Journal of Marketing Education

In the Peltier, Hay, and Drago (2005) article titled “The Reflective Learning Continuum: Reflecting on Reflection,” a reflective learning continuum was conceptualized and tested. This is a follow-up article based on three extensions: (1) determining whether the continuum could be expanded, (2) further validating the continuum using additional schools, and (3) determining whether the continuum could also be applied to undergraduate business education. The findings from a study of U.S. and U.K. students show that the revised scale is valid and reliable and that U.S. students in the sample universities rated their educational experience higher and were more likely to use reflective thinking practices.

The objective of this article is to study the bargaining behavior of coauthors in multiauthored marketing papers. The literature argues that the order of author names sends a signal about their relative contribution to the article, and the signal is muted when the names are in alphabetical order. In addition, other things being the same, the literature also stipulates that alphabetization increases with article quality. The authors examine these hypotheses with publication data from a set of marketing journals during 1991-2000. The findings suggest that signaling is more important for less known authors, authors from less prestigious schools, for articles published in lower-rated journals, and when there are more coauthors.

To improve the use of service learning in the marketing curriculum, Petkus (2000) recommended that future research focus on empirical studies of service learning in specific marketing courses. Personal selling represents a key component of marketing that is quite amenable to service learning, yet very little research has examined the use of service learning in a personal selling course. This study seeks to remedy this omission by describing the inputs and outcomes of a service learning–based Sales Project that forms the cornerstone of a unique approach to teaching personal selling. Quantitative and qualitative analysis provide evidence that the class Sales Project is associated with numerous benefits for the course's students and nonprofit partners.

Grade point average (GPA) often correlates highly with variables of interest to educational researchers and thus offers the potential to greatly increase the statistical power of their research studies. Yet this variable is often underused in marketing education research studies. The reliability and validity of the GPA are closely examined here in a research study context. These findings are combined with other published results to offer specific recommendations and examples related to how education researchers can improve their studies with the appropriate use of GPA.

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study explores whether perceptions of critical hiring criteria for entry-level sales positions differ across sales managers and sales representatives. This research also examines which classroom activities and skills these individuals perceive to be most important for strengthening the desired skill set and whether an MBA degree is an added advantage when candidates are being considered for entry-level sales positions. Results indicate that managers believe objective assessment, technical skills, experiential learning, acquired skills, college accomplishments, and extracurricular activities are more important than do sales representatives. Sales representatives deem basic skills, educational experiences, and interactive skills as more important than how managers assess these skills and attributes. Neither group believes that having an MBA is a necessary prerequisite for these positions. Recommendations for marketing educators are offered.

The learning style individual difference factor has long been a basis for understanding student preferences for various learning activities. Marketing educators have been advised to heavily invest in tailoring course design based on the learning style groups in their classes. A further exploration of the effects of learning style differences on the perceived effectiveness of 21 learning activities was conducted. Results from the survey responses of 227 students at eight universities suggest that a high-investment strategy of catering intensively to learning style individual differences is not warranted. Rather, marketing educators can sufficiently meet the needs of students by providing a range of learning experiences that tap multiple learning modalities. Active learning pedagogies were seen as more effective.

Debate over the link between student learning styles and effective teaching has a long tradition, made more interesting by Karns's recent article “Learning Style Differences in the Perceived Effectiveness of Learning Activities.” Fundamentally he asserts, in critiquing Morrison et al. (2003), that marketing educators should not adopt “a high investment strategy” in tailoring curriculum to student learning styles segments but merely “provide a range of learning experiences that tap multiple learning modalities.” This study contends that in developing his research question, Karns has misunderstood the perspective of Morrison et al. about how to adapt teaching styles to influence learning outcomes. In addition, this study reviews Karns's methodology, noting weaknesses in the measurement of learning styles, sampling, and data analysis that the authors expect has influenced his findings and conclusions. Finally, the authors introduce additional data that support their findings rather than his, thus further stimulating this debate.

This study examines the effects of amount of choice given students in selecting courses to complete a marketing minor, referred to as a marketing option. It examines how differing levels of choice can affect perceptions of, and feelings about, a marketing option. The course choice process is also explored. The impact of choice on students’ desire for the option depended on the level of interest in the courses available. Perceived value of the marketing option to employers and for student's future careers was greatest when there was some choice, but not too much. Tests for emotional reactions supported the findings in that they also indicated that choice can be associated with diminishing returns, especially when the choices are not particularly interesting. The results of this study suggest that students do want choice, but within limits, and they do appear to place value on guidance and direction.

In response to calls from both business practitioners and educators, this research explores the extent to which undergraduate marketing education is delivered with a cross-functional perspective. Given that marketing is often recognized as a boundary-spanning role within companies, marketing department chairs were asked to report on cross-functional teaching and learning activities within their departments and schools. While it appears that cross-functional teaching and learning does take place in the marketing classroom, it does not appear to be widespread among marketing departments within undergraduate business programs in the United States, and what is done tends to be accomplished within traditional pedagogical formats. These exploratory results point to several considerations for the implementation of crossfunctional teaching and learning initiatives, as well as provide provocative material for stimulating marketing faculty discussions on the topic.