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An exploration of factors that influence online adjunct nursing faculty loyalty to a university: A phenomenological approach
Abstract
The United States is in the midst of a significant nursing shortage. There is a greater shortage looming in the future as the Baby Boomers age, as people use more health care in the later years of their lives than in earlier years. Another critical factor is the shortage of nursing faculty, which seriously limits the numbers of qualified students who can be accepted into nursing programs. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], (2010) estimated that over 54,991 qualified applicants were turned away from both undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in 2009 because there were insufficient numbers of faculty teach them. Although the number of adjunct faculty in nursing programs has increased dramatically in recent years, there are no published data as to the number of these faculty members who teach online, even though online programs continue to proliferate (AACN, 2010). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of online adjunct nursing faculty members and identify those factors that influence online adjunct nursing faculty loyalty to a university. Twenty-one online adjunct nursing faculty members participated in this study. Participants, who came from a variety of educational settings, provided insight into those factors that influence online faculty members' decisions about online teaching. Six themes emerged with varying levels of importance to the participants. Additionally, each participant was asked to write a personal definition of loyalty, which would contribute to the foundational definition of the concept of loyalty in this context. The results of this research will assist directors of nursing education programs that employ online adjunct faculty members to design faculty recruitment/retention programs that will elicit loyalty from online adjunct nursing faculty, thereby maintaining a stellar online adjunct nursing faculty. Since this is a phenomenological qualitative study, mere data analysis does not form the basis for change in practice. It establishes a foundation from which additional research can be launched.
Subject Area
Nursing|Health education
Recommended Citation
Shannon, Patricia A, "An exploration of factors that influence online adjunct nursing faculty loyalty to a university: A phenomenological approach" (2011). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3466584.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3466584