08832323.2010.496301
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We Don't
Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us
William J. Lundstrom
To cite this article: William J. Lundstrom (2011) MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We
Don't Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us, Journal of Education for Business, 86:3, 178-185, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2010.496301
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 22:15
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 86: 178–185, 2011
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ISSN: 0883-2323
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.496301
MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We Don’t
Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us
William J. Lundstrom
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Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
MBA students are often treated as a blank sheet of paper on which the MBA program and its faculty etch and imprint the knowledge and philosophy of business success. Implicit in this thinking is that students are willing neophytes in this ritualistic process without a perceptual screen
shaping and molding the content being espoused by legions of business philosophers—both
academic and professional. The author sheds light on the attitudinal states of the MBA students who occupy those many seats, engage in class discussions, analyze cases, and finally are
knighted as Masters of the Universe. Quite surprisingly, MBA students have diverse attitudes
toward the business community. In a sample of 866 MBA students representing 27 MBA programs around the United States, the research suggests that these students do not embrace all
aspects of business practices. Students are biased, skeptical and, on certain issues, downright
critical of the community they are about to join.
Keywords: attitudes, business practices, MBA, students
As business academics and practitioners, researchers should
be concerned with inputs (student achievement levels and
attitudes), processes (program content and delivery), and
outputs (quality of student knowledge and skills) of professional, educational programs. If MBA programs were similar
to manufacturing or service industries, each of these elements
would be given equal emphasis in providing a quality product or service offering. Unfortunately, as the results of this
research study suggest, much of the emphasis in MBA programs focuses on the latter two—process and outputs. The
vast majority of the research in the academic literature focuses on the process and content of the program. The business
press and institutional organizations examine outputs such as
final GPA, placement, rankings, perceived quality of the program, recruiters’ evaluation of program graduates, and starting salaries among other measures of outcomes. This is not to
say that input factors have been totally overlooked, but most
input measures place an emphasis on predictors of program
performance—undergraduate GPA, amount of work experience, ethnicity, public or private education, undergraduate
major, and GMAT scores.
Correspondence should be addressed to William J. Lundstrom, Cleveland State University, Nance College of Business, 2121 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland, OH 44115, USA. E-mail: w.lundstrom@csuohio.edu
A key ingredient of any process-oriented organization
(MBA programs included) needs to know about the qualities
of the inputs into the process. Likewise, a customer-driven
organization should, and would, know a great deal about its
customer base, how and what they think, and the basis for
their decisions. Without such knowledge, the manager (or
program director) is simply putting together ingredients that
may, or may not, lead to a quality, customer-satisfying product or service. Thus, insight into the attitudes and beliefs of
the inputs (students) in the process provides a valuable and
worthwhile first step in developing programmatic content
that shapes the output in alignment with customer attitudes,
or conversely, change attitudes that are out of alignment and
a barrier to learning.
The research presented is an exploratory study. From my
four decades of experience as a dean, graduate program director in several universities, service on many MBA admission
committees, and involvement in redesigning MBA curricula,
the consideration of the attitudes of the entering MBA student class never came into focus. Nor did the design of the
program content and delivery ever take into account the attitudinal states of the MBA cohort. Interestingly, in a customerdriven model that is presented as the MBA program dogma,
the thought of not considering customer attitudes toward the
offering would be unheard of. The need to understand the
client base (MBA students) to better offer program content
that shapes more knowing managers in the future is simply
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MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
following the precepts that are preached. Therefore, this exploratory study presents a first look at how MBAs think about
business.
The purpose of the study is to uncover the attitudinal
states of MBA students toward the business community and
its practices. The study represents a first step in answering
the questions: Who are these MBA students? What do these
students think? What are the students’ attitudes about the
subject they are studying? Do the students believe what we,
the academics, are saying? What must be done to reinforce
the students’ thinking? What must be done to change the
students’ attitudinal state? Knowing the answers to some of
these questions, faculty, administrators, and practitioners are
in a position to develop curricula, change content of courses,
and handle the questions that may arise in class due to a
myriad of issues that are discussed regarding present topics.
RELATED LITERATURE
What Is Known
The literature on MBA education is replete with studies
showing enrollment trends, curriculum issues, placement,
starting salaries, ranking of programs, and demographic descriptors of test takers and enrollees in MBA program. An
examination of some of the key items presents a picture of
what is presently known about the MBA student and program
content.
In the 2007–08 academic year, the Graduate Management
Admissions Council (GMAC) administered a record number
of 246,957 GMAT exams to over 97,000 women and 149,000
men (Graduate Management Admission Council, 2009a). Almost one half of the test takers were citizens of other countries, the largest proportion was in their late twenties, and
minority populations are slowing growing as a percentage of
all test takers. Enrollments in MBA programs have grown
and are expected to further increase in the down economy.
An overview of the studies sponsored by the GMAC in their
summary of all research reports (Graduate Management Admission Council, 2009b), shows research has been conducted
on the GMAT exam, predicting success factors, validity studies, understanding the value of graduate business education,
brand image of MBA programs, and several reports on minority groups and women. These and other research studies by
Endres, Chowdhury, Frye, and Hurtubis (2008), Hsu, Chao,
and James (2008), Truell, Zhao, Alexander and Hill (2006),
and Sulaiman and Mohezar (2006) that examine success, efficiency, and satisfaction factors, although informative, tend to
be more process- and output-oriented rather than examining
the dimensionality and psychological characteristics (other
than demographic) of the student input.
Process issues that surface through an examination of the
literature tend to focus on three major variables (a) overall
program content, (b) individual courses, and (c) course con-
179
tent and delivery. One of the overriding concerns of MBA
programs that are accredited by the Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International is
meeting mission-driven standards that conform to accreditation standards. Although these standards have been relaxed
in recent years, allowing programs more flexibility in meeting standards, meeting program content and knowledge areas
remains somewhat fixed (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005; Navarro,
2008). As a result of meeting accreditation core curriculum standards, the silo mentality is often maintained while
garnishing these offerings with additional courses and differential program formats. The latter has spawned the debate
of how to offer content that covers social responsibility and
ethics, leadership, and globalization (Bruce & Edgington,
2008; Butler, Forbes, & Johnson, 2008; Crane, 2004; Evans,
Trevino, & Weaver, 2006; Fukukawa, Shafer, & Lee, 2007;
Krishnam, 2008; Navarro). Lastly, the subject of delivery
of course knowledge and what is delivered has spurred additional debate—course-based versus experiential learning,
traditional market perspectives versus innovative technologies, market uncertainties, and a macro–social perspective
(Pfeffer & Fong, 2002; Samuelson, 2006; Schoemaker, 2008;
Tuleja, 2008). Although process issues are worthwhile subjects of debate, what is still missing is specific attitudinal
knowledge of the inputs.
What Is Not Known
Information on the psychological makeup of the student body
has only now started to surface in the literature. This was
fostered by Leavitt’s (1991) charge that MBA faculty and
administrators really do not care about the attitudes and beliefs that MBA students learn and then later incorporate in
their careers. In a study of student attitudes, sponsored by the
Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell (Kiely,
1997), the findings show that students in the nation’s top
MBA programs believe in maximizing profits, are more opposed than older persons to government action for responsible corporate behavior, and take a stricter financial view on
making decisions. Much of this was speculative, academic
debate until the cheating incident in the graduate school of
business at Duke University. Conlin’s (2007) comment on
this incident suggested that due to the use of Internet, open
sourcing of information, and the use of teamwork in studies,
it may be time to revisit how academics define academic dishonesty. Is this really the wave of the future and exemplified
by the likes of Madoff and Stanford? What an individual’s
attitudes are, and their domain specificity, will largely influence what is learned and how it is shaped in the learning
process. A brief review of attitudinal research in business
programs is presented in the following section.
In the last few years, academics have begun examining the attitudes of undergraduate business and MBA students. Wilson and Galloway (2006) showed the importance
of how MBA students have benefited from their shaping in the
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180
W. J. LUNDSTROM
MBA program and the resulting experience in their careers.
Whittingham (2006) has examined the impact of personality characteristics on MBA’s academic performance showing
that the detached individual and the extrovert had higher
performance for men, whereas women with higher conscientiousness scores did better in quantitative courses. Further,
Elias (2008) began research on the concept of academic selfefficacy versus anti-intellectual attitudes in an undergraduate
business population. And Rawwas, Swaidan, and Isakson
(2007) studied ethical beliefs of MBA students in the United
States against those in Hong Kong, finding that U.S. students tended to behave ethically whereas their Hong Kong
counterparts tended to act more morally.
How these types of studies shape MBA programs remains
to be seen because the research deals with personality types,
program experience, or ethical beliefs rather than attitudinal
states of mind that influence behavior. Because it is known
that attitudes play a major role in information processing,
learning, and behavior (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, & Best,
2007), an in-depth look at the attitudes held by MBA students
should shed light on how they can be educated, with what
material, and whether or not the material presented is consistent or inconsistent with their attitudinal states. Learning
takes place when ideas, concepts, and theories are consistent
with attitudinal states. Impediments to learning are found
in attitude conflict, which requires a major effort in attitude
change prior to having a positive learning experience (Peter
& Olson, 2008). Without this knowledge, the goals of the
MBA program may suffer, faculty can be ineffective, and
course content may be in conflict with the students’ beliefs.
METHOD
The MBA degree has become ubiquitous throughout the
United States and the industrialized and developing world
as the degree of choice for business managers. As a starting point for this research program, the universe was limited
to the students attending an MBA program in the United
States. Because both large and small colleges and universities throughout the nation now offer the MBA degree, a
representative area sample was drawn from AACSB member
institutions with MBA programs. Deans, graduate program
directors, and faculty were contacted personally, by phone,
or electronically to gain their cooperation and to maintain a
geographic, program size, public versus private, and reputational balance in the sample. Many of the MBA programs
opted not to participate stating one of two views. One view
was that the study would be an invasion of student privacy.
Or, secondly, it was the school’s policy not to let outsiders interview their students. In all, 27 graduate business programs
agreed to participate in the study (see Appendix A). A balanced sample of the schools were from each geographic area
of the country, represented a mixture of private and public
institutions, programs that were both large and small in size,
and attracted students from international and national levels
as well as those that were regional and local. Programs were
represented by those in the top 50 MBA ranked programs (by
Business Week or The Financial Times of London) as well as
those with lesser reputations. The latter programs are representative of where a vast majority of individuals obtain their
MBAs and were, therefore, a higher proportion of programs
included in this study.
The sample within each institution was drawn by program directors and faculty members. The instructions were
to administer the survey instrument to first-year students to
the program, and hopefully reduce bias in answers regarding
the business community. The data was gathered during the
spring, summer, and fall of 2008. Students were not pressured
to participate in the study, completion was voluntary, and
respondents would remain anonymous. In addition to item
responses, information was obtained on the demographic
characteristics of age, ethnicity, undergraduate major, undergraduate GPA, the undergraduate institution awarding the
degree (public vs. private), GMAT score, and years of work
experience.
Sample Characteristics
The total completed returns came from 866 respondents from
27 graduate business programs. The sample consisted of the
following characteristics: the mean age was 29 years; men
and women represented 65.6% and 34.4% of the sample,
respectively; undergraduate degrees were 72% from publicsupported universities versus 28% from private universities
and colleges; the mean GPA was 3.34; the mean GMAT
score (of those 521 students reporting) was 579.7; and, the
mean work experience was 7.0 years. Ranges for the demographics indicate that a very wide dispersion of each factor was captured in the sample. Age ranged from 20 to 65
years, and the ethnic makeup was 6.2% African American,
17.4% Asian, 2.9% Asian American, 64.5% Caucasian, 3.1%
Hispanic, 0.2% Native American, and 5.6% other. Undergraduate majors included 50.6% business, 17.0% liberal arts,
11.0% engineering, 9.2% science, 1.4% health care, 7.2%
computer science, and 3.6% communications. Undergraduate GPA ranged from 2.00 to 4.00, GMAT scores ranged
from a low of 210 to a high of 780, and the number of years
of work experience went from 0 to 45 years. Overall, the
866 respondents represented the span of students seeking
the MBA degree and the mean scores were very typical of
the average MBA student.
Instrument
To capture the attitudinal states of the MBA student respondents, the Short-Form Consumer Discontent Scale was employed in the study. The Short-Form Consumer Discontent
Scale is composed of 41 items measuring positive and negative affect toward business practices and related, underlying
business motives. The short-form scale was derived from the
MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
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Consumer Discontent Scale (Lundstrom & Lamont, 1976)
and developed by Scott and Lundstrom (1990). Respondents
were asked to express their feelings (attitudes) toward the 41
items related to business on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 6 (strongly disagree). Items
that are positively worded are reverse coded to maintain directionality of the total scale score. The scale and the items
measure satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with business and its
practices. Total scale scores can range from 246 (a totally
negative overall attitude) to 41 (a totally satisfied overall attitude). Because the scale uses a forced format of 6 response
categories, a mean score of 3.5 would represent a neutral
position toward a particular item.
RESULTS
Reliability
The survey data (Table 1) shows the Short-Form Consumer
Discontent Scale to be consistent and indicates relatively
high reliability factors. The coefficient alpha was .8596 and
the Spearman-Brown and Guttman reliability scores were
.75 and .73, respectively. These reliability measures are in
keeping with those reported earlier by Scott and Lundstrom
(1990) and Lundstrom and White (2006).
Much more interesting than the scale’s reliability coefficients, even though it strongly suggests the scale’s durability
over time, were the mean scores of the present sample. Because the administration of the questionnaire, there has been
significant downward movement in the economy. Whether
these latter economic events that have taken place would
change the perspective of the MBA students is unknown.
It can only be speculated that the dimensions captured by
the scale should be enduring and could be potentially magnified by some of the events that have occurred during the
timeframe since its administration.
Item Differences
Given the large sample and geographic dispersion, the results of the research are interesting and shed light on where
MBA students stand on various attitudinal issues regarding
the business community. Of major interest in this study are
the attitudinal states of MBA students toward the domains
TABLE 1
Reliability Analysis of the Measure
Statistic
Part 1
Part 2
Scale
M
Variance
SD
n
75.20
70.85
146.05
81.36
145.89
358.22
9.02
12.08
18.93
21
20
41
Note. N = 866; items = 41; Guttman Split-half = .7313; Unequal-length
Spearman-Brown = .7510; α = .8596.
181
tapped by the individual items in the scale as well as the overall scale score. These findings are presented in Table 2, which
presents the mean scores and standard deviations for the total
sample of MBA students. Item scores are presented in descending order from the most negative to the most positive
scores on individual items.
Most negative. When looking at the items that the students find most negative about business, there is a sense that
business is insensitive to true consumer needs with the end
goal of making as much money as it can. This is exemplified
by the statements: “Companies encourage customers to buy
more than they really need” (4.73), “All business really wants
to do is make the most money it can” (4.42), “Salespeople
are pushy just so they can make the sale” (4.16), “Companies ‘jazz up’ a product, with no real improvement, just to
get a higher price or sell more” (4.08), “Products that last
a lifetime are a thing of the past” (3.89), and “As soon as
they make the sale, most businesses forget about the buyer”
(3.76). Interspersed with this overall negativity toward business, which may be labeled insensitive profit making, are
rising prices, materialism, lack of true product information,
and government intervention to enforce ethical practices.
Most positive. In the opposite direction, students found
many positive attributes about business, which was reflected
in their positive attitudinal responses. The generally positive
sentiment reflects the cornucopia of product offerings to satisfy needs, that the consumer is the central focus of offerings,
that business stands behind its products with guarantees and
warranties and has effective complaint departments, that the
quality of goods has consistently increased over the years,
and that businesses are honest in their dealings with consumers (see Table 2).
Midrange ‘hot’ issues. Certain items of interest in this
research could be considered hot issues that may be of concern to both MBA students and program-directed content.
These issues concern sustainability, minorities and the underprivileged, business profits, advertising, and a consumercentric empathy. Unfortunately, answers to these items fall
into what can be called a mid-range of item responses that are
relatively neutral. That is, item mean scores in the range of
3.3–3.7 indicate a neutral stance on the items measured. Thus,
MBA students, on average, did not have strong attitudes about
business helping minorities and the underprivileged (3.51),
business taking an interest in the environment (3.48) or using
up natural resources without replenishment (3.39), business
profits being too high yet raising prices (3.60), advertising
making people unhappy with themselves because they can’t
have everything they see (3.44), and salespeople making sure
customers find what they really need (3.44). In essence, none
of these potentially hot issues are seen as present problems
182
W. J. LUNDSTROM
TABLE 2
Item Mean Scores in Descending Order, From Most Negative to Most Positive
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Item
Companies encourage customers to buy more than they really need
Prices of products are going up faster than the incomes of the ordinary consumer
All business really wants to do is make the most money it can
The government should enforce ethical business practices
Generally speaking, products work as good as they look
People rate other people by the value of their possessions
Salespeople are pushy just so that they can make a sale
Companies “jazz up” a product, with no real improvement, just to get a higher price or sell more
Consumers know exactly what they are buying with food products because the ingredients are on the package
Products that last a lifetime are a thing of the past
Service departments “pad” the bill by charging for unneeded work
As soon as they make the sale, most businesses forget about the buyer
Many times the salesperson says one thing to the shopper but knows it is just the opposite
The information on most packages is enough to make a good decision
Most of the things I buy are over-priced
The only person who cares about the consumer is the consumer herself/himself
Business profits are too high yet they keep on raising prices
When a product is advertised as “new” or “improved”, it is the same old thing only in a different package
Products are only as safe as required by government standards, but no more than that
Companies are helping minorities and the underprivileged by providing them with jobs
Business takes a real interest in the environment and is trying to improve it
A warranty or a guarantee may be a good one, but the service department is often unable to do the work correctly
Repair work is usually done right the first time
What is seen on the outside of the package is many times not what is found on the inside
Commercials make people unhappy with themselves because they can’t have everything they see
Salespeople take an interest in consumers and make sure they find what they need
Service manuals aren’t provided with products because the company wants to make money servicing the products as
well as selling them
There are too many of the same type of products which is a waste of money
Business is one using up our natural resources (oil, gas, trees, etc) but does nothing to replace what has been taken
Products fall apart before they have had much use
Business profits are too high
In general, companies are honest in their dealings with consumers
Companies aren’t willing to listen or do anything about consumer gripes
Most companies have a complaint department which backs up their products and handles consumer complaints
The quality of goods has consistently improved over the years
Warranties would not be necessary if the manufacturer made the product right in the first place
Most people know that advertising lies a “little”
Business usually stands behind their products and guarantees
Companies generally offer what the consumer wants
The consumer is usually the least important consideration to most companies
A large variety of products allow consumers to choose what they really want
for the business community but lay in the midground of relatively neutral attitudinal states of the MBAs.
Overall Scores and Demographic Differences
As an additional input to the understanding of MBA attitudes
toward business is the analysis of overall scale scores. Total
scale scores can range from 41 (totally positive) to 246 (totally negative). A neutral score would be reflected by a total
score of 143. Upon examination, the mean score for the overall student group is 146.05—just a little toward a negative attitude. The mean score of the total group, however, can mask
the overall neutrality as seem by individual item scores. In an
M
SD
4.7298
4.4238
4.4169
4.3718
4.1767
4.1744
4.1570
4.0751
3.9781
3.8926
3.8891
3.7621
3.7460
3.7309
3.7229
3.7217
3.6016
3.5658
3.5589
3.5069
3.4861
3.4815
3.4677
3.4573
3.4423
3.4411
3.4400
1.14638
1.31134
1.21003
1.46413
1.21073
1.12495
1.14430
1.12467
1.34060
1.38823
1.06188
1.15853
1.01327
1.17405
1.14775
1.32645
1.29542
1.04619
1.26742
1.16125
1.13399
1.09238
1.08569
1.10329
1.22668
1.24534
1.21140
3.3984
3.3949
3.2991
3.2968
3.2552
3.1917
3.0208
2.9908
2.9111
2.8880
2.8349
2.7598
2.7494
2.6397
1.31578
1.29692
1.06849
1.34754
1.00323
1.15011
1.17470
1.27670
1.47431
1.17986
1.02646
1.01892
1.17912
1.07821
effort to see whether there are group differences, an analysis
of variance (ANOVA) was run on gender, ethnicity, undergraduate major, and type of undergraduate institution (public
vs. private education) against the total scale score. Additionally, correlations were computed on the continuous variables
of age, GPA, GMAT score, and work experience with the
total scale score. These findings are presented subsequently.
Overall, significant differences found were primarily due
to the large sample sizes used in each of the analyses: mean
scale scores for the demographic variables were within 10
total scale points of one another. The ANOVA results suggest that significant differences are found in the characteristics of gender (p < .01) and ethnicity (p < .01) but neither
MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
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in the undergraduate major nor whether the student attended
a public or private institution. The gender differences suggest that women have a more negative attitude toward the
business community than do men, 149.52 versus 144.23.
Ethnic differences were found across the seven groups represented in the study. The highest level of negativity was
found in Asians (154.09), Asian Americans (152.60), and
African Americans (152.47), whereas Caucasians had the
lowest mean score of 142.69. Likewise, correlations on the
continuous variables of GPA, GMAT score, work experience,
and age showed insignificant and very low correlations with
the overall scale score.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The purpose of this research was to examine and understand
the attitudinal states of MBA students toward the business
community and business practices. It was unknown whether
MBA students held positive, negative, or neutral attitudes
toward this domain of activity nor whether there are differences among groups of students on various demographic
characteristics. The results were interesting and varied and
suggest that the new MBA graduate is one who may foster
both pro and con attitudes about present business conduct
and business values.
The research revealed that, overall, MBA students harbor
an attitude that business is in the business to make as much
money as it can while encouraging customers to buy more
than they really need. This may feed into a cycle of materialism as a desired end state as consumers are encouraged to
spend more and compare themselves to others having more
than themselves. This is exhibited by the negative attitudes
about people rating others by their possessions rather than
qualities of a humanistic nature. This, in turn, may have lead
to binging on credit to buy additional items, the vacation
home, real estate investments, and other unneeded goods and
services that has led to the present credit crisis. What is the
proposed solution to this customer- and profit-driven market
without concern for the consequences to the consumer? Interestingly, the surveyed MBA students believed that it is the
government who should enforce ethical business practices.
Although this begs another question as to what are ethical
business practices, it is evident that these respondents are
seeking a solution by a higher order entity other than the
business community itself.
In contrast, these respondents believe there are many good
things about the business community and it is reflected in
their positive attitudes. Leading the positive attitudes is the
ability of business to provide a wide variety of products and
services that customers want. This is combined with business
standing behind their products with warranties and customer
service departments who try to rectify problems. The respondents believe that goods and services have improved
over the years and companies are willing to listen to their
183
needs, gripes, and complaints. However, a more fundamental issue could be that business does listen, offers products
and services, and stands behinds these offerings but does not
truly consider what the impact of consumption does to the
individual—morally, physically, and psychologically. This
may be the essence of creating a new and different ethics
course in business.
Although there are both positive and negative attitudes toward business, there is a broad midrange of attitudinal states
that appear to exhibit neutrality on the part of the respondents. This midground is reflected in the neutral attitudes
toward many of the issues that are considered politically
important by some groups. The respondents had neutral attitudes about business helping minorities and the underprivileged, environmental issues, advertising and meeting safe
product standards. Whether this is good or bad depends on
the perspective. However, it is fertile ground for discussion
and molding these attitudinal issues into ones of greater concern and, potentially, doing good for the greater whole of
society.
Total scale scores suggest that women hold more antibusiness attitudes than men, as do Asians, Asian Americans, and
African-Americans. Because these groups represent larger
proportions of incoming MBA students, additional effort may
be placed on educating these groups about business ethics,
practices, and values. Particular emphasis could be made to illustrate how diversity efforts are working to include a greater
number of women and non-Caucasians in the workforce.
What the research suggests is a look at the softer side
of the transaction other than the simple buyer–seller dyad.
That is, a more holistic approach to the customer may be
warranted in the future for courses. This would include the
social, psychological, economic, and technological impacts
on the individual rather than trying to investigate the buyer
as a transactional unit. By widening the understanding of the
individual, business would have a much different mindset of
how and why the person functions other than as a consumption unit with certain needs, wants and desires.
Limitations
There were limitations to the research in that it represents
the attitudes of a subset of MBA students just prior to a
major financial crisis. Further administrations that include
the outcome of the financial crisis and the abuses that were
unveiled may increase the negativity of the responses. The
inability to freely sample from all graduate programs could
potentially limit the generalization of the results to a larger
student population. Also, the administration of the instrument
to first-year students by program directors and faculty may
potentially skew the results. However, even recognizing these
potential shortcomings, the diversity of the representation
and the size of the sample would tend to negate these possible
pitfalls.
184
W. J. LUNDSTROM
Inputs
Attitudes
Major
GMAT score
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Work experience
Process
Courses
Content
Teamwork
Experiences
Culture
Consumption
Outcomes
Outputs
Knowledge
Ratings
Performance
Starting salary
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FIGURE 1. A new humanistic model for MBA programs, from a holistic
and humanistic perspective.
Implications
The implications of this research study go beyond the attitudes of these MBA students and may potentially impinge on
the culture and content of MBA programs. First and foremost,
these students are people from varying backgrounds, holding differing attitudes about the community they study. Individual students enter MBA programs with thoughts, ideas,
values, and attitudes. They are definitely not the blank slates
they are sometimes assumed to be. Our courses on ethics
need to consider the buyer and the implications that business
practices and the business value system has upon them and
not just the business community. It is more than just operating in an ethical manner but to be morally just in transactions
with customers and gage the impact academics have on them
as humans. Perhaps it is necessary to recast MBA program
content to include the study of the evolution of societies, religions around the world, and human needs, wants, and desires
outside the consumption environment (Figure 1). This same
line of reasoning could also be applied to marketing courses
that interface with the buying public. To date, most marketing
courses stress value driven, or customer value as the mantra
of the product or service offering (Kerin & Peterson, 2010).
What happens after the value is delivered, consumed, forgotten, or disposed of? Is the customer better off than before?
Is society? What is the impact on the environment? Thus, it
is necessary to redefine the consumption process from the
transaction to the totality of the consumption process. Not
only how it is done (the process focus of business), but also
the long-range consequences of the collective whole of consumption. This somewhat different perspective would fundamentally change the culture of many MBA programs while
addressing many of the issues that were brought forward in
this study.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this research study was to ascertain the attitudinal states of a national sample of MBA students toward
the business community and its practices. The study encom-
passed 27 MBA programs and 866 respondents as measured
by the Short-Form Consumer Discontent Scale. Uncovered
in this research were a wide variety of attitudes toward many
different items in the measure.
The most negative attitudes registered were those encouraging consumers to buy needlessly just to drive business profits. The most positive attitudes centered on offering a wide
variety of products and services so that customers had many
choices. In the neutral categories, were attitudes toward the
environment, minorities, and the underprivileged, advertising, and product safety. Significant demographic differences
were exhibited across race and gender but not undergraduate major or public versus private colleges. Attitudes were
slightly correlated with age but not with GPA, GMAT score,
or work experience.
Results from the study suggest that MBA programs need
to reassess their process orientation and look at developing a
more holistic, humanistic framework of the inputs and outcomes of the consumption process. Only then can the managers of tomorrow fully understand the magnitude of what
they are doing in creating a societal good (or evil).
Future researchers should administer the Consumer Discontent Scale instrument to another sample of MBA students
from a similarly broad population. It would be interesting to
note the changes in attitudes that have taken place since the
outcome of the global financial crisis and the continuing saga
of how greed contributed to the downfall. Further, the attitudinal structure of the underlying factors contributing to these
states should be examined. As a continuing product of this
research, individual MBA programs and accreditation bodies
should establish task forces to examine the fundamental nature and content of an holistic and humanistic MBA program
the focus of which is the individual in many different contexts. The starting point in this is simple; it is the satisfaction
of future customer needs that must be met to be successful.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Funding for this research was provided by MERInstitute
Grant, Graduate Management Admission Council.
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APPENDIX A
MBA Programs Participating in the Study
Baldwin-Wallace College
Babson College
Boise State University
Brandeis University
California State University, San Marcos
Case Western Reserve University
Chapman University
Cleveland State University
Colorado State University
East Tennessee State University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Kent State University
Indiana State University
Kennesaw State University
Old Dominion University
Pepperdine University
Savannah State University
Southern Methodist University
Texas A&M University
University of Akron
University of Houston
University of Massachusetts
University of Missouri
University of Toledo
Ursuline College
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wright State University
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We Don't
Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us
William J. Lundstrom
To cite this article: William J. Lundstrom (2011) MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We
Don't Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us, Journal of Education for Business, 86:3, 178-185, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2010.496301
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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 86: 178–185, 2011
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ISSN: 0883-2323
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2010.496301
MBA Attitudes Toward Business: What We Don’t
Know Can Hurt Us or Help Us
William J. Lundstrom
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Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
MBA students are often treated as a blank sheet of paper on which the MBA program and its faculty etch and imprint the knowledge and philosophy of business success. Implicit in this thinking is that students are willing neophytes in this ritualistic process without a perceptual screen
shaping and molding the content being espoused by legions of business philosophers—both
academic and professional. The author sheds light on the attitudinal states of the MBA students who occupy those many seats, engage in class discussions, analyze cases, and finally are
knighted as Masters of the Universe. Quite surprisingly, MBA students have diverse attitudes
toward the business community. In a sample of 866 MBA students representing 27 MBA programs around the United States, the research suggests that these students do not embrace all
aspects of business practices. Students are biased, skeptical and, on certain issues, downright
critical of the community they are about to join.
Keywords: attitudes, business practices, MBA, students
As business academics and practitioners, researchers should
be concerned with inputs (student achievement levels and
attitudes), processes (program content and delivery), and
outputs (quality of student knowledge and skills) of professional, educational programs. If MBA programs were similar
to manufacturing or service industries, each of these elements
would be given equal emphasis in providing a quality product or service offering. Unfortunately, as the results of this
research study suggest, much of the emphasis in MBA programs focuses on the latter two—process and outputs. The
vast majority of the research in the academic literature focuses on the process and content of the program. The business
press and institutional organizations examine outputs such as
final GPA, placement, rankings, perceived quality of the program, recruiters’ evaluation of program graduates, and starting salaries among other measures of outcomes. This is not to
say that input factors have been totally overlooked, but most
input measures place an emphasis on predictors of program
performance—undergraduate GPA, amount of work experience, ethnicity, public or private education, undergraduate
major, and GMAT scores.
Correspondence should be addressed to William J. Lundstrom, Cleveland State University, Nance College of Business, 2121 Euclid Avenue,
Cleveland, OH 44115, USA. E-mail: w.lundstrom@csuohio.edu
A key ingredient of any process-oriented organization
(MBA programs included) needs to know about the qualities
of the inputs into the process. Likewise, a customer-driven
organization should, and would, know a great deal about its
customer base, how and what they think, and the basis for
their decisions. Without such knowledge, the manager (or
program director) is simply putting together ingredients that
may, or may not, lead to a quality, customer-satisfying product or service. Thus, insight into the attitudes and beliefs of
the inputs (students) in the process provides a valuable and
worthwhile first step in developing programmatic content
that shapes the output in alignment with customer attitudes,
or conversely, change attitudes that are out of alignment and
a barrier to learning.
The research presented is an exploratory study. From my
four decades of experience as a dean, graduate program director in several universities, service on many MBA admission
committees, and involvement in redesigning MBA curricula,
the consideration of the attitudes of the entering MBA student class never came into focus. Nor did the design of the
program content and delivery ever take into account the attitudinal states of the MBA cohort. Interestingly, in a customerdriven model that is presented as the MBA program dogma,
the thought of not considering customer attitudes toward the
offering would be unheard of. The need to understand the
client base (MBA students) to better offer program content
that shapes more knowing managers in the future is simply
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MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
following the precepts that are preached. Therefore, this exploratory study presents a first look at how MBAs think about
business.
The purpose of the study is to uncover the attitudinal
states of MBA students toward the business community and
its practices. The study represents a first step in answering
the questions: Who are these MBA students? What do these
students think? What are the students’ attitudes about the
subject they are studying? Do the students believe what we,
the academics, are saying? What must be done to reinforce
the students’ thinking? What must be done to change the
students’ attitudinal state? Knowing the answers to some of
these questions, faculty, administrators, and practitioners are
in a position to develop curricula, change content of courses,
and handle the questions that may arise in class due to a
myriad of issues that are discussed regarding present topics.
RELATED LITERATURE
What Is Known
The literature on MBA education is replete with studies
showing enrollment trends, curriculum issues, placement,
starting salaries, ranking of programs, and demographic descriptors of test takers and enrollees in MBA program. An
examination of some of the key items presents a picture of
what is presently known about the MBA student and program
content.
In the 2007–08 academic year, the Graduate Management
Admissions Council (GMAC) administered a record number
of 246,957 GMAT exams to over 97,000 women and 149,000
men (Graduate Management Admission Council, 2009a). Almost one half of the test takers were citizens of other countries, the largest proportion was in their late twenties, and
minority populations are slowing growing as a percentage of
all test takers. Enrollments in MBA programs have grown
and are expected to further increase in the down economy.
An overview of the studies sponsored by the GMAC in their
summary of all research reports (Graduate Management Admission Council, 2009b), shows research has been conducted
on the GMAT exam, predicting success factors, validity studies, understanding the value of graduate business education,
brand image of MBA programs, and several reports on minority groups and women. These and other research studies by
Endres, Chowdhury, Frye, and Hurtubis (2008), Hsu, Chao,
and James (2008), Truell, Zhao, Alexander and Hill (2006),
and Sulaiman and Mohezar (2006) that examine success, efficiency, and satisfaction factors, although informative, tend to
be more process- and output-oriented rather than examining
the dimensionality and psychological characteristics (other
than demographic) of the student input.
Process issues that surface through an examination of the
literature tend to focus on three major variables (a) overall
program content, (b) individual courses, and (c) course con-
179
tent and delivery. One of the overriding concerns of MBA
programs that are accredited by the Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International is
meeting mission-driven standards that conform to accreditation standards. Although these standards have been relaxed
in recent years, allowing programs more flexibility in meeting standards, meeting program content and knowledge areas
remains somewhat fixed (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005; Navarro,
2008). As a result of meeting accreditation core curriculum standards, the silo mentality is often maintained while
garnishing these offerings with additional courses and differential program formats. The latter has spawned the debate
of how to offer content that covers social responsibility and
ethics, leadership, and globalization (Bruce & Edgington,
2008; Butler, Forbes, & Johnson, 2008; Crane, 2004; Evans,
Trevino, & Weaver, 2006; Fukukawa, Shafer, & Lee, 2007;
Krishnam, 2008; Navarro). Lastly, the subject of delivery
of course knowledge and what is delivered has spurred additional debate—course-based versus experiential learning,
traditional market perspectives versus innovative technologies, market uncertainties, and a macro–social perspective
(Pfeffer & Fong, 2002; Samuelson, 2006; Schoemaker, 2008;
Tuleja, 2008). Although process issues are worthwhile subjects of debate, what is still missing is specific attitudinal
knowledge of the inputs.
What Is Not Known
Information on the psychological makeup of the student body
has only now started to surface in the literature. This was
fostered by Leavitt’s (1991) charge that MBA faculty and
administrators really do not care about the attitudes and beliefs that MBA students learn and then later incorporate in
their careers. In a study of student attitudes, sponsored by the
Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell (Kiely,
1997), the findings show that students in the nation’s top
MBA programs believe in maximizing profits, are more opposed than older persons to government action for responsible corporate behavior, and take a stricter financial view on
making decisions. Much of this was speculative, academic
debate until the cheating incident in the graduate school of
business at Duke University. Conlin’s (2007) comment on
this incident suggested that due to the use of Internet, open
sourcing of information, and the use of teamwork in studies,
it may be time to revisit how academics define academic dishonesty. Is this really the wave of the future and exemplified
by the likes of Madoff and Stanford? What an individual’s
attitudes are, and their domain specificity, will largely influence what is learned and how it is shaped in the learning
process. A brief review of attitudinal research in business
programs is presented in the following section.
In the last few years, academics have begun examining the attitudes of undergraduate business and MBA students. Wilson and Galloway (2006) showed the importance
of how MBA students have benefited from their shaping in the
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180
W. J. LUNDSTROM
MBA program and the resulting experience in their careers.
Whittingham (2006) has examined the impact of personality characteristics on MBA’s academic performance showing
that the detached individual and the extrovert had higher
performance for men, whereas women with higher conscientiousness scores did better in quantitative courses. Further,
Elias (2008) began research on the concept of academic selfefficacy versus anti-intellectual attitudes in an undergraduate
business population. And Rawwas, Swaidan, and Isakson
(2007) studied ethical beliefs of MBA students in the United
States against those in Hong Kong, finding that U.S. students tended to behave ethically whereas their Hong Kong
counterparts tended to act more morally.
How these types of studies shape MBA programs remains
to be seen because the research deals with personality types,
program experience, or ethical beliefs rather than attitudinal
states of mind that influence behavior. Because it is known
that attitudes play a major role in information processing,
learning, and behavior (Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, & Best,
2007), an in-depth look at the attitudes held by MBA students
should shed light on how they can be educated, with what
material, and whether or not the material presented is consistent or inconsistent with their attitudinal states. Learning
takes place when ideas, concepts, and theories are consistent
with attitudinal states. Impediments to learning are found
in attitude conflict, which requires a major effort in attitude
change prior to having a positive learning experience (Peter
& Olson, 2008). Without this knowledge, the goals of the
MBA program may suffer, faculty can be ineffective, and
course content may be in conflict with the students’ beliefs.
METHOD
The MBA degree has become ubiquitous throughout the
United States and the industrialized and developing world
as the degree of choice for business managers. As a starting point for this research program, the universe was limited
to the students attending an MBA program in the United
States. Because both large and small colleges and universities throughout the nation now offer the MBA degree, a
representative area sample was drawn from AACSB member
institutions with MBA programs. Deans, graduate program
directors, and faculty were contacted personally, by phone,
or electronically to gain their cooperation and to maintain a
geographic, program size, public versus private, and reputational balance in the sample. Many of the MBA programs
opted not to participate stating one of two views. One view
was that the study would be an invasion of student privacy.
Or, secondly, it was the school’s policy not to let outsiders interview their students. In all, 27 graduate business programs
agreed to participate in the study (see Appendix A). A balanced sample of the schools were from each geographic area
of the country, represented a mixture of private and public
institutions, programs that were both large and small in size,
and attracted students from international and national levels
as well as those that were regional and local. Programs were
represented by those in the top 50 MBA ranked programs (by
Business Week or The Financial Times of London) as well as
those with lesser reputations. The latter programs are representative of where a vast majority of individuals obtain their
MBAs and were, therefore, a higher proportion of programs
included in this study.
The sample within each institution was drawn by program directors and faculty members. The instructions were
to administer the survey instrument to first-year students to
the program, and hopefully reduce bias in answers regarding
the business community. The data was gathered during the
spring, summer, and fall of 2008. Students were not pressured
to participate in the study, completion was voluntary, and
respondents would remain anonymous. In addition to item
responses, information was obtained on the demographic
characteristics of age, ethnicity, undergraduate major, undergraduate GPA, the undergraduate institution awarding the
degree (public vs. private), GMAT score, and years of work
experience.
Sample Characteristics
The total completed returns came from 866 respondents from
27 graduate business programs. The sample consisted of the
following characteristics: the mean age was 29 years; men
and women represented 65.6% and 34.4% of the sample,
respectively; undergraduate degrees were 72% from publicsupported universities versus 28% from private universities
and colleges; the mean GPA was 3.34; the mean GMAT
score (of those 521 students reporting) was 579.7; and, the
mean work experience was 7.0 years. Ranges for the demographics indicate that a very wide dispersion of each factor was captured in the sample. Age ranged from 20 to 65
years, and the ethnic makeup was 6.2% African American,
17.4% Asian, 2.9% Asian American, 64.5% Caucasian, 3.1%
Hispanic, 0.2% Native American, and 5.6% other. Undergraduate majors included 50.6% business, 17.0% liberal arts,
11.0% engineering, 9.2% science, 1.4% health care, 7.2%
computer science, and 3.6% communications. Undergraduate GPA ranged from 2.00 to 4.00, GMAT scores ranged
from a low of 210 to a high of 780, and the number of years
of work experience went from 0 to 45 years. Overall, the
866 respondents represented the span of students seeking
the MBA degree and the mean scores were very typical of
the average MBA student.
Instrument
To capture the attitudinal states of the MBA student respondents, the Short-Form Consumer Discontent Scale was employed in the study. The Short-Form Consumer Discontent
Scale is composed of 41 items measuring positive and negative affect toward business practices and related, underlying
business motives. The short-form scale was derived from the
MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
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Consumer Discontent Scale (Lundstrom & Lamont, 1976)
and developed by Scott and Lundstrom (1990). Respondents
were asked to express their feelings (attitudes) toward the 41
items related to business on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 6 (strongly disagree). Items
that are positively worded are reverse coded to maintain directionality of the total scale score. The scale and the items
measure satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, with business and its
practices. Total scale scores can range from 246 (a totally
negative overall attitude) to 41 (a totally satisfied overall attitude). Because the scale uses a forced format of 6 response
categories, a mean score of 3.5 would represent a neutral
position toward a particular item.
RESULTS
Reliability
The survey data (Table 1) shows the Short-Form Consumer
Discontent Scale to be consistent and indicates relatively
high reliability factors. The coefficient alpha was .8596 and
the Spearman-Brown and Guttman reliability scores were
.75 and .73, respectively. These reliability measures are in
keeping with those reported earlier by Scott and Lundstrom
(1990) and Lundstrom and White (2006).
Much more interesting than the scale’s reliability coefficients, even though it strongly suggests the scale’s durability
over time, were the mean scores of the present sample. Because the administration of the questionnaire, there has been
significant downward movement in the economy. Whether
these latter economic events that have taken place would
change the perspective of the MBA students is unknown.
It can only be speculated that the dimensions captured by
the scale should be enduring and could be potentially magnified by some of the events that have occurred during the
timeframe since its administration.
Item Differences
Given the large sample and geographic dispersion, the results of the research are interesting and shed light on where
MBA students stand on various attitudinal issues regarding
the business community. Of major interest in this study are
the attitudinal states of MBA students toward the domains
TABLE 1
Reliability Analysis of the Measure
Statistic
Part 1
Part 2
Scale
M
Variance
SD
n
75.20
70.85
146.05
81.36
145.89
358.22
9.02
12.08
18.93
21
20
41
Note. N = 866; items = 41; Guttman Split-half = .7313; Unequal-length
Spearman-Brown = .7510; α = .8596.
181
tapped by the individual items in the scale as well as the overall scale score. These findings are presented in Table 2, which
presents the mean scores and standard deviations for the total
sample of MBA students. Item scores are presented in descending order from the most negative to the most positive
scores on individual items.
Most negative. When looking at the items that the students find most negative about business, there is a sense that
business is insensitive to true consumer needs with the end
goal of making as much money as it can. This is exemplified
by the statements: “Companies encourage customers to buy
more than they really need” (4.73), “All business really wants
to do is make the most money it can” (4.42), “Salespeople
are pushy just so they can make the sale” (4.16), “Companies ‘jazz up’ a product, with no real improvement, just to
get a higher price or sell more” (4.08), “Products that last
a lifetime are a thing of the past” (3.89), and “As soon as
they make the sale, most businesses forget about the buyer”
(3.76). Interspersed with this overall negativity toward business, which may be labeled insensitive profit making, are
rising prices, materialism, lack of true product information,
and government intervention to enforce ethical practices.
Most positive. In the opposite direction, students found
many positive attributes about business, which was reflected
in their positive attitudinal responses. The generally positive
sentiment reflects the cornucopia of product offerings to satisfy needs, that the consumer is the central focus of offerings,
that business stands behind its products with guarantees and
warranties and has effective complaint departments, that the
quality of goods has consistently increased over the years,
and that businesses are honest in their dealings with consumers (see Table 2).
Midrange ‘hot’ issues. Certain items of interest in this
research could be considered hot issues that may be of concern to both MBA students and program-directed content.
These issues concern sustainability, minorities and the underprivileged, business profits, advertising, and a consumercentric empathy. Unfortunately, answers to these items fall
into what can be called a mid-range of item responses that are
relatively neutral. That is, item mean scores in the range of
3.3–3.7 indicate a neutral stance on the items measured. Thus,
MBA students, on average, did not have strong attitudes about
business helping minorities and the underprivileged (3.51),
business taking an interest in the environment (3.48) or using
up natural resources without replenishment (3.39), business
profits being too high yet raising prices (3.60), advertising
making people unhappy with themselves because they can’t
have everything they see (3.44), and salespeople making sure
customers find what they really need (3.44). In essence, none
of these potentially hot issues are seen as present problems
182
W. J. LUNDSTROM
TABLE 2
Item Mean Scores in Descending Order, From Most Negative to Most Positive
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Item
Companies encourage customers to buy more than they really need
Prices of products are going up faster than the incomes of the ordinary consumer
All business really wants to do is make the most money it can
The government should enforce ethical business practices
Generally speaking, products work as good as they look
People rate other people by the value of their possessions
Salespeople are pushy just so that they can make a sale
Companies “jazz up” a product, with no real improvement, just to get a higher price or sell more
Consumers know exactly what they are buying with food products because the ingredients are on the package
Products that last a lifetime are a thing of the past
Service departments “pad” the bill by charging for unneeded work
As soon as they make the sale, most businesses forget about the buyer
Many times the salesperson says one thing to the shopper but knows it is just the opposite
The information on most packages is enough to make a good decision
Most of the things I buy are over-priced
The only person who cares about the consumer is the consumer herself/himself
Business profits are too high yet they keep on raising prices
When a product is advertised as “new” or “improved”, it is the same old thing only in a different package
Products are only as safe as required by government standards, but no more than that
Companies are helping minorities and the underprivileged by providing them with jobs
Business takes a real interest in the environment and is trying to improve it
A warranty or a guarantee may be a good one, but the service department is often unable to do the work correctly
Repair work is usually done right the first time
What is seen on the outside of the package is many times not what is found on the inside
Commercials make people unhappy with themselves because they can’t have everything they see
Salespeople take an interest in consumers and make sure they find what they need
Service manuals aren’t provided with products because the company wants to make money servicing the products as
well as selling them
There are too many of the same type of products which is a waste of money
Business is one using up our natural resources (oil, gas, trees, etc) but does nothing to replace what has been taken
Products fall apart before they have had much use
Business profits are too high
In general, companies are honest in their dealings with consumers
Companies aren’t willing to listen or do anything about consumer gripes
Most companies have a complaint department which backs up their products and handles consumer complaints
The quality of goods has consistently improved over the years
Warranties would not be necessary if the manufacturer made the product right in the first place
Most people know that advertising lies a “little”
Business usually stands behind their products and guarantees
Companies generally offer what the consumer wants
The consumer is usually the least important consideration to most companies
A large variety of products allow consumers to choose what they really want
for the business community but lay in the midground of relatively neutral attitudinal states of the MBAs.
Overall Scores and Demographic Differences
As an additional input to the understanding of MBA attitudes
toward business is the analysis of overall scale scores. Total
scale scores can range from 41 (totally positive) to 246 (totally negative). A neutral score would be reflected by a total
score of 143. Upon examination, the mean score for the overall student group is 146.05—just a little toward a negative attitude. The mean score of the total group, however, can mask
the overall neutrality as seem by individual item scores. In an
M
SD
4.7298
4.4238
4.4169
4.3718
4.1767
4.1744
4.1570
4.0751
3.9781
3.8926
3.8891
3.7621
3.7460
3.7309
3.7229
3.7217
3.6016
3.5658
3.5589
3.5069
3.4861
3.4815
3.4677
3.4573
3.4423
3.4411
3.4400
1.14638
1.31134
1.21003
1.46413
1.21073
1.12495
1.14430
1.12467
1.34060
1.38823
1.06188
1.15853
1.01327
1.17405
1.14775
1.32645
1.29542
1.04619
1.26742
1.16125
1.13399
1.09238
1.08569
1.10329
1.22668
1.24534
1.21140
3.3984
3.3949
3.2991
3.2968
3.2552
3.1917
3.0208
2.9908
2.9111
2.8880
2.8349
2.7598
2.7494
2.6397
1.31578
1.29692
1.06849
1.34754
1.00323
1.15011
1.17470
1.27670
1.47431
1.17986
1.02646
1.01892
1.17912
1.07821
effort to see whether there are group differences, an analysis
of variance (ANOVA) was run on gender, ethnicity, undergraduate major, and type of undergraduate institution (public
vs. private education) against the total scale score. Additionally, correlations were computed on the continuous variables
of age, GPA, GMAT score, and work experience with the
total scale score. These findings are presented subsequently.
Overall, significant differences found were primarily due
to the large sample sizes used in each of the analyses: mean
scale scores for the demographic variables were within 10
total scale points of one another. The ANOVA results suggest that significant differences are found in the characteristics of gender (p < .01) and ethnicity (p < .01) but neither
MBA ATTITUDES TOWARD BUSINESS
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in the undergraduate major nor whether the student attended
a public or private institution. The gender differences suggest that women have a more negative attitude toward the
business community than do men, 149.52 versus 144.23.
Ethnic differences were found across the seven groups represented in the study. The highest level of negativity was
found in Asians (154.09), Asian Americans (152.60), and
African Americans (152.47), whereas Caucasians had the
lowest mean score of 142.69. Likewise, correlations on the
continuous variables of GPA, GMAT score, work experience,
and age showed insignificant and very low correlations with
the overall scale score.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The purpose of this research was to examine and understand
the attitudinal states of MBA students toward the business
community and business practices. It was unknown whether
MBA students held positive, negative, or neutral attitudes
toward this domain of activity nor whether there are differences among groups of students on various demographic
characteristics. The results were interesting and varied and
suggest that the new MBA graduate is one who may foster
both pro and con attitudes about present business conduct
and business values.
The research revealed that, overall, MBA students harbor
an attitude that business is in the business to make as much
money as it can while encouraging customers to buy more
than they really need. This may feed into a cycle of materialism as a desired end state as consumers are encouraged to
spend more and compare themselves to others having more
than themselves. This is exhibited by the negative attitudes
about people rating others by their possessions rather than
qualities of a humanistic nature. This, in turn, may have lead
to binging on credit to buy additional items, the vacation
home, real estate investments, and other unneeded goods and
services that has led to the present credit crisis. What is the
proposed solution to this customer- and profit-driven market
without concern for the consequences to the consumer? Interestingly, the surveyed MBA students believed that it is the
government who should enforce ethical business practices.
Although this begs another question as to what are ethical
business practices, it is evident that these respondents are
seeking a solution by a higher order entity other than the
business community itself.
In contrast, these respondents believe there are many good
things about the business community and it is reflected in
their positive attitudes. Leading the positive attitudes is the
ability of business to provide a wide variety of products and
services that customers want. This is combined with business
standing behind their products with warranties and customer
service departments who try to rectify problems. The respondents believe that goods and services have improved
over the years and companies are willing to listen to their
183
needs, gripes, and complaints. However, a more fundamental issue could be that business does listen, offers products
and services, and stands behinds these offerings but does not
truly consider what the impact of consumption does to the
individual—morally, physically, and psychologically. This
may be the essence of creating a new and different ethics
course in business.
Although there are both positive and negative attitudes toward business, there is a broad midrange of attitudinal states
that appear to exhibit neutrality on the part of the respondents. This midground is reflected in the neutral attitudes
toward many of the issues that are considered politically
important by some groups. The respondents had neutral attitudes about business helping minorities and the underprivileged, environmental issues, advertising and meeting safe
product standards. Whether this is good or bad depends on
the perspective. However, it is fertile ground for discussion
and molding these attitudinal issues into ones of greater concern and, potentially, doing good for the greater whole of
society.
Total scale scores suggest that women hold more antibusiness attitudes than men, as do Asians, Asian Americans, and
African-Americans. Because these groups represent larger
proportions of incoming MBA students, additional effort may
be placed on educating these groups about business ethics,
practices, and values. Particular emphasis could be made to illustrate how diversity efforts are working to include a greater
number of women and non-Caucasians in the workforce.
What the research suggests is a look at the softer side
of the transaction other than the simple buyer–seller dyad.
That is, a more holistic approach to the customer may be
warranted in the future for courses. This would include the
social, psychological, economic, and technological impacts
on the individual rather than trying to investigate the buyer
as a transactional unit. By widening the understanding of the
individual, business would have a much different mindset of
how and why the person functions other than as a consumption unit with certain needs, wants and desires.
Limitations
There were limitations to the research in that it represents
the attitudes of a subset of MBA students just prior to a
major financial crisis. Further administrations that include
the outcome of the financial crisis and the abuses that were
unveiled may increase the negativity of the responses. The
inability to freely sample from all graduate programs could
potentially limit the generalization of the results to a larger
student population. Also, the administration of the instrument
to first-year students by program directors and faculty may
potentially skew the results. However, even recognizing these
potential shortcomings, the diversity of the representation
and the size of the sample would tend to negate these possible
pitfalls.
184
W. J. LUNDSTROM
Inputs
Attitudes
Major
GMAT score
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Work experience
Process
Courses
Content
Teamwork
Experiences
Culture
Consumption
Outcomes
Outputs
Knowledge
Ratings
Performance
Starting salary
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FIGURE 1. A new humanistic model for MBA programs, from a holistic
and humanistic perspective.
Implications
The implications of this research study go beyond the attitudes of these MBA students and may potentially impinge on
the culture and content of MBA programs. First and foremost,
these students are people from varying backgrounds, holding differing attitudes about the community they study. Individual students enter MBA programs with thoughts, ideas,
values, and attitudes. They are definitely not the blank slates
they are sometimes assumed to be. Our courses on ethics
need to consider the buyer and the implications that business
practices and the business value system has upon them and
not just the business community. It is more than just operating in an ethical manner but to be morally just in transactions
with customers and gage the impact academics have on them
as humans. Perhaps it is necessary to recast MBA program
content to include the study of the evolution of societies, religions around the world, and human needs, wants, and desires
outside the consumption environment (Figure 1). This same
line of reasoning could also be applied to marketing courses
that interface with the buying public. To date, most marketing
courses stress value driven, or customer value as the mantra
of the product or service offering (Kerin & Peterson, 2010).
What happens after the value is delivered, consumed, forgotten, or disposed of? Is the customer better off than before?
Is society? What is the impact on the environment? Thus, it
is necessary to redefine the consumption process from the
transaction to the totality of the consumption process. Not
only how it is done (the process focus of business), but also
the long-range consequences of the collective whole of consumption. This somewhat different perspective would fundamentally change the culture of many MBA programs while
addressing many of the issues that were brought forward in
this study.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this research study was to ascertain the attitudinal states of a national sample of MBA students toward
the business community and its practices. The study encom-
passed 27 MBA programs and 866 respondents as measured
by the Short-Form Consumer Discontent Scale. Uncovered
in this research were a wide variety of attitudes toward many
different items in the measure.
The most negative attitudes registered were those encouraging consumers to buy needlessly just to drive business profits. The most positive attitudes centered on offering a wide
variety of products and services so that customers had many
choices. In the neutral categories, were attitudes toward the
environment, minorities, and the underprivileged, advertising, and product safety. Significant demographic differences
were exhibited across race and gender but not undergraduate major or public versus private colleges. Attitudes were
slightly correlated with age but not with GPA, GMAT score,
or work experience.
Results from the study suggest that MBA programs need
to reassess their process orientation and look at developing a
more holistic, humanistic framework of the inputs and outcomes of the consumption process. Only then can the managers of tomorrow fully understand the magnitude of what
they are doing in creating a societal good (or evil).
Future researchers should administer the Consumer Discontent Scale instrument to another sample of MBA students
from a similarly broad population. It would be interesting to
note the changes in attitudes that have taken place since the
outcome of the global financial crisis and the continuing saga
of how greed contributed to the downfall. Further, the attitudinal structure of the underlying factors contributing to these
states should be examined. As a continuing product of this
research, individual MBA programs and accreditation bodies
should establish task forces to examine the fundamental nature and content of an holistic and humanistic MBA program
the focus of which is the individual in many different contexts. The starting point in this is simple; it is the satisfaction
of future customer needs that must be met to be successful.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Funding for this research was provided by MERInstitute
Grant, Graduate Management Admission Council.
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APPENDIX A
MBA Programs Participating in the Study
Baldwin-Wallace College
Babson College
Boise State University
Brandeis University
California State University, San Marcos
Case Western Reserve University
Chapman University
Cleveland State University
Colorado State University
East Tennessee State University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Kent State University
Indiana State University
Kennesaw State University
Old Dominion University
Pepperdine University
Savannah State University
Southern Methodist University
Texas A&M University
University of Akron
University of Houston
University of Massachusetts
University of Missouri
University of Toledo
Ursuline College
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wright State University