Enhancing a quality culture in higher education from a socio-technical systems design perspective

Despite increasing scholarly interest in the phenomenon of quality culture, the existing literature is largely silent on or ambiguous concerning how to realise such a quality culture. In this paper, insights from the field of socio-technical systems design (STSD) are used to explore how to enhance a quality culture. STSD seems to be able to add to the realisation of a shared value of collective ownership and continuous improvement by using a systematic approach; by paying attention to cultural and psychological aspects, structural and managerial aspects, as well as by participation of lecturers, support staff and leadership. Research using the STSD approach in higher education is still scarce and, therefore, additional empirical studies are needed to explore the potential of STSD to enhance a quality culture.