Transformative Quality in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Conceptualisation, scale development and validation

• Published in: Journal of business research 2022-01, Vol.138, p.275-286
• Main Authors: Gill, Seerat Kaur, Dhir, Amandeep, Singh, Gurparkash, Vrontis, Demetris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access; Business schools; Higher education institutions (HEIs); Post-massification; Quality; Transformative quality
• ISSN: 0148-2963; 1873-7978
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.029

With the increasing post-massification of higher education institutions (HEIs), access-providing business schools (vs elite educational institutions) continue to rank at the bottom in terms of quality. This study defines and develops a measure of quality in the context of access-providing business schools in a developing country. Access-providing private business schools face competing challenges of balancing inclusiveness and access with excellence and quality. Pursuing inclusiveness and access alongside excellence and quality seems a utopian ideal. However, this study propounds transformative quality as key for addressing these conflicting issues, which have long impacted post-massification and continue to have a grave effect post-pandemic. We propose a five-factor, 27-item scale of transformative quality (TRFQ). We validated the proposed scale through three studies exploring the perspectives of front-line faculty members representing 25 business schools from 10 major cities in India. The study results indicate that TRFQ comprises five dimensions such as critical confidence, problem-solving skills for approach-avoidance, overall awareness, overcoming prejudices and skillfulness. The role of TRFQ in future research has implications and recommendations for institutional management in business schools and for policymakers.