IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jbecon/v90y2020i5d10.1007_s11573-020-00984-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Transparency goes a long way: information transparency and its effect on job satisfaction and turnover intentions of the professoriate

Author

Listed:
  • Yvette E. Hofmann

    (Bayerisches Staatsinstitut für Hochschulforschung und Hochschulplanung (IHF)
    Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich School of Management)

  • Maria Strobel

    (Bayerisches Staatsinstitut für Hochschulforschung und Hochschulplanung (IHF)
    Technische Universität München, TUM School of Management
    Hochschule Mainz)

Abstract

Research and higher education institutions are becoming increasingly transparent with the adoption of the governance mechanisms of New Public Management and digital technologies. As transparency research has documented both positive and negative effects of transparency within organizations, it is not clear how transparency might affect faculty members and their job attitudes. To address this question, we develop and test hypotheses regarding the effect of perceived transparency on professors’ job satisfaction and intent to leave their university. Our results, based on the answers of over 1600 professors, support our hypothesized positive relationship between transparency and job satisfaction, a negative relationship between transparency and intent to leave, and an indirect effect of transparency on intent to leave via job satisfaction. Exploratory moderation analyses indicated that the effects of transparency are present across two different types of universities (research universities and universities of applied sciences). We discuss results regarding their implications for the management of higher education and research institutions as well as for the retention of faculty members.

Suggested Citation

  • Yvette E. Hofmann & Maria Strobel, 2020. "Transparency goes a long way: information transparency and its effect on job satisfaction and turnover intentions of the professoriate," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 713-732, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:90:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-020-00984-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-020-00984-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11573-020-00984-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11573-020-00984-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mayr Karin & Peri Giovanni, 2009. "Brain Drain and Brain Return: Theory and Application to Eastern-Western Europe," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-52, November.
    2. Etzkowitz, Henry & Webster, Andrew & Gebhardt, Christiane & Terra, Branca Regina Cantisano, 2000. "The future of the university and the university of the future: evolution of ivory tower to entrepreneurial paradigm," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 313-330, February.
    3. Jonathon N. Cummings, 2004. "Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 352-364, March.
    4. John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian & Katherine L. Milkman, 2015. "The Effect of Providing Peer Information on Retirement Savings Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 1161-1201, June.
    5. Barry Bozeman & Monica Gaughan, 2011. "Job Satisfaction among University Faculty: Individual, Work, and Institutional Determinants," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(2), pages 154-186, March.
    6. Mayr Karin & Peri Giovanni, 2009. "Brain Drain and Brain Return: Theory and Application to Eastern-Western Europe," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-52, November.
    7. Ahmed Tritah, 2008. "The Brain Drain Between Knowledge-based Economies: the European Human Capital Outflow to the US," Economie Internationale, CEPII research center, issue 115, pages 65-108.
    8. Richard L. Daft & Robert H. Lengel, 1986. "Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 554-571, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Victor William Bwachele & Yee-Lee Chong & Gengeswari Krishnapillai, 2023. "Perceived service quality and student satisfaction in higher learning institutions in Tanzania," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Mo Chen & Kristina Bogner & Joana Becheva & Jens Grossklags, 2023. "On the transparency of the credit reporting system in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2012. "Globalization, Brain Drain, and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 681-730, September.
    2. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2017. "Intellectual property rights and diaspora knowledge networks: Can patent protection generate brain gain from skilled migration?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 995-1022, November.
    3. Jackline Wahba, 2015. "Selection, selection, selection: the impact of return migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 535-563, July.
    4. Bertoli, Simone & Brücker, Herbert, 2011. "Selective immigration policies, migrants' education and welfare at origin," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 19-22, October.
    5. Aurelian-Petruş PLOPEANU & Daniel HOMOCIANU, 2020. "Why would Romanian migrants from Western Europe return to their country of origin? Abstract: After conducting a survey among Romanian individuals left abroad, we analyze the particular influences rela," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 211-235, June.
    6. Jonathon N. Cummings & J. Alberto Espinosa & Cynthia K. Pickering, 2009. "Crossing Spatial and Temporal Boundaries in Globally Distributed Projects: A Relational Model of Coordination Delay," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 420-439, September.
    7. Anca Metiu, 2006. "Owning the Code: Status Closure in Distributed Groups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 418-435, August.
    8. Ann Majchrzak & Arvind Malhotra & Richard John, 2005. "Perceived Individual Collaboration Know-How Development Through Information Technology–Enabled Contextualization: Evidence from Distributed Teams," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 9-27, March.
    9. Takao Kato & Chad Sparber, 2013. "Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 109-126, March.
    10. El-Mallakh, Nelly & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Upward or downward: Occupational mobility and return migration," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Julio Acuna, 2023. "The Asymmetric Impact of Out-Migration and Return Migration on Wages in the Source Country: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 173-206.
    12. Ismael Issifou & Francesco Magris, 2017. "Migration outflows and optimal migration policy: rules versus discretion," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 16(2), pages 87-112, August.
    13. Gibson, John & McKenzie, David, 2014. "Scientific mobility and knowledge networks in high emigration countries: Evidence from the Pacific," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1486-1495.
    14. Merja Kauhanen & Mari Kangasniemi, 2014. "Returns to return migration: wage premium of Estonian return migrants from Finland," Working Papers 290, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    15. Bertoli Simone & Brücker Herbert, 2011. "Extending the Case for a Beneficial Brain Drain," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 231(4), pages 466-478, August.
    16. Mark Mortensen, 2014. "Constructing the Team: The Antecedents and Effects of Membership Model Divergence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 909-931, June.
    17. Djajić, Slobodan & Michael, Michael S. & Vinogradova, Alexandra, 2012. "Migration of skilled workers: Policy interaction between host and source countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1015-1024.
    18. Greenwood, Michael J. & Ward, Zachary, 2015. "Immigration quotas, World War I, and emigrant flows from the United States in the early 20th century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 76-96.
    19. Giovanni Peri & William Ambrosini & Karin Mayr & Dragos Radu, 2012. "The Selection of Migrants and Returnees in Romania: Evidence and long-run implications," Working Papers 136, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    20. Hatton, Timothy J., 2014. "The economics of international migration: A short history of the debate," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 43-50.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Transparency; New public management; Higher education; Job satisfaction; Turnover intention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:90:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-020-00984-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.