Departmental Climate, Institutional Support, and Self-Perceived Performance Among Newly Appointed Faculty: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study at a Saudi Tertiary Academic Teaching Hospital.

Objective: Newly appointed faculty members must navigate academic, clinical, and administrative responsibilities during a critical early-career transition, yet their self-perceived competence, departmental climate, and institutional support remain underexamined, particularly at Gulf-region tertiary academic teaching hospitals. This exploratory cross-sectional study used self-assessment to examine how newly appointed faculty perceive their departmental climate, institutional support, and performance, and how these perceptions relate to demographic and work-related characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered to 53 newly appointed faculty members at a tertiary academic teaching hospital. Factor analysis was performed using principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the factorial structure and compute factor scores, and internal consistency of the retained factors was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Results: The participants felt confident in their roles as clinicians and educators but reported challenges such as lack of administrative support and limited mentorship. This prevailing sentiment was supported by the low self-rated scores and their association with attitudes toward the institution. Departmental factors and performance were significantly correlated. Participants who were single obtained higher scores, and those who were planning a career shift had lower scores for the university and performance factors. Conclusion: Departmental climate and institutional support were significantly associated with self-perceived performance among newly appointed faculty. Faculty considering a career change reported lower institutional-support and performance scores, suggesting that perceived job satisfaction may be an important, modifiable target for faculty development, mentorship, and retention initiatives. Given the exploratory, single-center design and modest sample size, these findings should be confirmed in larger, multicenter, longitudinal studies before firm practice recommendations are made.