Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3287-3217

Advisor

Winkler, Christa

Committee Member

Molina, Danielle K.

Committee Member

Wallace, Jason K.

Committee Member

Moyen, Eric A.

Date of Degree

5-16-2025

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Higher Education Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Counseling, Higher Education Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations

Abstract

Employee retention is costly for many companies, including colleges and universities. Tuition benefits have been shown to be helpful in recruitment and retention. This study looked at how tuition benefits used by university staff members affected turnover intentions, workplace belonging and institutional commitment. Benefits eligible university staff members, who were in primarily non-teaching roles at one rural, four-years land grant university were asked to complete an electronic survey, and 250 responses were collected. To measure the variables of interest the survey combined scale items representing each of the dependent variables; turnover intention (Bothma & Roodt, 2013), workplace belonging (Jena & Pradham, 2017), and institutional commitment (Lorch, 2019). The quantitative, non-experimental study used multiple linear regression to analyze the data, and results showed that staff type and race had a significant relationship with institutional commitment and workplace belonging after accounting for utilization of tuition benefits. Support staff showed less institutional commitment and belonging, and executive staff showed more institutional commitment and belonging, in additional to higher turnover intentions. Additionally, white staff had more institutional commitment and other minoritized racial/ethnic staff had less institutional commitment. When comparing degree types of those employees who used tuition benefits to obtain a graduate degree compared to bachelor’s degree in the past, professional staff had less turnover intention. Furthermore, length of employment was significant for those who obtained a graduate degree using tuition benefits, showing that employees that worked for the instructions three years or less had more workplace belonging, but less institutional commitment. Additionally, white staff who obtained a graduate degree had more institutional commitment. Lastly, white employees who are currently enrolled in graduate programs using tuition benefits showed more institutional commitment, while staff with other minoritized racial/ethnic identities showed less institutional commitment. Further research on tuition benefits across other institutions and other institution type such as HBCUs could offer insights to how tuition benefits affect turnover intentions, workplace belonging and institutional commitment in distinct higher education contexts. This research offers university leaders information to better support staff and help shape policies around tuition benefits.

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