Business School Courses Research Articles

Teacher’s pet or rebel? Practitioners’ perspectives on the impacts of ChatGPT on course design

Abstract The popularity of ChatGPT raises concerns about the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on higher education. While past research explored how ChatGPT, a widely recognized text-based generative AI, can improve productivity and efficiency in education, little is yet known about its impact on course design. Utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy and Biggs’ constructive alignment, this research examined the potential influence of ChatGPT on course design. We conducted 19 interviews with lecturers from seven universities located in different countries, who teach a range of business school courses with course objectives at various Bloom’s levels. Additionally, we interviewed three educational specialists with expertise in educational technology and pedagogy. Respondents had mixed opinions about ChatGPT's influence on learning and course design. Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of ChatGPT may be influenced by the complexity of learning outcomes as defined by Bloom’s taxonomy. The researchers propose a framework that teachers can use to mitigate its negative impacts.

Flipped classroom application in an advanced research methods course: Insights from social cognitive theory and self-determination theory

Flipped classrooms have gained considerable momentum in educational psychology research. Their application to management courses has been scant, however. This paper introduces the application of flipped classrooms to an Advanced Research Methodology course. The paper also draws on insights from Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Together with the use of flipped classrooms, these insights are useful for management scholars and educators interested to teach postgraduate research methodology courses in business schools.

Student Perceptions of Pedagogical Approaches to Integrating the SDG 8 into Business School Education

This paper aims to assess students’ perceptions regarding the extent of integration of the eighth principal Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 8) “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all” into an undergraduate business school (BS) course. We analyzed students’ perceptions with respect to three pedagogical themes: content/curriculum; knowledge and skills; and awareness and attitudes. Based on legitimacy theory, we conducted a survey of 124 students at a globally accredited business school that has been a pioneer in terms of integrating SDGs into business school education in the Middle East and particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which we refer to as Alpha Business School (ABS). A Q-methodology approach was adopted by designing a concourse of 37 statements. Our research findings highlight that in response to institutional governmental pressure to implement the SDGs at all levels in the country, ABS has begun to integrate the SDGs into its practice, including undergraduate courses. However, after a more in-depth analysis, the findings suggest that traditional learning methods and a “business as usual” mentality continue to prevail as a management paradigm among students and that, therefore, ABS has only embedded SDG 8 symbolically without undergoing a full substantive change. In conclusion, further work is needed to incorporate the SDGs into all dimensions of the business school’s activities and to promote new methodologies, skills, and competencies. This paper is helpful for accounting educators and curriculum setters in the process of revamping accounting curricula to reflect the importance of sustainability education. The results of this study have professional, academic, and policy-making implications.

Flipped jigsaw II versus conventional flipped classroom: Which approach better improves learning outcomes in the International Marketing Management course?

Researchers have reported the positive effects of integrating the flipped classroom and jigsaw technique separately across courses at different educational levels. However, the use of flipped jigsaw II to cultivate real-world skills while improving students' learning outcomes in business school courses has been understudied. The present study compared the effects of the flipped jigsaw II versus the conventional flipped classroom in an International Marketing Management course on learning outcomes in terms of learning attitude, motivation, and achievement. A quasi-experimental design was used by assigning 25 control group students engaged in the conventional flipped classroom and 25 experimental group students in flipped jigsaw II. The experiment lasted six weeks in an Indonesian university's fall semester of the 2021–2022 academic year. Data were collected through questionnaires, students' test scores, and interviews. The results indicate that flipped jigsaw II produced significantly better learning attitude, motivation, and achievement than the conventional flipped classroom. Additionally, the flipped jigsaw II had a more positive effect on both low- and high-ability learners regarding learning achievement. This study contributes to the field by proposing a new framework for marketing education by exploring the feasibility of using flipped jigsaw II and offering theory and practical implications.

Teaching Online during Covid-19 crisis:  Lived Experience of Faculty Members of Nepali Business Schools

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the teaching-learning activities of almost all universities across the globe. To continue the teaching-learning activities, most of the universities switched to online mode of teaching. Using hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, this study explored the lived experiences of the faculty members of business schools who began teaching online during this pandemic. The data were collected through conversational interviews with seven faculty members who were teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in various business schools in Nepal. The analysis of data revealed six themes: (1) Faculty members were caught off guard, (2) Sneaking a peek by students, (3) Building a bridge by the faculty members, (4) Faculty members were holding on the past, (5) Students were dragging their feet, and (6) Faculty members were trying to climb a mountain without a rope. The findings suggest that the faculty members felt that they were not prepared to teach online and did not receive enough logistical support from their institutions. They also showed their skepticism regarding the effectiveness of online teaching. The implications of the study have been highlighted and some of the limitations have been indicated.

Integrating corporate social challenge, learning and innovation in business education

This research sets out to understand the effectiveness of integrating corporate social challenges into MBA syllabi. Our aim was to measure students’ levels of self-efficacy and confidence after completing a social challenge in marketing, as well as gauge the benefit of the challenge for the NGO client who participated in the project. We achieved this through a mixed-methods approach including a survey, focus groups with students, and an in-depth interview with the NGO client. The results show that integrating a corporate social challenge early on in a postgraduate business school course positively impacts student experience and learning outcomes, and allows the NGO client to build on the contributions offered by students. Joining business schools to co-design and leverage on work-related projects with students also provides an opportunity for organizations to tap into a fresh pool of ideas, test run business solutions, collect feedback on pilot studies, and increase brand awareness.

Influencing Factors on the Choice of Accounting Versus Other College Business School Majors

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a variety of factors encountered by college students influence choice of accounting versus other college majors for undergraduate business students. We examine factors that include introduction to financial accounting, opinions of family members and friends of the family, the mentoring of high school teachers on career choice, and the information obtained from business people and recruiters. In addition, there is some evidence that the timing of the first major course taken by students in the sequence of business school courses may have an impact on choosing accounting versus other business majors. These findings will provide guidance for department chairs how to staff introductory courses, and professors who have the requisite work experience to emphasize future employment options and benefits of keeping families of students informed on the profession who have interested students.

Business school grades, assessment scores, and course withdrawals in the Covid-19 pandemic

We compare student performance before and during the Covid-19 pandemic using three course outcome measures: grades, scores on standardized course-specific assessment tests, and the incidence of dropping, withdrawing, or earning a grade of F. Across 10,000 observations and all business disciplines, grades trended higher throughout pandemic, although student performance on assessment tests and the incidence of failing or dropping remained unchanged. This suggests that universities and employers who use GPA as a screening tool should be cautious. First-year and first-generation students did significantly worse in online courses when compared to courses with some in-person element, suggesting that universities and instructors may need to devote academic support resources to these subgroups.

Language and Discourse in the Learning of Statistical Concepts

Students on Business School courses will require a certain level of numerical ability; therefore, Mathematics and Statistics are important elements of the curriculum (Cottee et. al., 2014). Students often struggle with these quantitative parts of their course and this is sometimes seen as part of a general "Mathematics Problem" that impacts many disciplines including biology, economics, nursing and psychology (Mac an Bhaird and Lawson, 2012). Many students find Statistics in particular a difficult subject as it includes concepts which are complex and even counter-intuitive. For these students the way in which statistical ideas are communicated and specifically the use of language and discourse are of great importance.This paper reports on ongoing research into the role of language and discourse in teaching and learning Statistics. Included are: Findings from a Pilot Enquiry carried out in 2019; the theoretical background to the research and the challenges presented by the pandemic both for teaching and for the research.

An Exercise for Teaching Transportation Problem Using Spatial Data

We present an exercise for teaching the transportation problem using a mix of spatial and randomly generated data. It illustrates the potential of using qualitative and quantitative data and is suitable for undergraduate or introductory business school courses on operations research (OR), logistics, and supply chain management. It poses two challenges: (i) given the demand locations and volume, open a certain number of warehouses to ensure customer responsiveness and (ii) given those warehouses with capacity limits, determine an optimal distribution plan that minimizes the total distribution cost. This exercise is developed with the active participation of MBA students in an introductory OR course. The participants, attending the class online from different parts of India during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped generate realistic customer locations by sharing their location data. Visualizing this spatial data (after masking) in Google My Maps helps the students decide on suitable warehouse locations by considering the proximity to customers as well as diverse socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors. Then, using these warehouse and customer data, the optimal distribution plan is obtained by employing OpenSolver. Students appreciate the exposure—starting from data set generation to deriving an optimal solution—offered by this data-driven decision-making exercise.

Flipping the Business Classroom

This study aims to explore the benefits and challenges in implementing the flipped classroom model in business education. Empirical analysis of the views of 346 teachers engaged in delivering courses in different business schools in India reveals student convenience, augmented learning, improved performance and feedback, personalized attention and enhanced interaction, better review, and optimum utilization of class time as the major benefits of this model. The study also establishes absence of prerequisites, dilution of teacher influence, sustenance of model, and selective flipping as the significant challenges in the effective implementation of this model.

Games and gamification in business school courses: Experiential education that creates engagement and flow

Games and gamification in business school courses: Experiential education that creates engagement and flow

Effect of team cohesion on flow: An empirical study of team‐based gamification for enterprise resource planning systems in online classes

AbstractPedagogy using gamification has recently received much attention as a way of enhancing student learning and retention. Additionally, academic institutions are making extensive use of online resources to expand teaching beyond the traditional classroom setting. Both academic institutions and companies utilize virtual teams to accomplish remote teamwork, particularly in a post‐COVID environment. Despite the growing interest in incorporating gamification into teaching for business school courses, prior researchers have paid little attention to team‐based gamification in the online learning environment. The purpose of this study is to examine if team members’ perceived team cohesion influences their perceptions of flow. Also, we investigate the relationships among three flow dimensions: concentration, perceived control, and perceived enjoyment. We tested our research model using an enterprise resource planning simulation game involving 187 business students. The results of structural equation modeling with partial least squares analysis support all of our hypotheses.

Mobike China: competing through the giant’s ecosystem

Learning outcomes Students will be able to analyse competitive situations of the focal firm in the platform market, factors that make the focal firm become dominant in the sharing economy through the technology platform and the focal firm’s motives and growth strategies through mergers and acquisitions and overseas expansion, as well as give recommendations on the focal firm’s strategies to move forward to achieve and maintain its competitive position in the platform market. Case overview/synopsis On 4th April, 2018, Meituan-Dianping (Meituan), a Chinese group-buying website for consumer products and retail services acquired Mobike, a Chinese dockless bike-sharing platform for US$2.7bn. Mobike had raised several rounds of funding for its large investments and operations in this highly competitive and cash-intensive industry. However, it was still struggling to survive and make a profit in the Chinese and overseas markets. It was believed that the merger between the companies was the only viable alternative. Had Meituan’s Chief Executive Officer made the right decision in acquiring Mobike? After Mobike became an integral part of Meituan, what should be done to turn this technology platform to be profitable in the Chinese and overseas market? Complexity academic level The case is intended for senior undergraduate or graduate-level courses in business schools. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

An Analysis of Sustainability Integration in Business School Curricula: Evidence from Korea

Given the growing importance of corporate sustainability in the academic literature and in practice, this study investigates to what extent business schools in South Korea have been reflecting sustainability-linked themes in the curriculum. Based on a review of 20,507 course syllabi from ten sample universities between 2013 and 2019, our findings show an increase in the absolute number and proportion of sustainability-linked courses in Korean business schools, increasing from 12.9% of total courses in 2013 to 14.7% in 2019. The most prominent sustainability keywords were “ethics” and “corporate social responsibility,” with most courses reflecting sustainability keywords by allocating a few weeks to sustainability issues (sustainability-inclusive) rather than sustainability serving as the major theme of the course (sustainability-focused). In terms of degree program, sustainability-linked courses accounted for nearly 15% of total courses at the undergraduate and Master of Business Administration (MBA) levels, respectively, and just 7% of graduate (Master’s/Ph.D.) programs in Business Administration. While our findings suggest overall progress in incorporating sustainability themes in business schools, course offerings are fragmented and generally focus on a narrow concept of ethics rather than constituting a comprehensive curriculum that weaves sustainability throughout functional majors.

5 Zoom Lessons for Leaders

The ability to teach is an attribute of a great leader. During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders faced new challenges in developing teaching skills that include using video communication technology to engage teams scattered in remote locations. This article contains teaching suggestions for leaders based on experience in teaching business school courses during the pandemic.

Online Teaching in a Large, Required, Undergraduate Management Science Course

This paper describes how a required management science course is taught online to a large number of undergraduate business school students. The paper describes the design of the online course, how online documents are created, testing, student effort and performance, and student evaluation of the course. Some of the insights are as follows. (i) In a large, required, undergraduate business school course, many students seek a shallow rather than in-depth understanding of the course material. Doing the course online makes it easier for these students to acquire this understanding and achieve a good final course grade. (ii) The online course works well for about 85% of the students and for the university. It works less well for about 15% of the students who procrastinate, then fall behind, and cannot catch up. Improving the course design for these students is a priority. (iii) When the amount of online video material increases, students value the course more and value the instructor less. Consequently, an instructor contemplating online teaching should think very carefully about how student evaluation of instructor effectiveness will be done.

Profit Maximization Versus Stakeholders’ View of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Experiential Exercise on Ethics and Social Responsibility for Business School Courses

While issues related to ethics and social responsibility have gained tremendous significance in corporate and academic worlds during the recent times, these concepts are difficult to grasp and even more difficult to teach in a classroom setting. This experiential exercise serves as a vehicle for students to enhance their understanding and insights on these concepts as they critically examine, in a highly involved setting, the two opposing views of corporate social responsibilities--profit maximization only versus stakeholders’ view of social responsibility.

Meaningful Learning and The Integration of Responsible Management Education in the Business School Courses

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in responsible management education. Integration of the principles of responsible management education (PRME) within the core curricula of business schools and management education-related institutions calls for the creation of innovative pedagogies and educational approaches. Responding to the inherent challenges associated with the development and implementation of education for sustainability within existing business‐related education, this paper seeks to discuss a teaching initiative of introducing Model United Nations (Model UN) as a classroom activity for undergraduate students. The main purpose of research presented in this paper is to explore students’ experience of engaging in Model UN debates around topics related to the sustainable development goals as defined in the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development (for example, youth unemployment, climate change, poverty, etc.). Model UN is traditionally known as an extra-curricular educational simulation of the United Nations where students play their roles as delegates from different countries and endeavour to solve real world issues using the policies and perspectives of their assigned country as well as policies and procedures of the United Nations. In this paper Model UN is proposed as a classroom engagement activity which assists undergraduate students in recognising the complexity of international negotiations and reflecting on challenges associated with the decision making process and how it affects the sustainability agenda on the individual and societal level. This paper seeks to provide a useful insight into the practical value of Model UN simulation as a means to facilitate meaningful learning on the course. It is suggested that experience of introducing Model UN as a core curricular activity, rather than one that is extra-curricular, will be of particular interest for educators who are involved in delivering sustainability-related courses or wishing to teach sustainability-related topics in globally responsible business-related education programs for undergraduate students.

How Do Quality of Teaching, Assessment, and Feedback Drive Undergraduate Course Satisfaction in U.K. Business Schools? A Comparative Analysis With Nonbusiness School Courses Using the U.K. National Student Survey

How does quality of teaching, assessment, and feedback influence satisfaction with overall course quality for students taking business school (BS) undergraduate courses in the United Kingdom? Are these teaching-related determinants of satisfaction in BS courses different to those in nonbusiness school (NBS) courses? These questions currently figure prominently in U.K. higher education owing to the introduction of a “Teaching Excellence Framework,” linking student fee increases to levels of reported student satisfaction. The elevation of student satisfaction as a determinant of higher education delivery raises important questions about the possible longer term consequences for teaching practices. To explore these, we test three sets of hypotheses relating to how teaching, assessment, and feedback quality affects satisfaction in the BS context, as well as comparative differences (i.e., BS vs. NBS students). We draw from over 1 million responses recorded in the U.K.’s National Student Survey. We find questions related to perceived teaching quality are important satisfaction drivers for BS students. In terms of differences with NBS students, we find intellectual stimulation appears of lesser importance to BS students, whereas fair assessments are of greater importance. BS students, we argue, exhibit a stronger orientation toward “instrumental” learning. We consider policy implications.