Examining Factors Influencing Faculty Buy-in and Involvement in the Accreditation Process: a Cause Analysis Grounded in
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Examining Factors Influencing Faculty Buy-in and Involvement in the Accreditation Process: a Cause Analysis Grounded in Systems Thinking Pauline S. Muljana 1
&
Paul M. Nissenson 2 & Tian Luo 1
Published online: 5 August 2020 # Association for Educational Communications & Technology 2020
Abstract Accreditation is important for ensuring and sustaining the quality of an educational program, but the process can be challenging. Higher education institutions are open systems that rely on multiple entities, such as faculty members, to assist with the accreditation process. However, there is sometimes a lack of buy-in and involvement from faculty when assisting with accreditation-related tasks. This paper describes a cause-analysis study that was grounded in systems thinking and conducted at an engineering department at a large, diverse public university in the U.S. The study was aimed to reveal interrelated factors influencing the engineering faculty’s buy-in and involvement in conducting departmental accreditation tasks. Findings indicate a need to improve the environmental factors, such as provisions of clear communication and suitable resources, as a prioritized intervention to promote faculty’s buy-in and involvement. Recommended interventions, possible challenges of implementing them, and implications on managing changes are also discussed. Keywords Behavior engineering model . Cause analysis . Program accreditation . Systems thinking
Introduction Accreditation is important for ensuring and sustaining the quality of an educational program (Germaine and Spencer 2016). Institutions failing to meet the quality standards may put their students’ academic and professional future at risk. For example, employers often consider whether an applicant attended an accredited program (Ceccucci and White 2008). However, the accreditation process for higher education (HE) institutions can be challenging. HE institutions rely on other interrelated entities to assist with accreditation process. One of
* Pauline S. Muljana [email protected] Paul M. Nissenson [email protected] Tian Luo [email protected] 1
Department of STEM Education and Professional Studies, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, USA
the entities playing a crucial role is faculty. Unfortunately, sometimes there is a lack of buy-in and involvement from faculty when assisting with accreditation-related tasks (Germaine and Spencer 2016) due to a shortage of time (Beld et al. 2009; Cummings et al. 2008), lack of perceived benefit to teaching and learning, insufficient expertise (Beld et al. 2009), and inadequate incentives for tenure and promotion (Andrade 2011). Studies examining faculty buy-in and involvement in accreditation are limited (Germaine and Spencer 2016; Grunwald and Peterson 2003; Hutchings 2010). For instance, previous studies examining engineering faculty’s buy-in and involvement in program accreditation, such as the Accreditation Board for En
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