Higher Education Business Research Articles

How Much Am I Expected to Pay for My Parents’ Firm? An Institutional Logics Perspective on Family Discounts

Recent evidence suggests that successors do not simply inherit their parents’ firm, but have to pay a certain price. Building on institutional logics literature, we explore successors’ family discount expectations, defined as the rebate expected from parents in comparison to nonfamily buyers when assuming control of the firm. We find that family cohesion increases discount expectations, while successors’ fear of failure and family equity stake in the firm decrease discount expectations. Higher education in business or economics weakens these effects. On average, in our study comprised of 16 countries, successors expect a 57% family discount.

Issues in European business education in the mid-nineteenth century: a comparative perspective

This article explores the emergence of European business education in the mid-nineteenth century. Drawing on archival analysis the typological study which this article proposes, attempts to show that business education before 1870 seems to have been a geographically and institutionally broader expression than has been described up to now. It identifies four organisational models of business education and reveals that higher business education was not limited to the Higher Schools of Commerce alone. It concludes that the European states took, directly or not, an interest in business education well before the end of the nineteenth century.

A Post Publication Review of "Engaging diverse student audiences in contemporary blended learning environments in Australian higher business education: Implications for Design and Practice"

<span>A short post publication review of a recent AJIS paper.</span>

Faculty narcissism and student outcomes in business higher education: A student-faculty fit analysis

We examined the relationship between personality congruence on faculty and student narcissism with student perceptions of professor status, the perceived difficulty of the class, and student performance in the classroom. Data were collected from business students and faculty at an AACSB-accredited business school at a comprehensive state university. Results indicated that narcissism congruence was significantly related to a student's final grade in the class such that less congruence was associated with lower course grades and that this negative association was partially mediated by perceived professor status and perceived class difficulty. Particularly concerning was the finding that more narcissistic faculty were associated with detrimental outcomes for less narcissistic students. Considering the well-documented and profoundly negative implications of narcissism for workplace environments, this finding suggests a need for future research on the impact of narcissistic faculty on business students and on successful intervention strategies.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE ECONOMIC SIMULATION SOFTWARE USAGE IN EDUCATION

The article describes the research of foreign business simulation usage experience within courses of MBA programs, higher education institutions, as a part of scientific researches and also as a platform for competitions and championships. Development of the information and communication technologies that causes decrease of business simulation purchasing, development and support expenses, gives a chance to expect business simulations usage spreading and expanding to the other potential usage domains. Business simulation development and usage area dynamics enables to conduct tendencies analysis of the market and work out the hypothesis regarding potential new business simulations usage areas. Additionally, business simulation market leaders’ products and services development and adjustments observation is proved to be possible and necessary. Exact business simulations usage examples at the foreign higher education institutions and business schools are described. Systematization of the studied and described business simulations has been performed. Besides, business simulations are proved to be effective for complementing traditional teaching methods and supporting the different domain specialists’ economic competencies development. Foreign experience of the business simulation usage may help to build the basement for the implementation of this learning and scientific research tool at the educational and scientific institution in Ukraine.

Case study: using value stream mapping in the educational process - how focusing on student actions can help depict the teaching process

Although many lean higher education efforts have focused on administrative/support services and processes, only a few actual applications of lean methods have been meant for teaching, which is the core business of higher education. The absence of experiments and research in these contexts has challenged us to apply lean to our own undergraduate course. We have paid special attention in this experiment to the use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to depict teaching process, the shortcomings of VSM and the use of service blueprinting.

A INSERÇÃO DA TEMÁTICA DE SUSTENTABILIDADE NA FORMAÇÃO DE FUTUROS GESTORES: COMO OS PROFESSORES SE DEPARAM COM O ASSUNTO?

<p>A integração da temática de sustentabilidade nos conteúdos educativos promove a formação de cidadãos responsáveis por suas ações e com consciência do seu papel na sociedade. Ao ser levado para as salas de aula, esse assunto assume relevância também para formação de administradores, que influenciarão direta ou indiretamente a tomada de decisão dentro das organizações que, por sua vez, são responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento das nações e por grande parte dos problemas os quais a proposta de sustentabilidade combate. O presente estudo de cunho qualitativo possui o objetivo de investigar como ocorre a inserção do tema dentro dos cursos de ensino superior em Administração. Este propósito é abarcado por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, análise documental e pesquisa de campo, com enfoque no papel representado pelos docentes na veiculação do conteúdo sobre a sustentabilidade por meio das atividades acadêmicas. Verificou-se que os docentes consideram a sustentabilidade relevante para a formação dos futuros gestores, porém há divergência de opiniões quanto a sua abrangência.</p>

Goal Orientation, Deep Learning, and Sustainable Feedback in Higher Business Education

Relations between and changeability of goal orientation and learning behavior have been studied in several domains and contexts. To alter the adopted goal orientation into a mastery orientation and increase a concomitant deep learning in international business students, a sustainable feedback intervention study was carried out. Sustainable feedback implies acknowledgment of students’ need to be actively involved in their own feedback process. First, relations between and changeability of the concepts found in previous research were validated. Second, the effects of the sustainable feedback intervention were analyzed. Although sustainable feedback helped mastery-oriented learners maintain deep learning, it did not directly influence their goal orientations.

International Group Heterogeneity and Students’ Business Project Achievement

In business higher education, group project work plays an essential role. The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between the group heterogeneity of students’ business project groups and their academic achievements at both group and individual levels. The sample consists of 536 freshmen from an International Business School in a Dutch University. The research has revealed that students’ academic performances are positively correlated with their achievement in group projects at both individual and group levels. However, the group ethnic heterogeneity is negatively related with students’ project scores. The findings may enable education practitioners to gain more insights into students’ project work and manage students’ group work more effectively.

Students’ Commitment to Attend Classes in Management Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Working Executives and Non Working Students Pursuing Full Time Post Graduate Management Programme

<p>The purpose of the present study is to identify the commitment of students to attend classes amongst postgraduate management students (male vs. female, working professionals vs. non working MBA students). The paper attempts to apply the concept of commitment to students in the business higher education. For this the Meyer and Allen’s (1991) Three Component Model of Commitment was adapted to measure student’s commitment to attend classes and finally the commitment of students was mapped who are working executives and non working students perusing full time post graduate management studies. The study was conducted on 371 MBA students out of which 171 were working professionals and 200 were non working MBA students. The male/female composition of the sample was 223/148 respectively. A commitment to attend class questionnaire was administered on the participants measuring three type of commitment i.e. Normative Commitment, Affective Commitment and Continuance Commitment. The results of the study show that working professional MBA students significantly differs from non working MBA students on Continuance Commitment where Non working MBA students are significantly higher than working professionals. The interaction results of male/female with working/ non working students comparison shows that the Male non working MBA students are higher on Normative Commitment as compared to the Male working professionals, while the Female non working MBA students are lower than the Female working professionals on Normative Commitment.</p><p><strong>Research limitations/implications</strong> – Why a student is coming to the class will determine his attention and learning in the class. If he/she is attending classes just to abide by norms (Normative Commitment), or coming to class because not attending the same will generate negative results or the student has nothing else to do (Continuance Commitment), then effective learning will not take place. The teachers can identify the type of commitment students are using and can try to convert this into Affective Commitment by new learning methods. The study is conducted in Metro city; differences may even be prominent if extended to three tier and two tier cities.</p>

Developing cultural intelligence: assessing the effect of the Ecotonos cultural simulation game for international business students

In this study, we test the strength of a cross-cultural simulation game, Ecotonos, in the development of cultural intelligence (CQ) and self-efficacy amongst business students. Cross-cultural training is perceived as an important tool to help develop cross-cultural competence in international managers. Within the training literature, a distinction is made between various types of training, roughly the more cognitive knowledge-transferring training formats and more behavioral training formats such as cultural simulation games or cross-cultural role-plays. The impact of these cross-cultural role-plays is perceived to be stronger due to the process of practicing new behavior in an intercultural safe setting. In this study, we test such a behavioral training format, Ecotonos, to investigate the impact of this cross-cultural intervention on the cultural competence of students in higher business education. This study shows that the use of the Ecotonos cross-cultural role-play supports the development of CQ, specifically metacognitive, motivational, and behavioral CQ. Next, it shows an increase in the development of confidence in cross-cultural encounters. Communication effectiveness did not increase as a result of the Ecotonos cross-cultural role-play.

Higher Education Business Management Staff and the MBA: A Small Study Analysing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Benefits

Higher education is a key sector for the United Kingdom contributing over £70 billion of output. It functions in an increasingly complex operating, regulatory, and legislative environment that has led to an increased need for effective nonacademic business managers. This study evaluates the benefits of a specialist master of business administration (MBA) in higher education management in the UK. The results indicate that the MBA provides intrinsic benefits such as opportunities to improve management practice and increases in confidence levels in the workplace. It also provides extrinsic benefits of increased pay.

Emotional Intelligence – How do we Motivate our students?

As emotions influence learning, the role of a teacher as a facilitator is very important. This paper aims to address a series of issues related to motivating students, by taking into account feelings, relationships and learning styles. The research is mainly descriptive, with examples from my teaching activities in business higher education. By being based especially on observation of classroom activities and behaviour of participants, the study is not meant to prove a particular cause and effect relationship, but rather to highlight a series of links, key questions that appear and methods that generally have better results. As expected, use of emotional intelligence leads to many advantages for the whole educational process. There are also some disadvantages related to the efforts to be put, especially in terms of use of time. However, I strongly believe that a student-centred approach and a better communication with students represent a fundamental key to success in the process of knowledge transfer.

Research to improve specialist knowledge: an HE in FE perspective

The purpose of this study was to establish if lecturers in further education colleges (FECs) delivering higher education business courses (HEBCs) undertook research to improve specialist knowledge. A critical analysis of the literature was undertaken, providing an overview of what is understood by the term ‘research’. Lecturers in FECs were then asked if they undertook research to improve their specialist knowledge. The primary research comprised the narratives of 26 lecturers, geographically dispersed across the Yorkshire and Humber region in the United Kingdom. Barriers to undertaking research identified from the narratives were those of time, bureaucracy, and heavy workloads. The findings showed that for some lecturers, research is viewed as bipolar – that is, research to keep abreast of the subject(s) they delivered, or research to provide new knowledge. Further, that some lecturers had a laissez-faire approach to their subject area and the acquiring of new knowledge, instead practising what one lecturer coined as ‘reading to teach’.

Indicators of university–industry knowledge transfer performance and their implications for universities: evidence from the United Kingdom

The issue of what indicators are most appropriate in order to measure the performance of universities in knowledge transfer (KT) activities remains relatively under-investigated. The main aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the limitations to the current measurements of university–industry KT performance, and propose some directions for improvement. We argue that university–industry KT can unfold in many ways and impact many stakeholders, and that, especially in highly differentiated university systems, choosing indicators focused on a narrow range of activities and impacts might limit the ability of universities to accurately represent their KT performance. Therefore, KT indicators should include a variety of activities and reflect a variety of impacts so as to allow comparability between different institutions and avoid the creation of undesirable behavioural incentives. To illustrate these issues empirically, the authors discuss the case of the United Kingdom's Higher Education–Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey.

Defining academic – real or imagined

This paper is part of a study in England that concluded in the latter half of 2009. The study looks at academic identity through the lens of those lecturers delivering higher education business programmes in further education colleges, and their subsequent perceptions and definitions of an academic. The study identified that academic identity is a bricoleur of teaching, research, and might be a state of mind; as such, this may explain why academic identity is heterogeneous and so difficult to define. The study comprised of 26 individual interviews and one focus group comprising of four lecturers. An interpretivist approach was adopted, where common themes were drawn out for analysis from the narratives. Academic identity was not a term easily defined by lecturers in further education colleges, and some lecturers did not see themselves as academics or typically stereotyped academics akin to those depicted in the television media.

Skills and Career Development for Young People with Higher Education in Business

This article presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey, designed by the authors and completed by students enrolled in the Master of Business Administrations course at a major university in the Romanian province of Transylvania. Our approach is justified by the urgent need to verify to what extent the training received by our students offers the further development possibilities needed by Romanian employers. The survey was conducted with 518 master’s degree students. The study’s findings confirmed the hypotheses formulated on the topics of: young people’s success in the labour market; the manifestation of entrepreneurial spirit; the practical utility of the acquired knowledge and aspirations for professional development and employers stimulating the increase of competency and creativity levels. Whilst aimed at the success of youth in the labour market and at the development of companies working in Romania (as investments of Romanian capital and from abroad), the resulting information will be used to improve the structure and content of university curricula, in order to: increase professional competency, improve practical work skills and stimulate creativity and adaptability to employers’ requirements.

Professionalism: doing a good job!

This paper considers the concept of professionalism via perceptions (real or imagined) of lecturers delivering higher education business programmes (HEBPs) in further education colleges in England. The study comprised 26 in-depth interviews conducted in the Yorkshire and Humber region in the UK. The study builds on Perkin’s views of a professional society, which is then applied to education. The paper will add to existing knowledge by identifying that the term profession is not only complex and subjective, but Janus-faced, which may lead to role conflict. It was not surprising that the interviewees found it difficult to define professionalism; nevertheless, it was found that many did hold to a perceived individual professional code of praxis and/or idea of expected behaviour.

Leading through partnership: enhancing the Teach First Leadership Programme

Teach First works in partnership with government, business organisations, higher education institutions (providers of Initial Teacher Training, ITT) and schools to offer a two-year integrated Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) Leadership Development Programme; the first cohort of students were accepted in 2003. Its delivery of an integrated QTS/leadership programme, recruitment of top graduates who would not otherwise consider teaching, focus on teaching in challenging schools and joint business–Higher Education Institution delivery, set Teach First within a unique position amongst ITT partnerships in England. In 2008, building on its success, Teach First sought to enhance its Leadership Development Programme, relevant to teachers and leaders in all fields, including the development of an optional Masters route. This paper considers the development of the enhanced programme within the Teach First partnership model and explores the merits of the programme in developing teachers. Evidence suggests that the core values, focus on mission and strong ethos have been major contributory factors to its success.

Academic Entrepreneurship in the Creative Arts

The extensive literature on academic entrepreneurship has focused almost entirely on science and engineering, while little is known about the extent of it in other disciplines, most notably the creative arts. We analyse the context, motivations, and variety of academic entrepreneurship in the creative arts using a recently completed survey of UK academics, providing microdata on 1108 academics. The data are complemented using institutional data taken from the Higher Education–Business and Community Interaction Survey, and data on individual submissions to the Research Assessment Exercise 2008. We highlight four characteristics of academic environment in the creative arts that strongly influence the nature of the entrepreneurship in the field: the practice-based nature of the research; the role of networks, particularly networks linked to teaching; the importance on nonmonetary rewards; and the role of geography. Our results indicate that academic entrepreneurship in the creative arts is varied and extensive, and that it could be better supported by policy.