Professors as value agents: a typology of management academics’ value structures

Abstract

The paper addresses the paradox of value-free science and the need for valueoriented management education. Taking the values discussion in the German management community as an example, we identify two stereotypes in management literature: an allegedly value-free scientist who limits responsibility to economic aims and a value-laden academic who accepts responsibilities for societal aims and who aims to influence students' values. These stereotypes are then challenged against empirical data from a global survey of management academics. While the stereotypes are shown to be of only limited relevance, five clusters of management academics are identified based on their economic values, their social values and their intention to influence their students' values. As determinants of cluster attribution, cultural environment and discipline prove the most influential on value differences in the global sample. Gender, in contrast, has no significant impact. Finally, implications for higher education institutions are derived that may help to cope with values more consciously and more professionally.

Values education and student satisfaction: German business students' perceptions of universities' value influences

“…Although individual scholars may claim to attempt to influence values through their teaching, they regard their disciplines as unwilling to do so (Hansen, Moosmayer, Bode, & Schrader, 2007). This finding indicates that the actual value orientation in current teaching activities is rather limited (Moosmayer, 2011). Accordingly, we hypothesise that compared with their expectations of a value-related education students perceive less value influence in the courses they actually take.…”

“…Ironically, this finding provides economic evidence of the positive effects of value-related teaching. To value skeptics who consider values irrelevant for business schools or accept the economic rationale as the only legitimate perspective (Moosmayer, 2011), this case of a German HEI sends a clear message: There is a business case for influencing students' values.…”

“…Yet research on HEI marketing has prompted criticisms for its focus on an organizational perspective, rather than asking students about their needs and expectations (Oldfield & Baron, 2000). Similar concerns apply to research into values-oriented education, which has adopted academics' perspectives (Moosmayer, 2011) and companies' standpoints (Kashyap, Mir, & Iyer, 2006) but rarely students' views. To overcome these shortcomings, we investigate students' perceptions by asking whether students expect a values-oriented education, and how such values-oriented education affects students' satisfaction with their HEI.…”

A Model of Management Academics' Intentions to Influence Values

“…To influence values, academics must do so in the classroom but also demonstrate the influence to their peers and colleagues. For example, they can provide a model of how to be an integrative value agent (Moosmayer, 2011) by acting in a supportive manner and demonstrating how to bring values into the classroom, such as by inviting business leaders to participate in valuerelated classroom discussions (Lämsä et al, 2008). This tactic also could have a viral effect and increase colleagues' awareness of available support, which in turn should improve their intentions.…”

Critical pedagogy for teaching HRM in the context of social change

“…The literature on the role of business education debates the purpose and practice of business education (Fenwick, 2005;Hault and Perret, 2011;Moosmayer, 2011;Pellisery, 2013;Spicer et al, 2009), yet South African academia's participation in the literature and debates remains largely absent. The Global Foundation for Management Education (GFME) published a series of essays in 2010, attempting to engage with the role of management education within the context of the global financial crisis.…”