Digital Commons Network^™

Adjunct Faculty Employment And Student Success In Texas Institutions Of Higher Education, Robin L. Palmer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractJust over half of faculty members teaching in institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States work part time. Previous research on the relationship between part-time faculty employment and student success has produced conflicting findings and may have resulted in ineffective use of part-time faculty. The purpose of this retrospective, prediction study was to determine if the percent of part-time faculty, several institutional variables, and student demographics were significant predictors of retention and graduation rates at IHEs in Texas. Berger and Milem’s theory of organizational behavior and student outcomes grounded this study using secondary analysis of publicly available archival …

Lived Experiences Of African American Nursing Students In An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Monique Renee Merritt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite recognition of the barriers that African American nursing students encounter while pursuing nursing education, leaders of U.S. nursing programs continue to struggle to retain these students and promote their degree completion. Poor retention and lack of completion contributes to the unequal representation of African American nurses in the U.S. healthcare workforce compared to the overall population. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences that helped to promote African American nursing students’ success or served as barriers to successful completion of an Associate Degree Nursing program. Tinto’s integration model was used as the theoretical framework. Semistructured …

Improving Small Business Hiring Practices In The Millennial Era, Marc Lawrence Bellucci

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

By 2025, Millennials will likely make up 75% of the workforce, making them the fastest growing group and the quickest to change jobs; subsequently, human resource managers struggle to retain these young, skilled workers. This study is important to human resource managers because without strengthening the Millennial workforce, human resource managers could experience high Millennial turnover leading to decreased performance. Grounded in organizational performance theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies human resource managers use to acquire and retain Millennials to maximize organizational performance. Participants consisted of 5 human resource managers from 5 small …

The Impact Of Small Business Leadership On Employee Turnover, Zanlandria M. Crosby-Hardin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover creates a skill loss and negatively affects productivity, reducing organizational effectiveness as well as increasing costs for recruitment and training of new employees. This important to business owners who want to sustain employees, prevent loss of profit, and productivity. Herzberg’s two-factor theory was the conceptual lens for this qualitative multiple case study which explored hair salon owners’ strategies to reduce employee turnover. The participants were 5 hair salon owners in the state of South Carolina. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and an analysis of company documents. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5 phase process to identify patterns …

Understanding Retention Issues Among African American Males In A Community College Setting, Angee Ponder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Efforts to improve retention and graduation rates of African American male students in higher education have largely been unsuccessful despite the design and delivery of special courses. During the 2017 academic year, after completion of a college success seminar (CSS), the retention rates for African American male students at a Midwestern community college was only 14% compared to 33% for Hispanic and 60% for Caucasian males. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of African American male students engaged in a CSS course to discover what they perceived to be a major influence on the retention of …

Strategies Road Freight Transport Leaders Use To Increase Driver Retention, Johnny Mumphrey Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The turnover of skilled over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers in the road freight transportation (RFT) industry results in significant yearly financial losses to organizations across the United States. Leaders in the industry continue to struggle to develop successful strategies for retaining these drivers. Grounded in the motivation hygiene theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies 5 transformational leaders from two RFT firms in North Texas used to improve OTR driver retention. Data collection included semi structured face-to-face interviews, a review of company webpages, and an assessment of company documents (e.g., employee handbooks, training manuals, and vision …

Perceptions Of Urban School Principals On Urban Teacher Retention, Latonya Stredic

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that principals can play a crucial role in motivating teachers to stay or leave. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of principals who work in urban schools as related to overcoming the high attrition of teachers in their schools. Using transformational leadership theory as a framework to address research questions, data were collected from semistructured interviews with 12 principals. Using a 7-question interview protocol, this study sought perspectives on the causality of urban teachers’ attrition, including leadership practices that help with hiring, sustaining, and retaining teachers on urban school campuses. Interviews were …

A Phenomenological Study Of Factors Influencing Senor Female United States Marine Corps Officer Retention Decisions, Angel Rae Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The study showed factors that influenced senior female U.S. Marine Corps' (USMC) officer retention decisions. The qualitative study was based on the interpretivism research philosophy and Mobley's model of turnover and employed a phenomenological research design to identify themes regarding participants' perceptions of their lived experiences involving their professions and factors that affected their mandates to remain on active duty. The study included 11 women volunteers who had either earned membership in General Officer (GO) ranks or were competitive for within the USMC as a colonel (CV); they were recruited through purposive sampling, and data were collected through interviews. Data …

Perceived Barriers To Minority Female Recruitment And Retention In Law Enforcement, Lucy Lyles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Representative bureaucracy indicates that police agencies should reflect the communities they serve to improve public perception of the agencies. An underrepresented population in U.S. law enforcement is minority females. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore participants’ lived experiences regarding perceived barriers to the recruitment and retention of minority females in U.S. law enforcement agencies. The study used theories of representative bureaucracy and intersectionality as frames. Data were collected from 15 survey responses and semi-structured interviews with minority female officers from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in Maryland. The data analysis included contingency tables and …

Influence Of Summer Bridge Programs On First-Generation Latino Students' Academic Success, Amber Dawn Gutzwiler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Colleges and universities have used programs like the summer bridge program (SBP) to improve academic abilities and retention. The research on the effectiveness of SBPs is inconclusive. With a focus those on who required remediation in writing, the purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the influence of a SBP on first-generation Latino students' weighted grade point average (GPA) and retention. Tinto's theory of student retention was used as the framework. To determine the effectiveness of the SBP on first-generation Latino students, this study focused on comparing the variables between those who took the SBP versus a remedial …

African American Males' Perceptions On Increasing Retention And Graduation Rates, Edwan L. O'Neal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American males have the lowest retention and graduation rates of all races and genders. The problem at the local study site was that lower number of African American males from two public 4-year institutions were graduating from college as compared to all other ethnic groups and genders. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify college experiences that had a positive impact on retention and graduation, as perceived by African American males. Tinto's persistence theory, describing the development of student identity and student retention in higher education, guided the study. The research questions explored African American male students' …

Factors That Influence African American Male Retention In Public Four-Year Institutions, Shantya V. Plater

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the lack of policies at the federal and state level, 4-year public colleges and universities across the United States are left to develop retention policies at the institutional level to support their diverse populations. Retention rates for minority students lag behind their peers, especially African American male students. This study identified the factors that influence retention amongst African American male students at 4-year public colleges and universities. The theoretical framework used in this study was the Tinto model of academic and social integration. The data identified that financial resources, family support, and academic and social engagement influence the …

African American College Students’ Perspectives Of Academic Challenges To Graduation, Bobby Calvin Luckett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even though the enrollment numbers of African American students are comparable to other racial/ethnic groups at a university in the midwestern United States, the problem investigated through this study was that African American students were graduating at a slower rate compared to other groups. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of African American university students about the academic challenges they faced as they worked towards graduation as well as their experiences with and suggestions to improve institutional support to meet these challenges. The study was based on Tinto’s retention theory. For this basic qualitative study, data …

Newly Hired Teachers' Perspectives On Factors That Influence Their Attrition Or Retention, Deaneth A. Brown Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Newly hired teacher attrition has increased across the nation and is one of the main contributors to the current teacher shortage. This study specifically addressed a suburban school district located in the Mid-Atlantic region that had experienced a high rate of attrition of newly hired teachers (NHTs). This issue is important because NHT attrition affects school budgets and student achievement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the professional experiences of NHTs, and how those experiences contributed to their decisions to leave or remain employed. The conceptual framework that grounded this study was Ingersoll’s concept of teacher …

Structural Empowerment And Employee Commitment Among Millennial Newly Registered Nurses, Janice Hill

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe nursing shortage is one of the most challenging issues in global healthcare. While not an all-encompassing solution, labor force retention could alleviate the crisis. The purpose of this study, guided by Kanter’s structural theory of organizational behavior, was to determine the relationships between access to power, opportunity for growth, structural empowerment (SE), and employee commitment among millennial newly registered nurses (NRNs) and to determine if there is a difference in SE between male and female millennial NRNs. Survey data collected from 148 participants were analyzed using Spearman rank-order correlation tests and showed statistically significant correlations between access to power …

Social Influences, Decision-Making, And Career Retention Of Novice Teachers, Kerstin Anna Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

New teachers bring hope, optimism, and excitement for teaching and learning from their individual preparatory programs to their classrooms at the start of every new school year. However, research indicates a large number of those teachers leave the field of teaching within a 5-year timeframe. The consequence of this loss of professionals has a deep-rooted impact on student achievement and learning. This loss also has considerable career and financial implications for the field of education. The reasons for this exodus are varied and somewhat broad in nature and scope. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived …

Successful Retention Strategies By Perfusion Managers To Reduce Perfusionist Attrition, Krysta Lynne Gleeson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Perfusion managers who lack strategies to mitigate perfusionist attrition place a strain on their remaining employees and incur replacement costs for their organization. Grounded in Vroom’s expectancy model, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies perfusion managers use to mitigate perfusionists attrition within open-heart centers in a northeast U.S. city. Data were collected through digital semistructured interviews with 5 licensed perfusionists who demonstrated successful staff retention. Perfusionist job listings were used as a secondary data source. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5 step process. Four significant themes emerged: job satisfaction, work-life balance, surveys, and compensation. Perfusion …

Using Employee-Development As A Solution To Employee Turnover, Jason Ellis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The failure to retain key employees is an expense that can lead to decreased productivity, profits, and efficiency. The improvement of employee-development practices is integral for business leaders who are focused on reducing an employee’s likelihood of leaving the company. Grounded in job-embeddedness theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the employee-development strategies leaders use to improve employee retention and reduce cost resulting from turnover. The participants included 6 managers from 2 companies in Connecticut who had experience with employee-development policies to improve retention. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and public documents collected …

An Exploratory Study To Identify Strategies For Retaining Laboratory Professionals In Hospital Setting, Ambrose E. Ewane

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Medical laboratory professionals have faced more than 20 years of workforce shortages. The causes of these workforce shortages include poor retention of new professionals and an insufficient number of new graduates who enter the workforce. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the strategies that are used by managers in hospitals for the retention of laboratory professionals. The theoretical framework comprised Mobley’s theory of turnover and Porter’s organizational commitment theory. The research questions for this study addressed what managers perceived as the biggest challenges for the retention of laboratory professionals and what effective strategies they thought could …

The Association Between Success Center Utilization And A Technical College’S Student Retention, Tamara Shelton Miles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was conducted to examine the association between the Student Success

Center and student retention at a South Carolina technical college. Recognizing the low

retention rates of technical colleges in South Carolina and nationally, the college

opened a Student Success Center in 2012; however, an analysis of the center’s effect on

retention rates had not been conducted. With a better understanding of this relationship,

the college can plan for future use of the center to strengthen retention. The key

research question was focused on the association between Student Success Center

attendance and student retention using an ex post facto …

Community College Students' Perceptions Of Developmental Mathematics And Influences On Persistence, Sumithra S. Iyer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The increase in the dropout rates associated with developmental mathematics classes in 1 Texas community college provoked the need for this study. The purpose of this case study was to explore students' reasons for dropping out of developmental mathematics and what might have helped them be successful. Tinto's model of student attrition, which is characterized by students' social and academic integration affecting their retention in the college, provided the conceptual framework for the study. The research questions addressed the students' perceptions of both why they dropped out of developmental mathematics courses and what might have helped them to successfully complete …

The Perceived Impact Of Curricular Maps On Student Retention At A Community College, Amy Ertwine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem at a community college in a state in the Eastern region of the United States is the lack of evaluation of the effect of Guided Pathways implementation on student retention in the local setting. Retention efforts are a concern of administrators of community colleges across the United States. To help students succeed, faculty often give students a specified set of core courses and a specific or even prescribed pathway to complete general education requirements. The community college incorporated Guided Pathways into retention efforts in Fall 2015. Over the past 4 years, the college has undertaken more activities focusing …

Special Education Teacher Retention In The Early Years, Caroll Brant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The intent of this qualitative study was to examine the impact of intrinsic motivators and extrinsic workplace experiences on the retention of beginning special education teachers of students with low incidence disabilities (LIDs). This study was designed in response to district leaders’ shared concerns of the continuous turnover experienced annually in several districts in a region of a southern state. Two research questions were developed to gain a deeper insight into the influence intrinsic and extrinsic factors have on beginning special education teachers’ decisions to stay in the self-contained, LID classroom. Ten beginning special education LID teachers participated in interviews …

Financial Advisor Retention Strategies, Anthony Latere Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective retention strategies can negatively impact business productivity and profitability. Financial advisor managers who struggle to maintain productivity and profitability because of ineffective retention strategies are at a high risk of failure. Grounded in Herzberg's two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies successful financial advisor managers used to retain financial advisor employees and maximize productivity and profitability. The participants comprised 5 financial advisor managers from 5 different financial service firms in Houston who effectively used retention strategies to maximize productivity and profitability. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and company website documents. Yin's …

Strategies For Decreasing Employee Turnover In Retail Organizations, Mathias Oni-Eseleh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High employee turnover in the retail sector affects organizations’ financial sustainability across the United States, costing them billions of dollars annually. Because of the high cost of employee turnover, retail sector leaders need to develop strategies for decreasing employee turnover in their organizations. Grounded in job embeddedness theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies retail sector leaders used to decrease employee turnover. The participants consisted of 5 purposefully selected retail sector leaders in the upstate region of New York, who successfully implemented strategies for decreasing employee turnover in their organizations. Data were collected from …