Denominational Affiliation of Christian Colleges and Universities and Its Effect on Social Exclusion in the Workplace and Faculty Job Satisfaction

摘要

There are over 500 institutions of higher education within the United States that identify with the Christian faith. A majority of these schools were founded by specific Christian denominations with which many are still affiliated. Faculty members within these institutions who identify with a Christian tradition or denomination different from the institutional sponsor may experience social exclusion in the workplace which can lead to decreased job satisfaction and other negative organizational outcomes. The aim of this ex-post-facto study was to investigate the difference in job satisfaction and social exclusion in the workplace for denominationally congruent and incongruent faculty members within Christian colleges and universities. Approximately 575 full-time faculty members working within Christian colleges and universities with varying denominational affiliations had the opportunity to complete a survey designed to ascertain overall job satisfaction, perceptions of social exclusion in the workplace, faculty and institutional religious affiliation, as well as information regarding various aspects of institutional denominational identity. Results indicated that denominationally congruent faculty members had higher levels of job satisfaction than denominationally incongruent faculty members, F (1, 151) = 8.40, p = 0.004. There was no significant difference in perceptions of social exclusion in the workplace between the two groups, F (1, 151) = 0.74, p = 0.39. Future research is needed to understand why denominationally incongruent faculty members are less satisfied with their jobs than their denominationally congruent counterparts. Moreover, more research is needed to determine what role, if any, that religious bias plays in influencing the work environment within religiously affiliated organizations.