Persistence, Trust, and Long-Term Commitmen.
My doctoral research examines why people stay, why they leave, why they engage, and why they disengage when faced with uncertainty. While the study focuses on international student persistence during a period of unprecedented disruption within Ontario's college system, the underlying questions are equally relevant to organizations, workplaces, and leaders navigating rapid change. The research is situated within what Ontario colleges are beginning to call the post-cap period, following federal reductions to international study permit allocations that began in 2023 and accelerated through 2024. These policy changes created significant uncertainty across the postsecondary sector, generating conditions that provide a unique opportunity to better understand how individuals respond when support systems, expectations, and institutional environments shift around them.
At its core, the research asks a question that extends far beyond higher education: when people experience uncertainty, what determines whether they remain committed or begin to withdraw? Preliminary findings suggest that persistence is influenced less by individual capability and more by factors such as trust, belonging, perceived support, social integration, access to resources, and confidence in the institution or organization they are part of. These findings have important implications for today's workplace. Many organizations are confronting challenges related to employee engagement, retention, workplace culture, organizational commitment, and the phenomenon commonly described as quiet quitting. The same conditions that influence whether students persist or withdraw often influence whether employees remain engaged, contribute discretionary effort, trust leadership, and commit to long-term organizational goals.
Drawing on Tinto's Student Integration Model, Schlossberg's Transition Theory, and emerging Canadian research on persistence and belonging, this work offers insights into how leaders can build environments where people feel connected, supported, valued, and motivated to remain engaged during periods of change. Ultimately, the research contributes to a broader understanding of human commitment, organizational trust, and the conditions that encourage individuals to stay invested in a community, institution, or workplace over time.
Scholarship at the Intersection of Practice, Policy, and Organisational Change.
Beyond his dissertation, Keith's research focuses on the factors that influence engagement, commitment, retention, and performance during periods of change. His work explores how people respond to uncertainty, how organisations build trust, how leaders influence culture, and how emerging technologies such as generative AI are reshaping learning, work, and decision-making. His research interests include employee engagement, organisational commitment, change management, workforce readiness, technology adoption, leadership effectiveness, and organisational renewal. While much of his research is conducted within higher education, the questions he investigates are equally relevant to businesses, public-sector organisations, and non-profits facing disruption, transformation, and increasing pressure to attract, develop, and retain talent.
Keith maintains an active research agenda through Georgian College, collaborates on institutional research initiatives, and regularly presents his work to educators, administrators, and professional audiences. His peer-reviewed publications and scholarly contributions are available through his ORCID profile. Whether studying student persistence, employee retention, organisational trust, leadership effectiveness, or the impact of artificial intelligence on professional practice, Keith's research is guided by a practical question: what causes people to remain engaged, committed, and invested in an organisation, and what causes them to disengage, withdraw, or leave?
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