A systematic review of faculty onboarding programs : Supporting the organizational socialization of newly hired faculty

Abstract

The study emanates from a concern for the vulnerability of newly hired faculty and the well documented problematic transitional support that they receive. Specifically, the research problem that the study addresses is the lack of insight into the actual programs that higher education institutions have in place to socialize new hires. The study thus explores the nature of faculty onboarding programs and the outcomes they produce for individuals and institutions. The primary aim of this project is to clarify what is documented about actual faculty onboarding programs, the purpose of which is to guide both future research on and the practical implementation of such programs. This is achieved through the application of systematic review methodology, which entails using systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research. As such, rather than undertaking new primary research, the study takes existing research data as its object of inquiry. Analysis of this research suggest that faculty onboarding tends to entail continuous guidance through workshops and mentorship, with a secondary emphasis on orientation practices. Further, most practices have an institutional locus of control, though individualization does occur in the mentorship relationship. Crucially, the research does not demonstrate the broader benefits of onboarding programs for institutions. Thus, the study of faculty onboarding programs has not yet progressed past basic descriptive accounts. In response, the thesis suggests that faculty onboarding be framed not only as a practical problem, but as an area of empirical inquiry in its own right. Thus, it should ask targeted, empirically verifiable research questions based on consistent theoretical constructs. This would begin the process of constructing an evidence-base for the practice of socializing newly hired faculty and allow researchers to draw causal links between specific practices and tactics and more distal outcomes such as retention and job performance.