University president perceptions of part-time faculty engagement

Research regarding engagement has received the attention of researchers for the past 30 years. However, research associated with the concept of faculty engagement and its effects on higher education are still recent. This qualitative study examined how faculty engagement was conceptualized in a higher education context where the majority of professors were hired as part-time adjuncts. Analysis of data gathered from interviews with 9 presidents of private universities in Panama revealed that university presidents had incomplete and varied conceptualizations of faculty engagement, framed by their low expectations of part-time adjunct faculty. The analysis also illustrated how the four areas of faculty engagement (teaching, research, outreach, and administration) contained the three sub-dimensions for employee engagement (behavioural, emotional, and cognitive). Practical implications for higher education decision makers, including the improvement and/or implementation of faculty hiring and promotion policy, as well as leadership development for faculty supervisors, were discussed.