How Business Students Attitudes towards their University and Studying Develop during the First Year: A Qualitative Longitudinal Study

The aim of this qualitative study is first to investigate the attitude development of students in their initial year at university. College effectiveness research has shown that attitudes towards studying as well as to one's university are key factors influencing student engagement. Up to now, little is known about the processes through which such attitudes develop. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), the study addresses this research gap in three parts: a) development paths of students' attitudes towards studying and the university; b) the normative behaviour of the fellow students as well as significant persons, c) university-related experiences during the first year influencing students' attitude development. To answer these research questions, a series of five interviews was conducted throughout the first year with a total of 13 first-year students at the University of St. Gallen/Switzerland. Data analysis was performed referring to the procedures suggested by Neale (2012) for qualitative longitudinal data. To master the challenge of displaying developments over time, graphical analysis was used to construct a case history (cf. Henderson, Holland et al., 2012) for each individual. Regarding the students' developments over time, the analysis shows the participants' attitudes towards the university became more differentiated over time. A second major result concerns frictions between students' own attitudes and what they perceive to be the dominant normative behaviour. It became obvious that this developmental process is influenced by concrete incidents students experience during the first year and thus, can be shaped by structural changes.