The desired teaching qualities of lecturers in higher education: a means end analysis

Purpose – The study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the teaching qualities of lecturers that students desire and to uncover the constructs that underlie these desire and reveal the underlying benefits that students look for. /Methodology/Approach - A semi-standardized qualitative technique called laddering applied that allows researchers to reach deeper levels of reality and to reveal the reasons the reasons. The study was conducted amongst teacher education students at a large University of Education and laddering questionnaires were handed out to 53 students in a business management course. – The exploratory study gave a valuable first insight into the desired qualities of . In particular, the study results indicate that students want lecturers to be , enthusiastic, approachable, and friendly. Students predominately want to valuable teaching experiences to be able to pass tests and to be prepared for their . This study also showed that students are mainly concerned about vocational of their studies and are less interested in their subject. limitations/implications – Due to the exploratory nature of the study and the scope size of its sample, the results outlined are tentative in nature. As the study involved only a group of university students from one university, the results cannot be generalized to student population as a whole. /value – The study was the first to successfully apply the means-end approach and laddering technique to the issue of service quality in higher education. The study has, opened up an area of research and methodology that could provide considerable benefits for researchers interested in this topic.