Business employability for late millennials: exploring the perceptions of generation Z students and generation X faculty

Purpose The paper aims to explore employability in business as perceived by Generation Z (late millennials) business students and faculty. It focuses on perceptions regarding necessary employability skills from the diverse standpoints of two different groups of stakeholders within one Higher Education Institution. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a Mixed Qualitative Design approach including a core and a supplementary component; Generation Z student perceptions are initially identified through a thematic analysis of students’ research reports on employability. These perceptions are then further contextualized through findings from a series of personal interviews conducted with Generation X academics in the same institution. Findings The findings support the two basic dimensions of perceived employability, work readiness and employability skills, for which students and educators hold similar notions. Both stakeholders distinguish between “hard” and “soft” skills, but filter their relative importance through a generational lens. An emerging finding was the link between personality traits and perceived employability skills. Originality/value The paper examines the much-debated issue of perceived employability through the eyes of Generation Z students; research on employability perceptions of Generation Z is, to date, limited. The topic is timely, as Generation Z is the newest generation entering the business job market. In addition, the paper adds to the emerging contemporary stream of literature exploring employability in the field of business education.

Raising Perceptions on Corporate Social Responsibility for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 is the United Nations development agenda for developing the economy, society, and environment. Moreover, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an emerging topic in the business world. The paper aims to pursue business students’ knowledge and perception of CSR activities linked to SDGs. The quantitative research design and descriptive research analysis were used. The data were collected from business learning students of three public universities in Bangladesh. CSR’s perception-related items positively correlated with Spearman’s Rho’s formula. The descriptive statistics revealed perceptions of CSR activities among respondents, which are directly and indirectly related to SDGs. In addition, the two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test showed a variation of perceptions among groups. The findings of this study showed respondents had an acceptable knowledge level on CSR activities. There was a positive perception of respondents on economic and social dimensions of SDGs and mainly included in philanthropic and economic fields of CSR. Besides, their consciousness of the environmental dimension related to ethical and legal activities of CSR concepts was comparatively low. Finally, favourable knowledge and perception of business studying students in CSR activities are imperative for the successful implementation of SDGs.

Integrating financial literacy into economics courses through digital tools: the Finlite app

Purpose This study aims to analyze the effect of the Finlite mobile app on the financial literacy of undergraduate business students in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quasi-experimental pre-intervention design. The data are collected using a quiz and a questionnaire. Cluster sampling is adopted for three different zones in Malaysia. A total of 400 business students enrolled in economics courses participated in the intervention. Findings The results indicate that Finlite significantly promotes students’ savings intentions, practices, decision-making, accountability, values and financial literacy. All results are analyzed based on gender and race. However, Finlite does not significantly help overcome students’ financial issues such as credit card debt and poor spending behavior. Practical implications Financial literacy may be efficiently promoted through digital tools integrated into economics courses. Young adults can make optimal financial decisions after graduation. Future research should explore different courses, addressing undergraduate and high-school students. Originality/value Previous studies predominantly examine attitudes and behaviors related to financial literacy. In contrast, this study measures the ex post impact of the Finlite mobile app on savings intentions, practices, decision-making, accountability, ability to overcome financial issues and value for money.

BECOMING A BUSINESS WRITER: OMANI ESP STUDENTS’ SELF-PERCEIVED WRITING CHALLENGES, NEEDS AND WANTS

Today, effective English writing is one of the most valuable professional skills for growth and development in the world of entrepreneurship. In spite of the prominence of English as the leading language of business and business education, writing is still one of the biggest challenges that business students face. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that explored Omani business student-perceived challenges, needs and wants in writing. The study used an online survey involving seventy students from Sultan Qaboos University who were asked to share their perceptions in regard to these three dimensions specifically related to the skill of business writing. Analysis of the data was conducted using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Findings reveal that business students place effective writing skills high in terms of their perceived necessity. They also indicate that in spite of interesting and engaging writing activities contextualized in Oman’s world of business, students’ overall enjoyment level of writing is moderate on average due to perceived challenges throughout learning, and lacks in perspectives pertaining to how the writing tasks and assignments could be developed and implemented, including providing more guiding writing practice, more feedback, more interesting topics and more real-world topics and tasks. These student challenges, needs and wants analysis’ findings can direct further developments, leading to a successful English business writing syllabus and teaching practice.

ENGLISH FOR MARKET RESEARCH REPORT WRITING: COURSE DESIGN

At undergraduate and postgraduate levels in business schools, lecturers often provide students with a suggested structure for a market research report assignment. Thereafter, the students are left to independently master the appropriate register and the technique of writing for this genre. While many students may learn to be good at business studies, they might fall short in writing despite having to produce several reports at university level. One of the reasons for this shortfall may be that some of the students may lack the confidence to produce reports which meet academic or professional standards in the English language. A short English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course that addresses the technical writing needs of business students as an option or add-on course to undergraduate and postgraduate business curricula could provide the simple solution. It could even be formalised as a credit bearing course to motivate students to undertake it.With a view to the above, as a pilot ESP module, a 15-hour English for Market Research Report Writing Skills course was designed to try and meet the specific needs of undergraduate market research students at the Warwick Business School (WBS). It was intended to be taught under the auspices of the Warwick Skills Certificate Programme at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom (UK).

Experiential Learning by Business Students on Short Term Study Tours

This study incorporates a qualitative, case study based approach to analyze the impact of a short domestic study tour on business students of a Mumbai based college. The methods for data collection were structured questionnaires, feedback forms, interviews, focus groups, and work diaries. Short and economical study tours within the country have succeeded tremendously in their objective and have provided a very high level of learning experiences. There is strong evidence of experiential learning which seem to produce a significant, almost magical, impact on students.

The effect of individuals’ analytical orientation and capabilities on decision quality and regret

Decision makers are exposed to an increasing amount of information. Algorithms can help people make better data-driven decisions. Previous research has focused on both companies’ orientation towards analytics use and the required skills of individual decision makers. However, each individual can make either analytically based or intuitive decisions. We investigated the characteristics that influence the likelihood of making analytical decisions, focusing on both analytical orientation and capabilities of individuals. We conducted a survey using 462 business students as proxies for decision makers and used partial least squares path modeling to show that analytical capabilities and analytical orientation influence each other and affect analytical decision-making, thereby impacting decision quality and decision regret. Our findings suggest that when implementing business analytics solutions, companies should focus on the development not only of technological capabilities and individuals’ skills but also of individuals’ analytical orientation.

Why Students Prefer “Business Administration Education”?

This chapter aims to identify the factors that are effective in the decisions of business students to choose this department. For this purpose, motivating factors for personality and work life were preferred in the study and questions were prepared in this direction. A and B type personality structures were preferred for the personality factor. The motivating factors for business life examined under three headings as occupational prestige/status, earning potential, potential of occupational advancement. The sample of the research consists of the senior year undergraduate students in the Department of the Business Administration from different universities. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview technique. In the research, a total of 25 students were interviewed on an online platform. In the results of the research, personality type tendencies of the students were revealed, and it was observed that factors such as prestigious job, status, high income, career progression, family, and personality influence their preferences of the business administration department.

Sustainable Study Abroad

The number of business students in higher education pursuing an international experience continues to increase due to a range of opportunities offered by universities. International experiences lead to positive outcomes for students, but there is a misalignment between the countries sending students to the U.S. and the destinations chosen by U.S. students. Host countries selected by students for their international experience are the recipients of economic benefits, but they also are facing environmental and social consequences of over-tourism. As such, a more sustainable approach to the planning and selection of study abroad programs must be taken. This chapter reviews the data and trends for U.S. students studying abroad and international students studying in the U.S. and also looks more closely at the data for one large public university. Stakeholders are identified and the pros and cons of non-traditional study abroad destinations discussed. The chapter concludes by offering suggestions for designing programs in non-traditional study abroad destinations.

Impact of Online Recruitment on Organizational Attractiveness: An Experimental Study in the Context of Pakistan

The purpose of this study is to explore the aesthetical features of corporate recruitment websites, including the website design, style, and color, and to investigate their impact on organizational attractiveness and applicants' intention to apply. By doing so, the study also examines the effects of corporate websites on applicants' perception of the corporate culture and measures the mediating impact of perceptions of organizational culture on organizational attractiveness and applicants' intention to apply for the jobs in the context of Pakistan. The study is based on a laboratory experiment with three hundred undergraduate business students conducted at a university computer lab. Correlation, Independent T-test, One-way ANOVA, and Simple Linear Regression were applied to analyze variables using SPSS. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that website features have a significant positive impact on applicants' perceived organizational attractiveness. However, the website's design does not seem to impact applicants' intentions to apply for the job substantially. The regression analysis results also revealed that the perceived organizational culture partially mediates the relationship between website features and organizational attractiveness and fully mediates the relationship between website features and intentions to Apply.