Faculty Emotional Intelligence and Student-Faculty Interactions: Implications for Student Retention

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between student-faculty interactions and student dropout intentions. It develops an integrative model that posits that the association between the frequency of student-faculty interactions and a student's intent to stay in college is positive, and becomes more positive as faculty emotional intelligence increases. Patterns of student attrition intentions are observed across different levels of faculty engagement and within and between high and low emotionally intelligent faculty groups. Findings revealed that frequent student-faculty exchanges significantly impact a student's desire to stay in college and that student faculty interactions predict student attrition intentions more strongly for those students assigned to faculty mentors who possess higher levels of emotional intelligence than for those assigned to faculty with lower emotional intelligence scores. Results are discussed in connection with research on student retention and for conceptual commentary on issues related to the examination of mentoring practices.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams

J. S.

(1965). Inequity in social exchange. In Berkowitz

(Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.

Atkinson

D. R.

Neville

, & Casas

(1991). The mentorship of ethnic minorities in professional psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 22, 336–338.

Bean

J. P.

(1985). Interaction effects based on class level in an explanatory model of college student's dropout syndrome. American Educational Research Journal, 22, 35–64.

Bippus

A. M.

Brooks

C. G.

Plax

T. G.

, & Kearney

(2001). Students' perceptions of part-time and tenured/tenure-track faculty: Accessibility, mentoring, and extra-class communication. Journal of the Association for Communication Administration, 30, 13–23.

Bippus

A. M.

Kearney

Plax

T. G.

, & Brooks

C. F.

(2003). Teacher access and mentoring abilities: Predicting the outcome value of extra class communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 31(3), 260–275.

Bourdieu

(1990). The logic of practice. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

Boyatzis

R. E.

, & Goleman

D. D.

(2002). Emotional and social competency inventory — University edition. Retrieved June 15, 2003, from http://www.haygroup.com.

Cabrera

A. F.

Nora

, & Castaneda

M. B.

(1992). The role of finances in the persistence process: A structural model. Research in Higher Education, 33(5), 571–593.

Campbell

T. A.

, & Campbell

D. E.

(1997). Faculty/student mentor programs: Effects on academic performance and retention. Research in Higher Education, 38, 727–742.

10.

Campbell

T. A.

, & Campbell

D. E.

(2007). Outcomes of mentoring at-risk college students: Gender and ethnic matching effects. Mentoring & Tutoring, 15(2), 135–148.

11.

Cohen

N. H.

, & Galbraith

M. W.

(1995). Mentoring in the learning society. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 66, 5–14.

12.

Cooke

D. K.

Sims

R. L.

, & Peyrefitte

(1995). The relationship between graduate student attitudes and attrition. Journal of Psychology, 129(6), 677–688.

13.

Crosby

(1976). A model of egotistical relative deprivation. Psychological Review, 83, 85–113.

14.

Elkins

M. S.

Braxton

A. A.

, & James

G. W.

(2000). Tinto's separation stage and its influence on first-semester college student persistence. Research in Higher Education, 41(2), 251–268.

15.

Ferrari

J. R.

(2004). Mentors in life and at school: Impact on undergraduate protégé perceptions of university mission and values. Mentoring and Tutoring, 12, 295–305.

16.

Folger

(1986). Rethinking equity theory: A referent cognitions model. In Bierhoff

H. W.

Cohen

, & Greenberg

(Eds.), Justice in social relations (pp. 145–162). New York: Plenum.

17.

Fusani

S. S.

(1994). “Extra-class” communication: Frequency, immediacy, self-disclosure, and satisfaction in student-faculty interaction outside the classroom. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 22, 232–255.

18.

Gerdes

, & Mallinckrodt

(1994). Emotional, social, and academic adjustment of college students: A longitudinal study of retention. Journal of Counseling & Development, 72, 281–288.

19.

Goleman

(1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

20.

Graunke

S. S.

, & Woolsey

S. A.

(2005). An exploration of the factors that affect the academic success of college sophomores. College Student Journal, 39(2), 367–376.

21.

Greenberg

(1990). Organizational justice: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Journal of Management, 16, 399–432.

22.

Hickson

M. G.

(2002). What role does the race of professors have on the retention of students attending historically black colleges and universities? Education, 123, 186–190.

23.

Homans

(1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

24.

Jaasma

M. A.

, & Koper

R. J.

(2002). Out-of-class communication between female and male students and faculty: The relationship to student perceptions of instructor immediacy. Women's Studies in Communication, 25(1), 119–137.

25.

Johnson

G. M.

(1994). Undergraduate student attrition: A comparison of the characteristics of students who withdraw and students who persist. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 40(3), 337–353.

26.

Kelly

H. H.

, & Thibaut

J. W.

(1978). Interpersonal relations: A theory of interdependence. New York: Wiley.

27.

Kram

K. E.

(1988). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships on organization life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.

28.

Kuh

G. D.

(1995). The other curriculum: Out-of-class experiences associated with student learning and personal development. The Journal of Higher Education, 66, 123–155.

29.

Levinson

D. J.

Carrow

C. N.

Klein

E. B.

Levinson

M. H.

, & McKee

(1978). The seasons of a man's life. New York: Ballentine.

30.

London

(1989). Breaking away: A study of first generation college students and their families. The American Journal of Sociology, 97, 144–170.

31.

Longwell-Grice

, & Longwell-Grice

(2007/2008). Testing Tinto: How do retention theories work for first-generation, working-class students? Journal of College Student Retention, 9(4), 407–420.

32.

Milem

J. F.

, & Berger

J. B.

(1997). A modified model of college student persistence: Exploring the relationship between Astin's theory of involvement and Tinto's theory of student departure. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 387–400.

33.

Miller

(2002). Mentoring students & young people: A handbook of effective practice. London, UK: Kogan Page.

34.

Morley

K. M.

(2007). Minority student retention: The best of Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice. Amityville, NY: Baywood.

35.

Murtaugh

P. A.

Burns

L. D.

, & Schuster

(1999). Predicting the retention of university students. Research in Higher Education, 40(3), 355–371.

36.

Myers

L. L.

, & Tucker

M. L.

(2005). Increasing awareness of emotional intelligence in a business curriculum. Business Communication Quarterly, 68(1), 44–51.

37.

Nadler

M. K.

, & Nadler

L. B.

(2001). The roles of sex, empathy, and credibility in out-of-class communication between faculty and students. WSIC, 24, 241–261.

38.

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2008). IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved August 8, 2008, from http://www.higheredinfo.org/.

39.

NSSE Annual Report. (2007). Experiences that matter: Enhancing student learning and success. Retrieved August 20, 2008, from http://nsse.iub.edu/.

40.

Noe

R. A.

(1988). An investigation of the determinants of successful assigned mentoring relationships. Personnel Psychology, 41, 457–479.

41.

Nora

, & Cabrera

A. F.

(1996). The role of perceptions of prejudice and discrimination on the adjustment of minority students to college. The Journal of Higher Education, 67, 119–148.

42.

Nora

, & Crisp

(2007–2008). Mentoring students: Conceptualizing and validating the multi-dimensions of a support system. Journal of College Student Retention, 9(3), 337–356.

43.

Packard

B. W-L.

Walsh

, & Seidenberg

(2004). Will that be one mentor or two? A cross sectional study of women's mentoring during college. Mentoring and Tutoring, 12, 71–85.

44.

Parker

J. D.

Marjorie

J. H.

Eastabrook

J. M.

Oke

, & Wood

L. M.

(2006). Emotional intelligence and student retention: Predicting the successful transition from high school to university. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1329–1336.

45.

Pascarella

E. T.

, & Terenzini

P. T.

(1980). Predicting freshman persistence on involuntary dropout decisions from a theoretical model. Journal of Higher Education, 51, 60–75.

46.

Pascarella

E. T.

, & Terenzini

P. T.

(1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

47.

Pascarella

E. T.

, & Terenzini

P. T.

(2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

48.

Paulsen

M. B.

, & St. John

E. P.

(2002). Social class and college costs: Examining the financial nexus between college choice and persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 73(3), 189–236.

49.

Pike

G. R.

Schroeder

C. C.

, & Berry

T. R.

(1997). Enhancing the educational impact of residence halls: The relationship between residential learning communities and first-year college experiences and persistence. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 609–621.

50.

Potts

, & Schuster

(2008). The freshman seminar and academic success of at-risk students. College Student Journal, 42(2), 647–658.

51.

Roberts

(2000). Mentoring revisited: A phenomenological reading of the literature. Mentoring and Tutoring, 8(2), 145–170.

52.

Rose

G. L.

(2003). Enhancement of mentor selection using the Ideal Mentor Scale. Research in Higher Education, 44, 473–494.

53.

Ryland

E. B.

Riordan

R. J.

, & Brack

(1994). Selected characteristics of high-risk students and their enrollment persistence. Journal of College Student Development, 35, 54–58.

54.

Salovey

, & Mayer

J. D.

(1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185–211.

55.

Sanchez

R. J.

Bauer

T. N.

, & Paronto

M. E.

(2006). Peer-mentoring freshmen: Implications for satisfaction, commitment, and retention to graduation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(1), 25–37.

56.

Santos

S. J.

, & Reigadas

(2002). Latinos in higher education: An evaluation of a university faculty mentoring program. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 1, 40–50.

57.

Schockett

M. R.

, & Haring-Hidore

(1985). Factor analytic support for psychosocial and vocational mentoring functions. Psychological Reports, 57, 627–630.

58.

Steel

R. P.

, & Ovalle

N. K.

II . (1984). A review and meta-analysis of research on the relationship between behavioral intentions and employee turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 673–686.

59.

St. John

E. P.

Simmons

A. B.

, & Musoba

G. D.

(2001). Aptitude vs. merit: What matters in persistence? The Review of Higher Education, 24, 131–152.

60.

St. John

E. P.

Kirshstein

R. J.

, & Noell

(1991). The effects of financial aid on persistence: A sequential analysis. Review of Higher Education, 14, 383–406.

61.

Sunnafrank

(1986). Predicted outcome value during initial interactions: A reformulation of uncertainty reduction theory. Human Communication Research, 13, 3–33.

62.

Schwitzer

A. M.

Griffin

O. T.

Ancis

J. R.

, & Thomas

C. R.

(1999). Social adjustment experiences of African American college students. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(2), 189–197.

63.

Terenzini

P. T.

Rendon

L. I.

Upcraft

M. L.

Millar

S. B.

Allison

K. W.

Gregg

P. L.

(1994). The transition to college: Diverse students, diverse stories. Research in Higher Education, 35(1), 57–73.

64.

Thibaut

, & Kelly

H. H.

(1959). The social psychology of groups. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

65.

Thile

E. L.

, & Matt

G. E.

(1995). The ethnic mentor undergraduate program: A brief description and preliminary findings. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 23, 116–126.

66.

Thomas

K. M.

Willis

L. A.

, & Davis

(2007). Mentoring minority graduate students: Issues and strategies for institutions, faculty, and students. Equal Opportunities International, 26(3), 178–192.

67.

Tinto

(1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical syntheses of recent research. Review of Education Research, 45, 89–125.

68.

Tinto

(1982). Limits of theory and practice in student attrition. Journal of Higher Education, 53(6), 687–700.

69.

Tinto

(1989, September 6). Misconceptions mar campus discussions of student retention. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B2.

70.

Tinto

(1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

71.

Trotter

, & Cove

(2005). Student retention: An exploration of the issues prevalent on a healthcare degree programme with mainly mature students. Learning in Health and Social Care, 4(1), 29–42.

72.

Walster

G. W.

, & Berscheid

(1978). Equity: Theory and research. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

73.

Wilson

R. C.

Woods

, & Gaff

J. G.

(1974). Social-psychological accessibility and faculty-student integration beyond the classroom. Sociology of Education, 47, 74–92.

74.

Zajacova

Lynch

S. M.

, & Espenshade

T. J.

(2005). Self-efficacy, stress, and academic success in college. Research in Higher Education, 46(6), 677–705.