Analysis of 2003 Salary Offer Survey Results

Sent to IS World October 1, 2003

Analysis of 2003 Salary Offer Survey Results

 

AIS, ISWORLD NET, and the University of Pittsburgh announce the results of last year's MIS Faculty Salary Offer Survey and the kickoff of the survey for the 2004-2005 academic year, both available at http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta/salsurv.html.

 

Bottom line per year (US, PhD-only candidates, the largest subgroup):

2003-2004: $100,448 in research schools; $86,769 in teaching schools

2002-2003: $100,502 in research schools; $85,500 in teaching schools

2001-2002: $ 94,462 in research schools; $76,882 in teaching schools

2000-2001: $ 87,192 in research schools; $73,647 in teaching schools

 

I have dropped an overall average for the main focus: the new assistant category.  While U.S. offers for PhDs decreased for the first time ever, the decrease was only $54 for research positions.  Offers increased by $1,269 for teaching schools.  Curiously, the sharply decreased ratio of research:teaching offers this year would place the overall average salary for U.S. PhD new assistant professors about 2% lower this year! While you might be tempted to believe that the overall average is meaningful, the drastically changed mix is responsible for the illusory decrease: the mix this year is 29 research and 13 teaching offers while last year the mix was 30 research and 5 teaching offers.

The final spreadsheet, in Excel XP Pivot Table form, is available by clicking here. Thanks to Ido Millet of Penn State Erie for again graciously providing this tool.

2003-2004 RESULTS:

 

We only have record of 77 offers this year (down from 90 offers recorded last year and 145 the year before). I have not investigated whether or not this decrease was due to the availability of fewer jobs, fewer offers, or simply fewer entries!  It is possible that more intrusive data might have played a role too.  The most important statistic in my informal analysis is that US PhD-only hires in research institutions has held steady at $100,448, down about 5 hundredths of a percent from last year's $100,552. In teaching institutions, offers tended to climb another 1.5%, moving the average to $86,769 from last year's $85,500.  Teaching institutions seem to be aiming to close the "gap," which is undoubtedly welcome news to many.

 

The 11 PhD/US/Assistant respondents who chose to reveal their identities averaged $100,972, which is only 1% more than the average for those hiding their identities ($100,972; n=18). The difference is not significant (two-tailed p=.711).

 

The correlation between salaries and teaching load has weakened, as salaries in teaching institutions have crept upward moderately, but remains significant, at -.265.  The correlation between summer support and teaching load remains very strong, at -.604. Teaching loads appear to have moved sharply upwards in teaching institutions, as if to justify higher salaries.

 

2003-2004

 

Change

2002-2003

2001-2002

2000-2001

1999-2000

1998-1999

$92,365

 n=48

New assistant professors only (see warning)

 

 $ 96,939

$90,368

$81,482

$76,894

$67,569

$96,214

 n=42

US only PhD only Warning: sensitive to research/teaching mix

 

 

 $ 98,359

$92,562

$82,244

$77,901

$67,435

 

n=29

    100,448

in research institutions (last year's n=30) (down $54)

-0.05%

  100,502

94462

 

 

 

 

n=13

      86,769

in teaching institutions (last year's n=5) (up $1,269)

1.48%

   85,500

76882

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$88,316

 n=19

Assistant professors switching to a new school (last year's n=38)

-4.29%

   92,273

$90,632

$83,646

$76,071

$70,679

 

n=7

$94,071

in research institutions (last year's n=15)

 

   97,200

98065

 

 

 

 

n=12

$84,958

in teaching institutions (last year's n=7)

 

   81,714

79233

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$113,749

 n=4

Associate professors (last year's n=12)

 

28.47%

   88,542

$96,038

$91,000

$82,717

$71,563

 

n=1

$100,000

in research institutions (last year's n=6)

 

   96,417

107850

 

 

 

 

n=3

$118,333

in teaching institutions (last year's n=6)

 

   80,667

70938

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$15,075

 n=53

Summer Support (last year's n=69)

-7.21%

   16,246

17650

13784

$12,347

$8,426

 

 

(caution: only includes offers with summer support)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

n=35 of 44

$17,929

in research institutions (last year 53 of 62 had it)

   18,414

19443

 

 

 

 

n=18 of 33

$9,525

in teaching institutions (last year 16 of 28 had it)

     9,062

11056

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.9

 

Teaching Load (caution: increase is due to the mix)

13.95%

4.3

4.4

4.7

4.9

4.9

 

 

3.6

in research institutions

 

3.6

3.7

3.6

3.8

3.8

 

 

6.6

in teaching institutions

 

6

6.3

6.2

6.4

5.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-0.265

 

Correlation between teaching load and salary

 

 

 

 

 

 

-0.604

 

Correlation between teaching load and summer support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A “course” is considered to be in 3-credit equivalents, which counts for 45 nominal class hours (including breaks) times 4=180, or 37.5 teaching hours times 4=150. As before, a maximum teaching load of 4 courses per year defined "research institutions," and those schools above 4 courses per year were labeled "teaching institutions." Even though schools with higher teaching loads often value and even require research productivity, it seems logical to categorize the schools based on this single, explicit, and quantifiable indicator of a school’s support (not just desire) for research. Although it is an imperfect measure, it does capture much of the decision process of candidates, who consider 180 nominal class hours (including breaks) or 150 teaching hours to be the limit for what they consider a research orientation.

This Year’s Survey

This year, we are continuing to allow candidates to choose either an anonymous or non-anonymous (only to Dennis) entry.

Anonymous submissions are certainly appreciated, but in the past some deans stated that they did not wish to pay attention to anonymous data. It seems that we need a substantial body of verified/verifiable data for extending the impact of the survey. A non-anonymous entry will simply have a "yes" in the "identity revealed?" column as before.

We hope you find the results from last year interesting and useful, and that we receive a large number of submissions once again this year, especially with identities revealed!

Dennis Galletta
Page Editor: Salary Survey