Faculty perceptions of institutional culture and performance in higher education

Numerous studies have addressed the changes that have occurred in the academic profession and the effects of the private business-sector model appearing in institutional management and evaluation (Teichler-Kheim 2013, Hyde et al. 2013). However, these studies often focus on the individual situation and evaluation of academic professionals independently, and less frequently take into account the institutional community and organizational culture to which the educator belongs. Yet, we assume that these factors strongly influence their responses to challenges. In our study, we connect the meso- and micro-levels, that are the institutional and individual perspectives, and investigate whether institutional culture and the interpretation of teaching effectiveness are related. Our research questions pertain to their homogeneity and correlations. We conducted the processing of qualitative, focus group interviews with higher education academic professionals in one of the Easternmost regions of the European Higher Education Area based on data from 2022, following the introduction of performance evaluation in higher education, using hybrid coding. The most important findings of the research indicate that despite facing the same societal, policy, and territorial challenges, a highly diverse institutional culture has emerged within the institutions, and the views of educators on effectiveness also show significant diversity. The institutional culture and the views on effectiveness are related, but not exclusive. Our results are important for higher education decision-makers to monitor and manage the impact of changes effectively.