How do marketing academics view research as opposed to teaching? A projective technique puts some qualitative flesh on the quantitative bones

Abstract

IntroductionThe relative merits of teaching versus research have probably been debated in academic circles since teaching began but this has no doubt intensified after the adoption of the US style 'research output (i.e. getting published) as an indicator of quality' measure in UK and other universities around the world. This paper investigates the attitudes of marketing academics towards research and towards teaching using a short questionnaire and encompassing This paper looks at the breadth and strength of attitudes towards teaching vis-à-vis attitudes towards research of a sample of research-active marketing academics. Utilising a projective technique to uncover findings it shows that strong feelings are associated with the presented scenarios of marketing academics doing less research and more teaching or more research and less teaching. Marketing academics commonly believe that their promotion prospects are associated with their research output and therefore strongly resent attempts to curtail their research activities in favour of taking on more teaching responsibilities. The research suggests that a minority of marketing academics will immediately start looking for alternative employment if their research opportunities are to be diminished so that they can do more teaching. The majority will resent their increased teaching load and feel antipathy towards the perceived source of that increased teaching load. A criticism of research into teaching and research has been its statistical nature and a reported lack of in-depth understanding at the individual level (Durning and Jenkins 2005). This paper arguably provides such an understanding at the individual level which goes beyond the merely rational to show the depths of feelings academics have towards teaching and conducting research and to trading off one against the other.

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