2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

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A LOOK AT THE EFFECTS OF ORDERING OF ASSIGNMENT DIFFICULTY ON STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY AND PERFORMANCE David S. Ackerman and Oscar DeShields, California State University, Northridge, Department of <strong>Marketing</strong>, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330-8377; david.s.ackerman@csun.edu, oscar.deshields@csun.edu Assignments are an important part of the marketing curriculum in most universities. One of the greatest advantages of assigning difficult assignments for an instructor early in the semester is that they set expectations high for what is expected over the entire course. By contrast, giving a first assignment that is relatively easy may set the expectation that the course will be a “gut course,” one that students can pass with relatively little work. This paper suggests that the ordering of difficulty of assignments can affect student’s self-efficacy about the class. This impact on self-efficacy may affect overall performance in the class. Student confidence is a big barrier for some segments of the student population, especially first generation students (Cushman, 2007), which are those students whose parents have not had more than a high school education. First generation students tend not only to have lower levels of confidence, their attrition rates are also higher in college, which is to say they are less likely to graduate once they have started (Ishitani, 2006). This is critical because college study is a more important source of cultural capital for first generation students than for students whose parents have completed a college education (Pascarella et al., 2004). In fact, research has started to identify educational approaches that can increase the confidence of first generation university students in their ability to control their educational progress (James et al., 2006). ORDER EFFECTS AND SELF-EFFICACY A look at the order effects literature shows that there can be effects on survey responses of the order of questions, even if the questions are exactly the same. There have been contrast effects and assimilation effects. Contrast effects find greater differences between questions due to their ordering. Assimilation effects occur when responses to a later question are closer to an earlier question than they would otherwise be due to order of placement on a survey. That is, questions need to be structured in such a way that previous response to a question will ABSTRACT 134 not influence responses to questions taken later on the questionnaire. Assignments such as exams and papers can vary in difficulty as well from the near impossible to those in which most students get full credit. Is it possible that the mere placement of assignments by difficulty in a course can influence the outcome even if the assignments are exactly the same? This paper suggests that it may do so by affecting the selfefficacy of students. METHOD The assignment of a quiz was used to assess the effects of question order on students’ self-efficacy about and performance on classroom assignments. Students were given extra credit to fill out an online survey about a type of assignment. They were assigned randomly to one of two conditions, a “difficult assignment” condition and a “regular assignment” condition. Students in both conditions were given the same extra credit points to complete the assignment. Students in both conditions were given exactly the same type of assignment except that the assignment was more difficult in the “difficult assignment” condition. After reading about the assignment, students completed a series of measures assessing their thoughts, perceptions and emotions about the assignment. RESULTS Students do not expect to perform as well on difficult assignments and they dislike instructors who give them. Students who faced difficult assignments also expected to spend less time than those who faced the regular assignments. The implications of these findings are that the ordering of assignments needs to be from at least an average level of difficulty to more difficult. In this way, students can have a sense of achievement and control, as well as a sense of self-efficacy over their performance in that course. References Available on Request.
INCORPORATING WRITING IN THE MARKETING CURRICULUM: A BUSINESS SCHOOL INITIATIVE TO IMPROVE STUDENT WRITING SKILLS Anu Phene, Gary Grikscheit, and Mary Hasak, University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business, 1645 East Campus Center Dr., Salt Lake City, UT 84112; anu.phene@business.utah.edu ABSTRACT Research has documented the need for effective student writing skills. Our paper chronicles the efforts of a marketing faculty at a leading business school to institute a writing initiative in one course and analyzes the impact of the initiative on student writing skills. Our results suggest that student characteristics such as gender and grade point average in the core writing course have a significant impact on student writing performance in subsequent classes. More importantly, we find empirical evidence supporting the value of multiple written case assignments (practice), as well as revisions and rewriting (repetition), manifest in the student’s ability to clearly mount logical arguments and to provide supportive evidence. Our findings point to a need for a concerted emphasis on three factors: student characteristics, practice and repetition in order to produce a graduate with strong writing skills. INTRODUCTION No marketing educator should need to be reminded of the importance of preparing students to write well. Business leaders, faculty members, and students have almost universally recognized effective writing skills and the ability to analyze complex problems as essential for success in business (Bok, 2006; Hansen & Hansen, 1995; Korkki, 2007). A recent survey of business leaders prepared by the National Commission on Writing, affiliated with the Business Roundtable, provocatively titled its report, “Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out,” underscoring the importance of writing effectively in the world of work (National Commission on Writing, 2004). The chair of the Commission said, “Writing is both a ‘marker’ of high-skill, high-wage, professional work and a ‘gatekeeper’ with clear equity implications.” He continued, “People unable to express themselves clearly in writing limit their opportunities for professional, salaried employment.” While the ability to write convincingly has always been an important leadership skill, globalization requires employees dispersed around the world to rely more heavily on e-mail, putting a premium on well-written documents (Dillon, 2004; Ellet, 2007). In addition to accuracy, timeliness is increasingly important because written content is more perishable than it was in the past (Mitroff, 1998). In 135 this context Ellet suggests, “Well-written documents can be a hidden source of competitive advantage” (Ellet, 2007, p. 8). In most American colleges, English composition is obligatory, but as Bok (2006, p. 83) has written, “And yet, when it comes to implementing the writing requirement, few institutions have managed to do what is necessary to achieve success.” If the objective of marketing education is to learn to apply concepts, solve problems, or develop judgment, cases are more appropriate than lectures. Using cases gives students practice in applying concepts to real world situations. The best way to learn marketing is through practice. While class discussions can provide one kind of experience, individual written case analyses give students an opportunity to have their thought processes evaluated by credible experts in both business analysis and writing. A high proportion of business failures are marketing related. In most cases, this does not occur because people do not understand the concepts, but rather it happens because marketers do not apply them in an intelligent and creative way. Our paper chronicles the efforts of a marketing faculty at a leading business school to institute a writing initiative (WI) in one course and analyzes the impact of the initiative on student writing skills. We assess the effectiveness of the WI by using data collected from participating students. Our results suggest that baseline factors such as gender and grade point average in the core writing course have a significant impact on student writing performance in subsequent classes. More importantly, we find empirical evidence supporting the value of multiple written case assignments (practice), as well as revisions and rewriting (repetition), manifest in the student’s ability to clearly mount logical arguments and to provide supportive evidence. THE WRITING INITIATIVE AT THE BUSINESS SCHOOL The impetus for this study had its genesis in 2001. Under the leadership of a new dean, the business school held a goals conference to create a forum for faculty and staff to discuss the objectives of the school, assess progress over the prior year, as well as suggest recommendations for the future. To generate insight, discussions including all
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Marketing Educators’ Association
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PREFACE This volume contains the pr
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Mary Conran, Temple University Debo
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Ethics and Social Responsibility In
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Special Sessions Diverting Traditio
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Linking Marketing Students to the R
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MARKETING EDUCATORS’ ASSOCIATION
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at improving the lives of all Filip
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of the marketing program and streng
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A NEW CONCEPT OF VALIDITY: EVALUATI
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ankings, alumni ratings, and the ra
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simply be utilized to publicly vali
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IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? IMPROVIN
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THE COMMUNITY AS OUR CLASSROOM: STU
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Learning Outcomes Even more importa
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• recognizing that ideas and huma
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Greek Thought Homer, The Odyssey Ae
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INVESTIGATING PLAGIARISM: CREATION
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ATTITUDES TOWARDS BUSINESS ETHICS A
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week semester, the author is able t
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or she may be ready to appreciate h
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RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: A CONCISE C
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BENCHMARKING CHINESE BUSINESS EDUCA
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NOT LIKE US: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FO
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TABLE 2 Example Frequencies: “Rus
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THE MARKETING RESCUE: STRATEGIES TH
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PRICE V. QUALITY: THE CONSUMERS’
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COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
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TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION TO INTER
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understand how the material they tr
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IMPROVING GRADUATE BUSINESS EDUCATI
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Chew and Mclnnis-Bowers (2004) expl
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exchange various opinions and work
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Myers, C. B., & Myers, S. M. (2007)
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FIGURE 2: Detailed Education Compon
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COLLEGIATE LIVING/LEARNING PROGRAMS
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perhaps even relationships could ch
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The results of this exploratory wor
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ENGAGING STUDENTS IN MARKETING CLAS
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or group, are undertaken outside of
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caused by group assignments was rai
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SOCIOLOGY, ECONOMICS, POLITICS, AND
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H8b: The more a student works while
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(predicted) and Independents were b
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CROSS-CULTURAL APPROACHES TO SUCCES
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STRENGTHENING THE MARKETING CURRICU
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THE CLASS LESS TRAVELED - TEACHING
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Page 121 and 122: IMPROV COMEDY: TECHNIQUES AND EXERC
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Page 139 and 140: E-LEARNING: AN INNOVATIVE LEARNING
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Page 159 and 160: TESTING CLIENT-BASED PROJECTS: WHAT
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2008 - Marketing Educators' Association

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