The influence of business ethics and community outreach on faculty engagement: the mediating effect of legitimacy in higher education

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to measure the effects of universities' ethical management and positive impact on society affect the faculty engagement through the mediating effect of organizational legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach – Engaged employees are characterized by better performance, increased productivity and by generating higher customer loyalty as well greater economic profit. The commitment to the organization they work for is affected by internal and external inputs. Among these, business ethics and corporate community outreach are key factors for improving employee engagement. The authors developed a survey that was distributed to professors of Spanish universities. To treat the data and test the proposed hypotheses, the authors applied structural equations through PLS-SEM. Findings – This research contributes to the organizational management field literature and advises university administrators to adopt an ethical management style based on information transparency, accountability and faculty member involvement in the decision-making process in order to improve their engagement and, therefore, increasing student satisfaction, academic results and positive impact on the common good. Originality/value – The novelty of the authors’ research stands in the inclusion of legitimacy as a mediation effect between business ethics and community outreach that affect employees' engagement and, specifically, faculty engagement. 研究目的 – 本文旨在量度大學的倫理管理和大學對社會產生的積極影響、如何透過組織合法性的仲介效果影響全體教學人員的敬業忠誠度。 研究設計/方法/理念 – 敬業的僱員的特徵是他們有較好的表現、有較高的生產率、及帶來更高的客戶忠誠度和更大的經濟利潤。僱員對其服務組織的忠誠度、是受內部和外部輸入所影響的。在這些輸入中，企業倫理和公司的社區外聯是改善僱員敬業程度的關鍵因素。我們設計了一個調查，並分發給西班牙各大學的教授。我們透過偏最小平方法－結構方程模型 (PLS-SEM) 、運用結構方程式來處理數據及測試提出的假設。 研究結果 – 本研究在組織管理文獻方面作出了貢獻，並建議大學行政人員、應採用基於資訊透明、問責制和教學人員在決策過程中能夠參與的合乎道德的管理風格。這是為了改善大學教學人員的敬業忠誠度，並因此也能提昇學生的滿意程度、學業成績及為公眾利益發揮更大的積極影響。 原創性/價值 – 本研究嶄新之處在於納入了合法性、以作為影響僱員敬業程度、特別是大學教學人員敬業程度的企業倫理及社區外聯之間的仲介效果。

Keywords

• Ethics
• Legitimacy
• Engagement
• Community outreach
• Higher education