Lecturer competence, work environment, work motivation and career development: evidence from the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara
Keywords:
Academic Career Development, Higher Education, Lecturer Competence, Work Environment, Work MotivationAbstract
Lecturer career development is an important component of human resource management in higher education, yet career advancement may not depend solely on individual competence and work motivation. This study examines the relationships of lecturer competence and work environment with work motivation and career development at the Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU). A quantitative approach with a causal-associative design was employed. The population consisted of 52 active lecturers, all of whom were included through a census sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression in two analytical models. The first model examined competence and work environment as predictors of work motivation, while the second examined competence, work environment, and motivation as predictors of career development. The findings show that competence has a positive and significant relationship with lecturer motivation (β = 0.858; p < 0.001), while work environment also has a positive and significant relationship with motivation (β = 0.144; p = 0.029). Together, the two predictors explain 91.2% of the variance in motivation. In contrast, competence, work environment, and motivation do not show statistically significant relationships with career development. The second model explains 18.8% of the variance in career development. The findings suggest that lecturer motivation is closely associated with individual competence and the work environment, whereas career development may involve additional organizational and academic factors beyond those examined in this study.
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