Psychological Safety & Student Affairs: Exploring Experiences of Early Career Professionals

Early career professionals' attrition in student affairs have been reported at rates as high as 60% before year five in the last few decades of literature. Retaining these professionals is vital to the sustainability of the field (Winston Jr. & Creamer, 1997). This study explores experiences and retention in the field of student affairs, through the framework of psychological safety. Psychological safety is a construct examined at the organizational, team and individual level and has been found to have highly impactful and positive outcomes at each respective level. Current literature examines psychological safety in many industries, such as healthcare and education, however, this was the first study to explore how psychological safety is described and interpreted by student affairs professionals. The population of this study participants is early career professionals employed at public, state institutions. The purpose of this study was to establish an understanding of how early career professionals describe environmental and cultural contexts from their experiences with psychological safety and how those inform career decisions. Employing a constructivist and dialectical perspective to the methods determined that participants had an active role in the research process; co-creating new knowledge with the lead investigator in the ever-changing environment of higher education. The present study found that early career professionals describe psychological safety in themes of being seen as a whole person inside and outside of the roles, that their supervisor will have their back, and that supervisors and leaders demonstrate an ability to be effective. When interpreting the role of psychological safety, early career professionals shared that it makes them feel valued and illustrates a sense of value congruence with the individual, team or organization being discussed when psychological safety is perceived. Additionally, when describing times when psychological safety was perceived in the work environment, more positive examples were shared throughout data collection. In this instance, the opposite also stood true; when psychological safety was perceived as absent in the environment by participants, more negative examples were described. Finally, early career professionals explain and understand individual level psychological safety more than any other level (e.g. - team, organizational) based on their experiences.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Enquist, Laura

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Holley, Karri
• Hardy, David

Contributors dc:contributor

• Major, Claire
• Sterritt, Adam
• Bryan, Ross

• early career professionals
• higher education
• psychological safety
• staff retention
• staff supervision
• Student Affairs

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1087009

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/14416