The relationship of selected factors to the attrition of county extension agents from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the resignation of male county Extension agents from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service so that recommendations could be developed for selecting new county personnel and thus reduce attrition. The following objectives were designed to aid in accomplishing this purpose: 1. To identify and compare factors common to male, former county Extension agents (non-persisters) with those of male agents who have continued their employment (persisters) as county Extension agents. 2. To determine if significant differences exist between factors peculiar to agents that resign and agents that continue in the county Extension agent position. 3. To determine levels of satisfaction experienced by non-persisters during the period of employment. Procedure: Data were obtained from permanent records of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and from a questionnaire sent to each former county Extension agent and were analyzed by the Data Processing Center at Texas A&M University. Analysis of variance was used to test the significance of difference between means for continuous variable data. Chi-square was used to test significance of association between discrete variables. Numbers, percentages, and means were used to show levels of job satisfaction of non-persisters..