Characteristics of Influential Faculty Members in Higher Education: A Phenomenological Exploration of Graduate Students’ and Department Chairs’ Perspectives

Abstract

Influential faculty members play a critical role in the planning, implementation, and effectiveness of any curriculum, as they are responsible for developing and adapting it to meet the evolving needs of students, institutions, and society. This study aimed to identify the characteristics of influential faculty members based on the perspectives of graduate students and department chairs, employing a qualitative phenomenological approach with data collected via semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of fifteen participants: five department chairs and ten graduate students from King Saud University in Riyadh and Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam. Using open and axial coding, the analysis revealed that influential faculty members exhibit key traits across four domains: personal characteristics, academic characteristics, social characteristics, and 21st-century skills. Graduate students emphasized attributes such as effective time management, diverse teaching approaches, research expertise, ongoing evaluation, support, motivation, leadership, and role modeling. Meanwhile, department chairs highlighted accountability, ambition, adaptability, creativity, perseverance under pressure, lifelong learning, awareness of equity, and strong interpersonal skills. The study recommends enhancing these traits through professional development programs, informational resources, and incentives such as annual awards, while also calling for further research with more diverse samples.