LOCUS-OF-CONTROL, INTERPERSONAL TRUST, AND SCHOLARLY PRODUCTIVITY (NURSE FACULTY).
Contributors: University of Nebraska--Lincoln.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 259
Subjects: Education, Administration.
Description: The purpose of the study was to compare the scholarly productivity of groups of nurse faculty categorized by degree of locus of control and interpersonal trust. For the variable locus of control, low scores signified internality (i.e., generalized belief in personal control over life events), whereas high scores reflected perceptions that external forces were more in control. Interpersonal trust referred to the generalized expectancies held by individuals that other people will honor their oral or written promises. The dependent variable scholarly productivity was defined as the sum of weighted items representing publications, research studies, grants, and presentations completed during the last 3 years. Also, the value of rewards derived from producing scholarly works and selected subject characteristics were taken into account as possible influences on scholarly productivity.

Of 596 faculty members who had been employed for more than 3 years in nursing programs located in midwestern state universities, 366 returned usable questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were used in reporting information on locus of control, interpersonal trust, reward values, characteristics of respondents, and scholarly productivity. The results showed that scores on locus of control and interpersonal trust were normally distributed, but reward values were skewed in the direction of high values. The distribution of scholarly productivity indicated that many faculty performed a small number of scholarly activities, but only a few reported extensive quantities.

Multiple regression analysis measured the strength of relationships between pairs of variables in the study. Educational level and teaching level emerged as significant predictors of scholarly productivity in the regression equation.

A 2 x 2 factorial design was used to compare the scholarly productivity of low trust internals, high trust internals, low trust externals, and high trust externals, while controlling for reward values. Group means on scholarly productivity were not significantly different. However, nurse faculty in high trust scores performed greater numbers of activities than did the nurse faculty with low trust scores, regardless of locus of control.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-02, Section: A, page: 0262.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN, 1986.

School code: 0138.