Abstract

The purpose of this study was to present a model to explain the factors affecting the academic
recession of faculty members at Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran. As a
descriptive-survey research having a mixed methods design, this study identifies the relevant
indicators, puts forward rating and validation of a model. In the qualitative phase, the
population included university experts, faculty members, experts in the field of higher
education, and policymakers. We selected 10 people as participants through purposive
sampling. In the quantitative phase, all faculty members of Ardabil University of Medical
Sciences including 226 people were selected by the complete enumeration method. The data
collection instrumentation included an interview and a researcher-made questionnaire. The
results of the analysis of interviews with Grounded Theory and content analysis revealed that
the factors affecting the academic recession of faculty members at Ardabil University of
Medical Sciences include: personal factors (age, IQ, work history, personality traits, marital
status, and gender); organizational and environmental factors (type of employment,
organizational structure, salary and benefits, governing relationships in promotion, university
management, and rules and regulations); psychological factors (lack of success, inappropriate
social relationships, not enjoying work, and job stress); work factors (being members of
different scientific committees, priority of economic and financial factors among physicians,
prioritization of work in the personal surgery office, lack of appropriate incentives and
penalties, the value of the title of physician and no need for promotion, and ignoring medical
errors), and skill factors (lack of language proficiency, weakness in public speaking, and lack
of skill in using specialized software).