An Empirical Study of Student Willingness to Study Abroad

Companies wish for universities to provide business students with international education and awareness. Short- and long-term study-abroad programs are an effective method by which this is accomplished, but relatively few American students study abroad. In response to these facts, this study develops hypotheses that predict student willingness to study abroad and tests the hypotheses using a survey of over 300 primarily business undergraduate students at a public Midwestern university. Results indicate a significant difference between student willingness to study abroad short-term versus long-term. Results also show that personal, situational, and location variables influence students' willingness to study abroad, though completing an international business class had no effect. Implications for international business scholars are discussed.     

A Study of Business Student Choice to Study Abroad: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Study abroad experiences are becoming increasingly common with business students. In this study, we build upon previous research into the motivations of students to study abroad by using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior as a theoretical basis for indentifying the factors which might influence their intention to study abroad. A survey administered to 188 business students and subsequent analysis supported Ajzen's theory that attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms all were significant predictors of intention. This study also identified gender specific differences in the various factors.     

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.     

Cuba: The New Frontier of Study Abroad Programs for U.S. Students

The growing reconciliation between the United States and Cuba has created a unique opportunity for U.S. business and hospitality students to observe and experience first-hand an economy in marked transition. Attempting to balance the tenets of socialism with a rapidly growing reliance on capitalism creates a rare learning environment for students. This article presents the plan for a 10-day faculty-led study abroad program to Cuba. The program is divided between the two (arguably) most important destinations in Cuba: the economic and cultural center, Havana, and the tourism powerhouse of Varadero. At each destination, students are engaged in lectures, site visits, research, and cultural experiences.     

Business Students' Choice of Short-Term or Long-Term Study Abroad Opportunities

Recent years have seen a proliferation of short-term study abroad opportunities. Although they are both supplementing and replacing semester-long study abroad programs, research has focused primarily on semester (long-term) programs. We draw on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore factors that predict why students choose long-term and short-term programs. Results indicate that students perceive more social pressure to engage in short-term programs, and higher barriers limiting participation in long-term programs. All TPB factors significantly predicted students' intentions to study abroad in both short-term and long-term programs with one exception; perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict intentions to participate in short-term programs. These findings can be used to improve marketing of short-term and long-term programs by addressing student concerns specific to each type of program, potentially increasing the number of students choosing to study abroad.     

Identifying College Students Likely to Participate in a Travel Abroad Volunteer Project

Foreign travel provides excellent opportunities for college students to broaden their global mindset. While empirical research focusing on variables that influence student participation in study abroad programs are available, there is a paucity of research that focuses on travel abroad programs relating to participating in volunteer projects. Using a sample of 193 undergraduate business students, this study attempts to develop profiles of students that are “not likely,” “maybe,” and “most likely” to participate in a travel abroad volunteer project. Those who were “mostly likely” to participate had traveled abroad before, demonstrated high levels of self-congruity and diversity seeking, and stated financial costs to be less of a constraint in participating in such a project. Discussion of findings and direction for future research is also provided.     

The Bologna Process and Internationalization for Higher Education in the U.S.

When U.S. colleges and universities internationalize, there are policy implications branching out of the change process and affecting nearly all higher education areas within the university or college. Government, state, and local entities all have a vested interest in internationalizing in the 21st century because of the growing interconnectedness that the world now shares. Schools of business are usually one the first areas on U.S. college and universities to invest in international programming, whether for outbound study abroad students to Europe or Asia, or receiving international students for a short-term exchange program or degree-seeking opportunities.     

The Ethics of the US Business Executive: A Study of Perceptions

Gallup Polls have reported on the perceived ethics of various professions in the US since 1976. Clergymen and pharmacists were consistently identified as two of the most ethical professionals in the 1980's and 1990's. Business executives have not fared well in these polls and have not been rated among the top ten most ethical professions in any of the years the poll was taken. Ethical codes have not done much to belay the perception that the US business executive is not very ethical. Whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will impact the ethical behavior of business executives remains to be seen.     

Impact on Intercultural Competence When Studying Abroad and the Moderating Role of Personality

The purpose of this study is to assess how studying abroad impacts the development of intercultural competence and the moderating role of student’s personality. This research uses a pre-post design with a sample of 264 undergraduate students from four Colombian universities; it includes a group of students who participated in a one semester study-abroad program and a control group who did not travel. The average level of increase in intercultural competence for the students who went abroad was 0.511 standard deviations above the average of those who had not studied abroad. The results from hierarchical linear regression did not yield any evidence that supports the moderating effects of the personality factors on the relation between study abroad and intercultural competence.     

Consumer Attitudes Toward and Preferences for Food Standards of Identity

Abstract

Federal food standards of identity protect consumers from nutritional and economic fraud by establishing standardized names and characteristics for some products. Standards have been criticized for a variety of reasons, raising the possibility that standards may be harmful to the consumers' interests that they are designed to protect. The authors conducted focus groups to collect information on consumers' attitudes toward food standards and their perceived usefulness. Many participants believed that standards are useful and deemed standards to be more important for some types of products than others. Regulators can use the study findings to guide policy decisions on food standards.     

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.     

The Ethiopian Immigrant Business Enclave in the United States: Perceptions of Residents,Consumers, and Entrepreneurs

This study investigates the Ethiopian immigrant urban business enclave and its infrastructure, aesthetics, and quality of life. These immigrants are revitalizing urban areas, and examining the perceptual differences among stakeholders in these neighborhoods is salient. Economic development literature suggests that stakeholders share a common vision in order for revitalization efforts to be successful. Surveys were administered in an urban area to statistically test hypotheses that stakeholder groups have different perceptions. The analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Results indicate that stakeholders differ in their perceptions of the business climate and quality of life.     

Toward a Comprehensive Framework of Study Abroad Intentions and Behaviors

Increased activity by U.S. students to study abroad has invited several studies that have investigated the reasons for U.S. students to study abroad. Literature in the context of study abroad choices has been fragmented, with each study presenting an ad-hoc set of factors the author/s deem as important or that have been shown to be important in previous literature. However, no study to date has attempted to identify a theoretical framework that explains why these factors should be important in explaining the intention to participate in a study abroad program. In this study, we use the theoretical background of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and trait theory to unify the existing body of literature and arrive at a model that predicts study abroad intentions. We test this model by means of a survey administered in a U.S. university.     

Student Cultural Interaction in a Short-Term Study Abroad Program

Empirical studies of the effects of short-term study abroad programs have found mixed results. This study uses a pre-post test design to assess the effect on student cross-cultural adaptability of a 2-week study abroad program to Germany that includes substantial student interaction with Germans. Pretrip to post-trip, students showed a significant increase in personal autonomy. Comparison of pretrip student scores against scale score means identified personal autonomy as the only dimension students were not already significantly above average pretrip. Although Business students demonstrated a significant increase in personal autonomy following the trip, Letters and Sciences students showed no significant change in any of the four cultural dimensions measured.     

College Students' Perceptions of a Smoking Ban in Restaurants and Bars

Abstract

This study investigates college students' perceptions of smoking bans and their knowledge of smoking bans implemented in a college town. A total of 180 college students enrolled in two hospitality management classes participated in the study. While the majority of students were strongly supportive of smoking bans in general, results of the study indicated that significant differences were found in smoking ban perceptions based on respondents' future employment segments. The length of residency also affects how much information respondents knew about implemented smoking ban regulations.     

Incorporating a Short-Term Study Abroad Service Trip for Educating International Entrepreneurship in the BOP Market

ABSTRACT

The bottom of the pyramid (BOP) market has gained importance in international entrepreneurship due to its large market potential. Drawing on the literature of international business education, as well as social entrepreneurship and international entrepreneurship education, we propose a course to educate students how to develop business intimacy with the BOP community. We employ the experiential-learning pedagogical framework and design elements including a short-term study abroad service trip, an entrepreneurship project, and structured reflections. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, we demonstrate that the course facilitates students’ learning in the key areas of international and social entrepreneurship, including the economic and social value of community embeddedness for BOP ventures, the emotional intelligence in interacting with BOP communities, and the attitude toward social entrepreneurship.     

Teaching International Business Abroad: Paradigms Suggested by Metaphor Theory

When International Business (IB) is taught abroad, the educational institution has to decide on organizational issues and educational and teaching paradigms. College and university programs abroad can adopt organizational values and identities similar to the home institution, or adapt to local operating environments. Likewise, educational and pedagogic paradigms can mirror those in the home institution or expand to realize and consider local contexts. Based on a consideration of metaphor theory, it is suggested that there are three ways of dealing with international educational experiences. The non‐metaphoric paradigm fails to recognize and engage with ambient difference. The comparison paradigm compares and contrasts acquired institutional understandings with local realities. The domains‐interactive seeks to stimulate a dynamic exploration of home and local assumptions, looking for new emergent themes and understanding. Insight derived from metaphor theory not only suggests how these different paradigms emerge but potentially provides vibrancy and pervasive urgency to conducting IB education abroad.     

Strategic Framing: A Study of the Antecedents of Threat and Opportunity Perceptions

A model of the antecedents of managers' perceptions of market situations as threats or opportunities (strategic framing) is examined in order to explore possible explanations for managers' tendency to overlook threats and opportunities which arise due to changing market conditions. The results indicate that threat and opportunity are not polar opposites, as assumed in the literature, and that threat and opportunity perceptions have different causes. Implications of the findings for enhancing the responsiveness of firms to changing market conditions are discussed.Walter K. Koch Chair in Entrepreneurship     

Individualism-Collectivism Cultural Differences Affecting Perceptions of Unethical Practices: Some Evidence from Australian and Indonesian Accounting Students

This paper examines the impact of the individualism-collectivism dimension of culture on ethical perceptions in a sample of Australian and Indonesian Final Year accounting students. The study uses the Triandis instrument to establish that Australian students tended to be more individualistically- and Indonesian students more collectivistically-oriented. The study then proceeds to test the hypothesis of no difference in perceptions between these two country samples in their evaluations of questionable actions portrayed in five vignette situations. The findings reject the no difference cultural hypothesis, indicating that there are perceptual differences between the collectivistic Indonesian students and the individualistic Australian students. In general Indonesian students tend to perceive a lesser degree of risk for the questionable acts depicted by these cases where such acts would have beneficial impacts on close or moderately close in-groups. Consistent with this observation, they also tend to perceive a greater amount of gain if this gain impacts more on close or moderately close in-groups.These results suggest that ethics teaching, either as separate or integrated into other courses, is a delicate subject that is even more critical in a multicultural environment such as Australia where universities have growing numbers of culturally-distinct Asian students. Australian-based teachers of accounting students, in particular, should exercise extreme sensitivity when addressing issues of ethical conduct in the classroom to avoid offending those from different cultural backgrounds. More research into experiences of teaching business ethics to a group of culturally diverse students, as well as publications of suitable teaching materials that highlight and address these problems would be a significant step forward.