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Abstract
Following the Great Recession of 2008, the University System of Georgia (USG) suspended annual salary increases system-wide for a period of five years. Institutions in the USG instructional-focused sectors, on average, experienced no change or greater faculty retention in these years without salary increases. Through this unique lens, the impact of salaries on faculty satisfaction and departure was studied. The purpose of this study was to understand, from the perspective of administrators and both current and former faculty members, how salary satisfaction impacts job satisfaction and faculty job-changing decisions, and how and if an extended period without salary increases impacted faculty satisfaction, job-seeking, and departure behaviors in the instructional-focused sectors of the USG. Through interviews with current and former tenured and tenure-track faculty members and administrators from a sample of these institutions, perspectives of faculty job satisfaction, salary satisfaction, and critical factors to departure decisions were explored. Emergent from the interviews was the identification of several factors impacting faculty satisfaction and departure, as well as the minimal influence of salary on faculty satisfaction and departure. Higher education administrators may draw parallels from the emergent themes and find the practice recommendations relevant to faculty satisfaction and retention efforts.