Enhancing a quality culture in higher education: navigating paradoxes

Purpose This paper aims to gain insight into enhancing and impeding elements for quality culture in higher education at programme level, emphasising the importance of an integral perspective considering both the structural/managerial and cultural/psychological aspects. Design/methodology/approach A single, in-depth case study was conducted based on sociotechnical systems design (STSD), a systems theory, to examine quality culture from an integral perspective in a bachelor’s programme of a Dutch university of applied sciences. The research encompasses semi-structured interviews with lecturers, team members and programme leaders (n = 9) and a brief questionnaire. Findings The outcomes of this case study show that enhancing a quality culture involves navigating paradoxes. Firstly, to enhance a quality culture, individual ownership needs to be shifted towards collective ownership. Secondly, the case underscores the necessity of incorporating both the social (competences and behaviour) and technical (information, feedback and responsibilities) systems, which need to be designed integrally by a participative process. Lastly, a strategic equilibrium between top-down and bottom-up approaches is essential for fostering team development and realising the crucial conditions for supporting a quality culture. Originality/value There are not many qualitative studies on quality culture. This study broadens authors’ empirical insights. Additionally, it demonstrates that systems theory is useful to investigate complex phenomena such as quality culture, due to its integral perspective.