Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji joeb.83.2.95-100
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Gender Differences in College of Business
Educational Experiences
Rebecca Kaenzig , Eva Hyatt & Stella Anderson
To cite this article: Rebecca Kaenzig , Eva Hyatt & Stella Anderson (2007) Gender Differences in
College of Business Educational Experiences, Journal of Education for Business, 83:2, 95-100,
DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.83.2.95-100
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.83.2.95-100
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 58
View related articles
Citing articles: 12 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 11 January 2016, At: 23:03
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:03 11 January 2016
GenderDifferencesinCollegeofBusiness
EducationalExperiences
REBECCAKAENZIG
EVAHYATT
STELLAANDERSON
APPALACHIANSTATEUNIVERSITY
BOONE,NORTHCAROLINA
ABSTRACT.Inthisarticle,theauthors
examinetheeffectofgenderonthelearningexperiencesofstudentsmajoringin
business.Thedevelopmentofbehaviorsand
attitudes,whichwillaffecttheprofessional
practicesofgraduates,iscrucialinthe
educationofbusinessmajors.Giventhat
theuseofgroupworkandotherformsof
innovativelearningisincreasinginbusiness
classes,thegrowingacceptanceofgroup
workraisesthequestionofwhethermen
andwomenexperiencetheseassignments
differently.Fromfocus-groupandsurvey
data,theauthorsfoundthattheattitudes
andexperiencesofmaleandfemalebusinessstudentsweresignificantlydifferent.
Keywords:businesseducation,classroom
experiences,cooperativelearning,gender,
groupwork,teamwork
Copyright©2007HeldrefPublications
C
lassroomexperienceplaysacrucial
role in the development of behaviorsandattitudesthatwillaffecttheprofessionalpracticesofgraduates.Employerslookforknowledgeandskillsthatare
learnedintheuniversityclassroom.
Intermsofskills,employerstypically
seekemployeeswhocanworkeffectively
inteamsandanalyze,evaluate,andfind
solutionstoproblems(Hernandez,2002).
AccordingtoTarriconeandLuca(2002),
“Employers consistently mention collaborationandteamworkasbeingacritical skill, essential in almost all working
environments” (p. 54). Business schools
playanimportantroleinthedevelopment
ofstudentsandtheattitudes,values,and
skills these students bring to the workplace(Rosener&Pearce,1989;St.Clair
&Tschirhart,2002).
Questionsexistaboutwhetherappropriatechangeshavebeenmadeinmost
business school classrooms to reflect
the increasing diversity present in the
student body (Sullivan & Buttner,
1992). In particular, a growing number of women are pursuing business
degrees;however,femalestudentsoften
are a minority in business classes. In
addition, they will likely encounter far
fewer female than male business professors (Anderson, Hyatt, & Kaenzig,
2002;Jordan,Pate,&Clark,2006).Itis
unclearwhethermaleandfemalebusiness students have similar educational
experiencesandoutcomes.
Our purpose in this study was to
examine the effect of gender on the
learning experiences of business studentsinacollegeofbusiness.Weexaminedthedifferencesinmaleandfemale
students’overalleducationalexperiences,withaparticularemphasisongroup
learning experiences, using qualitative
focus group and quantitative survey
methodology.
GenderDifferencesinLearning
Styles
Although many business school professors recognize differences in student
learning styles, some professors do not
know how to apply this knowledge to
change the atmosphere of their classroom(Sullivan&Buttner,1992).There
may not be differences between men
and women in terms of cognitive ability or academic performance, but differencesexistinwaysofknowing(Belensky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule,
1986; Gallos, 1993), and learning style
(Gallos, 1993). Gilligan (1982) offered
interview research supporting the idea
thatgenderdifferencesinattitudetoward
formallearningexperiencesaretheresult
of intrinsic psychological differences
between men and women, describing
men as being more driven by issues of
separation and women as being more
drivenbyissuesofconnection.Gender-
role stereotypes basically describe
November/December2007
95
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women as more communal and concerned with the welfare of others than
men,andmenasmoreassertiveandcontrollingthanwomen(Eagly,1987).
Suchdifferencesprovideafoundation
forgenderdifferencesinlearningstyle.
Gallos(1995b)arguedthatwomenand
men do not have parallel experiences. He argued that women require a
community of support, confirmation,
encouragement, and faculty interest in
personal development (Gallos, 1995a).
Incontrast,menneedclassroomactivitiesthatdevelopskills.Womentendto
havemoreself-doubtintheclassroom,
whereas men are more likely to attributeproblemstoexternalcauses.These
differences result in different learning
stylesthatarenotequallysupportedby
theeducationalsystem.
Women in formal learning situations may experience a lack of confidence, fear, self-doubt, an inability to
accommodate novelty, and feelings of
alienation (Gallos, 1995b). Such feelings most likely derive from genderrole stereotypes, in which women are
seen as soft and yielding, in combination with an educational system that
rewards behaviors that are strong and
assertive (Scheuneman, 1997). As a
result,womentendtobelievethatthey
performlesswellinclassandlearnless
thantheyactuallydo,andtheyfeelless
confidentthandomenintheirabilities
to succeed at related future endeavors.
Brazelton (1998) similarly found that
male students in accounting classes
weremorelikelytoparticipateinclass
interactionsanddominateclassdiscussions than were female students. Perhaps as a result of this behavior, male
studentsreceivedmoreusefulfeedback
frominstructors.
Group-ProjectLearning
Experiences
Theuseofgroupsorteamsandcooperative or experiential learning tasks
has been encouraged inAmerican universities and particularly in business
schools. The Accounting Education
Change Commission (1990) urged
accounting faculty to use instructional methods that encourage students
to become actively involved in their
learning. Cooperative learning is an
96
JournalofEducationforBusiness
instructional method requiring students
toworktogetherinsmall,fixedgroups
on a structured learning task.The goal
is to develop students’ communication
skillsandtheirabilitytoworkingroups
tosolveproblemsorcompleteprojects.
Thecentralideabehindgrouplearning
istofacilitateperson-to-personinteractionbetweenstudentssotheycanlearn
from each other in a hospitable environment and have improved learning
outcomes, such as deeper understanding of the material and better ability
to apply knowledge (Hwang, Lui, &
Tong, 2005). Some experiments using
group work in business classes have
indicated that the use of group work
increases student performance, reflecting increased mastery of the material
(Ravenscroft, Buckless, McComb, &
Zuckerman, 1995).Alternatively, Kunkel and Shafer (1997) found that in an
undergraduate class, the use of teams
did not improve student performance.
Ashraf (2004) found that group projectsincreasedsomenegativebehaviors,
such as free riding by less industrious
students.Althoughbusinessschoolfacultyhavebeenplacingstudentsinteams
to work on group projects for many
years, they have done so with mixed
results(Hansen,2006).
Theincreasinguseofgroupsforclass
projects in business classes raises the
question of whether men and women
experience these assignments in different ways. Educators are interested in
accommodating individuals with variedlearningstyles(Hamer,2000;Kolb,
1984). Differences between male and
female students in ways of learning
(Gallos 1995a, 1995b; Gilligan, Ward,
Taylor, & Bardige, 1988) are of particularconcernifthelearningstylesare
not equally supported by a particular
assignmentoractivity.
Rosener and Pearce (1989) hypothesized that “men are confused and
uncomfortable working with women as
competitorsandpeers....Menmayfind
itdifficulttodistinguishbetweengender
rolesandworkroles.”Researchershave
foundgender-stereotypicsexdifferences
in mixed-gender small-group interactions,withmentendingtogiveandask
foropinionsmoreandwomentendingto
actfriendlyandagreewithothergroup
members more (Eagly, 1987); that is,
women are more concerned than are
menwithgoodinterpersonalrelationsin
the group. Researchers also have indicated that women are often unwilling
to participate fully in groups with men
(Goltz&Giannantonio,1996).Inaddition,tasksareoftendividedalonglines
of traditional male or female gender
roles, leaving women with assignments
suchasnotetakingortypingresults.
One type of group project that is
increasinginuseiscomputer-basedsimulationsorgames.Itisunclearwhether
men and women react to or evaluate a
team-basedsimulationexperiencesimilarly. Garber and Clopton (2002) indicatedthatmaleandfemalestudentsdifferintheirperceptionsofandreactions
to a marketing simulation game. They
indicated that women felt more distressedbytheuncertaintyandambiguity
of the simulation experience, whereas
mentendedtoviewthesimulationexperienceasacontestorcompetitiveexercise to be won or lost. Compared with
women, men tended to express greater
confidence in their ability to perform
well on simulation assignments. Furthermore,womenacknowledgedgreater
difficultythandidmeninreachingteam
consensus on the decisions required in
thesimulation.Inanotherstudy,Anderson and Coffey (2004) focused on the
useofateam-basedsimulationexercise
in which male students evaluated their
teams’ dynamics more positively than
did female students. In terms of selfassessmentofoverallsimulationperformance,malestudentsassessedtheirperformanceonthesimulationmorehighly
thandidfemalestudents.Inthecurrent
article,welinkedtheperceivedvalueof
thesimulationasateam-basedlearning
experiencetothedynamicsthatoccurred
withinstudentteams.Consideringthese
findingsalongwithresearchongenderbased learning styles, we hypothesize
thatmaleandfemalestudentsexperience
team-basedassignmentsdifferently.
Study1:UsingFocusGroupsto
DeveloptheSurvey
To explore the issues underlying
potentialgenderdifferencesinbusiness
school learning experiences, we conducted focus groups with business students. The focus group, a small group
(8–12members)ofindividualsbrought
togethertotalkaboutaparticulartopic
in a group-discussion format, is ideal
for generating hypotheses that can be
further tested quantitatively and for
structuringquestionnaires(Churchill&
Brown,2004).Inparticular,open-ended
questions allow participants to respond
in a way they feel and to change their
opinions as the discussion proceeds
(Krueger,1988).
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:03 11 January 2016
Method
Focusgrouprespondentsaregenerally
selectedsothatgroupsarerelativelyhomogeneous.Thishelpstominimizeconflict
betweengroupmembers,intimidationof
somemembersbyothers,anddifferences
inperceptionsandexperiences(Churchill
&Brown,2004),allofwhicharecritical
to exploring gender differences. For this
study,therefore,maleandfemalebusiness
students participated in two gender-segregated focus groups of 10–12 members
each. The focus groups were conducted
(about 1 hr each) by one of the authors,
whoisanexperiencedfocus-groupmoderator,andwererecordedonaudiotapefor
futurereference.
We designed the questions for the
focus groups to investigate students’
perceptions of their college-learning
experiences(Krueger,1988).Weasked
studentstocompareclasseswithinand
outside the college of business (COB)
in terms of classroom environment,
support from instructors, and teaching
styles of the instructors.We asked students to reflect on how the philosophy
ofCOBclassesmeshedwiththeirpersonaloutlookonlife,work,andsociety.
Questions also asked whether students
ever felt discouraged or discriminated against, felt that their talents and
viewpoints were appreciated, and felt
comfortablewithvariouslearningexperiences. Several questions focused on
groupprojectexperiencesaswell.Last,
thegroupsdiscussedtheperceiveddifferencesbetweenmaleandfemaleprofessors regarding teaching approaches,
valuesexpressed,andtreatmentofmale
andfemalestudents.
ResultsandDiscussion
Weanalyzedthefocus-groupresponsesanddiscussionsforgenderdifferenc
esandpatternsregardinglearningexperiences in business classes (Krueger,
1988).Weusedthefocus-groupresults
toprovideinsightintothedevelopment
ofresearchquestionsandtofindappropriatewordinginthedevelopmentofa
questionnairetoquantitativelymeasure
potentialgenderdifferences.
The first major area of discussion
in the focus groups was the teaching methods, philosophy, and general
nature of COB classes. Both male and
female respondents mentioned that
the real-world work experience that
COB instructors have sets them apart
from non-COB faculty. The male-only
focus-groupdiscussioncenteredonthe
professionalism that COB instructors
display and on how the problem-solving nature of most COB classes, such
asaccountingandfinance,affectedthe
presentation of material.The male studentstalkedaboutthespecialhelpthey
hadreceivedfromcertainbusinessprofessors.Theywereimpressedwithhow
helpful their COB professors had been
outsideclass.Allmalerespondentssaid
they felt comfortable expressing their
opinionsintheirCOBclasses.
In the female-only focus group, the
discussion centered on how serious,
formal, and distant COB professors are
compared to non-COB professors, who
theydescribedasbeingmorelaidback.
Business instructors were characterized
as being stricter and as wanting things
doneacertainway.Thefemalestudents
said they would prefer more flexibility
in completing assignments. They also
said the testing in COB classes is more
objective than testing in other classes
anddoesnotfairlytesttheirknowledge
of the material or their ability to apply
it. Female respondents said the COB
classes are more competitive than other
classes in that everyone in the COB is
competing for grades and for the same
jobs.Theythoughtthatoveralltherewas
lesscooperationbetweenstudentsintheir
business-classlearningexperiences.
Thenextmajorissueaddressedinthe
focus group sessions was the comparison of male and female professors in
the COB. Both male and female focus
groups mentioned that there are many
moremalethanfemaleprofessors.The
male students stated that their male
businessprofessorsaremorelikelythan
theirfemalebusinessprofessorstoseta
toneintheirclassesfromthebeginning
thatleadstoamorerespectfulenvironment. They do this by sharing their
pastworkexperiences,especiallyatthe
beginningofthefirstclassofthesemester.Whenasked,malestudentssaidthey
noticed no major differences between
maleandfemaleprofessors.
The female students said their male
professorsaremorewillingthanfemale
professorstogivetheiropinionsinclass,
tendtobemorestructured,andaremore
likelytojokearoundwiththemalestudents or talk about sports at the beginning of classes. Some female students
saidtheyfeltintimidatedandleftoutof
suchconversations.Thefemalestudents
saidthatsomeoftheirmaleprofessors
are“toosmart”orarrogantandthatthey
expect students to understand material that is briefly covered. In contrast,
female students said that their female
professorsaremorecompassionateand
willingtoworkwithstudentswhenthey
have problems than are male professors.Theysaidthisisprobablybecause
female professors remember how hard
itwastogetwheretheyare,sotheyare
moreunderstanding.
Whenaskedaboutdifferencesbetween
male and female students in business
classes, the male students said that
femalestudentstendtobemoreworried
about school and grades and to work
harder. They also mentioned that some
female students flirt with male professors.Femalestudentssaidthatconsiderablymoremalethanfemalestudentsare
in most of their COB classes, so they
wereintheminorityinmostclasses.The
female students said the male students
are likely to respect and respond positively to male professors. The female
students also said that their male counterparts tend to think that what male
professors say is more significant than
whatfemale professors say and tendto
laughattheirmaleprofessors’jokes.
Regarding group projects, male students said they like group work and
thinkitreflectsdutiesfromtheirfuture
jobs. They also mentioned that sometimes one group member does not do
hisorherpartbutthatnoneofthemhad
ever felt taken advantage of. In major
contrast, all female students said that
theyhadbeentakenadvantageofinat
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97
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least one group project, and some said
they had felt left out of the group process.Theysaidtherewasamaleslacker
or two in almost every group. Some of
them tried to get in all-female groups
toavoidthis,butinmostgroups,oneor
two female students would tend to take
overallworkforthegroup.Thefemale
students also mentioned that they did
not like having their grades controlled
or determined by others and that their
groupsalwayshadahardtimeschedulingmeetingtimesduetoworkandother
obligations.Overall,thefemalestudents’
groupexperienceswerenegative.
Study2:QuantitativeStudy
ofGenderDifferencesin
EducationalExperiences
Weusedfindingsfromthefocusgroups
and key findings from the literature on
group learning and gender-based differences in learning styles to shape a questionnaire focusing on several issues that
emergedaspotentialimportantdifferences
inmaleandfemalebusinessstudents’educational experiences, especially the sharp
contrastbetweengendersregardinggroup
learningexperiences.Theinstrumentused
in this study attempts to quantitatively
measure potential gender-based differencesdiscoveredinthefocusgroups.We
examined differences in (a) overall educational experience, (b) students’ assessment of and interaction with professors,
(c) group-learning experiences, and (d)
classroomconduct.WeaddressedthefollowingresearchquestionsinStudy2:
1. Isthereastatisticallysignificantrelationship between gender and assessment
ofqualityoftheoverallbusinesseducation
experience?
2. Is there a statistically significant
relationshipbetweengenderandassessmentofandinteractionwithprofessors?
3. Is there a statistically significant
relationshipbetweengenderandevaluationsofgroup-learningexperiences?
4.Is there a statistically significant
relationship between gender and classroomassertiveness?
Method
Wedistributedquestionnairesinmultiple sections of two senior-level business courses and online through the
98
JournalofEducationforBusiness
campusserver.Atotalof288responses
were obtained. The sample was 43%
femalestudentsand57%malestudents.
Themeanandmedianagewas22years
(SD=2.99).
DataAnalysis
IntheAppendix,wepresentquestionnaireitemsthatwereusedtoformvarious multi-item scale measures. Scales
consistingofmultipleitemswereformed
wheneverpossibletoprovideasuperior,
more reliable measure over single-item
measures. In these cases, responses to
individualitemscomposingagivenscale
were averaged to form the scale score.
The reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s
alpha) for the various scales are also
reportedintheAppendix.Allscalereliabilities (i.e., coefficient alpha) were
above or practically equivalent to the
generallyaccepted.70minimumlevel.
To address the research questions
regarding gender differences, we performed t tests for mean differences
between male and female students on
eachofthescalemeasures.
ResultsandDiscussion
In terms of Research Question 1
regarding students’ perceptions of
the overall value of their educational
experience, there were no significant
differences between female and male
students, t(284) = 1.14, p = .25. Both
groups indicated that their experience
overall was positive (i.e., they were
satisfied with their instructors, they
receivedqualityinstruction,theyfeltas
though their education prepared them
forasuccessfulcareer,andtheyfeltthat
theirbusinessdegreewasvaluable).
Regarding Research Question 2,
there were no significant differences
between male and female students in
termsoftheirattitudestowardtheirprofessors.Neithergenderwasmorelikely
to(a)reporthavingafavoriteprofessor,
t(285) = 0.87, p = .38; (b) think that
female professors are easier to work
with,t(284)=0.30,p=.76;or(c)think
that female professors foster a more
competitive classroom environment,
t(285)=0.08,p=.94.
ForResearchQuestion3,therewere
significant differences between male
and female students in their evaluation
oftheirexperiencesworkingingroups.
This was true for their general experiencesworkingingroupsandtheirexperiencesworkinginteamsonabusiness
simulation. Female students reported
more negative experiences working in
groups (i.e., they feel taken advantage
of by group members, end up doing
secretarial and organizational work for
group projects, and feel pressured by
group members to favorably evaluate
memberswhodidnotcontributetothe
group’s work; M = 3.20 (SD = 0.74)
vs.2.83(SD=0.67);t(283)=4.34,p
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Gender Differences in College of Business
Educational Experiences
Rebecca Kaenzig , Eva Hyatt & Stella Anderson
To cite this article: Rebecca Kaenzig , Eva Hyatt & Stella Anderson (2007) Gender Differences in
College of Business Educational Experiences, Journal of Education for Business, 83:2, 95-100,
DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.83.2.95-100
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.83.2.95-100
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 58
View related articles
Citing articles: 12 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji]
Date: 11 January 2016, At: 23:03
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:03 11 January 2016
GenderDifferencesinCollegeofBusiness
EducationalExperiences
REBECCAKAENZIG
EVAHYATT
STELLAANDERSON
APPALACHIANSTATEUNIVERSITY
BOONE,NORTHCAROLINA
ABSTRACT.Inthisarticle,theauthors
examinetheeffectofgenderonthelearningexperiencesofstudentsmajoringin
business.Thedevelopmentofbehaviorsand
attitudes,whichwillaffecttheprofessional
practicesofgraduates,iscrucialinthe
educationofbusinessmajors.Giventhat
theuseofgroupworkandotherformsof
innovativelearningisincreasinginbusiness
classes,thegrowingacceptanceofgroup
workraisesthequestionofwhethermen
andwomenexperiencetheseassignments
differently.Fromfocus-groupandsurvey
data,theauthorsfoundthattheattitudes
andexperiencesofmaleandfemalebusinessstudentsweresignificantlydifferent.
Keywords:businesseducation,classroom
experiences,cooperativelearning,gender,
groupwork,teamwork
Copyright©2007HeldrefPublications
C
lassroomexperienceplaysacrucial
role in the development of behaviorsandattitudesthatwillaffecttheprofessionalpracticesofgraduates.Employerslookforknowledgeandskillsthatare
learnedintheuniversityclassroom.
Intermsofskills,employerstypically
seekemployeeswhocanworkeffectively
inteamsandanalyze,evaluate,andfind
solutionstoproblems(Hernandez,2002).
AccordingtoTarriconeandLuca(2002),
“Employers consistently mention collaborationandteamworkasbeingacritical skill, essential in almost all working
environments” (p. 54). Business schools
playanimportantroleinthedevelopment
ofstudentsandtheattitudes,values,and
skills these students bring to the workplace(Rosener&Pearce,1989;St.Clair
&Tschirhart,2002).
Questionsexistaboutwhetherappropriatechangeshavebeenmadeinmost
business school classrooms to reflect
the increasing diversity present in the
student body (Sullivan & Buttner,
1992). In particular, a growing number of women are pursuing business
degrees;however,femalestudentsoften
are a minority in business classes. In
addition, they will likely encounter far
fewer female than male business professors (Anderson, Hyatt, & Kaenzig,
2002;Jordan,Pate,&Clark,2006).Itis
unclearwhethermaleandfemalebusiness students have similar educational
experiencesandoutcomes.
Our purpose in this study was to
examine the effect of gender on the
learning experiences of business studentsinacollegeofbusiness.Weexaminedthedifferencesinmaleandfemale
students’overalleducationalexperiences,withaparticularemphasisongroup
learning experiences, using qualitative
focus group and quantitative survey
methodology.
GenderDifferencesinLearning
Styles
Although many business school professors recognize differences in student
learning styles, some professors do not
know how to apply this knowledge to
change the atmosphere of their classroom(Sullivan&Buttner,1992).There
may not be differences between men
and women in terms of cognitive ability or academic performance, but differencesexistinwaysofknowing(Belensky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule,
1986; Gallos, 1993), and learning style
(Gallos, 1993). Gilligan (1982) offered
interview research supporting the idea
thatgenderdifferencesinattitudetoward
formallearningexperiencesaretheresult
of intrinsic psychological differences
between men and women, describing
men as being more driven by issues of
separation and women as being more
drivenbyissuesofconnection.Gender-
role stereotypes basically describe
November/December2007
95
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:03 11 January 2016
women as more communal and concerned with the welfare of others than
men,andmenasmoreassertiveandcontrollingthanwomen(Eagly,1987).
Suchdifferencesprovideafoundation
forgenderdifferencesinlearningstyle.
Gallos(1995b)arguedthatwomenand
men do not have parallel experiences. He argued that women require a
community of support, confirmation,
encouragement, and faculty interest in
personal development (Gallos, 1995a).
Incontrast,menneedclassroomactivitiesthatdevelopskills.Womentendto
havemoreself-doubtintheclassroom,
whereas men are more likely to attributeproblemstoexternalcauses.These
differences result in different learning
stylesthatarenotequallysupportedby
theeducationalsystem.
Women in formal learning situations may experience a lack of confidence, fear, self-doubt, an inability to
accommodate novelty, and feelings of
alienation (Gallos, 1995b). Such feelings most likely derive from genderrole stereotypes, in which women are
seen as soft and yielding, in combination with an educational system that
rewards behaviors that are strong and
assertive (Scheuneman, 1997). As a
result,womentendtobelievethatthey
performlesswellinclassandlearnless
thantheyactuallydo,andtheyfeelless
confidentthandomenintheirabilities
to succeed at related future endeavors.
Brazelton (1998) similarly found that
male students in accounting classes
weremorelikelytoparticipateinclass
interactionsanddominateclassdiscussions than were female students. Perhaps as a result of this behavior, male
studentsreceivedmoreusefulfeedback
frominstructors.
Group-ProjectLearning
Experiences
Theuseofgroupsorteamsandcooperative or experiential learning tasks
has been encouraged inAmerican universities and particularly in business
schools. The Accounting Education
Change Commission (1990) urged
accounting faculty to use instructional methods that encourage students
to become actively involved in their
learning. Cooperative learning is an
96
JournalofEducationforBusiness
instructional method requiring students
toworktogetherinsmall,fixedgroups
on a structured learning task.The goal
is to develop students’ communication
skillsandtheirabilitytoworkingroups
tosolveproblemsorcompleteprojects.
Thecentralideabehindgrouplearning
istofacilitateperson-to-personinteractionbetweenstudentssotheycanlearn
from each other in a hospitable environment and have improved learning
outcomes, such as deeper understanding of the material and better ability
to apply knowledge (Hwang, Lui, &
Tong, 2005). Some experiments using
group work in business classes have
indicated that the use of group work
increases student performance, reflecting increased mastery of the material
(Ravenscroft, Buckless, McComb, &
Zuckerman, 1995).Alternatively, Kunkel and Shafer (1997) found that in an
undergraduate class, the use of teams
did not improve student performance.
Ashraf (2004) found that group projectsincreasedsomenegativebehaviors,
such as free riding by less industrious
students.Althoughbusinessschoolfacultyhavebeenplacingstudentsinteams
to work on group projects for many
years, they have done so with mixed
results(Hansen,2006).
Theincreasinguseofgroupsforclass
projects in business classes raises the
question of whether men and women
experience these assignments in different ways. Educators are interested in
accommodating individuals with variedlearningstyles(Hamer,2000;Kolb,
1984). Differences between male and
female students in ways of learning
(Gallos 1995a, 1995b; Gilligan, Ward,
Taylor, & Bardige, 1988) are of particularconcernifthelearningstylesare
not equally supported by a particular
assignmentoractivity.
Rosener and Pearce (1989) hypothesized that “men are confused and
uncomfortable working with women as
competitorsandpeers....Menmayfind
itdifficulttodistinguishbetweengender
rolesandworkroles.”Researchershave
foundgender-stereotypicsexdifferences
in mixed-gender small-group interactions,withmentendingtogiveandask
foropinionsmoreandwomentendingto
actfriendlyandagreewithothergroup
members more (Eagly, 1987); that is,
women are more concerned than are
menwithgoodinterpersonalrelationsin
the group. Researchers also have indicated that women are often unwilling
to participate fully in groups with men
(Goltz&Giannantonio,1996).Inaddition,tasksareoftendividedalonglines
of traditional male or female gender
roles, leaving women with assignments
suchasnotetakingortypingresults.
One type of group project that is
increasinginuseiscomputer-basedsimulationsorgames.Itisunclearwhether
men and women react to or evaluate a
team-basedsimulationexperiencesimilarly. Garber and Clopton (2002) indicatedthatmaleandfemalestudentsdifferintheirperceptionsofandreactions
to a marketing simulation game. They
indicated that women felt more distressedbytheuncertaintyandambiguity
of the simulation experience, whereas
mentendedtoviewthesimulationexperienceasacontestorcompetitiveexercise to be won or lost. Compared with
women, men tended to express greater
confidence in their ability to perform
well on simulation assignments. Furthermore,womenacknowledgedgreater
difficultythandidmeninreachingteam
consensus on the decisions required in
thesimulation.Inanotherstudy,Anderson and Coffey (2004) focused on the
useofateam-basedsimulationexercise
in which male students evaluated their
teams’ dynamics more positively than
did female students. In terms of selfassessmentofoverallsimulationperformance,malestudentsassessedtheirperformanceonthesimulationmorehighly
thandidfemalestudents.Inthecurrent
article,welinkedtheperceivedvalueof
thesimulationasateam-basedlearning
experiencetothedynamicsthatoccurred
withinstudentteams.Consideringthese
findingsalongwithresearchongenderbased learning styles, we hypothesize
thatmaleandfemalestudentsexperience
team-basedassignmentsdifferently.
Study1:UsingFocusGroupsto
DeveloptheSurvey
To explore the issues underlying
potentialgenderdifferencesinbusiness
school learning experiences, we conducted focus groups with business students. The focus group, a small group
(8–12members)ofindividualsbrought
togethertotalkaboutaparticulartopic
in a group-discussion format, is ideal
for generating hypotheses that can be
further tested quantitatively and for
structuringquestionnaires(Churchill&
Brown,2004).Inparticular,open-ended
questions allow participants to respond
in a way they feel and to change their
opinions as the discussion proceeds
(Krueger,1988).
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Method
Focusgrouprespondentsaregenerally
selectedsothatgroupsarerelativelyhomogeneous.Thishelpstominimizeconflict
betweengroupmembers,intimidationof
somemembersbyothers,anddifferences
inperceptionsandexperiences(Churchill
&Brown,2004),allofwhicharecritical
to exploring gender differences. For this
study,therefore,maleandfemalebusiness
students participated in two gender-segregated focus groups of 10–12 members
each. The focus groups were conducted
(about 1 hr each) by one of the authors,
whoisanexperiencedfocus-groupmoderator,andwererecordedonaudiotapefor
futurereference.
We designed the questions for the
focus groups to investigate students’
perceptions of their college-learning
experiences(Krueger,1988).Weasked
studentstocompareclasseswithinand
outside the college of business (COB)
in terms of classroom environment,
support from instructors, and teaching
styles of the instructors.We asked students to reflect on how the philosophy
ofCOBclassesmeshedwiththeirpersonaloutlookonlife,work,andsociety.
Questions also asked whether students
ever felt discouraged or discriminated against, felt that their talents and
viewpoints were appreciated, and felt
comfortablewithvariouslearningexperiences. Several questions focused on
groupprojectexperiencesaswell.Last,
thegroupsdiscussedtheperceiveddifferencesbetweenmaleandfemaleprofessors regarding teaching approaches,
valuesexpressed,andtreatmentofmale
andfemalestudents.
ResultsandDiscussion
Weanalyzedthefocus-groupresponsesanddiscussionsforgenderdifferenc
esandpatternsregardinglearningexperiences in business classes (Krueger,
1988).Weusedthefocus-groupresults
toprovideinsightintothedevelopment
ofresearchquestionsandtofindappropriatewordinginthedevelopmentofa
questionnairetoquantitativelymeasure
potentialgenderdifferences.
The first major area of discussion
in the focus groups was the teaching methods, philosophy, and general
nature of COB classes. Both male and
female respondents mentioned that
the real-world work experience that
COB instructors have sets them apart
from non-COB faculty. The male-only
focus-groupdiscussioncenteredonthe
professionalism that COB instructors
display and on how the problem-solving nature of most COB classes, such
asaccountingandfinance,affectedthe
presentation of material.The male studentstalkedaboutthespecialhelpthey
hadreceivedfromcertainbusinessprofessors.Theywereimpressedwithhow
helpful their COB professors had been
outsideclass.Allmalerespondentssaid
they felt comfortable expressing their
opinionsintheirCOBclasses.
In the female-only focus group, the
discussion centered on how serious,
formal, and distant COB professors are
compared to non-COB professors, who
theydescribedasbeingmorelaidback.
Business instructors were characterized
as being stricter and as wanting things
doneacertainway.Thefemalestudents
said they would prefer more flexibility
in completing assignments. They also
said the testing in COB classes is more
objective than testing in other classes
anddoesnotfairlytesttheirknowledge
of the material or their ability to apply
it. Female respondents said the COB
classes are more competitive than other
classes in that everyone in the COB is
competing for grades and for the same
jobs.Theythoughtthatoveralltherewas
lesscooperationbetweenstudentsintheir
business-classlearningexperiences.
Thenextmajorissueaddressedinthe
focus group sessions was the comparison of male and female professors in
the COB. Both male and female focus
groups mentioned that there are many
moremalethanfemaleprofessors.The
male students stated that their male
businessprofessorsaremorelikelythan
theirfemalebusinessprofessorstoseta
toneintheirclassesfromthebeginning
thatleadstoamorerespectfulenvironment. They do this by sharing their
pastworkexperiences,especiallyatthe
beginningofthefirstclassofthesemester.Whenasked,malestudentssaidthey
noticed no major differences between
maleandfemaleprofessors.
The female students said their male
professorsaremorewillingthanfemale
professorstogivetheiropinionsinclass,
tendtobemorestructured,andaremore
likelytojokearoundwiththemalestudents or talk about sports at the beginning of classes. Some female students
saidtheyfeltintimidatedandleftoutof
suchconversations.Thefemalestudents
saidthatsomeoftheirmaleprofessors
are“toosmart”orarrogantandthatthey
expect students to understand material that is briefly covered. In contrast,
female students said that their female
professorsaremorecompassionateand
willingtoworkwithstudentswhenthey
have problems than are male professors.Theysaidthisisprobablybecause
female professors remember how hard
itwastogetwheretheyare,sotheyare
moreunderstanding.
Whenaskedaboutdifferencesbetween
male and female students in business
classes, the male students said that
femalestudentstendtobemoreworried
about school and grades and to work
harder. They also mentioned that some
female students flirt with male professors.Femalestudentssaidthatconsiderablymoremalethanfemalestudentsare
in most of their COB classes, so they
wereintheminorityinmostclasses.The
female students said the male students
are likely to respect and respond positively to male professors. The female
students also said that their male counterparts tend to think that what male
professors say is more significant than
whatfemale professors say and tendto
laughattheirmaleprofessors’jokes.
Regarding group projects, male students said they like group work and
thinkitreflectsdutiesfromtheirfuture
jobs. They also mentioned that sometimes one group member does not do
hisorherpartbutthatnoneofthemhad
ever felt taken advantage of. In major
contrast, all female students said that
theyhadbeentakenadvantageofinat
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97
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least one group project, and some said
they had felt left out of the group process.Theysaidtherewasamaleslacker
or two in almost every group. Some of
them tried to get in all-female groups
toavoidthis,butinmostgroups,oneor
two female students would tend to take
overallworkforthegroup.Thefemale
students also mentioned that they did
not like having their grades controlled
or determined by others and that their
groupsalwayshadahardtimeschedulingmeetingtimesduetoworkandother
obligations.Overall,thefemalestudents’
groupexperienceswerenegative.
Study2:QuantitativeStudy
ofGenderDifferencesin
EducationalExperiences
Weusedfindingsfromthefocusgroups
and key findings from the literature on
group learning and gender-based differences in learning styles to shape a questionnaire focusing on several issues that
emergedaspotentialimportantdifferences
inmaleandfemalebusinessstudents’educational experiences, especially the sharp
contrastbetweengendersregardinggroup
learningexperiences.Theinstrumentused
in this study attempts to quantitatively
measure potential gender-based differencesdiscoveredinthefocusgroups.We
examined differences in (a) overall educational experience, (b) students’ assessment of and interaction with professors,
(c) group-learning experiences, and (d)
classroomconduct.WeaddressedthefollowingresearchquestionsinStudy2:
1. Isthereastatisticallysignificantrelationship between gender and assessment
ofqualityoftheoverallbusinesseducation
experience?
2. Is there a statistically significant
relationshipbetweengenderandassessmentofandinteractionwithprofessors?
3. Is there a statistically significant
relationshipbetweengenderandevaluationsofgroup-learningexperiences?
4.Is there a statistically significant
relationship between gender and classroomassertiveness?
Method
Wedistributedquestionnairesinmultiple sections of two senior-level business courses and online through the
98
JournalofEducationforBusiness
campusserver.Atotalof288responses
were obtained. The sample was 43%
femalestudentsand57%malestudents.
Themeanandmedianagewas22years
(SD=2.99).
DataAnalysis
IntheAppendix,wepresentquestionnaireitemsthatwereusedtoformvarious multi-item scale measures. Scales
consistingofmultipleitemswereformed
wheneverpossibletoprovideasuperior,
more reliable measure over single-item
measures. In these cases, responses to
individualitemscomposingagivenscale
were averaged to form the scale score.
The reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s
alpha) for the various scales are also
reportedintheAppendix.Allscalereliabilities (i.e., coefficient alpha) were
above or practically equivalent to the
generallyaccepted.70minimumlevel.
To address the research questions
regarding gender differences, we performed t tests for mean differences
between male and female students on
eachofthescalemeasures.
ResultsandDiscussion
In terms of Research Question 1
regarding students’ perceptions of
the overall value of their educational
experience, there were no significant
differences between female and male
students, t(284) = 1.14, p = .25. Both
groups indicated that their experience
overall was positive (i.e., they were
satisfied with their instructors, they
receivedqualityinstruction,theyfeltas
though their education prepared them
forasuccessfulcareer,andtheyfeltthat
theirbusinessdegreewasvaluable).
Regarding Research Question 2,
there were no significant differences
between male and female students in
termsoftheirattitudestowardtheirprofessors.Neithergenderwasmorelikely
to(a)reporthavingafavoriteprofessor,
t(285) = 0.87, p = .38; (b) think that
female professors are easier to work
with,t(284)=0.30,p=.76;or(c)think
that female professors foster a more
competitive classroom environment,
t(285)=0.08,p=.94.
ForResearchQuestion3,therewere
significant differences between male
and female students in their evaluation
oftheirexperiencesworkingingroups.
This was true for their general experiencesworkingingroupsandtheirexperiencesworkinginteamsonabusiness
simulation. Female students reported
more negative experiences working in
groups (i.e., they feel taken advantage
of by group members, end up doing
secretarial and organizational work for
group projects, and feel pressured by
group members to favorably evaluate
memberswhodidnotcontributetothe
group’s work; M = 3.20 (SD = 0.74)
vs.2.83(SD=0.67);t(283)=4.34,p