Graduate Business Research Articles

Objectives and curriculum for a graduate business analytics capstone: Reflections from practice

AbstractMany higher education institutions have responded to the significant shortage of professionals with strong analytical expertise by offering graduate programs in business analytics and data science. These programs are typically designed to be practitioner focused and many of them offer a Capstone course that gives students the opportunity to conduct a real‐world analytics project. In this article, we describe the innovative design of a Capstone course offered to cohorts of approximately 110 graduate students in the business school at the University of Texas, Austin. This course is designed to deliver self‐directed and experiential learning from interacting with business stakeholders and successfully completing team‐based, business analytics projects within a commercial firm using the firm's data. The course design includes student and sponsor engagement, the formation of diverse balanced project teams, matching of teams with projects, and scaffolding, which includes consistent structured mentoring, team reflections, interim deliverables and in‐class learning for practical skills not covered elsewhere in the curriculum. This course has now been offered successfully to two cohorts. In this article, we will also describe changes made for the second cohort related to team formation, project matching, mentoring and in‐class learning. These changes were based on feedback from the first cohort.

The Mediating Role of Competitiveness Between Entrepreneurial Challenges and Willingness of Female Business Graduates

This research examines the challenges of female business graduate entrepreneurs; we have developed a modified conceptual framework in which willingness to become an entrepreneur has been taken as a dependent variable. However, financial, cultural, marketing, and technological challenges are independent variables. Additionally, we incorporated competitiveness as a mediation variable between independent and dependent variables. The competitiveness could be beneficial to the female business graduates’ entrepreneurs and might be reduced by their financial, marketing, cultural, and technological challenges. The data was collected through a modified structured questionnaire from the entrepreneurs of female business graduates. The information was collected from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; we have collected 386 responses for the period from February 2021 to July 2021. We employed a structural equation modelingbased (SEM-based) multivariate approach and conditional process modeling for the data analysis. The findings of this research exhibit that the financial challenges, cultural challenges, marketing challenges, and technological challenges have a significant negative impact on female business entrepreneurs. These are the constraints that restrict female business graduates’ entrepreneurial opportunities. On the other hand, the mediation analysis showed that competitiveness has a positive and significant impact between financial challenges, cultural challenges, marketing challenges, & technological challenges, and willingness to become an entrepreneur. The perfect mediation of competitiveness established that the business success of SMEs does not rely on the individuals’ competencies and success factors only, but organizational competitiveness is equally essential for organizational performance.

Employability and professional success: A study about economy and business graduates

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to suggest determinants and variables that affect employability, entering the labour market and professional success. Design/methodology/approach: Our analysis has been conducted among Economy and Business graduates in Catalonia. The data was collected from the Agencia Catalana per a la Qualitat Universitària (AQU) survey that was carried out in 2014; the results were published in 2017.We have defined two dependent variables: the amount of time spent in finding a first job and the salary level two years after concluding graduate studies. We have defined eight independent variables. The independent variables are related to academic, economic and social questions as well as to those aspects related to the labour market. We analysed the relationship between, dependent and independent variables using correlation analysis.Findings: Our results show that academic variables are not important in relation to the duration of entering the labour market. Nevertheless, the socio-economic variables and previous experience in the labour market play an important role. If our analysis focuses on professional success, the factors related to the academic and socio-economic backgrounds and the type of professional contract will play a decisive role. The labour situation is very important to guarantee professional success. Precarious job conditions pose an obstacle in professional advancement. The relationship to work experience before finishing graduate studies is not clear.Originality/value: The study that we have carried out in this paper, aims to alert future employees about the factors that improve employability and professional success. In this way, graduates can plan their professional life.

Best practices for online embedded librarians supporting graduate business students

This study was designed to determine the best practices for online embedded librarians utilizing the learning management system and other technology tools with graduate business students. Communication logs of support interactions with an embedded librarian and discussion board posts within the learning management system were analyzed. The number of and primary reason for communication by email, individual instruction meetings, and discussion board views, replies, and questions from January 2021 to August 2021 with a total of 318 students in graduate level business courses with an embedded librarian were analyzed. The primary reason for interaction and support was equally divided between research and citation support. Graduate students preferred to interact with the embedded librarian by email followed by individual instruction meetings. The communication tools within the learning management system were essential to providing support to graduate business students.

Grooving, moving, and stretching out of the box! The role of recovery experiences in the relation between physical activity and creativity

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment and relaxation) in the relation between physical activity and creativity, operationalized through divergent thinking using a randomized controlled trial experiment with 155 graduate business management students. The treatment group performed 20-min of either dance or Hatha yoga, while the control group performed a sedentary case-study task. The originality component of divergent thinking was measured before and after the interventions, and the recovery experience after the intervention. The results show that dance significantly improves originality vis-à-vis case-study. Psychological detachment mediates this relationship. Implications of results on ego-depletion theory and the concept of recovery experience are discussed.

Graduate corporate finance: Are math skills an obstacle?

This research examines the relationship between prerequisite algebra knowledge and graduate corporate finance course performance. Standardized math questions designed for an undergraduate introductory finance course also predict quantitative performance metrics among 128 business graduate students. Results demonstrate that prerequisite math skills, while to a lesser extent than with undergraduate finance courses, do remain an obstacle for the quantitative performance metrics of a graduate corporate finance course. However, math skills demonstrate an inverse relationship with team-based case study performance, thereby obscuring the overall impact of any math skills deficiencies. This research presents a three-question course-embedded assessment tool to support finance course assurance of learning in an AACSB context.

Design thinking traits and cognitive passive resistance: mediating effect of linear thinking

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to theoretically link design thinking with behavioural strategy, using empirical results that relate three cognitive dimensions: design thinking personality traits, cognitive passive resistance and linear thinking, and, consequently, determine: if there is a negative relationship between design thinking traits and cognitive passive resistance and if this relationship is mediated by linear thinking.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a quantitative methodology of covariance-based structural equation modelling. The data were collected from a three-scale, self-completed questionnaire, which was constructed using the existing modelling of the academic literature. The questionnaire was validated by confirmatory factor analysis and applied to a sample of 342 professional engineering and business graduates in Colombia.FindingsThe results of the structural equation modelling demonstrate a negative relationship between design thinking traits and cognitive passive resistance, and this relationship is mediated by linear thinking. These findings link design thinking and behavioural strategy and build new foundations for future studies, providing further theoretical support to the academic literature’s discussion of the relationship between design thinking and theories of managerial practices and innovation management.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of this study is the subjectivity of the answers because of potential bias from the respondents in completing the questionnaire. Another limitation is that the research was conducted only in the context of Colombia, so it is recommended that other studies be carried to generalise the results. This study has several theoretical implications. This study contributes to existing research on design thinking, evidencing a promising field of study to support it theoretically, such as the behavioural strategy. This study also contributes to the literature on innovation management deepening into a field of study that has received less attention in the literature, such as passive cognitive resistance to innovation. Likewise, this study presents a theoretical contribution to the dual process of cognition, proposing a new dimension to the construction of the multidimensional concept of nonlinear thinking. This study also contributes to the behavioural strategy field, evidencing a growing area of application in strategic management, such as design thinking. Finally, this research also proposes the development of a new research avenue about the concept of knowledge hiding as a possible source of innovation resistance.Practical implicationsThis research also has implications for business and engineering education and practice. This study’s results suggest that before implementing an organisational initiative such as design thinking, which seeks to change people's behaviour, it is necessary to approach it as a cognitive process and develop strategies to mitigate passive cognitive resistance to change. This research’s results also present implications for business and engineering education, evidencing the need to include other perspectives of thinking that allow non-designers to develop creative thinking.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study on design thinking as a business management concept using linear thinking of non-designers to relate design thinking traits with cognitive passive resistance. This research provides theoretical and empirical support for framing design thinking within the field of behavioural strategy.

Polymatic plastics & packaging – market deepening versus geography expansion

Learning outcomes Learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the need for a small business to expand geographically; to evaluate the business dynamics and challenges faced by an entrepreneur during the business life cycle; and to analyze the geography and create a growth strategy for small business setup in a phase where competition is moving from a moderate to an intense stage. Case overview/synopsis Polymatic Plastics & Packaging (PPP), a proprietorship firm of Mr Shantanu Kalia at Ludhiana, Punjab, India, was formed in 2016 and is involved in the manufacturing of bubble packing and stretch films. Growing business and competition have created both unique challenges as well as propositions for PPP. While growth in business is encouraging Shantanu to secure more contracts for his manufacturing unit, increased competition within Ludhiana is also creating a dilemma to either compete on home turf with USPs ranging from product quality, pricing and superior turn-around-time or explore additional geographies and expand horizontally. Complexity academic level The case is suitable for courses on entrepreneurship and geography strategy in graduate business programs. The case is also suitable for executive program for budding entrepreneurs seeking to explore specific service/product as a potential business proposition and building their business around it. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Developing entrepreneurial intentions among business graduates of higher educational institutions through entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial passion: A moderated mediation model

Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study examines the mediating role of Entrepreneurial Passion (EP) in the association between Entrepreneurship Education (EE) and Entrepreneurial Intentions (EI), and also the moderating role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE) on the association between EE and EP. The study collected data through an online survey from 359 private university students residing in Dhaka and Chittagong. SPSS 23 and Amos 24 were utilized to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings revealed that EE positively improves the EI of university students via EP. The study further demonstrated that the influence of EE on EP is more significant for student with high ESE then low ESE. The study extends the existing literature on the EE-EI link by integrating the TPB from the private higher education perspective during the COVID-19 crisis. The findings offer valuable insight and guidance for policymakers and university management regarding how and when EE leads to better EI among university students. This is one of the pioneering empirical studies highlighting the importance of EE on EI among private university students in an emerging South-Asian setting. Moreover, the study confirms that entrepreneurial passion plays a key role in explaining how EE drives EI.

Technical change and wage premiums amongst skilled labour: Evidence from the economic transition

I present reduced-form and structural evidence that the reorganization of the Russian economy in the post-transitional period increased the demand on law and business graduates. This demand shock provides a novel unified explanation of the Russian wage structure for 1985–2015. I then show that this shock is a common feature of all transitional economies, and it contributed to the transformational recession. The demand behaviour is identified with a new skill-biased technical change model of demand for skills with three production inputs (high school graduates and bachelor-level educations with two majors), showing that a technology shift that favours a particular skill might emerge within the skilled group rather than between skilled and unskilled. This is relevant because similar shifts (e.g., data scientists vs. liberal arts) emerge today in the frontier economies that adopt new general-purpose technologies (e.g., machine learning). Thus, this paper informs policymakers today on tools to counteract a potential drop in economic equality and performance that result from this adoption. Lastly, because of similarities between the mechanics of the transition and the 2022 sanctions to discourage Russia's war effort, my results highlight the importance of additional sanctions against the education system to prevent the regime's structural adaptation and preservation.

Determinants of Personal Financial Planning: A Survey among Business Graduates in Nepal

Personal financial planning is a tool that allows individuals to evaluate their current monetary situation, design strategies and implement them to achieve financial goals. This paper aims to analyse the determinants of financial planning of business graduates in Nepal. It examined the impact of financial attitude, financial awareness and financial knowledge on financial planning in the presence of gender, monthly income, family type, and marital status as control variables. A full-fledged questionnaire was used in the survey among 227 business graduates through email. Hierarchical multiple regression was used for the causal analysis. The findings revealed that financial attitude and financial awareness have significant impact on personal financial planning while financial knowledge does not. But surprisingly, none of the control variables were found significant in influencing personal financial planning. Hence, attitude and awareness towards the monetary aspects of life of business graduates are major determinants of their personal financial planning in Nepal.

Exploring business graduates employability skills and teaching/learning techniques

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to identify a set of employability skills required for business graduates. The study also sets to determine teaching/learning techniques that are effective in acquiring these employability skills. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of 5-point Likert-scale questions. Respondents are from 43 industry professionals, including human resource managers, 44 faculty members working in higher educational institutions, and 450 graduates working in various organisations. Findings indicated that, although ranked differently, overall graduates and industry professionals are on the same page in terms of required employability skills. The respondents also regard organisational skills, entry-level digital skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork, subject-related skills, goal-oriented characteristics, communication capabilities, decision-making abilities and creativity as highly required employability skills. In contrast, graduates and faculty members have different views about teaching/learning techniques required to gain the targeted employability skills. The findings of this study would be useful to policy makers in understanding the required employability skills for business graduates and also, the teaching/learning techniques that are suitable in achieving these employability skills.

Are Business Graduates’ Employability Skills and Learning/Teaching Techniques Universal? Exploring the Role of Culture: A Comparative Study among Australia, China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study is to explore the employability skills required in different countries/cultures and to further explore how cultural differences influence teaching/learning techniques required to equip students with required employability skills. Data were collected from 158 human resource managers working in different organizations and 169 faculty members who were engaged in teaching business graduates in four culturally different countries: Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. SPSS version 20 was used to calculate the average and compute the values. Results of this study indicated that employability skills for business graduates vary among different counties/cultures but the five employability skills are common regardless of cultural differences: entry-level digital skills, problem-solving skills, organizational skills, decision making, and goal-oriented skills. In addition, the findings of this study also indicated that teaching/learning techniques such as case studies, conventional lectures, and simulations, etc., are not completely culture-sensitive and could be used in almost every country/culture. The findings of this study will be helpful for higher educational institutions, vocational training centers, and other stakeholders to use in determining the most effective teaching/learning techniques to equip the students with the employability skills required in their country/culture including common employability skills and make their graduates more employable.

Senior business consultant project: Giving advice while gaining other awareness and career competency

Grounded in self-expansion theory, the Senior Business Consultant Project addresses the gap between career competencies possessed by business graduates and those expected by employers. The project took place in a virtual environment to mirror future business settings. Fourth-year consulting students worked in teams of two to provide guidance to first-year client students in teams of four to eight on a month-long team project. The project was implemented at a Midwest public university. Analysis of efficacy results suggest senior students found the collaborative project to be novel and exciting, fostering their sense of their own capabilities, other awareness, and career competencies.

Perceptions of Employability Skills of Undergraduate Business Students in a Developing Country: An Exploratory Study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relative importance of different employability skills for business graduates seeking initial employment. Method: Semi-structured survey questionnaires were administered to human resources representatives from industry, business lecturers, and graduating business students to determine gaps in perceptions between the three stakeholder groups. Results: There was some alignment and moderate discrepancies in perceptions of the relative importance of different employability skills between the three stakeholder groups. There were statistically significant differences in perceived importance of communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills between graduating students and employers. There is evidence that employers were satisfied with the level of academic skills possessed by business students at the time of graduation. However, there was significant difference in perception between employers and graduating students on the extent to which perseverance and initiative and risk-taking were fully developed among business graduates. Conclusions: By increasing their self-awareness and critical reflection on their learning experiences, graduating students can take proactive steps to enhance their positional advantage in the labour market. The various stakeholders, including academics, can lead a social dialogue towards a deliberate approach to developing graduate employability. Implications: Acquiring in-demand soft skills is one side of the employability coin; the other is developing dynamic psychological-social capital, such as self-awareness, self-directness, proactivity, adaptability, and resilience, that is underpinned by lifelong learning. Both are needed to navigate multiple job transitions and career challenges throughout one’s career span.

Improving Performance in Core Business Classes

Results from t-test and regression analysis suggests that female and transfer students at RMU do not require additional tutoring but warrant continuous monitoring and readiness to provide extra help if necessary. Age seems to be a less important indicator of academic success for undergraduate than graduate business students. Sequencing of prerequisites and their timing relative to when the core classes are taken does not appear to be important. However, statistically significant regression coefficient for MATH2040 grades more than twice that for MATH1010 grades in regressions for ACCT2060, ECON1020 and FINA3000 grades indicates that MATH1010 should be replaced with MATH2060 as prerequisite.

Exploring Employability of Business Graduates: Evidence from Woldia University

The main purpose of the study is to explore the employability of business graduates through the mediating effect of level of competency with reference to Woldia University business graduates. In this study, a cross-section research design was applied and a quantitative research approach was followed. The data was collected by using questionnaires from the sample of 223 business graduates. The respondents were selected by using the systematic random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis by using SPSS AMOS 23 version. The study finding revealed that exogenous variables of the study have affected the endogenous variable directly and indirectly. Among the variables, university reputation, self-efficacy, and the mediating variable level of competency of graduates affected the employability of business graduates with a statistically significant level (p < 0.05). The path analysis finding indicated that self-efficacy affects the business graduate level of competency with a statistically significant level. On the other hand, English language proficiency affected the business graduates’ self-efficacy with a statistically significant level. Finally, the researcher recommends that the higher institution better strive to support its graduates improve their English language skills, enhance their level of competency, and self-efficacy. Besides, building reputation is key for the institution so that its graduates become employees.

Launching an Online Business Program at Scale: A Retrospective Case Study of Disruptive Innovation Before the Pandemic

How does an online graduate business program become the fastest growing program in a short span of 5 years, in a category that has been showing constant decline in the last decade? This article takes a retrospective look at the journey from conception to launch and early implementation of an innovative online program at a large public university about half a decade before the pandemic. Extant research about online learning focuses on educational strategies, the changing roles of faculty in a new environment, or students’ satisfaction and performance in online learning programs or courses. This article takes a broad-based view to discuss details on the strategy, design, and development of a disruptive online graduate program built for scale. Given the accelerated transition into remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, our journey also has important implications from the forward-looking approach of half a decade ago for how higher education should navigate the digital future.

Using Vlogs and Blogs in Graduate International Business Case Studies to Impact Learning Outcomes – A Four-Year Empirical Comparison Study

ABSTRACT This study explores the learning impact of introducing vlogs and blogs to graduate international business case studies. Data were collected over a four-year period from graduate business programs to compare assignment performances from students when case studies were presented with versus without the inclusion of vlogs and blogs. A rubric measuring six criteria was used to evaluate case study submissions and identify areas drawing upon specific learning skills. A crosswalk between the rubric and Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive levels linked student performance and these skills. Group comparisons of the 535 observations showed the inclusion of vlogs and blogs led to statistically significant improvement in students’ learning outcomes in overall scores, failing rates, and high-score achievements. A performance examination of th3e international business case studies against the six specific grading criteria also showed marked advances in students’ higher-level thinking skills of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis or creation, which have been linked to developing cross-cultural awareness. The study indicates that instructors should thoughtfully curate sets of vlogs and blogs pertaining to products, services, values, cultures, and economic systems from multiple diverse origins to use in administering international business case studies used in their course curricula.

Relacional: Easing the Crisis Effects in the Education Sector

ABSTRACT This teaching case addresses the need for change in Relacional’s business strategy, driven by the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Brazilian educational sector in the first half of 2020. The startup is a software warehouse whose systems seek to solve specific problems of educational institutions, from basic to higher level, such as relationship, attraction, and retention of students. In the midst of a scenario of probable crisis in the sector, the partners seek business alternatives to assist educational institutions while wanting to ensure the growth and continuity of the company itself. Applicable in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and IT courses in undergraduate and graduate Business Management programs, this case addresses concepts of Information Economy, models of offer and pricing of software.