Faculty enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom for teaching and research: instrument development and testing predictors of success

This study examined the role of emotions in predicting university faculty teaching and research performance while addressing the methodological limitations of past research. Recruited using social media, 312 early-career faculty completed an online survey containing six newly adapted multi-item emotion scales assessing enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom related to both teaching and research. Analyses supported the reliability as well as convergent and divergent validity of the scales. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that enjoyment positively predicted perceived success whereas anxiety and boredom negatively predicted success in both teaching and research, even after accounting for social-environmental predictors. The emotions also significantly related to faculty research publication and citation counts. In terms of implications for faculty development, the findings suggest that fostering value and control may be a mechanism for improving faculty emotions and performance in teaching and research. The discussion includes future theoretical and methodological contributions.