Re-exploring entrepreneurial intentions and personality attributes during a pandemic

Purpose Using the theory of planned behavior as a theoretical base, this study aims to examine the effect of the personality attributes, risk-taking, creativity and locus of control on the entrepreneurial intentions of US business college students. The authors replicated previous studies from around the world but performed the research during the Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed 353 students, comparing those with entrepreneurial intentions (n = 213) versus those without entrepreneurial intentions (n = 140). Findings The authors found that risk-taking and creativity both significantly and positively predicted entrepreneurial intentions, but locus of control did not have a significant impact. Practical implications Contextually, the authors performed this study during the widespread complications of the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors advise business educators to initiate programs that encourage student entrepreneurship by nurturing creativity and offering educational resources that assist students in reducing the perceived risk of entrepreneurship. Originality/value The authors seek to increase awareness among business educators of the significance of entrepreneurship as a desirable career. The authors believe that one impact from the Covid-19 pandemic has been an expanded interest among students to start their own businesses. The authors propose that creative measures introduced into the business school curriculum by business educators will enhance students’ desire to take risks to create their own businesses.

Business School Student Deception: Tracking and Learning from Actual Behavior

Business educators’ mission is to help students develop knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and skills that will help them be successful once they graduate. This is certainly true of ethical issues, including the use of deception. This study reports on an assignment that can increase students’ awareness of their own capacity for deceptiveness, self-reflection on what this means for them and the greater business world, and awareness of the different types of deceptiveness that can and do occur. Data is provided from 239 undergraduate/graduate students at two universities on three campuses who completed a five-day deception measurement exercise. Students measured and categorized their deception behavior and reflected upon the results. Results suggest the objectives were met regardless of school location, method of classroom delivery, level of instruction, or whether the assignment was mandatory or not. The fact that this exercise has been used at multiple universities under almost every class modality suggests it can be successfully replicated at other universities for many courses.

PROFESSIONAL DEMANDS OF LECTURING JOB ON HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT: IMPLICATION FOR RAISING PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS EDUCATORS IN NIGERIAN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

The place of lecturing job in achieving the nation’s developmental strides through skilled manpower development is critical and exigent. Accordingly, the need for professional development of lecturers who occupy key academic positions in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, for effective and efficient performance of their professional roles, and in subsequent realization of the nation’s developmental aspirations is a worthy investment. Thus, the main thrust of this paper was to carefully examine the professional demands of lecturing job on human capacity development and its implication on raising professional business educators in Nigerian tertiary institutions, via education policies and relevant literature reviews. Human capacity development in this sense is the consistent enhancement of knowledge, skills, work attitude, competences and experiences of academic staff of tertiary institutions to enable them perform optimally in their lecturing profession. Achieving the above stated aim was premised on the urgent demand to consistently develop lecturers or business educators’ professional capacity in order to sharpen their professional teaching skills through relevant teacher education and qualification, professional membership affiliation to ensure strict compliance of practice to professional standards, quality research publications for development purposes, utilization of retraining programmes for professional knowledge update, ICT training for adaptive and innovative pedagogical approaches for effective job performance in the new normal. The study finally highlighted a plethora of inhibiting factors confronting professional capacity development of lecturers for optimal performance, and also made a few relevant recommendations.

Advancing Leadership Education and Development: Integrating Adult Learning Theory

Leader development serves as a strong focus in the mission statements of many business school programs. Looking at business school leader development programs through the lens of adult learning theory, we assert that there is an overreliance on cognitive training (e.g., lecture) as the primary form of education used in preparing future business leaders, neglecting other relevant learning orientations. In response, we advance a comprehensive model of business leader education and training that incorporates and integrates five primary orientations to adult learning (cognitivist, behaviorist, humanistic, social cognitive, constructivist). We argue that other professional training curricula, most notably, medical school and military education, draw more fully on these five orientations to adult learning and that these represent comparative models for what business schools could be doing in leader development. We conclude by providing concrete suggestions for how business educators might apply the model in their own programs.

The Business Education of Charismatic Leaders and Good Soldiers

This article describes how charismatic leaders inspire followers with a vision of a better future, but attaining that better future is not easy and requires hard work, extra effort, and sacrifice. In challenging organizational environments where crisis is present, one leadership style that emerges has been described as charismatic. Charismatic leaders have a tendency to create good soldiers, a loyal band of followers who engage in organizational citizenship behaviors. These good soldiers encourage others to join the effort to create a better world and achieve goals. The difficulty sets in when charismatic leaders and their good soldiers continually ask for more of their employees, take the spotlight, diminish the contributions of others, and create an environment where the performance of extra-role behaviors becomes the expected norm. When followers are pressured to perform citizenry behaviors, they no longer do so voluntarily, which places stress on employees and eventually dampens enthusiasm and motivation. Business educators preparing the next generation of leaders need to raise awareness of the strengths and possible weaknesses associated with charismatic leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Smartphone-based Virtual Reality as an Immersive Tool for Teaching Marketing Concepts

With the advent of Virtual Reality (VR) technology and the ubiquity of mobile devices, smartphone-based VR has become more affordable and accessible to business educators and millennial students. While millennials expect learning to be fun and prefer working with current technology, educators are constantly challenged to integrate new technology into the curriculum and evaluate the learning outcomes. This study examines the gain in learning effectiveness and students' intrinsic motivations that would result from the use of VR as compared to the use of traditional learning activity, namely think-pair and share. The results show that students who took part in the VR simulation demonstrated a better understanding of concepts and reported a better learning experience as compared to those who participated in the think-pair-share activity. In particular, the findings show evidence of higher intrinsic motivation and better learning outcomes.

Research, Theories, and Pedagogical Practices of Cultural Metacognition in Cross-Cultural Business Education

Cultural metacognition, or thinking about cultural assumptions, can help increase awareness, build trust, and create successful business outcomes. The role of cultural metacognition in business is vital. This chapter will enable building a cultural metacognition knowledge base, and promote appreciation of its importance and effect on business enhancement. The context of this chapter will amplify knowledge, ideas, and skills necessary to connect various issues of teaching and learning cultural metacognition in cross-cultural environments. The chapter will facilitate business educators' teaching practices that foster learning cultural metacognition and its effects on cross-cultural business practices. In addition, it includes discussion of the facts related to tools for developing metacognition skills, as well as suggestions for how to fill the gap between theoretical and practical implications. The ultimate goal is to help elevate teaching, learning practices, and research related to the topic of cultural metacognition in cross-cultural business education.

Teaching and Learning Cultural Metacognition in Marketing and Sales Education

Thinking about cultural assumptions, referred to as cultural metacognition, can help increase awareness, build trust, and create successful marketing and sales outcomes. The role of cultural metacognition in marketing and sales education helps students build a cultural metacognition knowledge base and promotes appreciation of its importance and effect on business enhancement. The context of this article will help amplify knowledge, ideas, and skills necessary to connect various issues of teaching and learning cultural metacognition. This article will facilitate business educators' teaching practices that foster learning cultural metacognition and its effects on marketing and sales. The ultimate goal is to help elevate teaching, learning, and assessment practices related to the topic of cultural metacognition in marketing and sales education.

Cross-Cultural Business Communication

It is broadly recognized that cultural factors act as invisible barriers in international business communications. As such, understanding cultural differences is an essential skill for both business educators and business practitioners as geographic borders become increasingly fluid. This chapter provides a framework for both business practitioners and educators engaged in international business. Seven themes are suggested for future research: cultural impacts of markets, international vs. domestic business communication, standardization vs. adaptation in cross-cultural communication, cross-cultural dimensions of business communication research, cultural aspects of the business communication mix, cultural aspects of business communication in the service sector, cultural communication implications of the aftermarket, and cross-cultural business communication education and professional training. The chapter concludes with suggestions that business anthropology be adapted as a tool for culture on international business and education.