The Skills Marketing Majors Believe They Acquire: Evidence From a National Survey

Abstract

Drawing from a panel survey of over 400,000 college graduates from over 600 different colleges and universities in the United States, this article addresses three questions related to skill change during college tenure. First, as judged by the students themselves, how much change in 15 skill categories do marketing majors experience during college? Second, how do these skill changes compare with those reported by other business majors and college students from all other majors? Finally, controlling for a host of relevant student and institutional characteristics, what is the impact of marketing education on the changes reported for each of these 15 skills? Findings indicate that marketing students’ perceptions of their own skill developments are generally very positive, but in some cases other business majors or the broader array of college students rated themselves more favorably. Taken in combination with employers’ contrasting perceptions of graduates’ workforce readiness, these results have implications for the improvement of marketing curricula and course design including greater emphasis on experiential learning and other opportunities for students to apply the knowledge they gain.

The alumni narrative of the connection between university skills and knowledge, and industry: An ‘outside-in’ understanding

“…These findings indicate consistency with what has been found in the literature (e.g. Hartley et al, 2018;Smith-Ruig, 2014;Gannon et al, 2018).…”

“…Initiatives such as student ambassador and mentor programs have been shown to enhance leadership, communication, teamwork, open-mindedness, self-confidence, networking, industry insight, and help facilitate easier transitions into professional work (Smith-Ruig, 2014;Gannon et al, 2018). Other work suggests students completing university degree programs helped students develop stronger interpersonal, communication and cooperative teamwork skills necessary for employability (Hartley et al, 2018). Existing work provides consistent evidence on the skills and knowledge that contribute to employability as supported by specific curriculum and extra-curricular initiatives and general HE degree programs.…”

The Use and Value of Badges: Leveraging Salesforce Trailhead Badges for Marketing Technology Education

“…Prior research in the marketing literature describes perceived confidence as “feelings of self-efficacy,” which may have long-term effects on a student’s career direction (Hartley et al, 2019). In turn, perceived self-efficacy has been associated with performance on cognitive tasks such as academic performance (Bouffard-Bouchard, 1990).…”

Assessing the Pedagogical Value of Branded Digital Marketing Certification Programs

“…Experiential learning theory can be used to design courses that build tangible skills desired by industry and achieve higher levels of learning prioritized by academic institutions (Healy et al, 2011). Though marketing students generally rate their skills positively, research suggests that experiential learning methods help promote competence and confidence among marketing students (Hartley, Routon, & Torres, 2018). The levels of learning are based on the well-known Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, which is a hierarchical scheme of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity, each requiring mastery of the prior skill before the next one can be achieved (Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956).…”