Business pedagogy: a qualitative analysis to inform library support

Abstract

PurposeThis study seeks to illuminate business instructors' undergraduate pedagogical processes toward developing resources and services to support their teaching.Design/methodology/approachThe authors recruited participants through purposeful sampling and collected data through semi-structured interviews. The transcriptions were coded using a grounded theory approach.FindingsThe findings of this study demonstrate that faculty are motivated to be good teachers and want to engage in opportunities to improve. However, lack of time and teaching with technology pose pedagogical learning curves for faculty. Institutional support for improving teaching is welcomed, but it may also be perceived as white noise against competing priorities and a deluge of information. Lastly, business, as a discipline, may uniquely use informational formats such as multimedia and case studies that may pose a challenge to traditional collection development.Research limitations/implicationsThe project was designed to be exploratory, small-scale and grounded in approach. This study does not purport to be statistically representative nor are the recommendations meant to be prescriptive.Practical implicationsAcademic libraries should be more intentional about positioning subject librarians to provide suggestions for textbooks or other course materials, collecting, organizing and preserving case studies and multimedia and their relationships with publishers that use models that subvert collecting textbooks. Libraries should also partner with technology and pedagogy support units to offer cooperative programming when possible.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the fields of library and information studies, business and education by articulating the unique needs of instructors within the larger contexts of business pedagogy, and the evolving relationship between libraries and undergraduate teaching support.