Job changing decisions of faculty members: a case study of a model with multiple selection

A model of faculty job search behaviour must explain the two decisions of whether to search for another position and of whether to accept the new position if an offer is received. Developing a theoretical model of this process is not diffcult, but estimation difficulties caused by the self-selection inherent in the data subsamples of non-searchers, searchers who stay, and searchers who leave must be considered. To estimate the structural determinants of these decisions we make assumptions regarding the covariance matrix of the error terms of the structural equations that allow us to use a straightforward extension of earlier approaches to this problem. The particular variables that correspond to the theoretical measures in the model are not common to most data bases on faculty. Thus, we were forced to use a rather old data base to estimate the model, which reduces the usefulness of the estimates for current policy purposes. Nonetheless, the estimates do shed light on the efficacy of the model and illustrate the issues involved in the estimation problems.