Perceptions of organizational culture and organizational citizenship by faculty in U.S. colleges and schools of pharmacy.

OBJECTIVES: (1) Describe perceptions of organizational culture and prevalence of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) among faculty at United States (U.S.) colleges/schools of pharmacy; (2) determine which aspects of those phenomena are strongest and which are most problematic; (3) evaluate the psychometric properties of measures for organizational culture and OCBs in academic pharmacy; and (4) identify any relationships between organizational culture and organizational citizenship among academic pharmacy faculty. METHODS: A random sample of 600 U.S. academic pharmacists acquired from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy were distributed an email survey through the use of Qualtrics technology. The procedures closely resembled the Total Design Method advocated to maximize survey response, including use of a pre-notification letter, reminders, and a nominal financial inducement. In addition to demographic questions, the survey employed multiple-item measures of organizational culture and OCBs described previously in the literature and derived from Delphi consensus-building procedures. The analysis plan incorporated use of factor and item analyses to evaluate psychometric properties of the measure and elicit the inherent domains comprising these phenomena, along with descriptive statistics to describe facets of organizational culture and OCBs that were most prevalent. RESULTS: A total of 177 responses were delivered. Factor analysis of organizational culture revealed a five-factor solution emphasizing achievement orientation, professionalism, stability, supportiveness, and reflectiveness. OCB domains were along the possibility of faculty being virtuous, disrespectful, sportsmanlike, and benevolent/malevolent. Even while multi-faceted and avoiding a simple typological descriptor, academic pharmacy cultures were reportedly healthy. Sportsmanship, while still somewhat commonly observed, was seen less frequently than other behaviors. The measures demonstrated logical, cogent factor structures and excellent internal consistency reliability. CONCLUSIONS: Psychometrically well-performing measures were used to assess the multi-faceted organizational culture of academic pharmacy programs and the organizational citizenship behaviors of its constituent faculty. The results can be used to measure these phenomena at individual organizations for benchmarking and to inform future inquiries that can assist with development of strategies that impact academic worklife and outcomes.

The scholarly productivity and work environments of academic pharmacists.

BACKGROUND: Productive faculty are key to generating new knowledge and advancing pharmacy practice. The work environments of academic pharmacists are critical to their vitality, commitment, and longevity. OBJECTIVES: To (1) identify correlates of faculty scholarly productivity and teaching effectiveness, considering personal and environmental characteristics; (2) determine the relationship between a faculty's perception of organizational citizenship behaviors they witness with the organizational culture of their employing college/school of pharmacy; and (3) describe the relationship between organizational climate, job satisfaction, and commitment of academic pharmacists. METHODS: A self-administered survey was disseminated to a random sample of U.S. academic pharmacists acquired from AACP list-servs. The survey measured perceptions of their organization's culture, the organizational citizenship behaviors they witness at their institution, their job satisfaction, teaching load and productivity, and scholarly productivity based upon peer-reviewed scholarly papers accepted. Both bivariate and multivariate (regression) procedures were employed to identify factors most responsible for explaining academic pharmacist's work environment. RESULTS: Responses were received from 177 of 600 survey recipients. Faculty reported having had accepted 10.9 ± 13.6 papers in peer-reviewed journals during the previous 5 years, with most of those in journals with relatively low Impact Factor scores. Faculty productivity was related to type of academic institution employed, teaching effectiveness, job satisfaction, and other factors. Organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational culture was seen similarly by faculty of varied ranks and experience levels. Commitment to remain at the current college/school of pharmacy was highly associated with culture, climate, and job satisfaction conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results provided evidence for a strong connection or nexus between teaching and research effectiveness. Organizational culture of academic pharmacy programs is highly important for faculty vitality and commitment. The findings should be helpful for academic leaders in devising programs for mentoring, development, and retention of faculty.

Components of a Measure to Describe Organizational Culture in Academic Pharmacy.

Objective. To develop a measure of organizational culture in academic pharmacy and identify characteristics of an academic pharmacy program that would be impactful for internal (eg, students, employees) and external (eg, preceptors, practitioners) clients of the program. Methods. A three-round Delphi procedure of 24 panelists from pharmacy schools in the U.S. and Canada generated items based on the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP), which were then evaluated and refined for inclusion in subsequent rounds. Items were assessed for appropriateness and impact. Results. The panel produced 35 items across six domains that measured organizational culture in academic pharmacy: competitiveness, performance orientation, social responsibility, innovation, emphasis on collegial support, and stability. Conclusion. The items generated require testing for validation and reliability in a large sample to finalize this measure of organizational culture.