Examining the Factors Influencing the Job Attachment of Faculty Members at the Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the job attachment of faculty members in the medical sciences field at the Islamic Azad University. This research adopted a mixed-methods approach (qualitative and quantitative). The qualitative sample consisted of 30 faculty members from medical disciplines at the Islamic Azad University of Tehran, and the quantitative sample included 1400 faculty members from the same institution, whose opinions were used in the quantitative part of the study. In the qualitative phase, 15 participants were selected using purposive sampling, with saturation law applied. In the quantitative phase, 300 participants were selected based on Cochran's formula, using stratified random sampling. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted for the qualitative part, and a researcher-designed job attachment questionnaire was used for the quantitative part. The researcher-designed questionnaire contained 70 items across 10 dimensions. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 21 and AMOS version 26 software. The results indicated that the three main dimensions—“Professional Development and Job Satisfaction,” “Innovation, Research, and Social Interaction,” and “Work Environment and Welfare”—along with their components, predicted 79.5% of the variance in job attachment of faculty members at the Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, and significantly influenced it. These findings clearly demonstrate that creating supportive and motivational conditions in universities can lead to an increase in job attachment among faculty members.