Student Expectations: Bases for Management Intervention

Abstract

The current climate in higher education suggests that students could be seen as primary customers (Hill, 1995; Sander et al., 2000) and teachers as service providers. To ensure provision of quality service, the expectations of the student-customers as they enter into the service transaction must be known (Sander et al., 2000). Discovering what students expect of and from their university is crucial, if the faculty are to adjust their instructional approaches accordingly and institutions are to modify policies and practices to respond in educationally effective ways to the current generation of students (Gonyea, 2001). Gonyea (2001) defines an expectation as something the student believes will happen, anticipates doing or experiencing, or perhaps even requires from the institution. Expectations are grounded in a student's self-understanding and in knowledge about the college or university he/she plans to spend the next four years or more. When applied to self, an expectation is like a plan or a goal. When directed at the institution, it is more of a requirement - a condition by which the student will measure his or her contentment with the institution. Research on student expectations of higher education suggests that they are dependent on a number of factors: culture (Shank et al., 1996), gender (Lammers, H.B et al.,2005) and university type. Furthermore, expectations and perceptions of service quality change over time (Sander et al., 2000). Why is there a need to measure expectations of students, particularly of the new undergraduates? Admittedly, the first year college is a critical transition point in a student's life when mental models from home and high school clash with the new experiences in college classes. Each of these experiences will challenge previous expectations. Thus, institutions must be mindful in learning about student expectations and how these expectations shape behavior. In so doing, institutions invest in transition experiences and programs to support students as they make adjustments in college (Miller, Bender & Schuh, 2005). Moreover, new undergraduates may have unrealistic or inappropriate expectations and it would be fitting to have those expectations managed to a more appropriate or realistic level (Hill, 1995). Thus, the early experiences on college campus are not only a testing period for expectations but are also likely to be shaping new expectations (James, 2001). Moreover, expectations are thought to affect college experiences in at least two ways. The first is to act as an organizational system or filter to help the individual determine what is or is not worth attending to or putting effort toward. That is, expectations influence experience so as to construct what becomes reality for the individual (Feldman, 1981 in Gonyea, 2001). The second is to act as a stimulus or deterrent to behavior, as represented by psychological theories such as expectancy theory, self-efficacy theory and motivational theory (Kuh, 1999 and Olson, Kuh et al., 1998 in Gonyea, 2001). To illustrate, when a student's expectations are met, he/she is more likely to remain in school and complete a degree; otherwise, the student may consider dropping out or transferring to another institution with a better fit (Braxton, Hosler and Vesper, 1995 in Gonyea, 2001). In support of this last statement, Steele (1992 in Sander et al., 2000) showed that the careful manipulation of the expectations of students from traditionally disadvantaged groups could positively affect retention and performance. This finding suggests that addressing expectations can in fact produce measurable improvements in student outcomes. Also, Schilling and Schilling, 1999 (in Miller, 2001) captured the broad idea that expectations are vital to education. Their reviews of the literature revealed that motivation and school performance in younger school children suggest that expectations shape the learning experience very powerfully. They cited classic studies in the psychology literature, which found that persons with high expectations perform at a higher level than those with low expectations even though their measured abilities are equal. Given that most academic institutions articulate to students what they expect from the latter, they look into standards of behavior, student performance, coursework and the like. However, it appears as though much less energy goes into determining what students expect of institutions (Miller, Bender & Schuh, 2005). In this light, this study was conceptualized to serve as '˜filler' to this gap. The current research is also novel in examining student expectations as there are only very few local studies conducted along this sphere of inquiry in higher education.