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This study uses both institutional and individual level data to examine the variation of part-time faculty employment in colleges and universities in the United States. Results support the arguments that higher educational institutions actively adopt contingent work arrangements to manage their resource dependence with constituencies, to save on labour costs, and to maximize academic prestige. Private institutions, on average, have higher levels of part-time faculty than their public counterparts. The proportion of part-time students and the share of institutional revenues derived from tuition and fees are positively associated with part-time faculty employment. Institutions that have limited resource slack and pay high salaries to their full-time faculty members tend to employ a high proportion of part-time faculty.