Understanding IS Education Quality in Developing Countries: Role of Acculturation

Many developing countries (DCs) have limited IS human resources. Hence, their university-level IS classes are often taught by foreign faculty. Despite this arrangement, poor quality of IS education in DCs is a continuing problem. Research indicates cultural differences as an important reason for this problem. Foreign faculty imposing westerncurriculum and teaching practices without adapting to the requirements of native students and native students inability/unwillingness to make the necessary adjustments leads to poor course quality. Therefore, we argue that cultural adaptation of foreign faculty and native students will improve IS course quality. Drawing from the acculturation literature that deals with cultural adaptations we develop a model of acculturation specific to teaching of IS courses by foreign faculty in DCs. In doing so, relevant factors from the IS education literature that influence faculty and students’ adaptation are synthesized. This paper extends acculturation theory and discusses relevant implications for IS education in DCs.