10.1177/1052562903256492 ARTICLE JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION / December 2004 Burke / HIGH-MAINTENANCE STUDENTS HIGH-MAINTENANCE STUDENTS: A CONCEPTUAL EXPLORATION AND IMPLICATIONS Lisa A. Burke Louisiana State University–Shreveport This article explores high-maintenance students in the university setting: those students who complain and whine, beyond reasonable limits, thereby exhaust- ing their instructor’s energy. By drawing heavily on the personality literature, I advance a conceptual foundation, research propositions, and suggestions for future research regarding high-maintenance students. Specifically, the abridged big five dimensional circumplex (AB5DC) model is applied to exam- ine the multivariate influence of dispositional profiles on high-maintenance student behaviors. Finally, implications for instructors are explored, as drawn from the education and management literature base. Keywords: high-maintenance students; personality; research propositions; big five; instructional challenges The challenge of dealing with high-maintenance employees has earned emerging interest in the management literature (e.g., Burke & Witt, in press; Grensing-Pophal, 2001; Principe, 1997; Russell & Russell, 1999). High- maintenance workers have been described as demanding irritants and con- summate whiners—the type of individuals who sap supervisors and col- leagues of their morale, energy, and time (Grensing-Pophal, 2001). Some have even claimed that such individuals in an organization spawn the 743 Author’s Note: Address correspondence to Dr. Lisa A. Burke, Department of Management and Marketing, BE304, One University Place, Louisiana State University–Shreveport, Shreveport, LA 71115; e-mail: lburke@pilot.lsus.edu JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION, Vol. 28 No. 6, December 2004 743-756 DOI: 10.1177/1052562903256492 © 2004 Organizational Behavior Teaching Society at UNIV OF TENNESSEE CHATTANOOGA on January 10, 2015 jme.sagepub.com Downloaded from