals in NSW, Australia, was used to collect data. Analysis included ANOVA and correlations.

Despite few statistically significant differences in the data set, there is evidence to suggest that, based on the small sample size, the demographic variables of tenure and functional track have a moderating effect on the strategic leadership and management of public primary school principals.

The study serves as little more than a scoping project. The small sample size limits the generalisability of the findings; however, the results do indicate that there is something to be made of the general thesis of the paper.

As education systems across the globe are faced with a crisis in filling school leadership positions with the mass retirement of the baby boomers, the potential implications of tenure and functional track on school leadership is of vital importance to all involved in schools.

The paper makes use of tenure and functional track in relation to strategic leadership, a combination rarely seen in the field. The very concept of functional track is original to the field and has the potential to uncover much needed insight into school leadership.

This study identifies (1) differences that exist between junior and senior faculty in their beliefs about the impact of mentoring; (2) interest among tenured and tenure-track faculty in participating in a mentoring relationship and (3) the extent to which faculty perceive mentoring as a critical component of the track to tenure.

Across a multicampus system of higher education, 1,017 faculty responded to an anonymous online survey that included both quantitative and open-ended items (response rate 51%).

Although all faculty perceive mentoring as valuable, there are significant differences among junior and senior faculty in their beliefs and perceptions about mentoring, as well as their participation in mentoring relationships.

All five participating campuses operate in the same state under the same governing board, so the findings are not necessarily generalizable to other institutions or populations of faculty.

To support effective mentoring, it is necessary that higher education organizations institutionalize mentoring and develop a purposeful program in which they train/support mentors and allow for flexibility; it is also critical to solicit input from the faculty at various stages.

This study considered multiple aspects of tenure from multiple institution types within a system of higher education. Furthermore, this study compares junior and senior faculty perceptions and outcomes, which few previous studies have done.

Aims to describe a peer‐mentoring program in one academic library and to provide suggestions and recommendations for setting up a similar program in other libraries.

Formal one‐on‐one mentoring for tenure‐track librarians is a standard component of many professional development programs. This qualitative article describes the development of a newer method, the peer‐mentoring group.

Information about several peer‐mentoring programs and the importance of mentoring as a component of professional development in libraries is provided.

A list of recent articles on peer‐mentoring programs is provided along with selected articles about mentoring in libraries and higher education. The focus is for academic libraries, but public libraries may still be interested in this newer model of mentoring.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive assessment of promotion and tenure for librarians in light of increased scrutiny and expectations by the administration of Idaho State University (ISU). This increased rigour was prompted by a move up in the Carnegie Classification System.

A literature review was performed using library databases, as well as assessing peer institution promotion and tenure documents. Additionally ongoing feedback from University administrators was solicited. The process took for the creation of a new promotion and tenure document for ISU library took two years from the beginning of the project to the final approved document.

The study found a dearth of performance benchmarks in both literature and peer institution policies and required the authors, along with other library faculty, to create evidence based benchmarks for ISU aligned with traditional standards of teaching, research and service.

This paper is an inclusive assessment of the literature on faculty promotion and tenure, the policies of ISU’s peer institutions, and the change of Carnegie Classification’s impact on the ISU policies.

The purpose is to offer a critique of the process of decision-making by top university administrators and to analyze how their decisions imposed their preferences and expanded administrative control.

In the fall of 2021, the top administrators at Boston-based Northeastern University required that all members of the university community return to fully on-campus face-to-face work. That decision involved a return to what was labeled “normal operations” and followed a year-and-a-half of adjustments to the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on that case example, the analysis then ranges backward and forward in time. Other decisions – by Northeastern University leaders as well as leaders at other schools – are considered as well.

Leaders impose labels on complex contingencies as a way of constructing meaning. No label is objectively true or indisputable. In the hands of individuals who possess hierarchical power and authority, the application of a label such as “new normal” represents an exercise of power. Through an exploration and analysis of the underlying, unspoken, assumptions behind the application of the “new normal” label, the article suggests how the interests of university leaders were being advanced.

Because of its reliance on labeling, the paper focuses mainly on the words of administrators – at Northeastern University and elsewhere – that are called upon to explain/justify decisions. The multiplicity of interests forwarded by the “new normal” label are explored. No attempt is made – nor would it be possible – to understand what was in the hearts and minds of these administrators.

The article makes a case that any and all pronouncements of leaders should be understood as assertions of power and statements of interests. The practical impact is to suggest a critical analysis to be applied to all such pronouncements.

The approach taken in this article is situated within post-modernist analysis that critiques dominant narratives, disputes epistemological certainty and ontological objectivity and takes cognizance of coded messages contained in language.

Everyone has been through a traumatic period of time with the pandemic. The author has focused on a specific community – university administrators and tenure/tenure track faculty – as a window to help explain how decision-makers shaped their response. The author wants to emphasize the labels imposed by leaders and the assumptions behind the application of those labels.