COVID-19 caused major disruptions within higher education. Although these disruptions affected students, faculty, and staff, perhaps the most shocking disruption was the layoffs of full-time faculty during the pandemic. This case study frames how, within a power dynamic of nontrust, we collected the required subjective statements for a mixed…

Identity and branding in higher education institutions is one of the many attributes of a university that potential students look for when searching for a place to study. This phenomenological qualitative study used interviews of eleven current and past students at the University of the Great Lakes (UGL) to discover what attributes of the…

The present study examined how the personal importance of work and family were associated with job search behavior, and whether there were any gender differences in those associations. A sample of 284 career-interrupted women and men participated in the study. Accordingly, job search behavior and antecedent variables--including personal importance…

This critical discourse analysis examined the perceptions and their role in social practice of both internal and external constituents of five women and five men university presidents at doctoral-granting institutions who resigned or were fired from their positions through an analysis of publicly available commentary (e.g., social media, blogs).…

The current article deals with the antecedents that generate a phenomenon of a mismatch between an academic graduates' field of education and their occupational field (horizontal mismatch). The two examined antecedents were the individuals' career history and their "career identity" level. It has been found that (a) the more expansive…

Staff positions are often the first to go when colleges cut budgets. Over time, position elimination can destroy the career ladders on which employees based their plans. This chapter outlines how that dynamic emerged, and how the "guided pathways" movement may push against it.

As colleges confront challenging circumstances, the prospect of small, private college closures remains pertinent. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of displaced employees due to college closure. For this study, Schlossberg's (1981) transition theory was used as a foundational lens. Although there…

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government's response, and longer-term influences within Australia's higher education sector, provided the background and rationale for this study in an Australian public university. From a context of how Antipodean University (AU) dealt with the revenue crisis, this paper describes how a sample of staff were…

We examine the impact of local labor market shocks and state unemployment insurance (UI) policies on student discipline in U.S. public schools. Analyzing school-level discipline data and firm-level layoffs in 23 states, we find that layoffs have little effect on discipline rates on average. However, effects differ across the UI benefit…

We present a case-based role-play exercise that effectively simulates a crisis students must manage. In the exercise, a farm equipment manufacturing company has decided to redirect its product line, and this change requires laying off a significant portion of its workforce. Students must grapple with the fact that a local news report will be…

Leading organizational change is a daunting aspect of leadership. However, effectively leading change enables positive individual and organizational outcomes. Herein, we present a case-based classroom exercise to teach students about organizational change, demonstrate different aspects of the change process, and teach how to overcome resistance to…

Jobs in the manufacturing sector have been largely relocated to countries offering a competitive advantage, particularly in terms of labour costs. For this reason, mid-career workers from this sector and from western countries have been largely displaced. These mid-career workers from the manufacturing sector are subsequently forced to compete for…

Human resources training is considered an effective solution in empowering human resources. Organizations try to have effective educational planning for this precious resource by identifying shortcomings through a need assessment. This study provides a model based on organizational data analysis to achieve a unique and appropriate training…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact Jesuit tenets have on the attitudes of survivors of workforce reduction who were employed at Jesuit institutions of higher education during the early years of the COVID-19. The researcher interviewed seven current employees from five different Jesuit institutions to ascertain their feelings…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study individual investment in human capital and the incidence of economic shocks. I use administrative data to answer these questions, developing and applying structural methods to analyze individual choices in combination with a careful consideration of research design. Chapter 1 studies the…