The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time

Worldwide, delays in the completion of student research work are a concern to many. Even though several researchers have critically come out with various influencing factors, the interest of this study was in how the characteristics of the supervisor and intuitional research guidelines influence the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ronald Osei Mensah, Daniel Cobbinah, Maame Afua Nkrumah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Cogent Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2025.2464872
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850255802735001600
author Ronald Osei Mensah
Daniel Cobbinah
Maame Afua Nkrumah
author_facet Ronald Osei Mensah
Daniel Cobbinah
Maame Afua Nkrumah
author_sort Ronald Osei Mensah
collection DOAJ
description Worldwide, delays in the completion of student research work are a concern to many. Even though several researchers have critically come out with various influencing factors, the interest of this study was in how the characteristics of the supervisor and intuitional research guidelines influence the completion time of student research work. The population for the study was five public Ghanaian universities. The respondents were selected using stratified sampling techniques to answer the semi-structured electronic questionnaire. Some of the attention-grabbing findings of the study that could be argued are the complex interplay between lecturer characteristics (and not very much on institutional guidelines); and the time students use to complete their research work. This confirms the argument of the Expectancy-Value Theory for Help Sources (EVT-HS) model which links the availability of help to the use of it by students. The implications are that students should be allocated to supervisors based on the supervisors’ attitude towards student supervision as informed by their characteristics; since this potentially affects the help students get to complete their research projects in time. Hence, in practice, the importance of ensuring that supervisors help their students to complete their work on time cannot be over-emphasized.
format Article
id doaj-art-b1afe02817e94f6ba67f144672049262
institution OA Journals
issn 2331-1886
language English
publishDate 2025-12-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Cogent Social Sciences
spelling doaj-art-b1afe02817e94f6ba67f1446720492622025-08-20T01:56:46ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862025-12-0111110.1080/23311886.2025.2464872The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion timeRonald Osei Mensah0Daniel Cobbinah1Maame Afua Nkrumah2Social Development Section, Centre for Languages and Liberal Studies, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi, GhanaDirectorate of Research, Innovation and Development, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi, GhanaSocial Development Section, Centre for Languages and Liberal Studies, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi, GhanaWorldwide, delays in the completion of student research work are a concern to many. Even though several researchers have critically come out with various influencing factors, the interest of this study was in how the characteristics of the supervisor and intuitional research guidelines influence the completion time of student research work. The population for the study was five public Ghanaian universities. The respondents were selected using stratified sampling techniques to answer the semi-structured electronic questionnaire. Some of the attention-grabbing findings of the study that could be argued are the complex interplay between lecturer characteristics (and not very much on institutional guidelines); and the time students use to complete their research work. This confirms the argument of the Expectancy-Value Theory for Help Sources (EVT-HS) model which links the availability of help to the use of it by students. The implications are that students should be allocated to supervisors based on the supervisors’ attitude towards student supervision as informed by their characteristics; since this potentially affects the help students get to complete their research projects in time. Hence, in practice, the importance of ensuring that supervisors help their students to complete their work on time cannot be over-emphasized.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2025.2464872Expectationcompletionplagiarismresearch completionresourceresearch guidelines
spellingShingle Ronald Osei Mensah
Daniel Cobbinah
Maame Afua Nkrumah
The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
Cogent Social Sciences
Expectation
completion
plagiarism
research completion
resource
research guidelines
title The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
title_full The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
title_fullStr The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
title_full_unstemmed The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
title_short The culture of research supervision in Ghanaian public universities: the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
title_sort culture of research supervision in ghanaian public universities the potential influence of supervisor characteristics and institutional guidelines on completion time
topic Expectation
completion
plagiarism
research completion
resource
research guidelines
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2025.2464872
work_keys_str_mv AT ronaldoseimensah thecultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime
AT danielcobbinah thecultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime
AT maameafuankrumah thecultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime
AT ronaldoseimensah cultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime
AT danielcobbinah cultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime
AT maameafuankrumah cultureofresearchsupervisioninghanaianpublicuniversitiesthepotentialinfluenceofsupervisorcharacteristicsandinstitutionalguidelinesoncompletiontime