UCLA

Professional and support staff provide the labor that enables the very function of the university, yet they are omitted from formal governance structures. Further, their perspectives are underrepresented in the campus climate body of literature despite growing calls to incorporate staff into campus climate studies (Hart & Fellabaum, 2008; Hurtado et al., 2008; Vaccaro, 2014). Meanwhile, studies that examine staff job satisfaction and turnover intent in higher education typically lack a race-conscious lens despite evidence that Faculty of Color experience differential outcomes from their peers based on negative experiences with the campus climate (Buttner et al., 2010; Jayakumar et al., 2009; Niemann & Dovidio, 1998). The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship between campus climate and employment outcomes for staff in higher education using a race-conscious lens. The study uses the 2020 Staff Climate Survey (Study Sample N= 2,945) from the Higher Education Research Institute to answer the guiding research questions. It adapts the Multicontextual Framework for Diversity Learning Environments (Hurtado et al., 2012) for staff application to define various aspects of the campus climate and test if they can be connected to job satisfaction and intent to leave. Existence, Relatedness, and Growth theory (Alderfer, 1972) is also applied to describe staff needs that further predict outcomes. Finally, the Critical Quantitative Inquiry research paradigm (Stage, 2007) guides research design to ensure a race-conscious focus.

Descriptive and inferential results revealed key findings. Black staff had the most negative experiences across all climate measures when examining mean scores by race. They also had the lowest mean job satisfaction score. Meanwhile, White staff had the lowest levels of turnover intent compared to Staff of Color peers. While climate measures ultimately had weak associations with job satisfaction by the last step of the regression model, positive perceptions of and experiences with the psychological dimension of the campus climate was related to improved job satisfaction. None of the climate measures were significant by the final step of the turnover intent model. For both regressions, having ERG needs met mitigated the impact of climate on staff outcomes which were significant at earlier points in the models. Implications for practice include providing opportunities for staff to connect with peers and mentors and providing avenues for cultivating staff members’ professional growth and autonomy. Such practices can also serve to improve the campus climate.