Students’ Psychological Contract in International Life Science Education

Abstract

This research investigates the psychological contract in the relation of student and academic institution. A unique case of i3L is selected since it aims to fill the research gap of existing literature. As an academic institution, i3L was established in 2013 which aim is to be a life-science university. However, in the current condition, i3L as a higher education face a highly competitive environment which leads to a change in the student-academic institution relation (i.e. a customer-service provider relationship). A psychological contract has been applied to understand a relationship in an educational setting, namely students’ psychological contract. There is a theoretical gap in the existing literature as students’ psychological contract has not been applied in particular attributes like i3L. Providing knowledge of students’ psychological contracts will help academic institutions in managing their relationships with students. The objective of this research is to provide a holistic understanding of how students’ psychological contract forms, develops and is violated in the new and life-science university. Then, knowing the content of the contract, the sources of information, and how marketing works are crucial aims in this research. Furthermore, this research also attempts to build cross-cultural comparison between Indonesianand European student. To close to the objective of the research, this study applied in-depth interviews and used open-ended questions which involved fourteen i3L’s participants. An telephone interview was applied to conduct the interview with five European students.The empirical findings of this research provide a holistic description of sources of information, influential information, the contents of the contract, and the consequences of contract fulfilment and violation. Each of the main sections (formation, content, and violation) gives the institution essential information that can portray the development of the student’s psychological contract. Therefore, i3L could use the result of the research to enhance a positive learning experience for the students.