Stakeholders In Higher Education Institutions Research Articles

The Barriers and Readiness to Deal With Digital Transformation in Higher Education

During the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, stakeholders in higher education institutions have been encouraged to adapt to the changes caused by digital transformation. This study employs a case study approach to investigate the barriers and readiness of students, educators, and higher education institutions for digital transformation. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders in a higher education institution in Indonesia. The data from the questionnaire were analysed using qualitative descriptive analysis, while the transcripts of the interview data were run into the ATLAS.ti Qualitative Data Analysis application and analysed thematically. Codes developed from digital transformation barriers were suggested by Volgesang and later interpolated during data analysis into readiness and strategy codes. The emerging themes related to students and lecturers, and universities obstacles, readiness and strategies in dealing with digital transformation could then be identified. The findings are crucial for higher education institutions to thrive in the digitally evolving environment. Understanding how the university's stakeholders perceive the transformation would help anticipate a more knowledgeable and organized method to handle the intricacies and difficulties associated with such a profound change.

Discourse to the Factors of Decision-making of Students in Choosing a University Major

The purpose of this paper to investigate the factors that influence students' choice of major, by conducting a literature review and identifying research gaps. There was adopted a methodical approach PRISMA that included a systematic literature review based on the Scopus database. The results of this study indicate a noteworthy trend in the literature related to major choice within the Scopus Database. The number of papers on this topic has exhibited consistent growth since 2008, reaching a peak in 2021, albeit with an annual publication count not exceeding 12 articles. Prominent authors have primarily contributed to discussions surrounding major choice, with a focus on the medical and engineering fields, while engagement with business-related disciplines, such as marketing, management, remains limited. Notably, most retrieved documents were articles (85%), with a minority being reviews (15%), some of which did not directly align with the research question. The affiliations of these documents were predominantly associated with research centers and universities in the United States, underscoring a gap in contextualizing major choice within the Kazakhstani and broader Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. In summary, this study underscores a growing interest in major choice research since 2008, predominantly concentrated in specific disciplines and geographic regions, with notable disparities in representation among academic fields. Key factors that play a pivotal role in shaping students' decisions regarding their majors were identified. This paper emphasizes the foundation for the empirical research related to customers in roles of students and stakeholders in higher education institutions based on CIS countries.

“Open access and without fees”: Arab university professors' views on the journal access types

PurposeDue to the high expense of obtaining and accessing scientific research, readers with diverse financial abilities are not offered equal opportunities. This study investigates the preferences for journal access types among Arab university academics and explores the implications of publishing research articles in open access vs closed access journals in low- and lower-middle income countries.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey and an in-person focus group consisting of 74 scholars from Arab institutions throughout the Arab World were conducted.FindingsFindings show that most professors at Arab universities favour open access publication without author fees. The results also show that this method of publishing research will help these nations advance by giving all citizens equal access to information and providing researchers with a good opportunity to be read and cited, which contributes to the overall progress of science.Originality/valueThis topic has not been investigated yet, and it is of great importance to university professors and stakeholders in higher education institutions in the Arab world.

The human capital and human capability models: Showing the connection between graduation and employment

The purpose of the paper is to examine the human capital and human capability models in order to show the connection between graduation and employment. There appear to be topical issues in Zimbabwean electronic and print media regarding the complaint of the mismatch between the students’ training and the product of graduates, which may lead to the failure to meet the industry’s needs. The mismatch between the university curriculum and national developmental needs results in the production of graduates who have to be trained in order to be employable in industry, and this little linkage led me to write this paper. A qualitative interpretive study of the examination of the gap between graduation and employability was used after identifying a small-scale case study with twenty (20) managers and university students that were purposefully sampled and then interviewed. The results of the interviews were presented in tables and graphs, then analyzed and interpreted. The findings of the results revealed that Zimbabwean businesses are suffering from the influx of recent graduates who lack the market-required scientific, technological, social, problem-solving, and creative abilities. The involvement of different stakeholders in higher education institutions, including the government, universities, and industries, should lead to the production of education and economic policy’s new language, posture, position, and direction that Zimbabwe could take to stabilize the economy. A new stable season where values are corrected and projected towards economic recovery, industrialization of the economy, and the creation of employment can be realized.

Digitization of learning environment of higher education institutions: conceptual foundations and practical cases

Digital transformation involves the use of digital technologies for rebuilding processes and increasing their efficiency. It is confirmed by the results of the research on transformational processes in various spheres. This research paper deals with the development (modernization) of digital learning environments of higher education institutions, which creates conditions for creating models of real production and social processes by means of modern digital technologies. It will strengthen the competence potential of all the stakeholders of higher education institutions, which train specialists in digital technologies. The need to upgrade the existing educational environments of higher education institutions in the context of crisis situations related to global challenges (for example, COVID-19) or the specifics of a specific country (the war in Ukraine) or an educational institution is substantiated. The research paper specifies a conceptual model of the next generation digital learning environment of a higher education institution, which involves the distribution of resource distribution and provision of integration of resources, data and users according to three levels (micro, meso and macro levels), and provides the cases of its implementation in National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine and Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. The monitoring data are presented both at the level of external (development of the component composition of the environment) and internal (change of organizational processes according to the students’ demand) design of the environment. The need for designing a change management system at the level of a higher education institution or its structural subdivisions is identified.

Perceptions of Employability of Undergraduate Business Program Graduates: A Qualitative Analysis

Background: Students' perspective on graduate employability is an essential aspect to consider as they are the primary stakeholders of higher education institutions. Therefore, exploring graduates' perspectives on their employability and considering their opinions when designing policies and programs to improve graduate employability is crucial. However, little attention has been paid to graduates' perspectives on their employability. Objectives: This paper explored graduates' perceptions of employability, the labour market, and their views on academic credentials and employability skills in obtaining and retaining employment. The paper also examined the role of business schools in enhancing employability and how universities have prepared graduates to enter the labour market in the context of the human capital approach. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with a small sample of 38 undergraduate students from two different business programs who graduated from the constituent college of Pokhara university in 2019 and 2021 using purposive sampling. The interviews were designed to elicit in-depth responses from the participants and to allow them to share their experiences and insights. The study used the thematic analysis approach to analyze the data, which involved identifying patterns and themes within the data. The transcripts of the interviews were carefully reviewed and analyzed, and themes were generated based on the recurring patterns and ideas expressed by the participants. Results: The thematic analysis demonstrated that graduates understood employability as becoming employable with the potential of employability skills. Graduates viewed possessing academic credentials as one of the key benefits ofbecoming employable in the competitive and congested graduate labour market. The study further illustrated that employers expect both discipline-specific knowledge and soft skills from graduates. The data on the role of business schools in enhancing employability suggested that although many graduates felt that business schools could provide theoretical knowledge, the schools need to pay more attention to practical-based knowledge, especially soft skills. Conclusion: The study findings have provided insights into how recent graduates comprehend employability, view the current labour market and position their academic credentials in employability. The analysis has further demonstrated that students increasingly view their employability as the relative positional competition for labour market resources, which appears to have a bearing on how they perceive the role of credentials in their employability. The findings have further shown that employers expect both sides of graduate potential: strong academic credentials and employability skills. Therefore, graduates increasingly see the need to develop broader employability, which incorporates building strong academic credentials and employability skills and competencies outside the formal learning context. The study findings have implications for business schools, policymakers and researchers within the broader discourse of the knowledge-driven economy.

PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

In recent years, Malaysia has seen a significant increase in enrolment in postgraduate programs as part of the government's efforts to advance into a developed nation status by developing a skilled talent pool of scientists and researchers. However, despite the increasing trend of mental health issues among youths in Malaysia, the psychological well-being of postgraduate students has received limited attention in research and literature. This review paper provides a contemporary overview of the state of mental health in Malaysia to contextualise the psychological challenges faced by students in Malaysian universities. The article also highlights the lack of research on the psychological well-being of postgraduate students in Malaysia, which has led to a limited understanding of how this population is affected by their well-being. The article also discusses evidence from previous studies to illustrate how different aspects of psychological well-being are essential for not only academic success but also physical and mental health for postgraduate students. The article argues that more research involving a wider range of methods is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying the psychological well-being of the wider postgraduate student population in Malaysia. Additionally, the paper discusses several implications for various stakeholders in higher education institutions to take appropriate action in promoting a greater sense of psychological well-being among postgraduate students on campus.

Beliefs Acceptance Model (BAM): A Tokenistic Approach to Reconceptualising Knowledge in Teacher Education Programmes (TEPs)

This paper argues that issues related to pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning can no longer be limited to research findings. There is an urgent need for such findings to inform curricular choices in teacher education programmes. The existence of these beliefs can no longer be ignored in the choices that shape the teacher education curricula. There is a need to acknowledge the important role they play in pre-service teachers’ professional identities, and thus require integration into the formation of future teachers’ being. Thus, the paper argues that persistence in ignoring pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning may continue to produce unreflective, unprepared graduates who lack confidence both in themselves and in the institutions that produce them. Hence, this theoretical paper proposes the beliefs acceptance model (BAM) which combines elements of the metacognitive and attribution theories as a framework for understanding why it is essential to foreground the beliefs of pre-service teachers in teacher education programmes. The primary aim of this paper is to examine how both theories, conceptualised as a model, can be used to engage with pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning in teacher education programmes. This paper will not only contribute to knowledge in the teacher education programmes, but can also be useful for curriculum planners and other stakeholders in higher education institutions in general. Keywords: Attribution theory, teaching and learning, Metacognitive theory, Pre-Service Teachers, teacher educators, academic developers, beliefs acceptance model

Equity and Equality Perspectives to Promoting Digital inclusion in Higher Education

Given the continuing pandemic context, examining the issue of digital inclusion is both timely and significant. Using equity and equality perspectives, we examine the extent to which digital inclusion policies have improved students’ access to digital technologies and promoted digital inclusion in an Australian university. Grounded in Adams’ Equity Theory and Espinoza’s, Equality and Equity Conceptual Model, we share our findings from a mixed methods study of a survey of 284 undergraduate students and interviews with 15 staff members and 9 students. While students shared their experiences of undertaking an undergraduate university degree, teaching and support staff shared their views on the design, development and support experience of undergraduate students’ digital literacy. The findings suggest the critical need to promote a better understanding of equity and equality perspectives across key stakeholders in higher education institutions during policymaking, particularly on resource allocation to promote digital inclusion.

Innovation in Higher Education Management and Leadership

Innovation in higher education management and leadership has experienced a continuous increase in demand, worldwide. The emergence of global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the adoption and implementation of this innovation. Furthermore, technological advancement can be attributed to changes in educational management and leadership. The use of business models, theories, and methods such as the Education Management Information System (EMIS) has improved the collection, analysis, interpretation, storage, and retrieval of data to increase how they make well-informed decisions. Therefore, the strategies employed in higher education management and leadership have undergone many changes and updates. However, further research is required to ensure that best practices, evidence, and data-driven methods are used to improve staff/follower satisfaction and high performance of students and teachers in higher education institutions. This study explores the impact of innovation on management and leadership in higher education institutions. Findings from several countries show a strong positive correlation between increase in innovation and better educational management and leadership. Additionally, openness to change and happiness of stakeholders in higher education institutions increases when leaders and educational management are trained through conferences and benchmarking activities. Hence, using emerging technology and openness to change through education, awareness creation, and training, the level of innovation in universities and other higher education institutions increases, which in turn promotes performance and productivity.
 
 Received: 11 August 2021 / Accepted: 3 October 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021

Chinese and Indian higher education students go abroad: listening to them to determine what their needs are

This paper voices the opinions of international students’ from China and India, and highlights the intentional process of integrating their perceptions of internationalization into a strategic service delivery plan. Data on those perceptions were analysed using a probabilistic model. We clustered 766 international students’ opinions into categories that enabled us to determine the main ideas that constituted their perceptions. The findings enabled us to draw comparisons between two major sending countries and to formulate a series of recommendations for stakeholders in higher education institutions that receive Chinese and Indian students, as well as for policymakers. Primary differences relate to factors such as learning and internship opportunities for Chinese students and service provision for Indian ones. In conclusion, this study offers the next step in the analysis of Chinese and Indian international students’ needs providing with an innovative way of determining students concerns with a view to empowering them within the internationalization process of higher education institutions.

Multi-level analyses of distance education capacity, faculty members\u2019 adaptation, and indicators of student satisfaction in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic triggered distance education in higher education. Decisions such as isolation, social distancing and quarantine made by countries unexpectedly and suddenly forced face-to-face education to change to distance education within days. All academics around the world had to move online overnight. All the educational and academic activities in higher education (courses, exams, meetings, etc.) had to be conducted online in a few days. Based on these changes, this study aimed to analyze the relationships among student, faculty (adaptations of faculty members to distance education) and institutional (distance learning capacities of the universities) variables that affected satisfaction of the students related to distance education in higher education institutions in Turkey during COVID-19 pandemic using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The study group included 14,962 students and 3631 academics from 30 universities. The results showed that universities with higher distance education capacities got higher satisfaction scores. HLM analysis showed that 43% of the variation in satisfaction scores resulted from universities. The second HLM analysis showed that 44% of the overall satisfaction score variance of the students could be explained by the factors of university features (Level 2: distance education capacity and acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members). Thus, it was determined that 44% of the university factor calculated as 43% in Model 1 (which is calculated within students’ general satisfaction scores) resulted from the distance education capacity and the acceptance and use of distance education systems of faculty members. The findings of this study provide insights to improve distance education by stakeholders of higher education institutions.

THE SERVICE ENCOUNTER IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

This paper reviews existing literature on the service encounter in higher education institutions. It aims to analyse and provide more insight on the term service encounter, identify dimensions, the types of service encounter and how the service encounter is evaluated. The service encounter (SE) is a critical aspect of the service delivery process. It is used to determine whether the service delivered has been satisfactory or dissatisfactory. Furthermore, the service encounter offers an opportunity for the service provider to demonstrate his or her ability to offer a remarkable experience. However, it has been proven that many service providers do not take advantage of the service encounter to create student satisfaction. As a result, many encounters have left marks of unpleasant and negative feelings on the student. In higher education institutions, the service encounter helps both students and academicians communicate and understand the needs of either party. This study adopted a systematic review of the literature using several academic databases. A plethora of studies on the service encounter were reviewed from several academic databases but only 50 articles published from 1984 to 2018 were cited in this study. A descriptive analysis was used to highlight the classification of the sources used, the number of articles cited in this study and the year when the articles were published. The study identified several definitions of the service encounter and also found that there are several dimensions and types of the service encounter. The divergent views that emanate from these findings stem from the fact that there is a growth in literature and the body of knowledge on the service encounter in different sectors of the economy. The findings of this study could assist academics and practitioners to have a deeper understanding of the service encounter. Such an understanding is very critical in addressing the needs of students and other stakeholders of higher education institutions. Moreover, it can help faculty members and institutional managers deal with moments of truths which if properly managed can facilitate the realisation of student expectations and ultimately, satisfaction. This study further provides a basis for future research using the available service encounter evaluation tools or instruments.

Role of Research-based Learning on Graduates’ Career Prospects

Education is still a leeway towards achieving individual’s personal growth as well as professional development. Further and Higher Education (FHE) are even more crucial in accelerating the achievement of these goals. Consequently, graduate students explore endless opportunities to enroll for postgraduate programs, hoping to gain financial independence, economic freedom, and improved standard of living after completion. Since graduate programs offer such tremendous career and life-changing opportunities, it is imperative to investigate if programs like the master’s in business administration are still relevant in today’s fast-moving business environment. This phenomenology study systematically utilizes underlying assumptions of research-based learning to assess a core aspect of universities’ MBA curriculum, that is writing a dissertation. It examines the value added by dissertation to graduates’ long-term career goals. Data for the study was obtained from fourteen MBA graduates through unstructured in-depth interviews. All the graduates currently work as full-time employees in their respective organisations, who were drawn from four main departments namely marketing, education, accounting and the IT industry. Our findings are thought provoking, yet compelling, in the sense that participants expressed mixed opinions concerning whether the dissertation prepared them for their current job roles. Most of them attributed their career successes to luck and hard work. Good communication and leadership skills also played major roles. Only few of them did acknowledge honing such skills while writing their dissertation during the research process. The implication of this research to stakeholders of higher education institutions, and policy makers, are also discussed.

MEASURING INSTRUCTOR'S READINESS ON ACCEPTING THE USE OF E-LEARNING SYSTEM DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN HIGHER EDUCATION OF KUWAIT

ABSTRACT E-learning has arisen as a need to face the obstacles raised by Covid-19's current circumstance and IT growth and the capacity for greater access to information. The decision to close all educational institutions, including public and private universities, is among the difficulties faced by the State of Kuwait during the Corona pandemic. There were appeals and claims to carry out the e-learning process separately. However, several obstacles affect the implementation of e-learning in higher education. Whether various stakeholders in higher education institutions prefer to accept or oppose e-learning for their work needs to be understood. This study explores the readiness of instructors in Kuwait's higher education institutions to carry out the process of e-learning. The key purpose of this report is to evaluate Kuwait's universities instructors' readiness. To realize this research target, the e-learning literature was studied, and an exploratory analysis was performed in Kuwait. Then a conceptual model was proposed based on TAM's technological preparation model and amended with the findings of e-learning literature analysis to measure the e-learning acceptance. The initial conceptual model was developed to research e-learning readiness in Kuwait. Quantitative analysis approach was used to analyze and test the conceptual construct. Conducted a questionnaire web-based. This report ends by highlighting research's key results. Keywords E-learning, Readiness, Technology Readiness, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Crises conducting stakeholder salience: shifts in the evolution of private universities’ governance in Latin America

PurposeThis study aims to build on embedded approaches to stakeholder management and examines how organizational decision-makers consider social responsibility toward proximal stakeholders in crises that encompass an entire system of stakeholder relationships.Design/methodology/approachWithin a criterion-based sample of eight Latin American private universities, this paper develops in-depth exploratory case studies to examine the prioritization of stakeholders in higher education institutions’ decision-making during the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis.FindingsContrary to the notion that during crises organizations prioritize stakeholders that provide resources that are critical to survival, this study finds that in contextual crises stakeholder management is informed by social responsibility. In addition, the findings suggest that crises may be tipping points for changes toward mission-driven approaches to governance.Practical implicationsAcknowledging the roles of social responsibility and proximity in stakeholder management during contextual crises allows for more informed governance of organizations that face disruptions in their system of stakeholder relations.Originality/valueThis study contributes unique insights into the decision-maker’s prioritization of stakeholders during the COVID-19 crisis. The uncertainty associated with the emerging “new normal” allowed for an extreme test of socially embedded versus resource-oriented approaches to stakeholder management.

The challenges of instructors' and students' attitudes in digital transformation: A case study of Saudi Universities.

Digital Transformation (DT) has become the core motivator for almost all organizations worldwide. In order to cope up with the new demands, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are also giving due consideration to digitizing their services, including pedagogical services. Many challenges are being faced during the successful adoption of DT strategies and plans. One of the main obstacles is the set of challenges related to the stakeholders in HEIs; more precisely, instructors and students. This paper extracts, synthesizes, categorizes, and prioritizes the challenges hindering the success of DT in Saudi universities. Firstly, the paper extracts the main challenges faced by instructors and students, and then constructs a model of the challenges based on the tripartite classification of attitude. The paper adopts a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Method, called the Analytic Network Process (ANP), for the purpose of gathering instructors’ and students’ evaluations and prioritizing their challenges accordingly. A total of 25 instructors and students were recruited from various HEIs in Saudi Arabia to evaluate the model. The results show that learning performance, lack of access to resources, and fear of change are the most significant factors hindering students towards successful adoption of DT. On the other hand, fear of change followed by lack of experience and privacy concerns are the most significant factors hindering instructors towards successful adoption of DT. The research is intended to enlighten decision-makers in Saudi HEIs to consider non-technical challenges while planning for digitizing HEIs services.

Educational Modernization Drives the Development of Culture and Innovation

This conceptual paper studies the educational modernization drives the development of culture and innovation. Studies have shown that education helps to improve the potential of individuals while preserving the local culture. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 was a new era in the use of advanced technology. Humans are cultural beings, essentially the creators of culture itself. Culture develops alongside the potential of human beings to develop as cultural creators. The application of the M-learning approach takes into account the weaknesses of traditional learning systems. As such, recognizing advances in information and communication technologies, modernizing education can foster the development of local culture will help educators and students benefit from its visualization and content. The entire study will use quantitative and qualitative methodologies to evaluate results through questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders in higher education institutions, while building the M-Reminders & Notes mobile application, the ADDIE model is used according to the phase of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. This article aims to discuss the conceptual framework and the proposed application M-Reminders & Notes as an innovation project in the promotion of cultural development. The modernization of education has a profound effect on the development of local culture today and seeks information with technical assistance to bring out new changes in teaching and learning techniques.

HEISQUAL: A modern approach to measure service quality in higher education institutions

Considering students as the key stakeholders in higher education institutions (HEIs), the present study identifies service quality (SQ) indicators from their perspectives and proposes a more comprehensive instrument for measuring SQ exclusively in HEIs. HEISQUAL covers the operational as well as technical aspects of SQ by following a holistic approach, which has largely been ignored in previous studies. The proposed instrument was subjected to different scale development tests where outcomes fully complied with the benchmark values and proposed seven SQ themes, namely teachers’ profile, curriculum, infrastructure and facilities, management and support staff, employment quality, safety and security, and students’ skills development.

Social media as a tool of knowledge sharing in academia: an empirical study using valance, instrumentality and expectancy (VIE) approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that determine the knowledge exchange intention and behavioural nature of academics by the help of social media tools in the Indian higher education. Design/methodology/approach This study has used valance–instrumentality–expectancy (VIE) theory to determine the knowledge exchange behaviour of academics. The study has considered the effects of knowledge contributor (KC) and knowledge seeker (KS) as moderators. The model has been validated by using a survey with 320 usable respondents. Findings The results highlight that if the stakeholders of higher education institutions feel the deficits of knowledge exchange, they realize importance of knowledge sharing and use social media to increase effect of knowledge exchange. Besides, perceived usefulness impacts on the use of social media for knowledge exchange by the concerned stakeholders. Moreover, it is observed that experience of the use of social media impacts the use of this tool for knowledge exchange. Research limitations/implications The use and application of VIE theory have successfully been able to interpret the factors affecting use of social media for knowledge exchange in higher educational institutes. The use of VIE theory has also been able to explain the proposed model better as the model could achieve a high explanative power (87%). Practical implications This study has provided meaningful insights to the practitioners and policymakers to realize how the stakeholders of the higher education institutions in India can be motivated to feel the need of sharing of knowledge and how they can use social media with ease for this purpose. Originality/value Not much research has been conducted with regard to the usage of social media as a tool for knowledge sharing in higher education sector in India. In that sense, this study is a novel attempt to undertake such research.