Factors Affecting Students’ Preferences to Study Abroad Programs: A Case of Indian Business School Students

ABSTRACT

This study makes an attempt to explore the factors affecting Indian students’ preferences to study abroad programs. A survey administered in one of the leading business schools of India and subsequent analysis reveals the significance and importance of study abroad for Indian students. Result shows that the top-ranked factors affecting students’ preferences to study abroad are: quality of education in the host country, safety issues in the host country, and reputation and ranking of the host institution. Also, USA was found to be the most preferred country for study, and students belonging to a family business prefer the USA for study. However, no significant relationship was found between country choice and gender of the student. Similarly, specialization of the study was not found to be a significant factor of country choice.     

Examining Intercultural Growth for Business Students in Short-Term Study Abroad Programs: Too Good to Be True?

Changes in ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, international awareness and activities were examined in business students participating in a 16-day consulting program abroad and compared to a control group of students at the home university. Anticipated changes in the study abroad students were found; however, when compared to the control group, the changes had little significance. Study abroad students had higher ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension and lower intercultural awareness prior to going abroad; thus, the study abroad experience brought the STSA participants to the post-test levels of the control group. Implications for STSA programs and directions for future research are discussed.     

Exploring Individual Factors Affecting Business Students’ Willingness to Study Abroad: A Case Study From the Caribbean

Despite a low rate of student participation in study abroad programs in the Caribbean, there is insufficient research about the individual factors that help determine business students’ willingness to study or to participate in internship programs abroad. This study aims to explore business students’ attitudes toward study abroad. The positive perceptions of students toward study or internship abroad raises questions about individual factors for business students’ outflow to study or participate in an internship abroad. This study also explores business students’ preferences for short- and long-term international study or internship abroad, as well as certification programs in international business. Moreover, it provides some insight into the segments of business students that are more likely to support these programs.     

Why Do Gen Y Students Study Abroad? Individual Growth and the Intent to Study Abroad

We propose that Generation Y college students’ motivations to study abroad are rooted in the desire for individual growth, which, combined with other motivation factors—gender, parents’ educational level, prior international experience, age, and household income—drives the intent to study abroad. The study samples juniors and seniors in business majors, thereby attempting to shorten the temporal distance between study abroad intent and action. A significant number of students declare intent to study abroad as freshmen, yet fail to act on those intentions when the opportunity presents itself a year or two later. Results showed that the desire for individual growth was significantly and positively related to Gen Y business students’ intention to study abroad. Students’ prior experience visiting foreign countries and younger age positively moderated the effect of the desire for individual growth on intent to study abroad. The time lag between intent and action, and the fact that study abroad is a high involvement activity creates promotional challenges on how to best promote study abroad to Gen Y students. The article suggests practical implications and suggests how schools might increase study abroad participation among Gen Y college students.     

Internationalization Strategies of Business Schools: How Flat Is the World?

Business school strategy has become extremely complex, especially regarding internationalization. Using different paths, experiencing failure and success, business schools have internationalized, attracting many of the international students who contributed $27 billion¹ to the US economy in 2014. Some business schools are global, training global managers, while others serve national markets. How do business schools strategize about internationalization? Can we use existing models to explain this process? Are internationalization and globalization similar? Using a comparative analysis of six case studies in the United States and Europe, we found that the engine of internationalization influences its paths and outcomes. We contribute to international business (IB) research by discussing how business schools strategize their internationalization toward uniformity or diversity under isomorphic pressures from accreditation bodies (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB], 2011) and rankings. The so‐called Uppsala model should be extended to address three tensions: internationalization versus globalization, enacted dimensions of audiences, and respective risks of different internationalization pathways. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Growth of New Technology-Based Firms: Which Factors Matter?

This paper deals with the explanation of variations in the growth between New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs) and non-innovative firm foundations. Based on theoretical models explaining the growth of firms, hypotheses on potential determinants are derived. The regression results indicate strong correlations between the growth rate on the one hand and firm-specific, founder-specific as well as external factors on the other. These factors influence the growth rates of innovative and non-innovative young firms in different ways. Furthermore, based on the results of multivariate regressions, NTBFs achieve on average higher growth rates than non-innovative firm foundations. Moreover, the net employment effect of those NTBFs founded in 1989/90 is positive. This does not hold for non-innovative young firms, in which the number of jobs destroyed by closures and shrinking firms is larger than the number of new jobs in growing and expanding firms.     

Which Companies Benefit from Liberalization? a Study of the Influence of Initial Productivity

Theoretical research shows that competition has positive effects on productivity, for companies that are initially efficient, but not for unproductive firms. Our empirical analysis on a panel data of Czech companies, years 1995–2004, confirms this result. In addition, our analysis shows that when economic reforms affect both domestic and foreign competition, controlling for domestic competition is crucial when assessing the impact of trade liberalization. Otherwise, the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity is upward biased.     

Students’ Perception of International Business Curriculum: An Explorative Study—Case of Lebanon

Economic development depends on business education for a thriving and secure society. A skilled workforce that can create, innovate, and increase business opportunities fosters an environment of prosperity that provides jobs and enhances the quality of life among its citizens. This article examines the environment, content, and delivery of business education in Lebanon. It analyzes curriculum content and the students' perceptions of the value and applicability of the curriculum. It also explores the shift in emphasis toward an international perspective in curricula and its importance for the academicians as well as practitioners to understand the methods, techniques, and activities that are being used to prepare the future business workforce. This study presents ideas and perspectives about how business and international curricula in Lebanon are perceived. Data for this article were collected in Lebanon and reflects the students' perspective on its international business curriculum.     

Behavioral Factors Affecting Students’ Intentions to Enroll in Business Ethics Courses: A Comparison of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory Using Self-Identity as a Moderator

The current study used both Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) and Bandura’s social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine the intentions of business undergraduate students toward taking elective ethics courses and investigated the role of self-identity in this process. The study was prospective in design; data on predictors and intentions were obtained during the first collection of data, whereas the actual behavior was assessed 10 days later. Our results indicated that the TPB was a better predictor of behavioral intentions than was SCT. As expected, self-identity served as a moderator in the relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions posited by the TPB and in the relationship between outcome expectancy and behavioral intentions posited by SCT. Self-identity was a crucial factor in predicting actual behavior within both theoretical frameworks.     

Collaborate at Home to Win Abroad: How Does Access to Local Network Resources Influence Export Behavior?

By drawing on the resource‐based view and on elements from social network theory, we use a sample of southern Brazilian small and medium‐sized furniture manufacturers to find evidence for the hypothesis that access to local network resources, facilitated by a firm's membership in an industry association, strongly predicts the propensity to export. Likewise, we find that a firm's local collaborative intensity is positively related to its export intensity and that both relations are moderated by the firm's distance from the local network's center. This study contributes to the literature on how local collaboration may facilitate overcoming export barriers.     

Effects of Education and Intervention on Business Students’ Ethical Cognition: A Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Study

In this study, we present evidence on the changes inethical cognition of business students over afour-year period. We use the Principled Score(P-score) of the Defining Issues Test to measure thischange. Specifically, we first compare the P-scores ofstudents at the entry to, halfway through, and shortlyafter graduation from a business school to analyze theeffect size of education on ethical cognition.Secondly, for a sample of students in an electivebusiness ethics course, we compare P-scores at thebeginning, and at the end of the semester to analyzethe effect size of specific intervention course onethical cognition.Prior studies in liberal arts fields have reportedhigh effect sizes from four-year college education onethical cognition, while a few studies have reportedonly moderate gains for business students. Consistentwith the liberal arts studies, our results indicatestatistically significant gains, and high effect sizesfor business students as well. Similarly, priorstudies have reported moderate gains in the P-scorefrom intervention courses in various fields. Ourresults indicate only low to moderate effect sizes forbusiness students. Importantly, while the gain waslow, and statistically insignificant for femalestudents, it was moderate, and highly significant formale students. Implications for education and researchare discussed.     

Can Arabic Proverbs Enhance Arabic-Speaking Students’ Comprehension of Financial Concepts?: An Empirical Study in Randomly Selected Business Schools in Dubai

In this study, we investigated the use of Arabic proverbs and quotes for teaching finance courses to Arabic-speaking students who are nonnative speakers of English. The study found that the use of Arabic proverbs and quotes greatly enhances the students’ comprehension of the finance topics covered. Similarly, the study revealed that the use of Arabic proverbs and quotes for Arabic-speaking students in teaching finance courses creates rapport between the student and instructor, thus enhancing learning. Finally, the study confirmed that the use of Arabic proverbs and quotes for Arabic-speaking students in teaching finance courses does not lead to confusion or complicate matters, but enhances comprehension and bolsters retention.     

A Reply to “Business Marketing in Master's Programs: A Part of the Fabric”, But What If the Suit Differs?

ABSTRACT

In this reply to James Narus, James Anderson and Earl Honeycutt (NAH) we elaborate on the journey, a 25-year process, in teaching Business Marketing at Ivey. We further discuss the goal to elevate Business Marketing knowledge in the core of the program, rather than to build a strong specialization in the area. Inspired by NAH's reply, we then comment on the root causes of lack of progress at some schools in bringing more Business Marketing into master's programs, and we address the question, “What about those schools where the characteristics are different from Ivey, i.e., how far can our ideas be generalized?”     

A Commentary on “Business Marketing in Master's Programs: A Part of the Fabric”: Cut from the Same Cloth?

ABSTRACT

The authors of this article and their colleagues at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario are to be commended not only for this well-crafted article but also for their efforts to elevate and incorporate essential knowledge of business marketing into the fabric of their school's master's program. The provocative argument that the authors make is that business marketing behaviors, concepts and topics should not be the focus of just one elective course but that they should serve as a foundation of a school's entire master's program. According to the authors, that foundation can be built around four pillars or business marketing essentials-organizational buyer behavior, relationship marketing, customer value, and business markets. In this article, they present not only a process and guidelines for imbedding these pillars into a master's program but also recommend specific topics and cases for various master's level courses. For these reasons, this article is a “must read” for marketing scholars who seek not only to create and/or improve elective courses business marketing but also to enhance the prominence of the study of business marketing at their respective universities.     

Susceptibility to the ‘Dark Side’ of Goal-Setting: Does Moral Justification Influence the Effect of Goals on Unethical Behavior?

Setting goals in the workplace can motivate improved performance but it might also compromise ethical behavior. In this paper, we propose that individual differences in the dispositional tendency to morally justify behavior moderate the effects of specific performance goals on unethical behavior. We conducted an experimental study in which working participants, who were randomly assigned to a specific goal condition or to a condition with a vague goal that lacked a specific target (i.e., ‘do your best’), completed two tasks in which they had the opportunity to act unethically. In an ethical dilemma task, participants in the specific goal condition were more likely to advocate using unethical methods. However, in an anagram task, only those with high moral justification overstated their performance to a greater degree in the specific goal condition. As such, individuals may not be equally susceptible to the ‘dark side’ of goal-setting.     

Leadership: The Being Component. Can the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius Contribute to the Debate on Business Education?

In recent years, scholars have increasingly dedicated their attention to analyse and reflect on the topic of leadership. However, the debate has often focused on the figure of the leader, as if being a leader were a self-sufficient function in itself, understood without finalities or independent of them. I would argue that leadership is not a position that can be assumed, but, rather, a relationship that is constructed. Similarly, the question of leaders has often given rise to a deconstruction of its components, without any insight as to how the reality is put together. Leadership cannot be understood solely from a technical or instrumental perspective. It is not a mere relational skill that simply requires developing competencies. The exercise of leadership always includes—explicitly or implicitly—a connection with values. Therefore, developing leadership is impossible without a personal process that develops the person’s capacity for perception, learning, interiorisation, explicit sense-making and constructing meaning. These issues are truly important at a time in which the debate on business education and its contribution is completely open, targeting the very core of business education’s reason for being. Though open, the debate can only become a truly dynamic discussion if there is a real dialogue between the different positions and traditions. For this reason, this paper proposes an anthropological and non-denominational reading of some of the fundamental meditations found in the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius which could be used as a heuristic in the debate regarding what business schools propose. This paper represents an initial step in this direction, exploring some of the potentialities of the Spiritual Exercises for business schools that do not claim any religious tradition.     

Which subfield to enter first?: The role of a firm's pre-entry experiences

In this study, we draw from the organizational experience and market entry literature and investigate if a firm's pre-entry experiences predict which subfield to enter first. We employ a unique data set from the biotechnology industry where two distinct subfields emerged around the same time due to a revolutionary discovery. Among the firms that entered one of the two emerging subfields, we examine the relationship between pre-entry experiences and which subfield a firm enters. Our key finding is that general experience rather than specialized experience increases the likelihood of a firm entering first the subfield with higher level of uncertainty as opposed to the subfield with lower level of uncertainty.