A Qualitative Approach to Faculty Attrition Cost in Technical Institution

Abstract

In order to generate the most effective human resource for national  development, quality education has become crucial. The  attainment of this objective is entirely dependent on faculties who  are the source for dissemination of effective knowledge and right  skills. In this era of imbalance between faculty supply and demand,  technical institutions are facing the problem of faculty attrition  cost.  Considering this fact, the analysis of these costs has become  imperative for all the technical institutions. The current study  attempts to understand the relationship between cost incurred by  the institutions and faculty attrition. Exploratory Factor Analysis  (EFA) was undertaken, followed by categorical regression. EFA was  applied to develop the measurement tool for identifying factors of  costs and brought forth three costs – direct, indirect and  opportunity costs. To assess these costs of faculty attrition,  categorical regression was applied with factors of direct, indirect  and opportunity cost as dependent variables and four categories of  attrition i.e. attrition less than 5%, 5%-less than 15%, 15%- less  than 25%, and greater than 25% as independent variables. Direct  cost was comprised of Recruitment Costs, Application Processing Cost, Interview Process Costs, Hiring Costs, Orientation and  Training Costs, Professional Development and Ongoing Support  and Separation Costs, Indirect costs was explained through  Productivity Costs and Cost of Morale and the components of  Opportunity costs were Loss of Business, Loss of Students, Loss of  Faculty/Adjuncts, Loss of Reputation. Further, through CATREG it  was observed that higher the attrition, higher the direct, indirect  and opportunity costs. This research can be an effective input to  many technical institutions to reconsider their approach towards  their faculties and seek cost effectiveness by reducing faculty  attrition and its negative impact on institutions growth.