Understanding the target market of a study abroad program can help educators overcome cultural and curricular barriers to studying abroad. Partnerships between study abroad offices and faculty members can be instrumental in breaking down these barriers for business students. During this session, we'll combine the panelists’ experiences with original research to attempt to illuminate themes, including the disconnect between emerging markets and student study abroad choices, apathy toward language acquisition, perceptions of study abroad, and developing a culture of studying abroad. Participants are encouraged to bring their own success and challenges in order to create generalizable program design and outreach philosophies.
Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
Know Your Audience: Using Pre-existing Norms to Overcome Curricular and Cultural Barriers to Study Abroad for Business Students
1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: USING PRE-EXISTING NORMS TO
OVERCOME CURRICULAR AND CULTURAL BARRIERS TO
STUDY ABROAD FOR BUSINESS STUDENTS
Bill Burress, Karleigh Koster, Mark Kurt
2. Introductions
2
Presenters
Bill Burress, Associate Director of Study Abroad, Elon University
Dr. Karleigh Koster, Assistant Director for International Programs, Indiana University Kelley
School of Business
Dr. Mark Kurt, Associate Professor of Economics, Elon University
6. Rationale & Goals
6
Why did we propose this session?
We have certain perceptions of student behavior; do our perceptions match student
behavior?
How can we use existing behavioral patterns to encourage better outcomes?
Session Goals
Exchange perspectives on distinct needs and challenges of business students
Examine related behavioral patterns to see how needs and challenges translate to
participation
Collaborate to propose paths forward
8. Literature Review
8
Paper Takeaway
Sánchez, Fornerino, and Zhang (2006) US students more likely to study abroad for pleasure
than any other reason; students w/ less supportive
families more likely to study abroad to learn a skill
Toncar, Reid, and Anderson (2006) Business students more likely to insist on receiving
credit, believe SA will enhance career prospects, &
view working abroad as more valuable than classes
Hackney, Boggs, and Borozan (2012) Examined factors that influence willingness to study
abroad – prior experience is diff. b/w short & long
Li, Olson, and Frieze (2013) Desire to study abroad is positively correlated w/ high
neophilia, helping motivation (women) & achievement
motivation (men)
Pope, Sánchez, Lehnert (2014) Students in professional degree programs may study
abroad for reasons that eliminate gender differences
9. Research Project
9
Comparative between two very different institutions
Graduating seniors in Elon LSB and IU KSB
Survey designed to illuminate:
Program selection habits of students who studied abroad
Barriers faced by students who didn’t study abroad
Demographic variables
Goal: create broad-based profiles of the types of students that pursue various opportunities in
order to help ensure that program offerings and student needs are aligned
10. Survey Background
Administered through Qualtrics
Multi-institution
Indiana University- Kelley School of Business (large public)
Elon University- LSB (medium private)
Population: graduating senior business students
Question Types:
Demographics
Factors for Study Abroad
Factors Against Study Abroad
11. Questions
11
Demographics:
- Origin, ethnicity, gender identity
- Institution, GPA(truncated), major(s) business or non-business
- Times studies abroad, program characteristics
Factors:
For and against studying abroad (See Handout)
5-point Likert Scale
Important for me- Indifferent - Important for me to avoid
14. 14
Table Q10: Number of Study Abroad Experiences
# of STA All Elon IU
0 32.7% 14.8% 41.2%
1 46.2% 53.6% 42.7%
2 16.2% 23.5% 12.7%
3 3.5% 7.1% 1.8%
4 1.4% 1.1% 1.6%
N 569 183 386
17. 17
Table Q16: Gender Identity
Gender All Elon IU
Male 50.4% 49.7% 50.8%
Female 49.0% 48.6% 49.2%
Prefer No Reponse 0.5% 1.6% 0.0%
N 569 183 386
18. 18
Table Q8: Ethnicity
Ethnicity All Elon IU
African American 1.4% 2.2% 1.0%
Asian 8.3% 1.6% 11.4%
Hispanic/Latino 1.1% 0.6% 1.3%
Caucasian 86.1% 90.2% 84.2%
Two or more 0.5% 5.5% 1.0%
Other 0.2% 0.0% 0.8%
No Response 2.5% 0.0% 0.3%
N 569 183 386
19. 19
Table Q20: GPA
GPA All Elon IU
3.5 or better 50.3% 47.0% 51.8%
3.0-3.49 43.2% 43.7% 43.0%
2.5-2.99 5.6% 7.1% 4.9%
2.0-2.49 0.9% 2.2% 0.3%
Total 569 183 386
20. 20
Table Q22: Primary Major
Primary Major ALL Elon IU
ACC 16.2% 13.2% 17.6%
FIN 31.0% 34.1% 29.5%
ECO 6.0% 6.0% 6.0%
MKT 28.2% 22.5% 30.8%
MGT 5.5% 10.4% 3.1%
IB 3.9% 11.0% 0.5%
ENT 2.8% 2.8% 2.9%
Other 6.5% 0.0% 9.6%
N 568 182 386
23. Factors for Not Studying Abroad
23
Important Factors
I didn’t think my family could afford it (High)
Enjoyed my home campus and didn’t want to leave (High)
Thought a different type of experience would be more valuable (High)
Didn’t plan until too late
Couldn’t get classes that helped me graduate on time
Unimportant Factors
Wasn’t interested in the locations
Didn’t know anyone else studying abroad
Didn’t think it was safe
Couldn’t decide on a program
25. Different Factors by Institution
25
Important Factors
Enjoyed my home campus and didn’t want to leave (IU)
Didn’t plan until too late (Elon)
Unimportant Factors
I didn’t think my family could afford it (Elon)
Didn’t plan until too late (IU)
Couldn’t get classes that helped me graduate on time (IU)
Couldn’t decide on a program (IU)
28. Factors for Studying Abroad
28
Important Factors
Courses allow degree progress
Desire to visit this location
Program calendar worked well
Desire to study business
Desire to travel as much as possible
Avoidance Factors
Gain language proficiency
Travel with faculty member from home institution
Others from same social organization on same program
Do internship abroad
30. Difference in Factors by Institution
30
Important Factors (IU)
Courses allow degree progress
Desire to study business
English-speaking location
Program would look good on my resumé
Others from same social org on same program
Location relevant to career
Avoidance Factors (IU)
Gain language proficiency
Internship
32. Different Factors by Duration
32
Important Factors (long-term except noted)
Courses allow degree progress
Desire to study business
Gain language proficiency
Desire to travel as much as possible
Travel with faculty member from home institution (short-term)
Friends/fellow org members abroad at same time on different programs
Avoidance Factors (long-term)
English-speaking location
Travel with faculty member from home institution
34. Student Profiles
34
Short-term Long-term
Tourers Location-driven; influenced by
word of mouth
Look for courses, location, travel
opportunities; influenced by word
of mouth, resumé & price
Risk-averse Peers + faculty member
participation very important;
influenced by word of mouth
Peers + faculty member
participation, travel opps very
important; influenced by word of
mouth; less concerned w/ degree
progress & resumé
Pragmatists Interested in internship
opportunities; price-sensitive
Internship opportunities & price
important; less concerned w/
friends, calendar, traveling
35. Student Profiles
35
Interesting notes:
Foreign language proficiency is not consistently seen by any student profile as important
Studying in emerging markets is positively correlated with resumé building and wanting to
study abroad with a faculty member, but isn’t consistently seen by any student profile as
important
36. Population & Limitations
36
Survey skewed to those who did study abroad (68% of respondents)
Survey is based on retrospective, self-reported data
How well can respondents capture the factors around a decision they made a year or more
ago?
How well can respondents answer why they made a decision not to do something?
Motivations for doing this presentation
KK:desire to move beyond advocacy and scaffold overseas programs with data— deliver academic content in programs and conduct academic research around them
Audience composition: determine how many are university staff, faculty, provider staff or faculty, other
Poll Title: Who is in the room?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/kZPIzEpqHfLN9PM
Poll Title: Do you work for a B-school or Bus. themed prog?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/mSs9xbCVSK2D6cm
Poll Title: What do you hope to learn from this session?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/igFkBkFBtFH1YUQ
Poll Title: How would you describe business students?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/HxSdBKuqbgtiWXJ
Elon LSB: roughly 470
KSB:roughly 1500
IU Bloomington fall 2013 entering class: 58% resident, 42% non-resident; 50.9% male, 49.1% female, 74% white, 8% international, roughly 10% URM
Do KSB survey respondents map on to this?
Poll Title: How would you describe business students?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/HxSdBKuqbgtiWXJ
Modified SWOT analysis:strengths, weaknesses,opportunities, threats
In small groups (at your table) please introduce yourselves and share:
1 thing that your institution does well or something you could view as a success
1 thing that is a challenge for your institution and/or something you want to improve
Possible examples:
strengths? culture of study abroad, interest from key players, accessible programs, global approach built into curriculum
Weaknesses: low interest, few resources (for research, program development, advising, faculty support),
Opportunities:new provost,new scholarship,$grad students who need to conduct research for thesis/dissertation
Threats: end of funding, possible departure of a key supporter, change in financial aid policies
Poll Title: What from this session can you apply to your work?
https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/lQMb0OS8mfAcJJV