Student and Professor Similarity: Exploring the Effects of Gender and Relative Age

The authors examined student responses to faculty traits. Earlier findings revealing a preference for male instructors were obtained before female faculty and students were prevalent on college campuses and may have reflected a male demographic similarity effect. It was hypothesized that students wo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education for business 2015-01, Vol.90 (1), p.1-9
Main Authors: Gehrt, Kenneth, Louie, Therese A., Osland, Asbjorn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Rank (Professional)
Age
Age Differences
College Students
communicator distinctiveness
Correlation
Demographics
Effects
Evaluation Research
Gender
Gender Differences
Personality Traits
Predictor Variables
Preferences
rank
Response Style (Tests)
similarity-attraction
Student Attitudes
Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance
Student Reaction
Students
Teacher Behavior
Teacher Evaluation
teaching evaluations
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Summary:The authors examined student responses to faculty traits. Earlier findings revealing a preference for male instructors were obtained before female faculty and students were prevalent on college campuses and may have reflected a male demographic similarity effect. It was hypothesized that students would more favorably evaluate faculty who were similar in gender and in relative age (as reflected in faculty rank). As anticipated, female students evaluated female lower ranked faculty most favorably, and male higher ranked faculty least favorably. However, male students showed mixed effects. Although their evaluations were more favorable for lower ranked male faculty, they unexpectedly did not degrade higher ranked female faculty. Discussion focuses on gender-related causal factors and implications.
ISSN:0883-2323
1940-3356
DOI:10.1080/08832323.2014.968514