How do Managers Regard Job Applicants with Online Degrees? Evidence from Turkey

Abstract

Abstract-This study addresses the debate on whether job applicants with online bachelor degrees would be perceived to be equals of those with traditional bachelor degrees; and whether the nature of the degree has an impact on the hiring decision of managers. We focus on bachelor's degrees earned on line due to the fact that hybrid education is not being delivered prevalently. In this respect, data were gathered from 20 managers working in various sectors who have an impact on the hiring process of job applicants. Findings indicate gatekeepers prefer applicants with traditional degrees. Besides factors associated with the preference of traditional degrees are found to be in line with previous research findings. Education quality, gain of competencies, development of communication skills, personal growth and the importance of student-instructor interaction were mostly repeated factors associated with the preference of traditional university degrees. Implications for future research are discussed in line with suggestions to overcome negative perceptions towards distance education.

Employers’ perception of graduates with on-line degrees in Tanzania: two-pronged lesson for on-line graduates and course developers

“…Erden and Tekarslan (2014), who conducted a study in Turkey, concluded that on-line degree graduates were inferior to those earning degrees via the traditional method. They dismissed on-line graduates as inferior “due to their learner-centred and computer-based nature” (p. 3) devoid of the physical interactiveness engendered by traditional programmes.…”

“…Moreover, BestBizSchools (Grossman and Johnson, 2017) argues that there are more than 200 business accredited HLIs in the USA that offer on-line programmes. In Turkey, Erden and Tekarslan’s (2014) report predicted that 10 million Turks would engage in on-line learning in the subsequent decade. A recent article by the University World News (2019) also claims that “enrolments in on-line courses continue to grow by around 35% per annum as more and more higher education institutions deliver on-line degrees”.…”

“…However, the rise of on-line learning graduates in recent years and variations in such HLI learning programmes has raised questions on the quality and credibility of the on-line education, particularly when considers how employers judge and value the quality of on-line programme graduates (Cortez-Rucker, 2016; Erden and Tekarslan, 2014; Protopsaltis and Baum, 2019; Roberto and Johnson, 2017; Temmerman, 2019). A term “employer” in this study refers to human resource personnel responsible for hiring.…”

“…As a result, they had more confidence in the dominant traditional face-to-face modes of learning. Employers usually remaining uncertain when evaluating on-line degree graduate for hire (Cortez-Rucker, 2016; Erden and Tekarslan, 2014; Roberto and Johnson, 2017). Whereas some employers perceive graduates with on-line degrees to be inferior to those graduating from traditional programmes, some do not discriminate (Bukaliya and Mubika, 2014; Roberto and Johnson, 2017), and others have mixed feelings about them (DePriest and Absher, 2013).…”

Selling the virtual university : a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning

“…Importantly, they noted that these studies rely on a hypothetical: what would employers do? Erden and Tekarslan (2014) asked a similar question regarding employer intent, but in a different geographical context. In examining Turkish employers' perceptions of degrees earned online, they provided additional evidence of latent employer bias.…”