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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES four manuscripts and two unique definitions. Examining the definitions of psychological entitlement (provided above) suggests that the construct is a relatively stable trait and has the following facets: 1) a sense of deserving more than others (or preferential treatment); and, 2) with (often) little consideration of one’s qualities or performance. Jackson et al. (2010) suggested that a definition of academic entitlement contain the following facets: a) a belief that some reward is deserved that is not justified based on one’s actual academic achievement; 2) that a high academic entitlement disposition implies a diminished role for personal responsibility in actual academic achievement; and, 3) that a high academic entitlement disposition also implies expectations about the role of instructors that are above and beyond their obligation of providing educational opportunities and effective, quality instruction. More work needs to be done in the area of developing and validating academic entitlement measures. While promising measures do exist (e.g., Chowning & Campbell, 2009), the work in validation has been limited and rests on the assumption that the construct of academic entitlement has been adequately defined. A Phenomenological Exploration of Academic Entitlement While the previously noted studies have added a great deal to the understanding of the phenomenon of academic entitlement, there remains the challenge of reaching not only a common working definition but also a common understanding of this issue. Singleton-Jackson, et al. (2010) studied the construct of academic entitlement as described by students. Their study aimed to understand the experience of entitlement by those who express feelings and engage in behaviours indicative of entitlement in the academic environment. They used a qualitative approach to gain information regarding the attitudes, expectations, and ideas held by students regarding higher education and to attempt to understand how academic entitlement fits into the students’ understanding of higher education both as a process and as a personal experience. Singleton-Jackson, et al. (2010) collected data by conducting semi-structured interviews with focus groups. Fifty-two undergraduates were interviewed in groups ranging in size from 7 to 10 students. Six main themes and an underlying consistent thread found in all the themes emerged from the interview data. These six themes and the consistent factor are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Six Main Themes with a Consistent Underlying Thread of Control Product Value of Education Social Promotion Role of Professors Role of Teaching Assistants Role of Administrators Shoppers or Scholars Product value of education was indicative of students’ financial investment emphasis with regard to their expectations of what they will get for their money if they “purchase” an education. Students frequently spoke of jobs and careers with regard to this theme. Social pro- 232
JILL A. SINGLETON-JACKSON, DENNIS L. JACKSON, JEFFREY REINHARDT motion, as indicated by the students in this study, referenced a belief in credit being given for social reasons or reasons outside of academic performance. Examples of this theme include students’ feeling that just showing up for class or doing the readings should result in a passing mark regardless of performance on assignments or exams. Role of professors refers to students’ perceptions of what professors do and what they should do as part of their service obligation to the students. Accessibility and attention colored the majority of responses coded into this theme. Students indicated that they had paid for an expert and thus expected a level of service commensurate with this relationship. When asked about their teaching assistants, students relayed fairly pragmatic expectations such as consistent marking between lab sections and language proficiency. The administrators theme was derived from students’ discussion of their view of the role of administrators. Their comments on this theme were fairly limited and pertained mainly to evaluation of administrative salaries. Singleton-Jackson, et al. (2010) also asked students direct questions pertaining to the students’ perceptions of their own role as “consumers” of higher education. Students in this study indicated that they feel they are marketed to and treated as customers and thus see themselves in this role. An important implication of this theme is that higher education, the institution specifically, could be playing a role in creating student entitlement by encouraging shoppers as opposed to scholars. Finally, control was found to be an aspect of the previous six themes. Students expressed confident opinions and a desire to control nearly every aspect of their educational experience ranging from parking lots to exam schedules. Validation of Academic Entitlement Construct There is good reason to view entitlement in the context of education (i.e., academic entitlement) as a potentially important construct. Psychological entitlement is viewed as a component of narcissism (Campbell et al. 2004) and has been shown to relate indirectly to relationship conflict and hostility (Moeller, Crocker & Bushman, 2008) as well as physical aggression (Reidy, Zeichner, Foster, & Martinez, 2008). In general, entitlement is considered to be a maladaptive component of narcissism (Reidy, et al.). From this brief synopsis of the correlates of psychological entitlement, one would suspect also that academic entitlement has the potential to be associated with maladaptive learning styles and behaviors in general. Indeed, Greenberger et al. (2008) found their measure of academic entitlement correlated positively with exploitive attitudes toward others and negatively with work orientation. Chowning and Campbell (2009) presented data that suggest that academic entitlement might relate to student incivility, and Nordstrom, Bartels and Bucy (2009) conducted a study in which they found that consumer orientation of students (and narcissism) related to ratings of appropriateness of uncivil classroom behavior as well as actual uncivil behavior. Jackson et al. (2010) examined a preliminary measure of academic entitlement, one including four dimensions, and analyzed the relationship of the measure to learning orientation. Three learning orientation scales were used (see Midgley et al. 1998). Mastery orientation measures the extent to which students wish to master the material for the sake of learning, performance orientation reflects the extent to which students wish to perform well, and performance avoidance orientation reflects the extent to which students want to avoid performing poorly. The ideal student, from the faculty member’s perspective, is the student high in mastery orientation since this student is presumably interested in learning more than 233
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