PART OF THE WHOLE: FACULTY CAMPUS SERVICE DECISIONS AT A CATHOLIC LIBERAL ARTS UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Faculty members in higher education institutions are typically evaluated based on their labor in research, teaching, and service. Although varying by institution type, research and teaching are often rewarded more heavily in tenure and promotion decisions than service work. Research indicates that women faculty perform more campus service work than do men faculty within academia, with important consequences for career advancement. One explanation for women’s greater participation in service is that colleges and universities are gendered institutions, with structures that preserve and promote differential expectations for men and women faculty. Within these gendered organizations, cultural and gender stereotypes shape the choices and behaviors of men and women faculty in important ways, including what they sign up for, what they are asked to do, and how they evaluate themselves and others. This study explored the impact of cultural and gender stereotyping as well as institutional context on the decisions that men and women faculty make regarding campus service at one Catholic liberal arts institution in the United States. Distinctive contextual factors such as mission and institutional culture can also influence decision-making around campus service in different ways, and this study examined how environmental factors, alongside the structural nature of gender norms, affected the campus service-related decisions of faculty in this particular case. Guided by the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), Social Role Theory (SRT), and March’s (1994) Decision-Making Theory, the findings from interviews with 21 faculty participants and analysis of over 50 institutional documents and key campus artifacts indicated that participants were aware of gender stereotypes and social roles and sometimes influenced by them. However, the distinctive institutional context had an important effect on participants’ campus service decisions. Participants made campus service decisions inside a women-founded institution where campus service was key to the institutional mission and campus service work was fully integrated into the faculty role, while also emphasized, expected, and rewarded by the institution. Data from the study suggests that participant reasons for engaging in campus service included a desire to understand the university better, make positive contributions to the common good, build meaningful relationships, and perform campus service work that was consistent with their values and strengths. As such, faculty members frequently employed rational choice motives but were also influenced to an important degree by the institution’s mission to engage in rule following decision-making. There are implications for faculty hiring and fit and tenure and promotion guidelines at institutions with distinctive foundations, as well as implications for campus service equity for faculty members and for addressing gendered and racialized norms within Catholic higher education.