Mistrust in a multi-campus institutional context: a socio-spatial analysis

ABSTRACT

Higher education literature identifies mistrust as one of the prominent features of managerialism. Similarly, multi-campus institutional studies have interrogated mistrust in various ways. However, there is limited research on academics’ experiences of how mistrust relates to their understandings and values of their academic profession in multi-campus contexts. This article contributes knowledge to narrow this gap. It draws from a study that examined academics’ experiences of how space enables or constrains their practices towards academic identity construction in an open distance learning institution in South Africa. A total of 12 academics who work on satellite campuses of the institution were interviewed. The social production of space framed the analysis. Findings indicate that a multi-campus institutional context aggravates mistrust and impinges on academics’ interaction and prospects for development within a wider institutional space. Recommendations are made about how to reduce the influence of mistrust on academics’ practices in multi-campus contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Mistrust
• managerialism
• multi-campus institution
• academic interaction
• social space

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.