Does Gender Impact Business Students' Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness?

While there are certainly differences of opinion regarding teaching effectiveness, the goal of this study is to investigate whether there is consistency or differences in opinion based on the gender of the student doing the evaluation of the instructor or the gender of the instructor being evaluated. This paper summarizes the gender-based findings from a survey administered to students in fall 2011 at a mid-sized Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB International) accredited Midwestern university business school. Thirty five traits were presented for evaluation. The findings of this study suggest that there are differences between female and male student ratings of teacher effectiveness. Females in general tend to rate teachers higher overall in terms of teaching effectiveness. Furthermore, there are specific traits that appear to be more important to females, and other specific traits which appear to be more important to males. This study provides strong evidence that there are systematic differences between male and female students in terms of their perceptions of the teaching traits they find important and how they rate instructors of each gender. It is important that faculty members and especially administrators are aware of the potential for gender bias in ratings of teacher effectiveness. Men and women have different perceptions. Male and female students are different, and they perceive differences between male and female faculty members.