The Impact of Academic Leadership on Faculty Retention: Limiting Voluntary Attrition

Abstract

One of the problems faced by higher educational institutions is the retention of its full-time faculty members. This study focuses on the problem encountered by private higher education institutions (PHEIs) offering accountancy program with regards to its Certified Public Accountant (CPA) faculty members. With a large number of colleges and universities offering accountancy programs, faculty retention of some PHEIs is at stake. Moreover, the corporate world is offering better compensation and benefits package which entice the CPA faculty members to migrate from the academe to the corporate world. The great need for CPAs in the academe is evidenced by the career opportunity posts by HEIs on their websites and the percentage of full-time and part-time CPA faculty members in some HEIs. Faculty management is under the administration of the academic dean or program chair. For private HEIs, it is a challenge to ensure that qualified faculty members will retain in their institution. The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework showing the linkage between academic leadership and faculty retention. This framework will be tested for usefulness and applicability in the accountancy program to limit, if not to avoid, voluntary attrition of the CPA faculty members. The model will present the relationship between these variables. This seeks to identify factors resulting in CPA faculty attrition in private HEIs and provide guidance on how to limit migration of full-time faculty members to the corporate world.