Comparing Entrepreneurial Spirit in job descriptions seeking business undergraduates and graduates

Employers hiring candidates with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) indicate that the Entrepreneurial Spirit (ES) concepts of teamwork, creativity, innovation and adaptability are important. This replication study examined the ES concepts most often appearing in job descriptions seeking to hire MBA candidates. These concepts were used to compare those ES concepts employers most often seek when hiring undergraduate business degree candidates. The literature review provides a background on the development of MBA programs, ES concepts and entrepreneurship education, how innovation is developed, and the perceived gap regarding the development of ES concepts between employers and MBA graduates. The study follows a quantitative content analysis methodology to compare two external datasets: undergraduate job descriptions and MBA job descriptions. The results show that the most desired ES concepts sought by companies were implementation, collaboration, and innovation. There was not a significant difference in ES concepts by job title category in job descriptions between undergraduate business degrees and job descriptions requiring an MBA. There was a significant difference in the concept of innovation. The findings suggest that the ES concept of innovation is more highly desired by companies seeking people with MBA degrees than by those seeking undergraduate business degree holders.

An American Business School’s Academic Advising and Professional Development Centers’ Early Pandemic Response

As colleges and universities around the world grapple with the continuing impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary for research to not only focus on student academic learning issues, but also test for maintained support of needed student resources such as Academic Advising and Professional Development Centers. Using the Senior Student Satisfaction Survey, two separate samples of graduating business undergraduates at a Mid-Atlantic University in the United States of America were surveyed, in late Spring 2019 (pre-pandemic) and late Spring 2020 (early pandemic). The goals of this study were two-fold. The first was to test for changes from pre-pandemic to early pandemic in seven student-related perception measures: attendance motivation, coursework challenge, professional development engagement, academic advising ease/quality, professional development ease/quality, business degree satisfaction, and perceived market value to potential employers. The second goal was to test for changes in the perceived relationships of five “independent variables”, i.e., attendance motivation, coursework challenge, professional development engagement, academic advising center ease/quality, and professional development center ease/quality, to two “dependent variables”, i.e., business degree satisfaction and perceived market value to potential employers. Comparing pre-pandemic (2019) to early pandemic (2020) perceptual change data, this study found that both the Academic Advising and Professional Development Centers handled these student-based perception variables from the surveys quite well. When the campus was suddenly closed due to the pandemic, both Centers successfully made quick adaptive changes to virtual models to handle initial student needs.

Defining the Area of Knowledge for Financial Literacy: The Influence of Financial Courses on Materialism

Numerous studies have foundthatfinancial literacy may assist in averting irresponsible spending that linked to materialistic values. However, the area of knowledge that delivers financial literacy varies among studies. The study determines whether credit hours of financial courses,namely, economics, finance and accounting, affect materialism. Consequently, three moderator variables namely gender, year of study and financial sponsorship, were added into the analysis. A survey was conducted on 1022 business undergraduates in Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris using money attitude scales as a proxy to measure materialism. Findings indicate that there werenodirectcorrelations between credithoursof financial courses cumulatively or individually, with materialism scores. However, when the year of studyvariable,specifically fourth-year students category, wasinserted as a moderating effect, all three financial courses credit hours were found to be negatively correlatedwith materialism score. The findings demonstrate that accounting courses credit hours affect all materialism dimensions. Meanwhile, three and two materialism dimensions negatively correlated with economic and finance courses, respectively. It indicates that final year students materialistic values lessen as particular financial courses credit hours increased. The findings may provide input to financial literacy modules to mitigateyoung-executive debt crises.

Reinforcing the Importance of Maintaining Internship Support for College Student Engagement and Anticipated Employment

The Covid-19 pandemic has created many challenges for universities around the world, including how to keep students engaged in their professional development, despite the challenges of remote learning and virtual student services. The goal of this study was to demonstrate the continued importance of Career Professional Development Center (CPDC) support (pre-pandemic to early stages of the pandemic) for business-related internships influencing student professional development engagement (PDE) and anticipated employment upon graduation. PDE encompasses typical CPDC resources (e.g., internship search support; involvement in student professional organizations (SPOs); professional development coaching; and job search assistance). A survey, the Senior Student Satisfaction Survey (SSSS) was deployed prior to graduation to business students. Using the SSSS, two separate samples of graduating business undergraduates at a Mid-Atlantic University in the United States were surveyed, in late Spring 2019 (pre-pandemic) and late Spring 2020 (early pandemic). Pre-pandemic survey results showed that students having at least one internship experience (versus none) were more likely to: join an SPO sooner; attend more SPO meetings/semester; complete their professional development sooner; and anticipate “by graduation” full-time employment. Despite the drop in survey participation due to the pandemic onset, results consistent with this were found with the early pandemic survey. Like other academic-related and campus services in the face of the pandemic, the business school CPDC is adapting to the new remote ways of operating and successfully transitioned their delivery mode to a 100% virtual model to meet the resource challenge of supporting student PDE. It is hoped that the ideas discussed will be useful to a wider audience.

Sigma Rail Services: From Executive to Entrepreneur

North American Rail Services is a leading rail and track maintenance and construction service company in North America. The leading investor in the company wishes to have its investment returned which requires North American Rail Services to sell the company or start selling business units. The case presents students with questions about which business units to buy and for how much and also to provide compelling acquisition rationale. The case will take students 8–10 hours to complete and is suitable for advanced entrepreneurship and business undergraduates and first year master’s students. Students are provided with a tangible corporate context to evaluate business unit choice utilizing detailed case data. The case contributes to entrepreneurship case pedagogy through the use of corporate context for students to practice business due diligence, analytics, valuation and entrepreneurial decision making.

Exploring the Relationships of Grading Assessment Learning Perceptions Scales to Perceived Added Education Value Required Course Business Scales

This study’s purposes were to: develop added education value required business course scales; and investigate their relationships to four grading assessment learning perception (GALP) scales. Using a sample of spring, 2018, n = 944, graduating business undergraduates, three reliable (coefficient alpha) added education value required business course scales were identified: Lower-level Foundation (.92), Business Administration (.88), and Quantitative (.84). The Quantitative scale had a higher perceived added education value (Mean, M = 4.38 out of 6), versus Lower-level Foundation (M = 4.22), and Business Administration (M = 3.97). However, the relationships for three of the four GALP scales, i.e., exam, individual engagement, and team, were significantly stronger to the Business Administration scale, and the average correlation (r) across all GALP scales was higher to the Business Administration scale (r = .36) versus the Lower-level Foundation (r = .28) and Quantitative (r = .20) scales. Part of curriculum assessment should involve measuring the perceived added education value of each required course, in any school or college, not just business. This can represent a significant portion of a student’s investment in a degree. It is hoped that this study will stimulate continued research on the development of added education value scales. (198 words)

Contextual Motivations for Undergraduates’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Emerging Asian Economies

The development of theories to explain and predict the phenomena of entrepreneurship is essential to various stakeholders. Recent entrepreneurship literature has suggested that values motivate entrepreneurial intention, and entrepreneurship is contextual. This study examines contextual motivations of business undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intention across selected emerging Asian economies. The research methodology is quantitative. The measurement instrument consists of items from Portrait Values Questionnaire and Entrepreneurial Intent Scale to collect data from 378 matched business undergraduates from Malaysia, Indonesia and China. Structural equation modelling technique tested the hypotheses for overall sample, and measurement invariance was checked prior to multi-group analysis. The results suggest that the openness-to-change values shape Malaysian and Indonesian undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions, whereas achievement values shape Chinese undergraduates’ entrepreneurial intentions. The findings add to existing theory and evidence that argue for the importance of contextual motivations. It also enriches understanding of entrepreneurship in emerging Asian economies. Practical implications for entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship development programmes are discussed.