ERIC Number: EJ1464344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2330-7498
EISSN: EISSN-2330-748X
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Consumerism and Higher Education: Pressures and Faculty Conformity
Amanda Armstrong; Madeline Smith; Jaymi Thomas; M. Amanda Johnson
William & Mary Educational Review, v3 n2 Article 10 p36-45 2015
This article examines, through the lens of social influence theory, the impact of consumerism on faculty behavior. Rathus (2005) defines social influence as "the ways in which people alter the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of others" (p. 607). Demands such as student-teacher evaluations and high graduation rates can lead professors to lower their standards in order to conform to the expectations of students as consumers of higher education. Further, the institutions which employ faculty members also contribute to such conformity through the perpetuation of this business-oriented mindset. The authors explore consumerism in higher education through the following three elements of social influence: tenure review, accreditation, and marketing strategies. The primary objective is to shed light on the challenges faculty face from the discipline, or paradigm, of social psychology by examining the impact of each element.
Descriptors: College Faculty, Commercialization, Educational Policy, Politics of Education, Social Influences, Teacher Behavior, Social Behavior, Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance, Graduation Rate, Tenure, Accreditation (Institutions), Marketing, Social Psychology, Faculty College Relationship, Grade Inflation
William & Mary School of Education. 200 Stadium Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23185. e-mail: wmedreview@wm.edu; Web site: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/wmer/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A