To stay or not to stay: retention of Asian international faculty in STEM fields

The present study identifies characteristics of individuals and work settings that influence Asian international faculty members' intentions to continue their employment in US research universities. Given the demand for researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM), the higher rate of turnover among untenured faculty, and the replacement costs associated with turnover in STEM, the sample is limited to assistant professors employed in these areas. Multinomial regression analyses are conducted to identify variables that 'pull' and 'push' uncertain faculty toward intentions stay and leave their current institutions. The results suggest that faculty who are more satisfied with time available for research and those who express stronger organizational commitment are more likely to say they will stay. Those dissatisfied with the fairness of work evaluations and believe tenure decisions are not merit-based, are more likely to say they will leave. Keywords International faculty * Faculty retention * STEM fields * United States
Introduction Building human capital through international recruiting is an important strategy for maintaining and extending university competitiveness (Altbach (2006); Cantwell 2011; Finkelstein et al. 1998; Van de Bunt-Kokhus 2000). Within [...]