Identifying and Prioritizing the Factors Affecting the Faculty Development in the University of Tehran

This study intends to identify and prioritize the factors affecting the faculty development (FD) in the University of Tehran. An exploratory mixed method study was conducted in two phases: qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative phase, the factors affecting the development of faculty members were identified and categorized through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts who were selected by purposive sampling. In the quantitative phase, the viewpoints of 282 persons of faculty members of Tehran University who were selected by stratified relative sampling procedure were collected in the form of descriptive research method and the measurement tool is a researcher-made questionnaire. Two general categories of factors were identified as a result of qualitative phase, through open and axial coding 1. Personal factors and 2.Organizational factors. Then, in quantitative phase, data were analyzed by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, and also factors affecting the FD were prioritized. The results indicate that among personal factors, the personality characteristics of faculty members with the relative weight of 0.302 has the greatest impact on FD and then motivation, academic background, professional commitments, and responsibility are respectively with the relative weight of 0.251, 0.194, 0.135, and 0.118. The highest priority among organizational factors is organizational culture and climate with the relative weight of 0.277 and then factors such as career promotion system, management, development opportunities, and also structural factors and economic factors are in the relative ratios of 0.216, 0.18, 0.138, 0.104, and 0.85.