There's an app for that: The impact of reminder apps on student learning and anxiety

Today's students experience increased anxiety around school and have difficulty keeping track of course assignments. The authors conceptually develop and empirically test a model of the impact of a homework reminder mobile application (app) on executive function skills and learning outcomes with undergraduate business students. The findings suggest that perceived usefulness of Homework Suite Planner app positively predicted students' executive functioning by increasing their organization and time management. Increases in executive functioning due to the Homework Suite app led to more completed assignments, lower anxiety about forgetting homework assignments, and greater overall learning satisfaction with the course. Future research and implications for higher education instructors are discussed.     

Experiential Learning in International Business via the World Wide Web

Abstract

The article describes the implementation of Internet-based experiential projects within an international-business classroom setting and summarizes students' perceptions and attitudes towards the assignments. While the projects were shown to increase students' international business skills and abilities, students reported that the assignments were difficult and only mildly enjoyable. The paper discusses trends in business education and relates them to specific assignments designed to enhance learning outcomes.     

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.     

Valuing Short-Term Study Abroad in Business

Short-term study abroad courses often claim to provide a unique experience for students, but it is not clear how the value translates into a dollar amount. The paper uses the contingent valuation method to assess participating students' pre- and post-trip perceived dollar value of their study abroad courses at an AACSB accredited business school. We identify a number of benefits associated with the maximum willingness to pay and find that the maximum willingness to pay exceeds the actual cost of the trip, sometimes by a large margin. In addition, we offer a set of learning objectives appropriate to business study abroad courses.     

Strategically Assessing International Business Course-Specific Learning Aims

Abstract

During the past 30 years, there have been calls for universities and business schools to internationalize curriculum, students and faculty. As most U.S. business schools have added international components to their respective programs, the assessment of these programs was subsequently recommended from accreditation and competitive perspectives. To sustain competitiveness, business schools must expand their program assessment activities and rigorously conduct assessment at the course level as well. We propose a model of international business course assessment that links learning aims to delivery methods and reviews two separate approaches based on that model.     

LearnSmart,adaptive teaching,and student learning effectiveness: An empirical investigation

Facing the growing number of digital natives entering the classroom, business professors look for innovative ways to enhance the student learning experience. The authors focus on the online interactive learning tool LearnSmart (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY), and examine its impact on student learning effectiveness by testing the direct and indirect relationships among perceived competence, perceived challenge, instructors, perceived value, and satisfaction with LearnSmart. Constructionism served as the theoretical foundation for this study. About 215 students at a public university in the United States took the survey and 197 valid responses were received. Regression analysis results showed that the use of LearnSmart improved students' perceived competency, thus increasing their perceived value of using LearnSmart, as well as their satisfaction with LearnSmart. Perceived value was also found to mediate the impact of perceived competency on satisfaction with LearnSmart, and the instructor played a significant role in facilitating and improving student learning. Perceived challenge impacted student's perceived value of using LearnSmart, but it did not influence satisfaction with LearnSmart.     

Differences in business undergraduate perceptions by preferred classroom learning environment

Online education continues to grow at business schools. The authors compared undergraduate business student perceptions across three different classroom learning delivery environments: online, hybrid, and face to face. Based on the survey responses using two independent samples, the authors' analyses found that students who preferred online delivery perceived higher timely graduation and were more likely to recommend online or hybrid courses, whereas students' perceptions of persistence and institutional commitment were not related to classroom learning delivery preference.     

Investigating Graduate Business Students' Perceptions of the Educational Value Provided by an International Travel Course Experience

Abstract

Researchers agree that students' critical thinking and decision making skills are enhanced through exposure to new cultures and global markets. Thus, one way of bringing about improvement in these areas is through international travel courses. The purpose of this study is threefold. One, to describe the process involved in the creation of a required for-credit international travel course; two, present the findings of a research study designed to investigate graduate business students' perceptions of the educational value provided by an international travel course; and three, describe the ongoing process of closing the assessment loop as it relates to the internationalization of MBA and MACC curricula. The results of this study are encouraging. In general, students perceived that the international travel course added value to their educational experience and enhanced their relationships with other students. Items receiving weaker support were concerned with “thinking skills”, such as multi-disciplinary integration and improved decision-making. These results have important implications for future improvements to the international travel course.     

The Role of Perceived University Support in the Formation of Students' Entrepreneurial Intention

Entrepreneurship education is central to student entrepreneurship. Previous research has attempted to understand the role of entrepreneurship education in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention and behavior, albeit in an isolated manner. Universities can support entrepreneurship in many ways, but it is important to measure students' perception of the support that they receive in order to understand the extent of such support and its impact on students. The current study proposed and tested an integrative, multiperspective framework. We have hypothesized that the three dimensions of university support, that is, perceived educational support, concept development support, and business development support, together with institutional support, shape students' entrepreneurial self‐efficacy. In turn, entrepreneurial self‐efficacy and individual motivations constitute the fundamental elements of the intention to start a business. A sample of 805 university students took part in the study and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our findings showed that perceived educational support exerted the highest influence on entrepreneurial self‐efficacy, followed by concept development support, business development support, and institutional support. Self‐efficacy in turn had a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. Individual motivations such as self‐realization, recognition, and role had an additional impact on intention. However, intention was not related to financial success, innovation, and independence. The findings suggest that a holistic perspective provides a more meaningful understanding of the role of perceived university support in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Does educational gamification improve students’ motivation? If so,which game elements work best?

Educational gamification is a growing field. The authors answer the following important questions: (a) To what degree does educational gamification, in general, increase students' perceived motivation in learning? (b) To what degree do specific game elements impact perceived motivation in learning? and (c) Are the benefits of gamification limited to or enhanced in participants with specific demographic characteristics? A survey of organizational behavior students' perceptions (n?=?124) investigated how participating in a gamified course motivated students overall and examined the individual effect of specific game elements. Of the participants, 67.7% reported that the gamified course was more or much more motivating than a traditional course. Correlational data indicated that being a member of any measured demographic (e.g., gender, age, student status) was not a barrier to finding gamification motivating.     

Understanding how service learning pedagogy impacts student learning objectives

Service learning (SL) is gaining popularity in business schools as a way to supplement traditional pedagogies. Research indicates that SL improves particular learning outcomes, but little is known about how this happens. Using Kolb's theory of experiential learning, the authors develop and test a conceptual model that explains how SL activates the four cycles of experiential learning and affects the learning outcomes of academic knowledge, career development, personal growth, and civic responsibility.     

Exploring Attitudes and Affiliation Intentions toward Consumers Who Engage in Socially Shared Superstitious Behaviors: A Study of Students in the East and the West

Existing literature on superstitious beliefs focuses on consumer purchasing behavior. However, little is known about how superstition‐based consumption behaviors are socially perceived. This paper investigates students’ attitudes toward consumers who engage in socially shared superstitious behaviors. Two studies show that students from Eastern and Western countries have negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions toward consumers engaging in socially shared superstitious behaviors. As predicted by social judgment theory, this effect is driven by perceived low competence but not by perceived warmth. These negative attitudes and lower affiliation intentions are moderated by the student's superstitiousness. The managerial implications of social perceptions regarding consumer superstitious behavior are discussed.     

How Task Structure and Outcome Comparisons Influence Women's and Men's Risk‐Taking Self‐Efficacies: A Multi‐Study Exploration

To explore inconsistent findings in the perceived self‐efficacy and entrepreneurship literatures as they relate to the type of complex, risky decisions (i.e., those that commit financial resources to generate new revenue) made by marketing managers, entrepreneurs, and corporate intrapreneurs, this paper uses a series of four theoretically driven, empirical studies to investigate gender differences in risk‐taking self‐efficacies (i.e., one's perceived abilities to make financially risky, business development decisions). The results indicate the following: (1) no gender differences in risk‐taking self‐efficacies absent a task; (2) after performing a complex, risk‐laden task, the risk‐taking self‐efficacies of subjects receiving negatively valenced outcome information and women were less than those of subjects receiving positively valenced outcome information and men; (3) this effect remains for women when experience in the task domain is high and when diagnostic information about prior outcomes is provided; (4) the reason for the effect appears to be that men and women use information about their prior decision's outcomes differently when assessing their risk‐taking self‐efficacies; and (5) the effect disappears when social cues intended to facilitate accurate performance comparisons are introduced into the task environment. These findings support existing theories, identify areas needing development, and show how these effects can limit participation in both complex, risk‐laden tasks and careers that are thought to involve performing such tasks.     

An Assessment of Experiential Learning of Global Poverty Issues Through International Service Projects

Service learning has been used to supplement a standard business curriculum, but not typically in an international business context. We report the results of two short-term study abroad programs in which we incorporated service learning projects, one in Cambodia and the other in Vietnam. Our objective is to assess how we organized and delivered effective service learning projects in short-term study tours, and to assess students’ learning outcomes on global poverty issues in a business curriculum. We used both quantitative and qualitative assessment measures. The findings suggest that several types of learning outcomes did occur through the service learning projects, as the literature suggested. Seeing poverty firsthand and doing something about it through service learning may be a first experience for many students, but it seems to be a transformational one for many. We conclude that students may approach business and even political decisions with a greater understanding of their impact on poverty in the developing world.     

Business‐to‐Business Branding: A Review and Assessment of the Impact of Non‐Attribute‐Based Brand Beliefs on Buyer's Attitudinal Loyalty

Business‐to‐business branding has received increasing attention from researchers in the last few years. Nonetheless, there is no agreement on the relative contribution of a brand versus an offering's functional attributes to the industrial buyer's preferences. Drawing on models from the business‐to‐consumer context, this paper demonstrates that non‐attribute‒based brand beliefs are predictors of hedonic outcomes as measured by industrial buyers' attitudinal loyalty, while attribute‐based brand beliefs are not. Moreover, the moderating role of the buyer's level of knowledge for the value‐generating process is identified, suggesting that the impact of non‐attribute‒based brand beliefs on attitudinal loyalty is greater for buyers with a low level of knowledge. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employees striving for innovation in social enterprises: The roles of social mission and commitment-based human resource management

Social enterprises, promising organizations for solving societal problems with innovative approaches, rely upon their members’ active roles for workplace innovation. However, we still have a limited understanding about how social enterprises can foster employees’ endeavors for innovation. By focusing on employee learning and innovative behavior, we investigate the influences of perceived social mission, value congruence, and human resource management (HRM) practices in social enterprises. We conducted two complementary studies to answer our research questions. In Study 1, with a survey of 369 employees from 68 social enterprises, we examined a multilevel moderated mediation model with firm-level and individual-level data. We found that perceived social mission promoted learning and innovative behavior by increasing value congruence, and that commitment-based HRM practices enhanced the overall process from mission to employee efforts for innovation. In Study 2, with 300 daily surveys from 60 employees participating in an experience sampling study, we found that those with high-value congruence showed a significantly more stable pattern with less variance in innovative behavior than in learning behavior. Our study adds novel implications to the underdeveloped literature on employee innovation and HRM in social enterprises by uncovering the positive effects of social mission and value facets for boosting learning and innovative behaviors. Our research also suggests that social enterprises should benefit from pursuing and emphasizing the social mission and commitment-based HRM bundle together, which will promote the prosperity and well-being of business and society.     

Business ethics in China and Iceland—Contrasts and convergence

It is generally accepted that cultural differences affect individuals' approaches to ethics, but how are the effects of culture manifested in perceptions of ethics? Further, how are cultural differences displayed in such ethics-related actions as recommendations for business ethics education? Managers' responses from two starkly different cultures, China and Iceland, reveal, somewhat surprisingly, that one group's top business ethics concerns and business ethics education recommendations are at the bottom of the other group's rankings, and vice-versa, yet each appears reasonable given the cultural background. This shows how nuanced the expression of cultural differences in the realm of ethics can be and how potential practical steps may rely on perceived “top” ethical issues. Together, these findings imply that there is more to explore about the role of culture on ethical reasoning and behavior than researchers have examined to date. We provide suggestions for further research and practical applications.     

Students' perception of corporate social responsibility: Analyzing the influence of gender,academic status,and exposure to business ethics education

Studies on students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been growing in western scholarship. For students in African countries, such as Nigeria, there is little that is known about how and whether gender, level of study, and being enrolled in business education courses impact their perception of and disposition towards CSR. This study explores the significance of gender, academic status or level of study, and exposure to business ethics education (BEE) on Nigerian students' perception of CSR as a veritable business ethic. Specifically, the effects of these factors on students' perception of CSR are examined using analysis of variance. The results show a significant effect of exposure to BEE and gender on CSR‐sensitivity, and a mild, but significant effect of academic status. This implies that male students and female students had different perspectives on CSR issues. Students who took ethics courses and those who did not would run businesses differently. However, age and experience on campus did not influence students' perception or position on CSR. The study recommends that more behavioral models be estimated with the inclusion of more demographic and socioeconomic variables to elicit more robust results.     

Global Business Literacy in the Classroom: Developing and Applying an Assessment Framework

This study develops and applies a framework to evaluate undergraduate Global Business Literacy (GBL) learning outcomes, which is defined here as the ability to adapt and function in the global business context and to be knowledgeable about its core issues and trends. As a first step in a multi-stage research process, we used extant expatriate and global business education literature to develop a 58-item survey. Exploratory factor analysis of pre-test survey data from 166 seniors revealed five explanatory factors that we labeled self-efficacy (SE), willingness to learn (WTL), relationship development (RD), technical competence (TC), and self-awareness (SA). Next, we used the framework to complete a post-test study of the effectiveness of a classroom-based Global Business Colloquium at improving students' perceived GBL. A paired-samples t-test revealed mean increases/decreases in scores from Time 1 to Time 2 on four factors: SE, WTL, RD, and TC, but no significant difference in SA. We discuss future research directions and recommend potential pedagogical augmentation.     

Teaching the Concept of Risk: Blended Learning Using a Custom-Built Prediction Market

There has been much research into the role of technology in promoting student engagement and learning activity in third-level education. This article documents an innovative application of technology in a large, undergraduate business class in risk management. The students' learning outcomes are reinforced by activity in a custom-designed prediction market. The content of lectures are closely aligned to the student objectives within the prediction market, thus allowing the application of risk management practice while building knowledge through traditional delivery methods.