Abstract:

Two trends in marketing higher education include: (1) growing opportunities for intercultural encounters in the classroom, and (2) more mobility of faculty teaching in foreign environments. One of the most difficult issues for a foreign visiting faculty member is overcoming years of experience with homes students and self reference criterion. While it is arguable that foreign faculty should adapt, typically students have expectations about expectations and content delivery in class. While foreign professors sometimes get the ‘benefit of the doubt’ (i.e., students have a wider latitude of acceptance for deviations from the local norms), severe deviations are likely to be met with resistance. This study surveys business college students from more than twenty-five different countries regarding their expectations/preferences for 1) Objective vs. Subjective information; 2) degree of ambiguity tolerance; 3) rewards for creative thinking; 4) importance of communication; and 5) preferences for teamwork over individual evaluation. The results suggest major differences in preferences for the five components. Specifically, the findings suggest that 1) high context cultures a) prefer more creative, less objective content, b) believe that the ability to communicate is important is independent of content and c) prefer teamwork as a major learning opportunity. Further, both high uncertainty and collectivist cultures tend to prefer a) to be evaluated on objective rather than subjective content; b) are less tolerant of ambiguity; c) prefer rewards for creativity; d) very strongly believe that communication is important as an independent criteria, and e) are strongly inclined to toward teamwork. Implications for foreign visiting/exchange professors are discussed.

Keywords:

Culture, Student Learning Preferences, Visiting Faculty.