Organizational culture and African American nurse faculty productivity: a comparative study.

Abstract: The primary purposes of this study were: (a) to examine the relationships among actors associated with organizational culture and the scholarly productivity of African American women nurse faculty teaching at historically black (HBCUs) and predominantly white colleges and universities (PWCUs) and, (b) to compare the differences in African American women nurse faculty productivity at HBC Us and PWCUs. Data were collected using a two-part survey, mailed to the campus addresses of 46 African American nurse faculty. A 31.5% response rate (N = 147) was achieved. A variety of scales using multiple statistical techniques were employed to analyze the data sets. Keywords: Organizational Culture, Grantsmanship, Leadership, Authorship, African American Nurse Faculty As the demographics of the United States begin to reflect significant increases in the numbers of culturally diverse populations, the halls of the academy continue to struggle with the underrepresentation of all ethnic minority cohorts in general (Rainsford, 1990), and of African American females in particular (Phillip, 1993). Current data indicate that both male and female African American full-time academicians are few in number in institutions of higher education, collectively constituting only 4.9% of the ranked professoriate (Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac, 1995). Further, among the number of employed minority educators, few, relative to the majority, hold senior professorial rank, tenure, or administrative title (Benjamin, 1995; Giger, Johnson, Davidhizar, & Fishman, 1993; Johnsrud;1991; Leap, 1995; Moore, 1990; Phillip, 1993). Given that senior faculty rank and tenure status, across all disciplines, are determined by levels of faculty productivity, factors affecting that productivity are important considerations. Investigators who have studied productivity patterns among minority and/or female faculty have noted the powerful influence of the academic environment (Barhyte & Redmond, 1993; Johnsrud, 1991; Lomperis, 1990; Sagaria & Johnsrud, 1992; Williams & Blackburn, 1988). Determinants of faculty productivity are the subjects of the growing body of knowledge that defines organizational culture and studies its impact on institutional effectiveness. As minority nurse faculty are members of the academy's more recently admitted discipline, their degree of productivity, and the factors influencing that productivity, at institutions of higher education (Giger, Fishman, Johnson, Davidhizar, Dugas, 1992; Giger et al., 1993) are of critical concern, especially in matters of tenure and tenure review. What may significantly account for the underrepresentation of minority female nurse faculty scholarly productivity, might reside in a better understanding of the organizational culture of the academic institution (Schein, 1991; Tierney, 1988), and its impact upon this cohort (tiger et al., 1993). Certainly, some academic organizational cultures are more conducive to productivity than others, a finding most evident in those institutions that have developed a working knowledge of the essential elements of the concept, and the impact those elements have upon the academy's mission, environment, mechanisms of socialization, informational processing and utilization, decisionmaking strategies, and leadership styles (Tierney, 1988). ft, of course, goes without saying that women, in the male-dominated arena of the academy, must be held to the same standards of academic excellence that are applied to men and that minority female academicians, by virtue of their dually assigned subclassifications, must be fairly appraised using those same standards. All things being equal, the question becomes why does there continue to be a limited appreciation for the scholarly performance of female academicians in general (Johnsrud, 1991; Lomperis, 1990; McElrath, 1992; Sagaria & Johnsrud, 1992), and of African American nurse academicians in particular (Carnegie, 1995; tiger et al. …