Assessment in higher education serves multiple purposes such as providing information about student learning, student progress, teaching quality, and program and institutional accountability. Yet, little is known about faculty and students' attitudes regarding different aspects of assessment that have wide-ranging implications for policy and practice in tertiary institutions. To investigate these views, parallel surveys of conceptions of assessment were administered to faculty and undergraduate students across four tertiary institutions including universities, an indigenous tertiary institution, and an institute of technology. A mean and covariance structures approach was used to test for measurement invariance and latent means differences between faculty and students regarding their conceptions of assessment. Results revealed differences in the latent means across the two groups. Faculty were likely to view assessment as a trustworthy process aiding teaching and learning, whereas students viewed assessment as focussed primarily on accountability and perceived assessment as irrelevant or even ignored in the teaching and learning process. These findings highlight the importance of ensuring that assessment policy and practices are fit for purposes, and are being carried out with integrity in ways that are transparent to and understood by both staff and students. While these results show how staff and students view assessment practices, one should keep in mind that while the
Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence the growing African middle class (middle of pyramid; MOP) consumers' purchase decision making. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed qualitative research method approach comprising in-depth interviews was used to collect data from middle of pyramid consumers in four countries. Secondary data analysis was used to complement the interviews. Findings – Key findings include the identification of three key intertwined influencers of branding, peer and social networks and aesthetics and product performance. Other influencers include technology and new products, distribution channels and family. Research limitations/implications – The focus on four countries has the potential to minimize the generalizability of findings from the study although the four countries used have a significant amount of middle class consumers in Africa. However, this does not detract from the findings of the study but actually provides a basis for further research into other emerging markets. Practical implications – Findings from the study provide practical insights for marketing managers who intend to serve this market, key of which are branding, use of social networks, online distribution and maximising technology. Originality/value – The paper expands the research agenda of the relatively new area of the MOP. By focusing on the MOP in Africa, the research expands existing knowledge beyond previous areas of focus of middle class studies that focus on China and India.
Purpose -The purpose of this article is to develop an alternative approach to researching the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in Asian markets. Design/methodology/approach -A conceptual approach is taken. Findings -The paper has argued that in Asian markets culture can be better understood on the basis of cultural groupings (e.g. ethnic grouping) than on politically defined and artificially created national boundaries. The assessment and comparison of cultural differences and similarities in Asia can be conducted by using an "enlarged" emic approach. Given the idiosyncratic nature of relationships and the increasing significance of the emic contexts enriched by globalisation, the proposed approach is likely to generate a better understanding of the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in emerging Asian markets. Practical implications -Managers doing business in emerging Asian markets need to go beyond traditional national culture stereotypes to capture cultural diversities and paradoxes in terms of, for example, ethnic culture, regional culture, professional culture, and emerging global culture groupings within and across national borders. Originality/value -Differing from the "either/or" nature of the mainstream scholarship which tends to bipolarise national cultures, this paper emphasises the "both/and" character of Asian cultures which intrinsically embrace paradoxes in philosophies, values, and behaviours. The paper has suggested that an "enlarged" emic approach to cross-cultural clustering and comparison be used in Asian contexts to better understand the workings of relationship creation and network formation in emerging Asian markets.
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