From Flattery to Threats – The Effects of Student Influence Tactics on Faculty Well-Being

Abstract

Professors are all too familiar with the various ways students attempt to influence them in order to obtain favorable academic outcomes. After numerous conversations and first-hand evidence exploring faculty members experiences of stress in academia, we have found that some faculty members experience a higher quantity and/or more aggressive student influence tactics than others. We have found that a potential reason for this is based on the social distance and similarity (or lack of similarity) in the professor-student dyad. Our essay outlines why these influence tactics often adversely affect faculty well-being, moderators to this relationship, and protective strategies against the negative effects of such influence tactics.