Motives Driving the Choice of a Business Concentration: A Four-Country Study of Marketing, Accounting and Finance, and Management Undergraduates

Abstract

This four-country study compares business students concentrating in marketing, accounting and finance (AF), and management with respect to five motives: lifestyle aspirations, reputational effects, relative ease of completion, career outcomes, and developmental skills. We find that, except for the developmental skills motive, the importance of different motives varies with concentration choice. Lifestyle aspirations and relative ease of completion motives tend to be generally more important to marketing than AF and management concentrators, while career outcomes are more important to AF concentrators compared with marketing and management concentrators. Comparing marketing students in the United States to their counterparts elsewhere, those in China are significantly less attracted to lifestyle aspirations, reputation, and career outcomes, while those in the United Arab Emirates show no significant differences in career outcomes or reputation compared with those from the United States. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of variations in cognitive styles of concentrations, cultural norms, and market forces between tight and loose societies, with implications for managers of educational institutions.

Is there a Trade-Off between Financial Rewards and Other Job Benefits? Different Career Pathways for two Groups of Management Students.

“…The design of the questions was inspired by other articles aiming to capture different dimensions (Davies & Tikoo, 2019;Easterling & Smith, 2008;Granitz et al, 2014;Lechner et al, 2018;Malgwi et al, 2005;Siegall et al, 2007). A factor analysis was carried out to identify and reduce the number of dimensions.…”

Dazzling Descriptions and Tantalizing Titles: How Simple Versus Complex Course Information Influences Course Selection

“…Future research could also study other differences in course type (e.g., a required core course for students representing all business disciplines vs. a concentration-specific marketing elective). Davies and Tikoo (2019) demonstrated that student motivations vary by business concentration, which could alter the impact of easy/difficult course descriptions. Relatedly, student motivations vary based on the academic level of the student.…”

Time to Use ANDs Instead of ORs? The Role of Business Schools in Advertising Education

“…I had the honor to teach students in a college of communication besides my more extensive experience teaching in colleges of business and, although these are general descriptions that do not fit everybody, I have found that students in business schools tend to be more quantitatively inclined or to be more precise, less prone to math anxiety compared to communication students (Carpenter & McEwan, 2013), more motivated to acquire skills in demand to start their career than looking to fulfill personal passions (Davies & Tikoo, 2018), and less creative (or at least they perceive themselves as less so).…”