Empowerment of chiropractic faculty: A profile in context

Abstract 

Background: The primary resource base and core human capital in chiropractic education is found among its faculty. The chiropractic profession depends on a motivated faculty for continuous quality improvement and innovation in areas of curriculum, scholarship, and practice. Empowerment has been associated with increased intrinsic motivation. Assessments of attitudes of faculty in terms of empowerment, a set of cognitions created by the work environment, may inform executive decision making related to development of a productive professional work environment. Objective: The goal of this exploratory study is to provide an initial understanding of empowerment among faculty in the organizational context of chiropractic education, to construct a profile of perceived faculty empowerment, and to inquire into potential associations between perceived empowerment and faculty demographic and workplace characteristics. Study Design: This was a full faculty survey using descriptive statistics and multivariable analysis. Methods: Surveys were distributed to full- and part-time faculty working in the United States and Canada. The survey was composed of Spreitzer's multidimensional measure of psychologic empowerment and additional items designed to measure faculty demographics and workplace variables including academic rank, years at the institution, years in higher education, sex, age, area of assignment, employment status, and academic rank. Results: More than 54% of the study population (N = 609) completed and returned the instrument. The respondents were typically male (68.4%) and employed full-time (81.6%). Almost half (47.5%) of the respondents were assigned to the area of patient care at their institution. Area of assignment and employment status emerged as important variables for explaining the variance in dependent variable scores. Conclusion: The findings of this research provide a basic profile and some initial perspectives of empowerment in the context of the work environment of the chiropractic profession's learning institutions. (J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2003;26:17-24)

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