Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

4-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Kristin Koetting O'Byrne

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Heather Rasmussen

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Scott Strawn

Abstract

Academic advisors face high job demands and have among the highest turnover rates in higher education. Gratitude may have a positive impact on job satisfaction, but it has not been studied in this population. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to understand how dispositional gratitude at work, expression of gratitude at work, and receipt of gratitude at work predict job satisfaction in academic advisors. Academic advisors who were members of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, served in a full-time role at an institution of higher education in the United States, had worked a minimum of 6 months at their institution, and were 18 years or older were recruited via email, and a total of 206 participants completed an online survey. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the model including dispositional gratitude at work, expression of gratitude to students, receipt of gratitude from students, expression of gratitude to colleagues, receipt of gratitude from colleagues, expression of gratitude to supervisors, and receipt of gratitude from supervisors was a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction. Dispositional gratitude at work and receipt of gratitude from students were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction. Receipt of gratitude from colleagues was also a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction, but the relationship was inverse. These findings demonstrate the importance of building a culture of gratitude at work. Recommendations for practice and research are addressed.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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