Nursing Academic Administration: Who Will Take on the Challenge?

To address the shortage of qualified candidates interested in nursing academic administration, this study explored factors that influence nursing faculty to pursue administrative positions. Nursing academic administrators and full-time faculty from randomly selected accredited nursing programs in private colleges and universities in the United States participated in this study. Administrators completed the Leadership Practices Inventory–Self and a recruitment questionnaire, whereas faculty completed the Leadership Practices Inventory–Observer and a career aspiration questionnaire. Most faculty respondents (63%) indicated that they would not consider a position with greater administrative responsibility. Respondents identified workload and conflict-related issues as factors likely to discourage their pursuit of administration. Respondents identified additional challenge/variety of work, opportunity to influence organizational climate for change, opportunity to facilitate faculty growth and development, and mix of administration with teaching as likely to encourage their pursuit of administration. Faculty interest in a position with greater administrative responsibility was significantly increased for those who had completed additional course work beyond their highest degree. Practice recommendations included making leadership development opportunities available for faculty interested in administration, exploring methods to manage workload and conflict, and exploring methods to maximize factors identified as likely to encourage the pursuit of academic administration.