Program
Education Doctorate
Number of Pages
135
Year Approved
2025
First Advisor
Jolyn Dahlvig
Second Reader
Marta Shaw
Third Reader
Tanya Grosz
Abstract
The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of online business faculty at private nonprofit postsecondary institutions as their online programs were launched. The experiences of how business faculty encounter teaching online in new online business degree programs are essential for institutional leaders and faculty seeking to start new online programs at their institutions. The qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to gather the experiences of 10 business faculty at private nonprofit institutions who taught online and experienced their departments implementing a new online degree program. The participants' experiences were analyzed using Kotter’s (2012) theory for leading change. The participants shared experiences of expanding the breadth of the students they served, furthering the mission of their institutions, greater faculty and student flexibility, frustrating barriers during the implementation process, and successful change efforts at their institutions. The results demonstrated that creating an online education leadership position, providing instructional design support, and addressing faculty concerns about course quality positively impacted the participants’ experiences.
Degree Name
Education Doctorate
Document Type
Doctoral dissertation
Recommended Citation
Bakker, J. A. (2025). A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Online Business Faculty During the Transition to Offering Online Programs [Doctoral dissertation, Bethel University]. Spark Repository. https://spark.bethel.edu/etd/1195
Terms of Use and License Information
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